Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The Older You Get The Easier You Have To Make It

Shooting elk is always the easy part, handling them is work. I got this cow in open country, but getting her into the back of the truck is the hard part.

I realized a few years ago, I needed something more than a good back to load elk, so I built a bracket in the back of the truck to attach a Warn recovery winch onto for pulling bigger animals into the truck.

Even then, you need as straight a pull as you can get to get the elk to slide into the back of the truck without lifting it onto the tailgate. We dragged the elk over to a hill that I could back up to and then have a more straight shot into the back of the truck...

You certainly got that right! The wife and I are not working quite as hard for game as we used to. I wish we had your set-up several years ago when trying to load a young bull moose into the back of a Polaris Ranger.After putting the Ranger into a low spot,similar to your truck,we still couldn't get him loaded.We finally gave up,cut him in half,and it still "kicked our butts" pretty good! memtb

My Dad always told me to "work smarter not harder." I think you've got that figured out.

Congrats on the cow.

Definitely have to hunt smarter. However, I don't shoot many elk where I can drive to. This year it was 5 miles back into a wilderness area and my hunting partner had cracked a rib. I had to do all the skinning, quartering and packing myself.

I keep eyeing those $60 winches at harbor freight for that very purpose. 2500lbs pull should do it? That and a 4 wheeler ramp.

I saw game and fish load a roadkill moose on top of another moose into the back of a 3/4 ton pickup with a small winch on the headache rack. I'll post a pic later.

Picture as promised

Kirk,

Instead of an electric winch we have a block-and-tackle attached to the front of the pickup bed, and a 6x3 piece of plywood for a ramp up to the tailgate.

We don't get to hunt elk much where we can drive to them, so usually cut them in half at the rear of the ribcage, then if there's snow on the ground slide each half to the pickup on a plastic toboggan. If the ground's dry we use our Neet Kart (in-line wheels with bicycle-type handbrakes). It's pretty easy to slide half an elk up the ramp with the B&T.

Once in a while we've had to break elk (or moose) down further, but not often. It's been a long time since I packed either out on my back.

I have done it with the winch on my 4 wheeler in the past, but with a topper on, the winch in the box is perfect...

The older I've gotten the slower I've gotten and the more elk I've gotten.

Still packing them out on my back,though, unless I get lucky and can drive to them. That hasn't happened since 2007 though.

No bulls in the bunch?

What does that have to do with anything?

Fairly simple, straight forward question.

Where there any bulls in the bunch?

Really not confusing.

The hard part isn't loading them. It's getting access to hunt private land that you can drive to them. Congrats on the cow.

Yes. The hardest part is finding ground I could even drive a rig into. In all of my years, I've loaded 3 elk into my rigs whole. Toughest was into the back of my Land Cruiser. Ran a rope out of the driver and passenger side windows, lashed them to trees, ran the lines out the back to the elk, and then backed up pulling the elk into the cab. Necessity is a mother.

I've gotten several elk into camp whole, but they were pulled downslope on snow.

Most, however, come in on pack frames.

I am surprised it is legal to drive where you did? Certainly can't in Colorado.

thats a heck of an idea. that winch could come in handy for a bunch of loading

Id take a cow that way every year

We also hung the elk using the same equipment in an old shed. First we pulled it up on a pole with a tow strap until the pole started to pull through the rafters. Then we hooked it to the winch inside the truck and winched it up to the desired height to tie it off. No backs were hurt doing the filming of this event...

I would too but only if I could lower it right into the freezer using that gizmo.

Can't have a motorized vehicle anywhere near where I hunt. This year, CO kicked my butt! At nearly 65-years old, I may need to look at hunting elsewhere because, my legs just can't get me where the they use to.