Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Who uses game carts?

Here's mine.

Over 50 years ago my father (a talented mechanic), made one out of round conduit and an old bicycle front fork and tire. We carted many deer out with it -- sometimes two or more at the same time. It has handles on the front and rear. In sagebrush type of vegetation it works pretty well. It is impossible for one person to run it when it is loaded. My best friend in high school was not very large in size but was exceptionally strong; we always put him on the downhill side! . I still have the cart hanging in my garage mainly for nostalgia, but it is still functional. We had four relatively small deer on it once but we had 4 or 5 of guys running the cart at the same time and it was in open mainly rocky, shrub covered terrain. We used it for many years before I ever heard of a commercial product. Dad was not a big man and packing out a good 4 point mule deer buck in the late 1950s motivated him to make the cart.

They can work well in certain areas if not too steep and not a lot of dead falls and underbrush. If someone was able to devise a brake device would really help out.

I use mine for antelope and white tails on public land.

Have not used it for elk yet because too steep and too much brush. Would work on well used game trails and in sage contry. Get the wheel covers so brush does not get into spokes.

I've never knocked down an elk where a game cart would've been much help. But when antelope hunting on walk-in areas I've used a wheelbarrow to good effect. the wheelbarrow makes for easy braking on the downhills (push the handles down) and for uphills with a partner all you do is have your parner tie onto the frame in front of the wheel with a rope and pull. The plus side of all this is almost every body already owns a wheelbarrow, so you don't have to invest in a specialized piece of equipment.

Everywhere I've ever hunted elk it was too rough to use a cart, but I made use of my homemade rig on my recent Oryx hunt on the WSMR in New Mexico. It is made from a Workman 3 wheel bike rearend and conduit and was a real help on the Oryx trip.



Of course, having a pretty huntress as your gunbearer don't hurt either!

So what did you do different with your home built cart? Looks like it might be narrower and a bit higher than most factory carts? Looks like maybe you are standing inside the frame? I'd be interested in more details,that's a good size critter you got laoded there and it seems to be handling it well.

A bike or cycle cart is a bicycle trailer with [in our case a hitch that mounts to the seat post.

Carts are fine on level terrain or when one is going straight up or straight down a hill. Try one is this country, and there is only one direction it will go.


I can furnish the GPS coordinates for a fine cart if one would like to retrieve it. A buddy hauled one up and after two attempts at side hilling abandoned it. Two trips in one afternoon with my pack frame, and I had his deer off the hill. It looked much the same as the one posted by Jeffpg above.

1minute,

That looks very much like BXXXXXXX Reservoir...no?

1minute,

That's why the Neet Cart has in-line wheels. It works very well on sidehills.

My home built cart's platform is based on the rearend of a Workman 3 wheeled bike. We used to use them where I worked to haul a toolbox around for troubleshooting in a manufacturing plant. It is tall because of the 24" tires that have heavy duty tubes inside. We simply used conduit to build a frame that is welded to the factory platform on top of the axle. The frame allows me to get inside of it for great control of the cart. The Oryx weighed about 400 plus and was no problem at all.

I have had this cart for several years, but never had the real need to utilize it until my Oryx hunt. It is definetly one of a kind and I have christened it "The Oryx Cart". (not to be confused with Ox Cart!)

Years ago we made our game carts..First was a single wheeled with bicycle brakes with handles on both ends..It worked alright in fairly flat ground but was tippy..Next was a dual wheel as the ones they sell now and without breaks...It also wasn't very good in steep terrain and the lack of breaks can be dangerous.

I now use a Lewis Chain Saw Winch and alot of rope and cable.I suppose in flat terrain or old logging roads game carts would work pretty good but around here the use would be very limited.

Jayco

My buddy shot this elk last season and he called me and another buddy to come help him get it out.

We drove the pickup as close to the elk as we could and then brought his game cart up to it. You can see the white pickup in the background right by the left 4th point. It doesnt look real steep right where the elk is but just off to the right of the picture it go pretty steep. We cut the elk in half and it took us at least half an hour just to get the back half on the game cart and tied down. We just drug the front half. We would drag one half down a ways then go get the other half and bring it down to where we left the other one. It was 100 times easier dragging the front half down that it was trying to control the game cart, get it rolling again after it would get stopped by a rock or clump of grass, etc.

But a family friend was out deer hunting around the same area me and my girlfriend were one morning. She shot her buck and he happened to see us. He brought his game cart out to us and it was a life saver. It would have sucked to drag that 250lb+ buck 1/2-3/4 of a mile across that stubble field by myself. Game carts can be a life saver if you can use them for deer and antelope but aren't a whole lot of help in most elk country. I would say use them if you can/want.

iddave:



No comment

I've used them and they are fine for flat ground (Eastern hunts) or prairies, but for elk habitat, they suck. They are more work than they are worth. I pulled a quartered up moose out in trip, 3.5 miles back in. I was able to follow a cow trail most of the way. I should have just deboned it and been done. It would have been easier.

Trying to get a loaded cart over rocks, logs, mud, brush etc., is a LOT Of work and really beats you up. I have never been more tired than when I got that moose out. It took 4 of us all day long with that cart. It was a good sized one with a motorcycle tire. Keeping 600+ lbs. balanced on one wheel in crappy terrain with the feeble strength of a man's arms is a workout. Flinch

I hunt on country criss crossed with out of commission logging roads, that we use for access into our hunting grounds. If the roads are seasonal or still in fairly good shape, the game cart is worth its weight in gold.

We brought by bear out three miles in less than an hour last week. granted, it would`ve came out just as fast on our backs, but its kind of nice being able to break down the animal back at home or camp compared to the woods.

I pushed a stroller with a kid on the Appalachian Trail and it sucked because of roots and rocks. My boy was only 45 pounds. I bet a 180 pound elk half over the Appalachian trail would really suck, and it would be even worse on a nontrail situation.

I think that sums it up it all depends on where your hunting and the terrian your in.
We would never use it cross country unless there is a road system. I have used a bike to haul a deer out we drapped it across the handle bars and the seats and pushed it actually worked pretty good we even had to push though part of a old burn with logs every where the bike did pretty good. I would never have considered taking a game cart in there...

I can respect that.

If it's flat enough to not tip over a two-wheeled cart, they are a lifesaver for states where you are not allowed to cut up in the field (like ND). It's nothing to take one a mile or two over easy terrain.