Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Loading big game into a pickup truck?

For ELK - We have various methods between the different groups I hunt with. One group I hunt with is on a 5000 acre cattle ranch so ATV's are available. We use the RSA butt first method with a tip trailer:

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that way we don't have to lift a full grown elk up to to a tailgate.

When ATV's are not an option we just get more guys to do the butt first method.

For Deer - Toss it up and in.

But the better method is shoot it *(at a legal distance) above the road, in the snow, back up to the cut bank and roll/slide the bad boy in.

edit: I should add that usually the elk and deer are shot at the furthest distance from a drivable/open road which requires skinning, quartering and packing out with old army style pack boards that cut deep into your shoulders.

99 per cent of my elk, and my partners elk come out on our backs and in pieces. Not hard to load in the back of the PU. I cannot remember my last elk that I drove to. I did have a very large three point mulie buck (12), years ago that required help because I was loading him up hill and on ice. It was a struggle for two of us.

A couple 2x8's and a good old fashioned block and tackle is a cheap effective method. Get the locking type of blocks, though, so you can take a rest half way up if necessary.

Actually, that red box is the case for the Warn recovery winch. It truly is a compact easy way to load. Come-a-longs and such are a step better than nothing, but this winch makes no work of a potentially back breaking proposition.

Getting a full sized elk on a 4 wheeler is another job for the Warn winch when it is mounted on the 4 wheeler. You can put a snatch block in a tree, winch the elk up the tree and then let the elk down onto the front of the 4 wheeler, then you drag the other elk behind...





This is another method, even easier...

It is all good, but don't forget the most reliable. A 30 pack.

The game warden around here has a 3/8" flat retangular plate that is welded horizontal to the bottom center of his trucks headache rack. He has a small warn wench to pull critters into his truck bed.

Saw some elk hunters (with a bull elk loaded whole) using a similar set up and a 4X8 sheet of plywood for the ramp. The old man said that it worked really good for loading oryx. My F-150 is set up with a come-along kind of like in the video.

This http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/prod...ch-All%252BProducts%26Ntt%3Dgame%2Bhoist

A 4-wheeler ramp with plywood top works well. Come-a-long or pulleys and ropes.

Hydra Bed is by far easier.

They work real well if you can ever get the owner to actually hunt...

Once a year....grin

Once a year for me too, it just lasts 365 days...

This is how you get'em 3 miles back to the ranch when there's no one around to help load and fresh snow. I'd a drug it with a horse to be all western and schitt, but this was faster.

There is always a trailer for a 8 mile run through the mud...

You have to get creative when you're alone and have to load an elk. I've even used a ratchet strap to pull and elk into a pickup bed.

You guys must hunt in some pretty extreme places to have an elk in one piece waiting at the truck.

I can still get a big bodied deer in my truck, but definitely see the need for these contraptions for older or less able hunters. We are lucky enough to hunt mostly on lands that allow the use of ATVs and alot of folks just drag deer into a trailer with their atv when hunting solo.

The last few times I've hunted in elk country was on private ranches. A portable 12v winch and a set of atv ramps is all a man needs when you can get a truck to them. Other than that it's a hack and stack mission mostly. My bud John and I killed a couple bulls a couple years back in timber. We gutted them and drug them both down the mountain to the first open meadows(luckily not too far on either bull). We were able to get a Polaris Ranger to them then and a couple extra guys to help load in the bed. Back at the truck, we just slid them from the Ranger bed to the truck bed.

My wife bought me this several years ago for Christmas. It works really well on our out of state hunts. We usually clean the deer on this rack and throw the meat in coolers, then head to town for ice.

It also works really well for lifting the deer off the ground and swiveling around into the truck for those of you needing an easier way to load them. It has a pin, so you can swivel or use it in fixed position for cleaning. I haven't used it for lifting other heavy objects, but I'm sure it would work just dandy. Very handy piece of hunting equipment and hard to beat for only $90.



Here's the link:
http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/guide-gear-deluxe-360-degree-swivel-lift-system.aspx?a=681080

I call AAA!