The bad: "Hawk Crawler Deer and Multi Use Cart." I bought one of these a couple years ago and it's heavy, hard to maneuver, and the low tires get caught up in everything. Everything.
Got the top tier Cabela's cart about ten years ago and our whole family uses it on easy access deer. Forget it on backpack hunts and trails we've been on in WA, ID and BC.
It handles a deer and a bit of gear well on old roads.
Important: get the full shield covers for spoke wheels! Brush sticks into the spokes otherwise and stops and or damages the cart wheels. Or use the cart only on brush free trails or roads.
Look for heavy duty wheel construction, I broke an axle on a homemade cart many years ago. It wasn't any fun carrying a 250# buck out 2.5 miles on a stretcher without wheels.
If you can find a single wheeled cart that is the best in my opinion. My buddy built one, the single wheel is easier to navigate the sage brush hills we hunt. His has a hand brake and even though 2 people can pull push the cart, its usually easier to run bu one person. I had the Cabela’s supermag and used it a-lot for hunting duck refuges. It was great for carrying loads of decoy’s and what ever else we could strap to it. It made our hunts easier than carrying loads on our backs, at least until you were on muddy un graveled trails, those spokes collected mud and instead of rolling you were trying to pull that heavy mess along. Another buddy has a fold up single wheel cart that when folded can be worn like a backpack. Its made from aluminum, I have never been there when it was used , he says it works great. See Game Tote. Its similar to the one my buddy building
Tried different carts in the past, one wheel and two, but the Jet Sled is our go to now. Simple and we lift the whole thing right into the bed of the truck with the deer inside. Helps keep things cleaner.
I’m into “boats” now, aka the jetsled. When I got mine I put the little woman in it and pulled her around the yard. Has yet to make it to the woods, but it gets used a bunch in my yard hauling stuff around. Only weighs about 12 pounds as opposed to 40+ for my last wheeled cart. In the yard, heavy loads (NOT the wife) get pulled behind the Cub Cadet.
I also prefer the roll-ups to cheap heavy carts, but they won’t hold other stuff like your pack, rifle, etc.
I have an Otter Sled, which is the same concept as the Jet Sled. Ain't no effin' way I'd use it again on dry ground with an animal of any weight over any kind of distance that might be considered long. I also have a conventional two-wheel cart and it does fine on relatively flat ground. Any time I've used it on any slope and wasn't going straight up or down the slope, any bump would make it want to tip over. I wouldn't buy this style again, even though it works OK in certain situations. I'd get the Neet Kart or splurge on an electric unit like huntsman linked.
I hike anywhere from .5 to 1.2 miles to where I hunt. At 56 years old, luggin that tree stand is getting damned old. Looking for cart that can haul in my stand, and haul out a deer and the stand at the same time.
I bought an early Cabela's Super Mag Hauler with the metal spokes and those spokes were terrible. They caught lots of grass and brush and came loose. I even carried a spoke wrench for a year before I rebuilt it with 21" motocross rims and tires. Those were too tall and heavy with brake drums. I had an old wheel chair, so those lighter nylon wheels and narrow solid tires are on it now and much better. Actually I prefer a heavy sled with holes for rope tie downs. It slides well over grass and snow and the center of gravity is much lower. That sled pulled with my Rokon has been my preferred method lately.
Back when I hunted with a back pack, I did mount one of the small wheel chair wheels to the bottom of my pack frame. That way I didn't need to go back to get the hauler when I quartered one up. I could wheel a load out like a wheelbarrow if I got tired of the weight on my back.
NEET Cart for the win! Mine will be at it's 12th hunting season this fall and still going strong. Have "packed" 9 elk with it and deer are a piece of cake........1
Kawasaki Prairie 360 4wd. I hook up the deer to the ATV and haul it to my chain fall near my stand and lift it into one of the cargo baskets on the ATV.
Dang Don. I thought my Neetkart was spendy. I'm not getting any younger so that sucker might be worth it. Then again EMS guys could pack me out with the Neetkart.
I went ahead and bought this. Kill Shot 500 lb cart. Seems to get pretty good reviews. Not very expensive. If it works, great, if not, I won't be out much.
I replaced those D-pins on mine with bolts and nylocks. It was one less thing to worry about losing going through the brush. Those safety pin fasteners look even more fragile and prone to snagging and opening in the brush.
It's up on my property and not available for a picture right now, I have/use a larger flat piece of heavier plastic with holes around the edges for a rope to lash with. Put a deer in it, or whatever, lash it in place and go. Nothing to break or come loose except for the rope. Easily slides over anything. Have had it for years, can't seem to wear it out. If I remember correctly, got it from Sportsman's Guide in MN. When not in use, it rolls up and is easy to carry strapped onto my daypack. So not what the OP has asked about, just sharing a very viable option... maybe!
I replaced those D-pins on mine with bolts and nylocks. It was one less thing to worry about losing going through the brush. Those safety pin fasteners look even more fragile and prone to snagging and opening in the brush.
Just put a new ladder stand together. I have it tied on a roll-up sled ready ready to drag up the hill to its new home. I’ll leave the roll-up there with it for dragging deer out. They really do reduce the effort required and protect the carcass from bruising and dirt. The last one I installed was wheeled in on a Hawk with tandem articulating wheels. Great cart, but it weighs 40-some pounds empty, and is a tough drag through head-high weeds and brush. For relatively open ground and on trails, it’s great.
When I bought the Hawk, it was drop-shipped from a supplier. I put it together, then a couple of days later a second one arrived. I contacted the seller and was told to just keep it, as it would be too expensive to return. Only paid $120 for it in the first place. Gave the other one to my son.
Wonderful in the Safeway parking lot, but don't go here.
A buddy hauled one in and left it on a ridgetop after about an hour of struggling. Last time in it was still there. Great for straight up and down, but worthless on contours.
I’ve had one of those mag haulers in my shed at camp for years and have never used it. 99% of the time I go old school. I’ve got way to much chit that I don’t use and don’t need.
That's interesting. It covers some tough situations, bet there would be some serious cussing on the way through the learning curve.
For my situations, in the places I'd want one I could either use a 4 wheeler, Or nothing on wheels would be worth much. Only hunt deer here, boning one out and carrying it is by far the easiest way to get it out short of a 4-wheeler.
Black Bears get uncommonly big here, I've often wondered how in the heck you get 400#+ of bear out of the rocky, laurel ridges whole, without ruining the hide?
I guess there is a cart somewhere under that buck. Roundoak, you are killing us with the pics that you post. Lots of us need extra magnification to sort the bucks out from the does.
Tried different carts in the past, one wheel and two, but the Jet Sled is our go to now. Simple and we lift the whole thing right into the bed of the truck with the deer inside. Helps keep things cleaner.
^^^THIS^^^
I've tried different carts and they're a mofo in the woods and trying to get across creeks. The Jet Sled is the ticket for the places that I hunt. The 25"x 54"x 10" is usually big enough unless you kill something as big as that monster.
Bought a cheapy for 50 bucks from Cabelas. Looked like it would be OK was till I used it. The sides were the same length ,you had to bend over to push or pull it causing you to lose leverage. Hauled it over to a buddies place who has a nicely equipped shop, cut the handle off one end and lengthened it by a foot with some tubing extensions and welded back up. Works well and is easily pushed or pulled now. It has hauled many antelope and deer out..mb
The problem with sleds or carts is that they need to be take in with you and if you move around, what then? I made a slide from a piece of the heavy blue plastic tarps. I cut it to size and added gromets along each side every foot or so. To use, lay it on the ground, roll the deer onto it, and then use paracord to wrap it around the deer. Attach rope to the head and drag it out. The whole thing rolls up and fits in a coat packet
The little woman and I used a roll-up toboggan to haul in a ladder stand and gear ro install it yesterday. Total weight was probably more than the average dressed doe or small buck, 70 lbs or a bit more. Pretty steep for the first quarter mile or so, about 100 ft rise. Pretty easy actually, even when I took it all myself. Left the sled rolled up behind the stand.
Still hoping anything I shoot runs the right way, downhill towards the car instead of downhill away from it.
I use a cart from Rogers Sporting Goods. It has metal spokes and has served me well. I helped a guy from South Carolina haul a deer out of a state forest and his plastic spoked wheel broke in the first 100 feet. My cart sure beats the wheelbarrow that I once tried.
I’ve used a Hawk Crawler for a couple of 100lb bucks. I like the way it folds and fits in the car. It’s sturdy and well built and made these little bucks much easier to deal with than dragging. One was on a very steep hillside - that was very hard as when you have to go straight up (narrow path) it wants to go straight back down. A 200lb deer would have been impossible on that hillside. I may have to get a hoist and go from tree to tree