I've seen a few in the back of trucks but never been anywhere near being able to put one in the truck whole.

I've seen guy's use a spool of rope and snatchblocks to pull one up to the road with a truck, but in most of the places I'm hunting I'd need a huge spool and impractical.

Has anyone tried a portable rope winch (capstan)? I'm thinking it would take a little while to winch one up to a road but it'd be at the truck in one trip.

Packing out pieces in big bear country is a nearvous prospect. Now theres a lot of wolves around I'm wondering how long until one of these packs turns on a guy packing meat. Dragging one out in one trip might be a lot quickeroverall.

Up on the Mogollon in Az, much of it is flat enough that a couple of guys moving logs and stuff, it was possible to maneuver a 4X4 and later years a quad to the animal or close enough to rope them out of small cuts.

Now it's pretty much illegal to go off road.

With a quad you have to get the head tied high on the back rack so it's just dragging the back half on the ground... and all the hair will be drug off that side, something to consider if you want the cape.

I've tried to drag an elk across the ground with my block and tackle, just to get it to the tree I want to hang and quarter in. An elk laying full flat on the ground is almost impossible to move like that... possibly if you had an electric wench and a battery.

It took 5 of us to move this elk 20 yards to a tree, my buddy is a lineman and used his pole climbing equipment to attache a block and tackle, we then hoisted it up and drove the truck under. It took us an hour of picking our way through downfalls to get the truck in a mile.

Anymore I cut'm up and pack'm out, much easier.

http://www.rope-and-rope-products.com/HTMLErin/pullingWovenTape.html

Exactly, my same buddy has roles of it. I once dented the side of my truck pulling an elk from way down a cut using muletape... the weight to the elk pulled me sideways into a tree.

Kent

I've used it for big pigs down in nasty holes, never on a whole elk.. But I know a spool of it and some carabiners can get a lot of chit done.

The Lewis chainsaw winch works well in getting elk out whole.

I wouldn't be without one, great for getting firewood also. Pulls a pretty good sized tree up hill if set up right.

Some day, I am going to hunt in an area that I could do that. So far that has not happened.

I've got a Simpson capstan winch and about 600 feet of 1/2" pulling rope and I've used it to get a couple elk out of holes to where we could handle them and a couple deer also. The Simpson comes with a cable that attaches to about any tree trunk/stump so you can move it along as you go up the hill. In the end, carrying the winch, gas, rope and then getting at least a couple guys from camp to help out was more work and time than just quartering it out and packing it out.
On the steepest hills I would still use the capstan winch, but anything else I pack.

Bob

We've used this receiver hitch crane for at least 15 years. I've loaded countless deer, elk, antelope and even a moose with it. We usually hunt in snowy conditions so it's easier to drag an animal close to the truck. We also do a lot of ranch hunting so even if you have to walk several miles to find the game it's possible to return later with a truck.

The whole crane breaks down into component pieces for transport. It originally came with cable loops, but my BIL (who is an excellent metalworker) replaced those with pulleys and added a circular Teflon collar at the base for ease of rotation.

That's my son with a 300 lb whitetail from 2006.

Only once in my life have we been able to take out a whole elk - last year. We found a herd in the snow on a hillside a few hundred yards off the road at dawn. We did a sneak through the sagebrush and got 2 cows. We were able to skid them down to the flat in the snow and get the truck right to them.

As far as dragging one, it's usually much easier to dice and backpack one than it is to drag. Dragging loses its novelty real fast.

Where I hunt in N. Idaho it is logging country. There are old or new skid roads on most every mountain around here. Usually with a 4-wheeler with a winch and a chainsaw you can get most elk out whole. I've never had to pack any of the 20 I have shot. I've even brought a few out with a John Deere Log skidder. And I know people who have brought em out with high lead Line Machines, I would really like to see that in person. A lot of people around here use chainsaw winches also. Not to say folks don't break em down and pack em also, I've just been fortunate.

In so. Idaho the government has closed most of those old skid roads to motor vehicles.

I've hunted with other folks that have shot elk where I participated in getting three of them them out whole. Every elk I've shot came out in pieces. With snow and mostly downhill, I halve them and drag 'em out. No snow and its quarters on a pack board.

I pulled one out whole last Year. Put him on the back of the quad and away we went. First time in a long time.

I pulled one out whole last Year. Put him on the back of the quad and away we went. First time in a long time.

Have never gotten one out in one piece. The first one we cut down the middle of the backbone and quartered it. The was the first and last time I hauled the spine, ribs or neck.

Since then the largest pieces have been hind leg with the hide still on. The filets and strap come out with the front legs or by themselves.

Shooting cows means I don't have to haul a head, either, although I usually do for CWD testing.

This guy was a small 6x6. By the time I got back to the truck my backside was so bloody I had to strip to my skivvies to drive back to camp.

I hunt a private ranch that has pretty much the normal distribution of two-tracks and jeep trails. Most of my hunting partners simply shoot elk within sight of one of these trails and we haul them up into the back of the "elk wagon" (an old 1990s era GMC pickup) with a winch mounted on the headache rack. We started out using a 4x8 sheet of plywood for a loading ramp, but have now graduated to a folding ATV ramp with aluminum panels over the the cross bars. Our first winch was a 2,000-lb Warn, but we burned it up several years ago trying to load a very big-bodied bull that I was fortunate enough to shoot. We now have a 5,000-lb winch that never really has to breathe hard.

Occasionally, an elk will travel a ways before it dies. When that happens, we tie the head up on the rear rack of an ATV and drag it to the nearest road. The ranch is on the north slope of the Flat Tops and has dense ground cover, so they slide along pretty good and even long drags don't remove much hair from the carcass. When this happens, it is usually necessary to use a chain saw to cut some deadfall in order to get the ATV to the carcass. (This is why my partners call me "Chain Saw": I don't confine my hunting to areas close to the trails and two-tracks, and we have had to resort to the chain saw/ATV scenario more often than they like.)

A few years ago, we rigged a couple of Polaris Rangers with 2,000 lb winches on the roll cages, and I have used one to drag a big bull elk to the nearest point where we could reach it with the elk wagon. Last year, however, one of my buddies and his son-in-law actually managed to get a mature bull entirely up in the bed of one of these. It looked a little silly (and top heavy) to me, but they got it all the way back down the mountain with no mishaps.

We have a very good processor down in town and we have found that we end up with a lot more meat letting our processor work over the carcass, so (as the kids say) that's the way that we roll.

Most of the Federal ground is closed down up here except for a few main roads. But the timber companies still for the most part are pretty good about public use on their lands. There are several million acres of timber company ground up here.

I've gotten a few out whole. I've actually been able to drive right up next to a four of them that died out in the sage flats.

The easiest one died on the uphill side of an old logging road that was cut into the side of the hill. I drove the truck up next to it and rolled it onto the tailgate. Didn't even have to pick it up.

In addition to those, there are several that died within a quarter mile of a road and we were able to pull them up to the truck with chainsaw winch.

But those days are over. About eight or ten years ago the elk changed their migration patterns in response to the drought. I've had to start backpacking in to get them and that means cutting them up and hauling them out in pieces.

KC

Mule tape is the answer, 1/2 mile on one roll...

I have at least a quarter mile of "mule tape" on a reel. You send the end with a couple of antler guides and throw a hitch around pin. Drive forward, back up, reel in and repeat. Getting it in the back is why I have a winch on the headache rack.
My boys and I have come home with 3 bulls in the back. Whole.

I'm not sure why any one would want to deal with a whole elk any place, even in sight of the road?

So easy to break it down to manageable chunks.

There are better ways than mule tape...

I've used a backhoe, tractor, bobcat and manually lifted one in the back of a pickup with my brother once. very few times I've had to cut them up to get them out. all depends on tactics and where you hunt.

Several years ago, we saw a trailer at a trailhead with 2 ATVs, both with whole cows tied on. The problem was that the entire area was closed to motorized vehicles. I guess that rules don't apply to everyone.

out of state plates?

I like to let the whole skinned/cleaned carcass hang for a few days before I butcher it. Just a personal preference. Every time I have boned meat out or broken it down into quarters it has seemed a lot tougher in texture to me.

But then I'm mostly a meat hunter not a horn guy.

I've used the gutless method many times over the years. Every one of the tough ones has been done that way while the most tender ones were skinned and left whole for at least 6 to 8 hrs to give the muscles time to go into rigor mortise. My favorite technique that seems to produce the most tender meat is to gut and skin, then leave the carcase whole while I go for the llamas or back pack. I bone or quarter after it stiffens up. Of course it's not always possible to do it that way but it produces the best results.

The Norwegians use a machine known as an "Iron Horse" to get their Moose out.



From what I understand they are proper to the logging industry and come in several configurations. I think the idea is that you walk in front of the machine, steering and controlling it via the long handle..

I've not seen them used here in the UK, but I have heard of guys using builders tracked power barrows in much the same way..

Like many here, I have a soft spot for hunting related gadgets, and I've looked long and hard at those hoists, to the point of almost ordering one, but then I think "Why?"

If you want to skin in the field, I can see the point, especially for somebody who hunts where trees are not so common. But purely from loading a vehicle perspective, I think a ramps and winch set up is a better idea.

Additionally, if you select your ramps carefully, they can be used as "sand/mud ladders" should your vehicle get stuck or need to cross a ditch ect..

My main gripe with many of the hoist designs is that they sit right in front of the tailgate area and are therefore in the way; some are so close to the truck they even stop the tailgate from being dropped..

There are designs that position the hoist off to the side, while there are others that use an A frame arrangement to keep the loading area clear, but again from purely a loading perspective, I would still tend to lean towards a winch and ramp set up...

Regards

Peter

I've skinned so many deer and elk on the ground in preparation for boning that I can do it just about as fast that way as hanging.

It's all about timing the shot just right.

... and angle to miss the truck...

My elk this year was 4 miles from the road.

Some will say that a 270 will NEVER pass through. Don't bet your truck on that.

The only elk I've gotten out whole (that is to say, field-dressed) have been taken on private land. One was a 6x7 that rolled down the hill after being dropped, ending up close enough to a road it could be winched into the back of a 3/4-ton pickup.

One was a spike my wife shot on a rancher friend's land 25 years ago on December 1st, the last day of the Montana rifle season. It dropped 150 yards from a logging road. The snow that fell on the road during the previous few weeks had melted, then frozen into two ice-slick ruts. There were five of us there, and after gutting the spike we dragged it across a narrow willow draw to the road. When I started to drag it down the ice-rut the elk overran me, and I had to jump out of the way as it slid down the road.

The pickup was parked maybe 400 yards down the road. If had been facing the other way, with tailgate down, the elk might have zoomed right into the bed. Instead we had to lift it in.

The 2 cows I mentioned earlier that we were able to get the truck to were a piece of cake. I skinned mine and we were bringing the truck across the flat to load it. I have a stock rack with a ramp on it for my llamas. 2 young guys watched us drive through the sage brush then came over to offer a hand. They grabbed both elk and dragged them up the ramp for us. We're both 65+ and I guess they felt sorry for us old farts.

Thats one of the ways they load Elk sized Plainsgame in RSA.

I've also seen them dig two tapering trenches (for the rear wheels) and back the Pick-up into the trenches so that the tail gate/bed ends up lower/closer to the ground to make loading easier.

Obviously this is only practical in sandy or similar light soil but where there is a will, and enough man power, there is a way!

This is how we prefer to do it in Saskatchewan. We shoot them where they are accessable. Of course not all good elk country is created equal and we are very very fortunate to own some.

Pete,

Of course, one of the differences between RSA (and other African countries) and most of the rest of the world is labor's very cheap. Consequently, there are usually a bunch of people to help load!

But my first Cape buffalo was loaded whole (including innards) in the back of Land Cruiser with a combination of shoveling holes for the rear tires, a custom long tailgate, and an electric winch. The high rack in the back of the Cruiser had a bar above the cab, with a roller for the winch cable. They ran the cable over the roller, attached it to the buffalo's head, and winched the whole carcass into the back, then drove it back to camp for dissection.

Have used winches to load a couple of gutted bull elk into pickups, but even the bigger elk was considerably lighter than an entire buffalo, perhaps as little as 1/3 as much.

Have also been in places where a front-end loader could be used to load bison and moose, but not elk!

On several occasions, I've been fortunate enough to shoot an elk close enough to a road (like 50 yards) so that 4 or 5 guys could load the whole carcass into a truck bed. The problem is getting the thing back out! Better, I think, to just quarter it up and load the pieces.

Especially in cold weather. A friend and some buddies once loaded a whole 6-point bull in the back of a Suburban, and got back to town late and dead-tired, so left it there. That night the temperature dropped well below zero. They couldn't budge the elk the next morning!

Tie the elk to a tree or very solid stake and just drive away.

Bullet holes in trucks happen. Just keep the bullets away from things that leak and you'll be fine.

Yeah, I used that trick one time at the dump with a dead horse.

I majored in Animal Sci. in college. We had a meats lab that was a miniature packing house. One of the profs saw an article from another college where they killed and skinned a sheep, then propped it up in the freezer and let it freeze solid. Then they sliced it up with a bandsaw so the students could see how the muscles, bones, and organs lay in the animal. He decided to try it, too, but he used a small steer instead of a sheep. Once that steer was frozen, there was no possible way to handle it or get it on the bandsaw. He ended up having to thaw it out to move it.

Older brother and I worked graveyard at Jack in the box when I was in high school and he just starting JC... he killed an antelope with dad, brought it back skinned whole and propped it upright in the walkin freezer for night shift...

scared the poor morning girl to hysterical screaming when we forgot to warn her on shift change...

Kent

Years ago I knew a guy who was an asst mgr at a pizza place. He always used the store cooler for big game. It's a good thing the health inspector never found out or he'd have closed them down.

I got mine out whole. Took five hours, four guys, three vehicles, and one very understanding and helpful landowner. What a great guy.

I killed mine about 10 yards inside the Forest Service boundary fence. Unlucky elk.

Winching into a tree with the atv winch helps to make it easier. Once you have the elk winched into the tree, you drive under it and let it back down onto the 4 wheeler, then you tie it on and drag the other elk...

Best $20 on lumber I ever spent:




Got this one about 3/4 mile from the road. Lucked out, it was the only day the ground was frozen hard...otherwise it was muddy as hell and sloppy, and I'd of had to of packed her out. Backed up to her, hooked a come a long and strap around her and the front of the truck bed, and winched her right up. Took all of 5 mins and never broke a sweat.

Also have winched one up into a tree, and lowered it back down into the bed.

Wish they were all as easy as these two were.

I have packed far more elk out on my back than I have ever seen whole. Given the large number I have been involved with a few are always up hill, close to the road, on a skid road or decommissioned road, but 90+%, are either "way" down or "way" up, with no "way" (pun intended), to move them other in lots of pieces. We have used chain saw winches, ropes, pulleys, cables, gear driven winches, ATV's, but I will say however that in my lifetime I have spent far more time hunting them , than packing them out !!! I also hunt a lot by myself and most other options don't work with one person.

My favorite way to recover them...








I got twice lucky, but I've had pack-outs lasting three days more than once, also.

Not too many years ago, 2 hunters in OR dropped down in a real hell hole where 1 shot a big bull. As they were dressing it out, one of them dropped dead of a heart attack. It took the rescue team 3 days to get his body out. If it was that nasty, I have no idea how they planned to pack out the elk. To be fair, though, I doubt that the rescue team quartered him.

We used to load our animals into the trailer by hand. A few yearsago, one of our group came up with this. Big improvement.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...BAD-534-0000008944893283_zpsdcbddb08.mp4[/img]

Paging Greenhorn.

My funny whole elk story. I was hunting a ridge near home that usually only had my foot prints. I'm walking up it one morning and notice the meager trail has been greatly expanded and recently used. I'm thinking hunters on horses came through. After first light I notice elk hair on logs on the ground. I'm watching a good saddle a few hours later when a group of 6 hunters show up. Surprised, I asked if they were driving elk (Who hunts in a group of 6?) No, they were elk hunting - they shot a 5 point here opening day, it took them 12 hours to drag it out whole (3 miles!). I'm looking at 6 hunters, with backpacks, and bust out laughing so hard I have to bend over with my hands on my knees. Between giggles, I ask why they didn't quarter it and take it out in a little over an hour. No response. I decided to leave before it turned into a fist fight. I laughed all the way back to my truck.

Why would you return to an area it took you 12 hours for one trip to get the animal out?

We've done it both ways....


I'm kinda partial to the latter.....

Ditto, I have boned and packed and I have ignored the un Constitutional land managers and backed a truck up where half a dozen of us did the old heave ho.

Ran into a "former Navy Seal" one year who was with four guys when they killed an elk and in 3 days they couldn't figure out how to get it to a pack string - the whole situation was actually even worse than the part i just told you.

Anyway some people can manage to get things done and some can't even imagine it being possible.

I'd drop a dime on your dumb ass..

Adam

ATV recovery winch in the back of the truck and a ramp beats all but a tractor...

I have loaded a few whole over the years, mostly cows though. I shot a bull by Flagstaff in '91 during a blizzard with my 30-30. It was up hill from me and when he finally tipped over he just slid right to me. I had to jump out of the way to keep from being mowed over. I then grabbed an antler and drug him another 40 yards down hill, by myself. I then through a rope over his antler, dallied up and drug him to the nearest 2-track.

Four of us then loaded him in the truck whole. Still not sure why, mostly to say we did.

A buddy of mine had an 82 Toyota pickup. We would put a piece of stove pipe over a limb, use a 6" wide nylon strap over the sheet metal and pull the elk up in the air with a second pickup; back the Toyota under the bull and lower him down. We put four big 6x6s in his truck to take a photo. He actually made it all the way back to town with bulls hanging everywhere. Someone told him it couldn't be done!

Mostly, I don't see the point unless you can get them to a skinning shed with a loader!

You can also pull them up your reloading ramp with the winch on your 4 wheeler...

I was lucky enough to get one close to the trail also

and a pic inside the Jeep

My son killed a cow one year that we drove up to. Somehow, the two of us loaded it into the back of my 77 F150 with a camper on it through the camper door and drove back to town. The rigor was just enough to make it impossible to get out. Took 5 of us to wiggle it out! I like the head showing between the seats!!

I've only gotten 2 cows out whole - one we were able to get a 4 wheeler to and 3 of us lifted her on the back. The other had the good manners to run toward the road and die 60 yards from it in the snow. we lifted the bottom strand of wire and pulled her under - had to use the come-along to get her in the truck.

I did get a bull out in 2 pieces with 3 other guys helping. This year I'm probably going to try the sled trick if we get one in the snow - a whole bull can come out in one trip stacked on a heavy duty plastic sled with a couple of guys pulling - works well when you hunt way above the truck.

I still don't understand 2 guys dragging for any distance, if they can carry knives and saws in their hands..

I killed a spike bull years ago at the end of an old logging road I walked in on. When I shot him he fell into an old log deck and wedged in there. I was able to get my Toyota back in there and had to skid him up on the road to gut him. Then I ran the haul rope up the bank and around a tree, skidded him up the hill and backed the pickup under neath him. I now have a little flat bed trailer I tow behind the pickup to haul the 4-wheeler then I can hook it to the 4-wheeler for elk recovery operations. It makes a great lil meat wagon.

+1. I hate dragging a fuggin deer let alone an elk

No kidding. What's the point of bringing it out whole?

Always travel uphill while hunting, and recovery will be a cinch.

er, um,.......easier, yes, but a cinch? I can give you lots of episodes to the contrary.

Manzanita, mahogany, alder, aspen groves, rocks, cliffs

It isn't always so easy going down.

Well, there's also the matter of how far you travel uphill......

Yes, but in this country one can be overrun by even dead quarry. True even with no snow. We've had dead deer and elk go 400+ yds on their own. The deer were fine as we always start at the bottom. With the elk, however, we made the mistake of coming in from the top.


It's a case of get out the horses or pack frame, because the 4-wheelers are not going there.

I agree, I keep those tools under the seat...

I am not blessed with hunting on private land so I imagine that explains why only one out of 13 came out whole and it wasn't worth it. I just wanted to do it one time.

I brought 2 out whole from public land. The benefit was we were still logging so I just brought it into the shop and hung it up with the chain hoist. Last years AZ bull died 10' from the road. There was no benefit to leaving it whole so it got boned out and tossed in coolers in the back of the truck.

Idaho has a special trespass law that opens huge amounts of unposted private land to hunting. Between that and all of our public land, most elk are shot on what you could call 'wild' land. Much of it isn't open or suitable for wheeled vehicles. Most of where we hunt isn't accessible except on foot or with pack animals. Even where they're legal, the steepness, trees, and rocks prevent you from getting anything with wheels to a dead elk, even pack carts.

Interesting thread. I've only driven to 2 cow elk. The rest have come out in pieces on a sled. Even on dry ground the sled makes a difference. And once can always wait till morning and frost.

I have a 9000# winch that mounts to receiver front or back of truck. I carry rope and 3/8 cable for getting unstuck (most often getting others unstuck!) And a ton of 1/8 inch cable. I see a spool of pulling tape in my future. I got a cow moose out whole - solo - by tying everything I had together - including 3 of my 4 tire chains! - and winching it to the truck. I dragged it behind the truck to a flat spot, and then loaded it. I have always wanted a bed mounted winch, but don't want to give up the space. My solution: I opened the window on the back of the truck, and the sliding window on my topper. Open windows in truck. Insert 4X4 across windows. Hook short strap to 4 X4, then to winch. 2 -2X10s for a loading ramp, and hand winch the moose up the ramp into the truck using a one of the cheap fence stretcher winches.

If possible I like critters to come out whole because I really do think meat ages better on the bone (a non issue for bone-in quarters, but the tenderloins, ribs, backstrap and trim meat become an issue). I also HATE trimming so much dried meat from all the way around the various cuts.

If the drag is of any distance or difficulty though, critters get cut up in a big hurry. Dragging does indeed suck ass.

Nate, We too wondered about that prospect of going down a few rungs on the food chain while packing out.

There is no way where we hunt in N. Idaho you can pull a kill out whole. So packing is the only option.

To keep the critters off the hanging game bags (usually takes two trips), we hang stocking filled with whole pepper and small bags of curry. Then tie them to the pack boards. We do this after one of our neighbors Pit Bulls got loose and likes to bite. One wiff of that curry, and he stood about 20 yards from us and would take one step closer. He was in attack mode. Also helps with hornets and yellow jackets, which concerns me more than predators.

There is no doubt we have been followed. Not sure if our method worked but there ya go.

Where did you get that rig? Or, did you build it. That would be dandy for recovering and butchering out in the field.

Not sure about regs and rules where most of you guys hunt as far as protecting yourselves against wolves and bear. If you're in a situation where you may be confronted by wolves or bear while packing meat and can't shoot them due to strict regs consider a dry chemical fire extinguisher and possibly a can of hornet spray, the foaming 30 footer type. I was on a raid time once upon a time and I know a blast from a dry chemical extinguisher will knock the wind out of large pit bulls and rotties in no time flat. The dry chemical will suck the O2 out of any animal instantly when hit in the face. A little heavy perhaps but it works.

I am in awe of anyone who drags a whole elk out, at any distance.

Except a little one, on a gentle downhill grade, in the snow.

And as long as we're making stuff up, with a gorgeous female companion. Topless.

I prefer hole animal removal, when possible. Cleaner meat, cleaner butchering just better quality control of meat... Always TRY to hunt uphill

Chit does happen and sometimes things end up in the bottom of a drainage, Where only dismemberment will work.

I have on private, state and federal land lugged and drug halves and whole down hill by hand, boned and semi-butchered elk in foot only access areas, wiggled my tractor to them, used various atv's, been involved with horse packs and backed my pick-up to them. And hope to some day use logging equipment for said purpose, Just has not happened for me yet

By far I prefer hole elk extraction.

I managed to get one out and loaded by myself one time. I used a Cat 518.

Lucky basterd

I've had it so long I don't really remember all the details....but I originally ordered it from some outfit in Nevada. It was billed as "The Cheater". The current version works a lot better than it did when new.