Deer on the ground: What do you do to get the meat out?

[Albin]

Here in North Alabama, I've been seeing more and more people take the shoulders, hams and backstraps and leaving the rest to the 'yotes and buzzards. No gutting involved.

I've always gutted my deer, but I haven't been deer hunting in about 6 years or so. Now, my son and I are getting back into it and we're really enjoying ourselves.

North Alabama deer aren't very large, and figure maybe 200-300 yards over rough ground to get them out.

Thoughts on the best way to get the deer meat out of the woods?

Thanks,

Al

[Bushman]

An ATV if it is legal or a deer cart if it isn't. A tarp works okay and helps keep the carcass clean or a kid's sled or a wheelbarrow or a kid's wagon or even a piece of plywood. My kids brought me two deer to clean this year and there must have been a cup full of sand under those deer when I was skinning them. As careful as I was, I just know there will be a few particles of sand in that meat and I prefer my venison without sand.

I've started carrying small pulleys with 50' of Nylon rope in my pack. I'm pretty far back in and chances are good that I'd need to leave a deer over night. If it is on the ground it is fair game for the wolves or coyotes back there. You would be amazed at how easy it is to pull a deer way up in a tree using two double roller pulleys.

[Twanger]

On deer under 100lb dressed, if you only have 200-300 yards to drag, I'd say cross the front legs over the top of the neck, take a couple of half hitches around the neck and legs with a stout rope, and pull 'em out. You can break a piece of dead-fall branch off to make a 6" inch handle for the haul rope to keep the rope from cutting into your hand.

Bucks (up to 150 lb) come with those built in handles :D, and we usually just put a guy on each side and pull 'em out if it's only 200-300 yds. If you plan to mount the buck, dragging can ruin the cape by wearing the hair off the shoulder. In that case you can use a cheap $25 plastic snow sled. A wheeled cart is by far the easiest, and also the most expensive solution. With big bucks (150-200+ lb) you really need the sled or cart.


Here in North Alabama, I've been seeing more and more people take the shoulders, hams and backstraps and leaving the rest to the 'yotes and buzzards. No gutting involved.

I've always gutted my deer, but I haven't been deer hunting in about 6 years or so. Now, my son and I are getting back into it and we're really enjoying ourselves.

North Alabama deer aren't very large, and figure maybe 200-300 yards over rough ground to get them out.

Thoughts on the best way to get the deer meat out of the woods?

Thanks,

Al

[GF.]

I sled 'em out, myself; whole if on private property where the owner wants it that way, otherwise I'll gut in the field to lighten the load. For the distances you're talking about, the risk of contaminating the meat exceeds the benefit of lightening the load....

Farther back in, though - as on an Elk hunt - we skin/quarter the animal and put those into game bags, hang the meat so as to be as bear-proof as possible, then come back the next day to bone it out after it has cooled down. Leaving bones on the hill leaves a lot of weight behind, but I prefer to let the meat cool first if I can.

When dealing with deer in rough country, a sled has the advantage of being hard to tip over and has no wheels to break or get out of round. Also, you can use ropes and 1 or 2 pulleys to save yourself a lot of backbreaking effort on the up-hills and to ease the strain on your knees going down....

[Bob S]

North Alabama deer aren't very large, and figure maybe 200-300 yards over rough ground to get them out.200 to 300 yards?

My property is 2760 feet deep. My most productive stand is 96 yards from the back property line. I drag every deer out using a plastic ice fishing sled pulled by hand.

It took me 2 hours and 40 minutes to drag out the buck in my avatar.

[MOGC]

We field dress wherever they drop to lighten the load and begin the cooling process. Then we use a Cabela's Mag Hauler to get them out of the woods, it is tons easier than dragging.

[DaveP]

I have used a cheap,plastic tobaggon for the last couple decades, from moose to 30# sika deer.

Have been in a few placeswhere I've had to cut a deer in half to get it out.

Do whatever needs done!

[Sabre]

I carry a 3 foot length of rope in my pocket. Pick up a stick to use as a drag handle at the kill site and use the "armstrong" method from there on out.

[swamp]

if two people are available use a carry pole ... tie front feet together, tie rear feet together. ... a lot better than dragging any day...

[Bill Gunn]

Drag or ATV, with drag a far distant second....

[Phil T]

I haven't bought it, but there is a DVD showing how to "fillet" a deer. I think the source is in MN. I saw a brief preview of the DVD, and all he left was the rib cage and contained internal organs.

[ncboman]

if two people are available use a carry pole ... tie front feet together, tie rear feet together. ... a lot better than dragging any day...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Ohio%2007/12807Ohio191.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Ohio%2007/12807Ohio192reh.jpg

[ncboman]

I wish I'd had a super mag cart 40yrs ago. :rolleyes:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Israel/101606016reh.jpg

Along with the cart I've found taking young fellas along hunting is has it's advantages. ;)

[Bill Gunn]

I haven't bought it, but there is a DVD showing how to "fillet" a deer. I think the source is in MN. I saw a brief preview of the DVD, and all he left was the rib cage and contained internal organs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here in North Alabama, I've been seeing more and more people take the shoulders, hams and backstraps and leaving the rest to the 'yotes and buzzards. No gutting involved.


I don't know if it's the one Phil T is talking about, but a very good friend of mine made a DVD named "CWD ... The Safer Way". It's no longer available.

He does a lot of deer control work in areas where normal hunting is not allowed. He has butchered over 400 deer that he has taken (He was a professional Butcher at one time), and when he leaves the woods, he walks out with a pack carrying nothing but pure boned meat.

Essentially what he does, is set the deer on it's stomach, with the legs spread out, he then makes a cut through the skin right on the backbone from the tail to the skull.
He then skins out one side of the deer, bones out the meat on the legs, cuts out the backstrap, and gets the meat from the top of the neck.
He then cuts through carefully (but he's VERY Fast !!) from the last rib to the rear leg just under the spine, reaches in, and fillets off the tenderloin.

Then he does the other side the same. Bones, guts, and hide (with the lymph nodes) are still all connected (deer is never gutted). He never even cuts through any bone joints, it's not necessary, and wastes time, and cutting bones & joints gets you to one of the areas where CWD is in deer (it's in many other areas too).
He done so many, his speed is an amazing thing to see. I would guess he's all done in LESS than 15 min, and it leaves very little work to be done at home (We cut up all our own deer).
He donates all the meat he gets to kitchens for the poor, they even had a full page or 2 article about him in the newspaper because of all the meat he donates.

[MOGC]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Ohio%2007/12807Ohio191.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Ohio%2007/12807Ohio192reh.jpg

My dad and I tried that method exactly as in NC's picture with a fair sized buck I killed about 2 1/2 miles cross country back in the hills right before dark in the evening. The pole we chopped was green and springy and the deer would bounce the pole up/down and sway side/side on the pole. Damned thing nearly had us skinned by the time we got it to the truck. Stumbling along up and down these steep rocky Ozark hills through the timber in the dark taught me a couple of things.

First, have a way to get a deer out BEFORE you shoot one way back in the timber. Second, that way SUCKS! Tie the deer’s belly tight to the pole to prevent that up/down – side/side motion that throws you off balance and out of step. Plus it helps prevent the pole from digging a hole through your shoulder. Third, those goofy looking little headlamps might not be such a bad idea. They beat the heck out of trying to hold a flashlight while working in the dark. Fourth, there are better ways, like a two wheeled deer cart!

[Sidekick]

I've been lucky. For the last 20 years I've been able to drive right up to deer with my pickup or atv. I might have a 50-100 yard drag at most. My favorite way if I'm at home is to just fire up my old John Deere. I've got 3pt pallet forks and a big home made pallet and I don't even have to lift them. Drive right to them and chug home. Or use the loader bucket if I have it mounted.

[Twanger]

Bill - That sounds like a neat trick!
It takes me a good 2 hours to debone and vacuum pack a deer.
We can call a deer in to check it, and I've considered deboning a deer and carrying say 35 lb of meat out vs. dragging out 80lb.

[Bill Gunn]

Bill - That sounds like a neat trick!
It takes me a good 2 hours to debone and vacuum pack a deer.
We can call a deer in to check it, and I've considered deboning a deer and carrying say 35 lb of meat out vs. dragging out 80lb.

Give it a try on a smaller deer first just to learn the maneuvers.
It really works neat, saves a lot of work and no guts...

[Bushman]

MOGC, if you hadn't posted about those deer swinging on a pole, I was going to. I guess I'd watched too many safari movies so a big strapper of a friend and I tried it on a 191 pound dressed buck that I'd shot. It sure looked good, but it was one step forward and two steps to the side. We never tried that again. I wish that we had thought to tie him up closer to the body to prevent the swinging. We ended up putting him on a piece of plywood and sliding him down the rails on a railroad track. That really worked pretty good in retrospect.

Nine guys to help like NC's picture would be helpful too. I overheard two people talking in the restaurant this deer season about a horse show that they were taking their horse to. I told them that I sure wish that I knew someone with a horse that could help pull deer out. Out in CO. guys were waving $100. bills at my rancher buddy with his horses to have him help them get their elk out. What's a coronary worth to you?

In WI. we need to bring them out whole by law and they can only be field dressed until they have been registered. Even cutting them in two would be a big help.

[purple heart]

I have to use an atv. If it wasn't for my atv I'd have to eat it where it fell.:)

Luckily where I hunt is a maze of woods roads so we don't usually have to
drag the deer very far to a woods road. Usually a matter of feet not yards.

[Rembrandt]

ATV, packing them out nearly mile is for the youngsters.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Rembrandt51/Wildlife/09deer-5.jpg

[Bushman]

A very nice symmetrical 8 there Rembrandt. We can't use an ATV on state or county land and it has improved the hunting because of the more limited access. The dirt on the carcass is a bigger issue for lots of us than the drag itself. After cleaning those two sand shakers that my kids brought me, I'm going to give them my body bag to use. $3.00 down at the war surplus store that included a huge plastic bag and a zippered Nylon bag with six handles.

[GF.]

Putting a warm carcass into a plastic bag might not be your best bet, though.....

Better to let the cool air at it, IMO, and I'd bet Hrene would agree...

Hmmmm... He's dragged out a few.... thousand.... Wonder what his preferred system is?

[Bushman]

Agreed, I was thinking about just using the outer Nylon bag. I got that thing to contain my smaller bags of deer hunting stuff like an oversize duffel bag. I've never used the heavy plastic bag for anything because I can't think up a use for it other than it's original intended purpose. For $3.00 I'm not out much even if I don't use it.