Have any of you tried pulleys?

[Bushman]

For getting deer up big hills I mean. For the last two years my deer have dropped in areas where I had to use my Simpson gas powered rope winch to get them out to where I could pull them over more level ground. Great as that Simpson is, it still weighs 16 pounds plus the rope and I keep it in the truck, not out in the woods with me. I was watching a salvage operation show on the Discovery channel earlier this week and I see that they use a lot of mechanical advantage in the form of multiple pulleys. A couple of two or three roller pulleys and some rope would fit pretty easily in a pack and be lighter than 16 pounds. I haven't done the math, but a 200# deer with some pulleys on him and an anchor tree would come up a hill more like a 50# deer. Sure it would take 4 times the rope, but I've got lots of rope. Or would you just leave the deer and come back with the deer cart and the winch?

[Altjaeger]

I am not real sure of your terraine but I would say bring the winch and leave it in the truck then pack a pulley. If the pulley works great and no extra trip. If it does not you have the winch to fall back on.

[Bill Gunn]

Or would you just leave the deer and come back with the deer cart and the winch?

After a triple bypass, and a liver transplant, make mine "Option C"

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[Hink]

In 1985, I was hunting a small farm in Gilmer Co. that allowed doe hunting. It was a major high density area and that morning after only seeing a couple of deer that were already on the run I met up with my dad. He'd been watching a small pack of 25 that was just around the ridge. I asked him why he didn't shoot one and he said he'd rather shoot his closer to the truck. Well I was 19 years old and full of piss and vinegar and I eased around to that side of the ridge to shoot one. I picked out a big doe and popped her behind the shoulder. She went a rumbling and stumbling and tumbling to the bottom of that very deep hollow.

At some point during he next 4 hours as I fought that deer back up the ridge I realized that in the future it would have to be one heck of a buck and that I'd get some help getting it out. If I don't think I can anchor one right there I won't shoot it unless its a good one.

I'm sure all sorts of contraptions would work but at some point I think there are probably some places you just don't want to shoot them. Oh yeah, my dad killed his within 100 yards of the truck about an hour before dark later that afternoon and he had a down hill drag.

[Smokey]

I guess that is the reason I try to hunt on the side of the road that goes. I do use those small pulleys to hang deer. They work great. I believe they would also work for what you want to do.

[Herne]

You could get a pulley system that would work over may yards in your pocket. The racing yacht people make enormously strong but tiny ones, in 2,3 & 4 :1. By tiny I mean 1 1/4" total, but all ball raced etc etc.

The cord is just over 1/8 diameter and is a called Dynemo. Its kevlar cored woven outer, and is perfect.

However - we had this problem of getting very big red deer out of woods and up slopes that were too steep for a quad. Obviously there was not a hope of getting the 4x4 into the woods. So sometimes one had 4-600 yard pulls before you could get onto reasonably level ground and start recovering normally. Either one could get the 4x4 as close as possible to act as an anchor, or if one had to do it in many stages then one would use several trees. Motive power was a little timber pulling 2 stroke capstan winch. That was completely man portable, and being a capstan, the length of pull was determined by the rope.

Incidentally the winch would easily pull the 4x4 out if we got that bogged. It generated about 1000lbs of line pull at a steady slow walk. Its an American made winch and cost peanuts.

[Bushman]

Bill, I read that loud and clear. I'm a Rokon owner, that two wheel drive mototractor that you see advertised in the back pages of Outdoor Life every month, and 60% grades are no bull. The thing goes anywhere. Problem being is I'm hunting a huge section of state land and motorized vehicles are not allowed. The Simpson capstan rope winch is motorized, but not a vehicle so it is okay to use. Last year for the first time I saw three hunters near the truck, so I'm finding that I've got to get still farther away. Those hills are 30-40 degrees I'd say and up to a couple hundred yards long.

A good tip on those racing yacht pulleys and line Herne, I had not thought to look at that market segment.

I used a mechanical boat winch on a 210# deer and it took a long time. A 180# on the deer cart took two days to get out even with a buddy. Those hills are why lots of people won't go back there.

The military has what they call a rope ascender which is a battery powered gizmo that pulls a guy up a rope. I first saw the thing on an old Batman movie and wrote down the name from the credits at the end of the movie. They are made out east in Massachusetts I think. The company is missing some market share by not targeting it to deer and elk hunters for pulling animals up hills. The pulleys are way cheaper though and nicely portable.

[Herne]

Don't forget some kind of ground anchor in the package, in case a suitable tree isn't too handy.

The dynemo is good, but expensive, and the distances you are talking about you will need miles of it.

I'd make up a recovery back pack. The winch, rope, ground anchor and strops and then let petrol sort the problem. Mandraulically pulling heavy deer, even on a trolley, up steep hills is IMO, a lot more unfunny than having to walk back to the wagon to get the kit and do it in the dark, care of torches and fossil fuel. But thats just me!

[ncboman]

When I travel to trophy hunt, I take my cart and try to have enough extra cash to hire a crew of Mexicans if need be.

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:D

[Hi Ball]

Well, I do always take along a "Come-a-Long" set of rope falls/block and a couple of snatch blocks too with 300ft of rope for grins. Yeah, I know it might sound like unneeded bagage but it has worked for me more than once.

[Bushman]

NCB, ten guys would probably work pretty well getting one out on a pole like that, but have you ever tried it with two guys? I dropped a 191# eight pointer once and the deer outweighed both of us. The deer got to swinging side to side and we were taking one step to the side for every one that we took forward. The pulley idea maybe is best for getting the critter pulled up high enough in a tree so the wolves don't eat it while one goes back for the deer cart and the backpack with the pulling kit. "Just how much is a coronary event worth to you?" Is a line from the old Simpson winch web site (www.simpsonwinch.com) that always stuck with me.

[Sidekick]

The worst one I ever had wasn't at the bottom of a hill. I had just shot a medium sized buck and in his death run he ran headlong into a woven wire fence and flipped over the other side with his antlers tangled up and basically twisted the fence 180 degrees. I had to heave him back over the other side before I could even think about doing anything with him and then heave him back over where he was originally and drag him through two creeks to get him to where I could pick him up with the truck. All within sight of my house. I think that's him I smell in the crockpot now...

[Chuck S]

I carry a load of spare rope and strap in the truck and we're talking at least 300 feet or so. I also carry a small multiplying pulley system which has about 50 feet of rope to it. In some areas, I also carry a deer cart. Plenty of trees in most places I hunt so it's tie onto one of them and winch it 300 ft or so, fifty feet at a time, move trees and do it again, until I get it to where the cart or bumper pull of the truck can come into play. I also carry a trailer hitch crane to lift said animal into the truck. At my age and health, I take it slow and it works out fine. If all else is not right, there's always the Jansport Frame Pack, Plastic Bags and a sharp knife and frying pan. ;) Haven't done it lately but have been known to bone it out and pack it out.:cool:

[dave-t.]

That is what I would do if I had one in a tight spot now. MO has tele-check and I'd pack that sucker out of the ditch, creek, or rough patch in 40-50lb loads or less.

When I was 18, playing football, and was skipping school on a Monday to hunt alone, I shot a mature doe at the bottom of a creek bed. The truck was parked on the road just over the top of the ridge. It was maybe a 200-250yd up hill drag in the oak woods of southern MO, and after I gutted that deer I grabbed its front feet and started up the hill. I remeber it wearing me out to the point I had to stop once.:eek: It's still clear in my head, me thinking "I'm glad nobody is here to see me taking a break and wussing out like this."

If I could make that drag with no rope, in 4-5 stops now, I'd be impressed with myself, so impressed I'd take some ibuprofen and go lay down.:rolleyes:

That was my first solo deer hunt success, and was back when shooting a deer had my adrenaline flowing all day long. Everyone else was at school or work, and I never even got a picture.:(

[Smokey]

Backpacking one out is rough. I've done it a couple times with elk. There has been several times with mule deer I just cut it in half at the end of the rib cage which makes dragging much easier. Out here you drag on dirt and rocks without the aid of grass and leaves its tough.

[Bushman]

For what ever reason Wisconsin makes us bring out deer whole and they can only be field dressed. I went to the Deer Hearing this spring and asked why we can't cut a deer at least in half with proof of sex attached in order to get them out more easily. They said that question came up a couple of years back and was voted down because they thought it would promote poaching. I don't see how frankly, but that is what I was told. When I hunted in MN. they can cut them up to get them out and even use an ATV on state land at night and a couple hours in the middle of the day to retrieve a deer. I rather like that. They want people like me going deeper into the big woods for the older deer that live back there, but then they make it that much more work to get the deer back out.

[Bushman]

Herne, I went to the sailing shop today looking for pulleys and you are right, they have small ball bearing ones in spades. I found a nice double one that I liked but then turned the card over and saw the $62.50 price.:eek: My Scottish blood rushed immediately to my brain and I decided that I will never be a sailor if a rigging costs like that. Two sets of doubles and a swivel down at the local farm store were less than ten bucks total. I was messing around out in the garage picking up my 50# trolling motor battery using the pulleys. Pretty amazing how all the weight goes away when more line and those pulleys are used.

[ncboman]

Pretty amazing how all the weight goes away when more line and those pulleys are used.


It IS amazing.

Downside is the amazing tangle all of it can become when thrown around the barn. :o