RE: Stupid question .....but I don`t know
Most times have carried out whole carcass. (Deer & Pigs)But can only handle up to about 70-80KG max.
Shot two big Red stags two years ago. Gutted and with head off were 90KG and 97KG Carried the smaller to a clearing 400 metres away and two of us managed to hang it in a tree. Second one, two of us dragged 100 metres to a small clearing. Picked them up with a helicoptor the following day.
On smaller animals I make a backpack out of the carcass by cutting the hocks on the front legs, but leaving the sinews attached.
Then threading the front hock through a hole cut in the hocks of the back legs. The carcass then sits on your back like a pack. Would do for most of your smaller deer species, and also an Elk Spike.
In rougher terrain I only take the trophy (Head, Skin etc.) and the best cuts, I bone out into a backpack. (Back steaks and Hind quarters.) Sometimes pack out the hindquarter whole, slung over shoulders.
Always lots of hard work. Only very occasionally have I had the luxury of a vehicle or Motorbike close at hand.
We have a saying that goes
..."After the hunt, comes the grunt"....
Retreiving your game is the physically hardest part of the hunt.
Don't agree with some hunters who shoot more than they can carry, and leave them to rot.
SOUTHERN MAN.
"GO HARD OR STAY HOME"