Loading that big boy into the back of your truck
 

Hey everyone,
This year I plan on doing quite a bit of hunting by myself. I have a heavy duty game cart to drag deer out of the woods and I'm able hoist a small to medium size deer into the back of a truck by myself. The problem is, how in the world do I hoist a 200 lb+ buck into the back of my truck without giving myself a hernia or destroying my back. I'm thinking maybe making a ramp or getting this: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...233&hasJS=true
but I honestly don't feel like spending $180 dollars on a solution. Any suggestions?

This will help a bunch. Keep a shovel with you, if you kill a big deer, back up close to it, then pull forward 10 or so feet. Take your shovel and dig a 10 or so inch deer trench 3 or so feet long where both back tires were. Pull the deer in the truck and pull out. That 8 or 10 inches of depth makes a lot of difference.

i dont see what a Ford is gonna do for ya, just because they are tough, dont mean it will make you stronger, its just a myth :poke:

we actually have one of those hangers, we made it ourselves..i didnt know they sold em....just thought it was a red neck thing..they work great for us.

Can you hook a cable hoist/"come along" to your truck? Maybe use it in conjunction with a ramp.

Consider one of these.

http://www.deerhandle.com/

There are some videos of a guy loading a decent sized deer into a pickup. Of course it's a commercial and all but still.

'Course you can make one of these quite easily yourself for less than $5. I did.

Ya know just a thick full size sheet of plywood can do wonders as a ramp. Especially with a small comealong or even ratchet straps. The plywood in the bottom of the bed takes up no extra room.

All you need is a good rope. I dropped this buck next to a logging road so I didn't need the game cart. I was the only one at the club that Sunday evening. I tied his legs like this.

I stood on the tail gate, squatted down and grabbed the rope in the middle. Remember to lift with your legs, not your back. Once you get him up you just walk backwards to drag him into the bed. If you need to you can drag him to a hill and back your truck up to that. It will make your lifting distance shorter.

Don't know if you field dress them. I do, saves a lot of weight. Can you lower your tailgate past horizontal? That helps.

If I have a big deer, and I've worked at getting it to the truck, I try to drag to deer onto a slight rise that I can back up to, so the truck is as low in relation to the deer as possible. If you can do that, it is easier than digging trenches for your tires.

I bought a cart for this year, the plywood ramp idea sounds good. I might double up a 3/4" sheet and cut so it is 2 ft wide x 6 ft long.

i just keep em on the back of the four wheeler and drive up my ramps to the back of the truck.

and if you dont have a four wheeler, buy some ramps anyway. then drag the deer up into the bed.

Tie a rope the a tree in front of your truck or ever your truck. Then tie the over end of the rope to the deers hind legs and just back up to the deer and watch it get pulled into the truck.