Block and Tackle for Draggung Deer Out?
 

Any of you guys use a block and tackle to get your deer out of tough areas? Where I hunt is pretty steep and I'm not able to get my 4-wheeler down to. Often times I hunt I'm by myself and killing a deer means trying to round up a bunch of buddy's to help drag a deer several hundred feet or more up a Mtn. This past weekend I had a hard time finding available help. Thought if a block and tackle would work I would keep one on my 4-wheeler.
If any of you guys use this method or have any knowledge would you mind recommending one? I've seen several but not sure how cheap I should go, and what size I would need.
Thanks in advance.
JE

If you can get close enough to the deer legally with the quad, why not put an electric winch on the front of it for a scenario like you mentioned?

Never used the block and tackle but I have had to do the winch ATV method a few times. The B&T will work but I think you are going to run out of rope length most of the time. Have you or can you work with your ATV and a 100' of static/low stretch rope? I have done this and seems to do ok for me. The only trick you need to work out is you really need someone there to watch the animal while you are at the top of the hill hitting the winch button or driving the atv. The deer will get hung up and if you can't see it there's trouble.

If you do have a winch on the ATV you can pick up an additional shot of cable cheap. I added 40ft of cable with loops on each end that gives me roughly 80 ft reach from the winch without adding rope. The cable with looped ends, pulley and a couple of shackles are nice additions to your winching system..

good luck..

The ATV is completely out of reach, and I would not be able to acces the switch. In all reality I'm probably atleast 200 yards down the Mtn, maybe more depending on how far the deer goes. This past weekend was a bad one. Their are some parts I could drag by myself. I would be using the b&t on the steeper slopes by just attaching to a tree. With 100' of rope I could haul him 100' at a time when need be. Like I said, not all would need to be hoisted, possibly half.

Sometime in situations such as you have mentioned what I have done in the mountains around my place in Arkansas Quartering and packing out or get the 4 legged mule to help pull or pack ...all the block and tackle you'll ever need. :) Round my place in the mountains of NW Arkansas Some of them hollers are / straight up!

Bone it out where it hits the ground. Most mammals are about 42-45% edible meat and the rest is bones, hide, head, guts and blood. Even a big buck of 200 lbs live weight can be brought out in 2 loads max by a guy in decent shape. An average buck only requires 1 trip.

I haven't drug a deer 5 feet in over 20 years. I always carry a packframe, 6 game bags, 2 knives, parachute cord and a small folding bone saw. I don't see the logic in packing out a bunch of bones and inedible parts when the coyotes and buzzards need to eat too. That's their share and I leave it in the field for them.

I saw a post on here from a guy in West Virginia that used a block and tackle to get his Deer out of steep places. He had pictures in the post. I tried a search and came up with a lot of links some did not apply. Hopefully the guy from WV will see this post and answer. He Did have good information on it and he uses an ATV also.

Good Luck,
CVG Ohio

Learned my lesson several years ago while hunting the Adirondacks near the High Peaks Region. Been hunting there since the early '70s. I've taken quite a few big buck-125+ class 160+lbs. Each one I dragged to camp, canoed to a trail, and hauled out nearly 5 miles on a fire trail. This included two bear, 170-180 lbs. NEVER AGAIN.
Past three years, the buck has been hung and boned where it dropped. Very little, if any, meat 'wasted '.

I don't carry the equip that FLAGS speaks of while on the hunt. It's left in camp until needed. A mile or so walk back to camp for the boning gear is SO much easier than a drag of that distance I couldn't imagine trying to accomplish this using block and tackle, regardless of how far, especially by myself.

I use a block and tackle all the time to get my deer into the back of my RAM as the bed is too high for one person alone to load a buck. Whatever it takes to make it easier on the back to move a deer. My block and tackle would fit in a jacket pocket so taking it in the field would be a snap.

yep...if its that far no point in dragging bones uphill. just quarter/debone and pack out.

I chime in with the idea of just leaving all the parts you can't eat or have mounted laying on the ground where the critter fell.
It's all biodegradable !!

Ditto what others are saying about backpacking all the meat out. That's what we've always done in Wyoming on antelope, deer, and elk. I finally got smart and the last two bucks I shot up in northern MI when I was by myself were brought a mile back to my cabin that way. It's much easier and at 66 with a little bit of a bad back it takes me two trips for a deer.

Agree with Flags; if I had to use block and tackle to get a deer out I wouldn't bother. I'd use the gutless method and just pack the meat out.

Don't think I'd go through the trouble of a block and tackle (100ft length B&T = 200, 300, or 400ft+ length of rope to haul around. The drag weight of a deer on a cart isn't enough to need the mechanical advantage of a B&T, all you really need is a single pulley. If you're not using a cart, buck up and buy one. Best $100 a big game hunter can spend.

So when I get some rough terrain, I take 50 or 100ft of rope and a pulley that ride in a small bag on my cart. I anchor my pulley to a tree or spike in the ground half of my rope length away, double back to guide the cart as I pull it up the hill with the rope over the pulley. If the ATV or mini truck can't make it through, then I revert to the cart.

This what I use when I need to haul a moose or deer out of a difficult spot.

HELPER WINCH

Weights about 35 lbs with a 100 feet of cable.

I made a special backpack for easy carrying to where I need it.

With the right set up will pull 3000 to 4000 lbs so no moose or deer is an issue whether on the flat or a dead lift.
Once dragged a moose from the middle of a wet mucky marsh ( 75 feet). Pulled it to shore so dressing it out was not so messy. As well was getting too dark so just winched it up a tall tree 30 feet up . Returned in the morning to complete the haul.
Best money I ever spent.
Has come in handy pulling the truck out of a mud hole and clearing large trees from the trail. No mater what vechicle I am in easy to bring along .

I use a block and tackle out fit I made to hang the bucks on the buck pole. Using the system is ok but to get a deer up a hill just a mar 100 ft. Would take many reattachments of hundreds of feet of rope. I would just break down and buy a back pack frame and cut the deer into chunks I could handle on my back during a climb.

:D Al

I hunt WV every year. You must check either the whole deer or the head and hide. I have not hunted Maryland for a while, but that used to be check the whole field dressed deer. Not worth cutting up a large deer if you have to pack out the head and hide too. Nothing like standing in freezing rain cutting up a deer either. I made a half scale sized come-a-long, just in case. Good enough to get a deer up a drop off or haul one up in a tree. Try pulling a 150# deer up in a tree by yourself with just a rope. Cut it up on the ground? Yeah, standing on an ice covered 15* slope wrestling with a deer on the ground. You waste enough grinder meat cutting up on the spot, let alone covering it with dirt. I would do it if I was desperate, but for some reason when you absolutely have to do something, it is always the worst case conditions.