DIY_guy

Due to the lay of the land on my new lease and because there is a wide and shallow river running through the entire property, I picked up a sled to get stands in and deer out. I should be able to float a good amount of weight in the sled. Because I will also be dragging it with an ATV and by hand on hard, dry ground as well as snow, I opted to add thick plastic wear strips to the bottom to extend the life of the sled and to make it track better. I will also add a pull rope and rope tie points all around the top rim of the sled to lash items to the sled so they don't fall out.



I used a heat gun to shape the strips of plastic I cut from a larger sheet.



I bolted the strips to the sled.





I added eye bolts and on the inside of the sled, a strip of steel to spread out the pulling load rather than the two small holes that were in the sled when I bought it. Because I will also make a rigid tow bar, I used quick connect links to the eye bolts to make swapping easier.







The pull rope is beefed up in the middle with clear tubing and then wrapped with gorilla tape so it wont wear through when pulled with the ATV and to increase the diameter for a more comfortable grip when pulling by hand.

mrbb

looks good, but in many public places I would be making it so it could be locked to a tree, as folks here have too many sticky fingers, if you ever left it away from where your hunting(or over night so not to have to bring back in next day),
on a side note for anything looking to duplicate this, good HD plastic slides for the bottom would be Snowmobile hyfax's, even used one,s will last a LONG time, and if you have any snowmobile shops near by, odds are they will have used ones they are planning to throw away, so can maybe get them free!
they also sell, HD Teflon embedded one's, that should last a forever, but there not cheap, but for being dragged far behind a atv or on hard pack pavement often, they would maybe be worth it!
just a extra tip!

hardcastonly

looks like a well though out and modified project.. congrats

mackesr

Nice job on the sled! I bet it will come in handy real soon.

Oldtimr

I have one of those I used to use to pull my decoys into the marshes we duck hunted in. I am going to have to consider turning it into something different. It would be easier than loading a big deer onto my carrying racks on my atv.

mrbb

I use an atv to drag my deer out and have for the past 20 yrs, unless dragging more than a 1/2 mile, I just drag the deer NO sled needed and go easy on way out, never ever had a issue, just a FYI for you, never wanted to lift them onto an atv, more work than its worth IMO!
but if using MAN power, a sled can make the goings a lot easier! or if again FAR drag, as at some point you will start to wear all the hair off em! and or just beat them up too much

Oldtimr

Lifting a deer onto my atv rack is a lot easier than throwing one in the bed of my pickup.

kellyguinn

Just bought one of those sleds for this season myself. Been using a cart for years but several of the places I hunt are very sandy with scrub oak so I end up dragging the deer and the cart lol. Hoping this will work well. If it does I will have to consider this upgrade ya did. Most of the land I hunt is public and we are not allowed to have any motorized vehicles out on it.

mrbb

HAHA I hear you, but I tend to just back truck into a hill or ?? and get tailgate lower making that a lot easier on me!
but if you have a trauiler for ATV, why not just tow back to trailer and leave in on the trailer and skip all together loading on rack or truck?

most places I hunt I leave atv on site for hunting, or when traveling, with trailer/atv, that is what I do, deer fits on trailer and NO lifting, drive atv up, towing sucker behind as far as can and then just slide up on side of atv on decking!
no lifting at all! LOL

flags

Packframe. Bone them where they hit the ground where it is legal to do so. Leave the hide, head, bones and guts for the coyotes. Problem solved.