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best game sled/drag?

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Dyelynn View Drop Down
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    Posted: March/24/2011 at 11:40
Greetings,

I'm looking for information and experience on big game sleds or drags that any of you may have experience with.  I'm not interested in the carts so much as I am the drags, because i'd like to be able to fold it up and carry it with me if i choose too.  It should be large enough to successfully pack out a whole, gutted elk over snow, gravel, downed trees and other possible rough terrain, and not weigh as much as a house Big Grin

I've seen ads for the game sleir and other similar devices on cabelas and bassproshops, but have also found some others like the gamesled: http://gamesled.cust3.dcsny.com/product.cfm?page=1
and wonder if anyone else has found or has experience with something else locally built, or home built? 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bitterroot Bulls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/24/2011 at 14:23
Having dragged too many elk too far, I have left sled/drag devices behind.  I much prefer to bone out elk and walk them out on my back.  Plus, I don't have to field dress the elk!

Eberlestock makes the best expanding packs available, IMO:

http://www.eberlestock.com/


-Matt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dyelynn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 10:51
thanks very much for the suggestion.  i don't see myself boning out an elk just yet... a little beyond my skill level and i'll be hunting with a group of people i can call on to help me pull the animal out.  so i'm still interested in some sort of drag that would make the terrain a little easier to manage.


those backpacks are very nice... probably more than i'd ever need though....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bitterroot Bulls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 12:24
A regular old poly tarp can help in sledding out game just about as well as any marketed drag device.  Snow is what you need to really make sledding out a whole elk manageable (still not easy, even with friends). 

If you want to give field boning a try there are several "no-gut" videos available to learn from like this one:

http://www.nogutmethod.com/catalog/

The technique is easy to learn and saves a lot of work, especially on elk.
-Matt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dyelynn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 12:41
i may have to check that out...  i'm still a bit unsure about it, but maybe watching the video will decide me one way or another :p  we drug a spike about 1/4 mile downhill over a mix of rock/scrub grass and dead trees and that was pretty exhausting.  anything a little more slippery under the animal that would also keep it from getting hung up on every branch or bush along the way would be helpful.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bitterroot Bulls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 12:53
Yeah, and that spike was probably only about 200 to 300 pounds dressed.  A big old bull will  be twice that or more.

I've been harvesting bulls in burned areas with a lot of deadfall over the past ten years.  I have found it is much easier to step over that stuff with a heavy load rather than dragging even elk quarters over it.

However, I am usually only getting the meat to where I can get my favorite elk-removal tool:


-Matt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bitterroot Bulls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 12:54
We were close enough to the trail on those bulls, that we didn't have to bone them out completely, but the process is such that you can go as far as you want.  I would really recommend checking it out.
-Matt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dyelynn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 13:09
well, if i'm lucky enough to get a bull tag, that would be something... most of the people around here consider it a once in a lifetime event to draw a bull tag and actually get a bull.  spike, up to 1x2, is most common.

a question on boning out an animal... are you just taking it home to make burger and saving only backstraps for choice cuts?  or are you taking the boned out hunks of meat to a butcher?

that does look like an awefully nice way to get your kill back home :p
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bitterroot Bulls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 13:20
I take my cuts to a processor.  Another bonus is they charge me less having it boned out.  I have a couple roasts, several steaks (backstraps mostly), and the rest burger, jerky, sausage, etc. made from each bull.

We are lucky enough to hunt bulls every year here in MT. 
-Matt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dyelynn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March/28/2011 at 13:31
Originally posted by Bitterroot Bulls Bitterroot Bulls wrote:

I take my cuts to a processor.  Another bonus is they charge me less having it boned out.  I have a couple roasts, several steaks (backstraps mostly), and the rest burger, jerky, sausage, etc. made from each bull.

We are lucky enough to hunt bulls every year here in MT. 


when i win the lottery or my long-lost, rich uncle dies and leaves me his fortune, i'd love to have a cabin in the rockies :)  until then, i'll keep hoping for a bull tag and cursing the dept of fish and game when i see bulls but have no tag.

i may have to call my favorite butcher shop and see if they offer different rates... once again, thanks for the advice :)
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