Need info on dragging elk

[strategyking]

We hunt in NM. Usually snow is present in the mountains. Some rocks and brush. Does anyone know where to get some type of sled or plastic(?) material to secure under a cow to make dragging easier? Thanks, kk

 

[bzzboyz]

To me it would be easier to quarter it and pack out. Especially if it's a cow. But if you really want to haul it out just field dressed, you might want to get one of these....

Cabela's -- Dead Sleds Magnum

 

[Hunt Crazy In Ca]

I wouldnt personally even try and drag out a hole elk.....but if you are planing on it....I hope you have a tractor to pull it with...good luck!!!

 

[Coues Whitetail]

Cut it up and haul it out!

I've been fortunate enought to have taken 4 bulls to date. Let me give you some advice, cow or bull, there's no dragging this size of an animal. Even with snow, the pure size of an mature cow or small bull is un-manageable.

If you can't get a vehicle to the animal, the best thing to do is to cut up the animal in the field. Then pack out the animal piece by piece. There's a website www.trophyelk.com that has a lot of information about elk hunting. Give it a look.

Good luck on our hunt.

 

[weekender21]

Bone out the elk or quarter. Dragging the animal would be crazy unless it died a few feet from the road. Good luck!

 

[suavegato]

I've used these for deer but never Elk... Unless you are in some really flat, snow covered ground, I don't think I'd even try with an Elk. It's hard enought o manage a Med. sized deer on this thing... If you do decide to try it on an Elk, take pics and video to share with all of us here... It will be funny! A dead elk riding a sled down a snow covered mountain... LOL ARC Products Deer Sled

P.S. you can get them cheaper online, sportsmansguide.com, cabelas etc.

 

[BelchFire]

Even quartered out, I'd be looking for something with wheels rather than a sled. But I've never been elk hunting.

 

[Redneck75]

I have drug out a few elk...all of them directly up a very steep hill from the truck. If you hope to drag one out it better be down a real steep hill or you best be using a tractor. Quarter it out and strap it to your pack board. Another option is to use a "game cart" type deal if the terrain is in favor of it...throw a quarter or two on the cart and wheel it out. Always have a pack frame on hand though as they will invariably die in a difficult location.

Most importantly...good luck on the hunt!

 

[Huntnup]

Dont do it...cut it up

Friends don't let friends drag elk out of the woods!!


Huntnup

 

[sancho]

funny...one time during elk hunting. we saw a fantastic animal on the other side of a property fence. one guy we were with said, "let's shoot it and drag if over to our side!"...i dont know if he was serious or not. but i almost bitchslapped him for pure stupidity. DRAG IT? he still thought we could. i dont trespass, and dragging a dead elk is ludicrous. two hours later, i dropped an equal bull. it died in this tiny ravine. there was five of us, and we couldnt move it to a better place to gut it. we did the wet work right there in that ditch. he learned a good lesson...i hope. pitching an elk over a fence...hahah.

 

[suavegato]

pitching an elk over a fence...hahah.

That's funny right thurr, I don't curr who y'are...

 

[jaimeb831]

I few years ago, my dad and couple friends of ours went to Utah, my dad got a bull on the second day early in the morning. Being the first bull we have ever bagged we decided to drag it out using a plastic sled, worst decision ever... it took us about 8 hours to drag and it was only about a mile away, the flat and down hills didn’t help much, there was a bunch of fallen trees and shrubs he wad to pass. Our friend got the second bull, and this one we ended up cutting up and taking out in pieces. So my answer is quartered it, it will make your life easier.

 

[suavegato]

worst decision ever... it took us about 8 hours to drag and it was only about a mile away

It took 8 hours to figure that one out? Sorry, had to laugh at that. :mooning: I'll go back to the barn now... :bag-on-head:

 

[jaimeb831]

It took 8 hours to figure that one out? Sorry, had to laugh at that. :mooning: I'll go back to the barn now... :bag-on-head:

Yeah I know... but we figured we started might as well finish it this way, plus we wanted pictures with my dads first bull and we had left the cameras back at camp.

 

[Sniper Chuck]

On one occasion we used a plastic sled to get a bull out in a few inches of snow. The three of us had quite a bit of trouble trying to get the bull centered in the sled because of the rack. We thought it would be easy as it was down hill to a wash. HA! It ended going where it wanted, not where we wanted it to go. We got it to the wash and got the jeep. Winched it up to the jeep and tried to go uphill to the truck. The jeep owner purchased street tires for it and because of the slick snow we had to push it up the rise. A cow and good tires may have made it eaisier??

On private land you can use an ATV if the owner OK's it. Makes the drag a lot easier. Otherwise skin and quarter and hump it out.

 

[DLS]

I"ve been involved in dragging a couple elk out of the woods. The first one, we had a rolled up piece of hard plastic that we unrolled and tied around the cow, and then we jumped on top and rode her down the hill toward a snow covered road. It was an elk tobaggin! We damn near killed ourselves too. The other elk I assisted in dragging was a piece of cake. We tied it to the back of a snow machine and drug it out at about 20 mph. Thank God for lots of snow on that hunt.

Any other time, I've had enough brains to bone it out and carry it on a pack frame. That makes a whole lot more sense. We did 'drag' one other elk, the biggest bodied and antlered bull I've ever shot. But, we only had to drag/push and roll it about 20 feet to where we got the pickup. :bounce-aqua:

 

[hank4elk]

In an E-stock pack in pieces!!

 

[Killzone]

YOU GET A REAL dose of reality when ya attempt to drag a 600lb plus elk, been there, I had to rig a system to pulley IT up into the guides suv, very lucky it was kinda close to a driveable pathway.
Even 2 guys are not draggin a 600 lb elk more than 10 ft!!!!!! If ya try to drag one please take a video!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO Good luck