Gentlemen

I just got confirmation of a new piece of land to stalk over. Unusually for this area it holds red deer, fallow deer, roe deer and muntjac. I am contractually obliged to kill at least 35 red and fallow over the next 12 months. Unlimited muntjac. What with the day job and pheasant shooting the weekends are going to be busy this winter.

Given a red stag can weigh 450lbs in these parts I need help to drag them to my car. A quad is going to cost too much but I reckon an old two stroke scrambling bike with some form of sled may do the job. Any comments?

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Regards

Richard

Sounds like you'll be asking for volunteers soon. LOL

Get a horse !

Yeah, see you in casualty! I've got a CR500 you can borrow.....

If it's a real crosser then I forsee potential problems with clutch slip etc from the friction of dragging and the need to go slow. Trouble is any wheeled trailor means lifting the carcass which is bad news.

How near can you get in the (presumably) 4wd howabout a winch with long cable which has the added advantage of (with a bit of cunning) lifting it into the vehicle and getting you out if you get stuck.

Make the two wheeled trailer a hinged bed. I'll bet any 250 cc trials bike could pull it. A typical scrambler could as well. You could always drop a drop a tooth on the gearbox sprocket if needed.

I seem to remember that someone (Dave Stretton at Donington deer Park, I think) used to sell a motorised sled that looks like a modified rotovator(!). It had a hand winch to pull the carcass onto the bed. I've seen similar things advertised in the Swedish Hunting press. I imagine such a machine would be a good deal cheaper than a quad.

To get my bear out of the woods this year I used a tobogan, which is a kind of flat wooden sled. I just tied her on and strapped the rope around my chest and walked away over hilly terrain with alot of slash and deadfall. The tobogan bridged over all the problem areas. If you get a really big one you could halve or quarter it first.

ANyone handy with a welder and an old pushbike or two can make a great little trailer. If you cant get the carcass on, mount a hand / boat trailer winch at the top of it.
Get a second hand 4 stroke trailbike, either a Yamaha TT250 or an XR or similar. Problem solved.

Thanks for the replies guys. I suspect that in the short term the answer is a length of rope and a bit of pulling.

I was in the wood last evening and got to 30 metres downwind of a roaring stag - he was a big beastie!

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Regards

Richard