I'll be hiking in several miles for elk this fall in an area where no motorized vehicles of any kind are allowed and am hoping to get some ideas on a cart to be used to get the animals out once harvested. What does anyone use? Did you make your own or buy?

Check out www.huntingcart.com

Thanks. I've also looked at Cabelas and am now considering making one if i can devise a decent plan.

Will you be alone or will you be in a group? What kind of terrain will you be in (on a hiking trail, old logging road, hilly, uneven path, lots of rocks)?
Most importantly, have you hiked or scouted the trail you plan to use?
Carts can be great on smooth and even terrain. But when you throw in a few steep areas, uneven trails or a rock slide or two, they can be an abomination and downright dangerous.
Also, carts with the standard spoke bicycle wheels will not survive many rocks when loaded.
You may be best served by packing out a piece at a time on you back or with a plastic sled.
If you are determined to get a cart, look for or build one that has a brake on the wheels.

I used one to haul out my elk in 99 . We hand carried the pieces to a logging road " one mile" and there loaded it on to the cart . the brake is needed "the one on the one I used was broken " It worked wonderfuly on the logging road . One suggestion I have is make up a repair kit containing every nut , bolt , and screw that is on the cart . We did not but one of our party for some reason did have nuts , bolts and screws with him . We lost or broke things three times on the four mile trek out . Using the cart helped alot and the next time I go will have one or a Mule .

Dennis,

This cart was used by the trackers/PH on my recent plains game safari in RSA. It is heavy and not very portable but capable of carrying the largest of game. We only used it for the kudu and gemsbok transporting it in the truck when we went after those species. Might be something you can make and station near your hunting area padlocked to a tree? If I were going to make one I'd use a larger wheel but this seemed to work well.
Good luck
Paul

I have Cabella's smaller cart with the hard wheels. It works o.k. but, had I known better I would have gotten the one with the larger tires.

I have spoke to a few people about DIY carts and have posted similar questions to this here not so long ago..
Three points that stuck in my mind was that for heavy loads over rough terrian,
a)You really do need brakes.
b) Motorbike(s) wheel was recomended...Go for the "thinish" ones off a trailbike or similar and if you use the front wheel you can scavange the brakes off it..
c)Especially if there are two of you, consider one with a single wheel under the centre of the load. Apparently they are more stable than they look and are much easier to move across side inclines ect..I think Cabelas has one as a model.

Regards,

Pete

Another less expensive approach. $89 at Hunting Blinds R Us see Hunting Blinds R Us Web Page

Thanks for the replies so far. I'll be hunting in an area of permanently closed roads that are grown over. My thought was to pack the first load back to camp, grab the cart and head back out where my partner will be moving the rest to the closest navigable road or path. Since we'll be anywhere up to 5 miles in I thought a cart could help. I never thought of brakes.

here is one we're considering...

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jhtml?id=0005568&navAction=jump&navCount=0&indexId=&parentId=&parentType=&rid=&cmCat=search

[ 08-06-2003, 23:31: Message edited by: DennisHP ]