My hunting partner has moved. It was in his garage we would dress, skin, and quarter or package our elk and deer.

I need to create a hanging station, with gambrel(s)??, sufficiently strong and rigid to be able to winch up a field dressed mature elk bull - say, up to 600 pounds (in my imagination) and 8-10 feet high. Let's just refer to the 600 pounds as being prudent or optimistic.

I have no garage or other closed area. While I have several very large trees, none is conveniently located to allow me to back my truck to a cross-beam assembly for winching carcass from the truck.

Those who have successfully addressed a similar problem, please describe what and how you did what you did. If plans are available, even better.

You might want to consider switching to gutless field dressing. All you carry out is the meat.

http://www.elk-hunting-tips.ne...-field-dressing.html

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXuOq4jz34A

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZsO4tsrKPw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=973O44G_-Bw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGCAY5Amvn4

If you are in Bear country, make sure there are two of you ..... you need a "guard" !

A lot of hunting camps in TX use tripods to hang not only game, but full feeders, etc. The best way I have seen it done is this: Use a piece of 1/2" plate about 16" in diameter, and weld three 2" couplings on it @ 120 degrees from each other, approximately 6" from the center. Angle the couplings a bit so the legs are wider at the bottom than the top. Then use 2" pipe for the legs, and adjust for the desired height. A 3/4" eye bolt in the center completes the setup, but make sure you support the shank of the eyebolts with flat washers. A 1500# hand winch does the work, and a mounting plate for the winch is welded to one leg.

I can't help you, but I will say you are a lucky SOB. Here in Idaho on public land, I have killed 13 elk myself, and have helped many buddies get theirs out. Out of all those 35-40 elk, can count on one damn finger, the number of elk hauled out whole. I wish I had your problems.

Jealous in Idaho

If, once in the truck, you can half the carcass, then there are winches that fit into the receiver hitch of a truck. The maximum limit I have seen though is 300 or so pounds. I know mine has worked for several deer at, or over, 200 pounds.

Deer hoist

Or something portable like this:

Portable tripod

Do an online search for swing set parts.
Two end fittings and a piece of 6' pipe for a cross piece.
4 pipes for legs.
A length of rope, a couple of pulleys
And Gambrel.
Or
3" pipe two 90º pipe fittings and a couple of sacks of quick set concrete.

For dragging an animal there is a very nice portable winch used by loggers and others .Nice Honda engine ,synthetic rope all in a light weight package . wrap one end around a tree and drag any animal you can get.www.portablewinch.com

Not an elk station but....

I put this together for hunting deer from a hotel and warm weather antelope hunting

It's two pcs so it fits in the truck and the winch is mounted high so it stays out of your back

Extra long lower section so the tailgate can be dropped for a step or work bench

bunji cord prevents rotation

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Not an elk station but....

I put this together for hunting deer from a hotel and warm weather antelope hunting

It's two pcs so it fits in the truck and the winch is mounted high so it stays out of your back

Extra long lower section so the tailgate can be dropped for a step or work bench

bunji cord prevents rotation

I made one similar to that when I lived in Idaho but I put a trailer jack on the bottom where it fits in the receiver to take all the bounce out of it.

I build one much like Ted shows on his truck except I have a cement hole on the slab in front of my shop that I just drop a 3 " ID pipe in that's about 12 ft. high to a elbow and a 4 ft. swing that will go around a full circle if needed..I use a cheap crank wench and I have the option to hook up to my 4 wheeler wench..

Whole elk...only in my dreams!

Good luck in your quest
Zeke

Zeke,
You need to hunt the Alfalfa fields more!! best eating cows live there, and some younger bulls, with an ocassional monster early mornings..

In southern Colorado or Western Idahos Owayee desert, some mighty huge bulls live out in the sage brush, and you can drive right up to them and load'em in the truck or at worst a 4 wheeler.

You need to know these things before you get my age!!!!

Just putting the finishing touches on my new elk hanging equipment. We had a garage fire in June and lost the roof so I had my contractor, i.e. my older son, include a new dormer in the back of the garage. I now have two 12' long, 5" steel I beams 16' off the floor and I have two 1500 pound capacity electric winches and the trolleys to mount them. We power skin our elk in the field using the winch on my Jeep. Quicker and cleaner than doing it by hand. And yes, we hunt where we can drive to them. The wife killed a 6 x 6 this fall that she, our granddaughter and I couldn't drag by hand, had to use the Jeep to get him where we could get pictures.

quote:

I now have two 12' long, 5" steel I beams 16' off the floor and I have two 1500 pound capacity electric winches and the trolleys to mount them. We power skin our elk in the field

16 foot is about right for an elk I have 10 foot in my garage and 10 foot is just about right for a deer elk need more height

I have to admit that 98% of the elk Ive shot got home boned out or at least quartered, and got to the pickup by horse power..But in the last few years Ive been hunting in Southern Colorado, lots of elk in the ceders, hills not mountains, easy walking, and you can usually drive to one with a 4 wheel drive and a proper mind set of I can do that..Its easy when the alternative is packing quarters, in a few cases they go get a 4 wheeler...I really like hunting the Ceder hills. and those long brushy draws.

Then cows in Alfalfa if you get lucky, maybe some long shots across those big fields, but that's OK too, its a meat hunt....at 82 I really hate packing our a full quarter or even a half a quarter, in fact I hate packing out a liver.