Carrying or dragging moose through the buck brush

[monasheemountainman]

Ive pulled many a bull out of the bush and thru buckbrush 5 ft high it can be a tangled mess from hell,then add in swamps, uneven terrain ,deadfalls ect ect many of the suggested means here just don't work so well.Bone out and Pack is the way weve always done it with difficult extractions.If its getting too hard on the body ,well that's why my dad finally slowed down and eventually quit on the hunting and we brought my sons in when old enough to pack meat.
last few yrs Ive noticed those quarters don't lift up to the hang pole like the used to..
We also cut a fir pole about 6-7 ft long and drive it thru the ribs on the fronts and the lower leg tendons on the rear quarters then a guy on each end of the pole will get the moose out of the bush quite efficiently..but you knew that
theres no magic bullet unfortunately


takla

I agree, unless you are on flat even hard ground with no deadfall in the way, packing is the easiest/fastest way out

[J_T]

Everytime I drag an animal I swear I'll never do it again. Packframe is the most efficient. Dragging might work down relatively steep inclines, but once you turn and have to go uphill, all the forces are working against you.

[sparkes3]

don't tie your pull rope onto the crazy carpet
lash the meat to the crazy carpet with the leg knuckle at the front and tie to it

[okas]

look in a dumpster at a outfit that sells teck cable the big spools have a wrap of heavy black plastic over the wire in the spool this is tough stuff

[xcaribooer]

you could always try one of the plastic sleds they sell for ice fishing

[Spy]

My old neighbor once told me you can't drag a moose backwards through the snow, the hair acts as an anchor. I suppose the same goes for mud and thick brush.

[IronNoggin]

[Walksalot]

I've carried my share of thousands of pounds of meat on my back. Now that I'm in my 50's, carrying those northern bull hinds is getting a bit much for these old bones.
These are fly in trips, no horses, quads, just plain old humping it!
With the amount of new products out there, I would think there has to be something to help in dragging a portion of meat to save a walking trip and yet small enough to fit in the side of a beaver. I've thought of those small sleds but for those of us that have flown in many float planes, there just in not much space behind those seats.
We also know that buckbrush is abrasive so heavy poly won't cut it. Need something durable enough to carry the weight but also have the strength for rope attachements.
I'm not trying to load this up with hundreds of lbs. Maybe one hind and some neck meat. Some walks are a KM, some are alot longer.
Any ideas?? I'm sure some of you are in the same boat as myself. What product makes your lives easier?

I just had this conversation with my doctor at my last physical. Going on 66 years of age I asked him if he thought I was foolish thinking I could hike the back country and if I was lucky enough to get one of the larger members of the deer family, pack it out. His reply was that I may have to take lighter loads but if I kept myself in good shape it should be doable. I guess it boils down to common sense in so much as not getting too carried away and get too far back in the bush. The problem is that when the tracks are fresh and you feel you are narrowing the gap, common sense can take a leave of absence.

[boxhitch]

Nothing wrong with that, as the common sense usually comes from experience, and that tells us how to make the best of things. If that means choosing brains over brawn, thats okay too.

When pulling a sled/drag/body gets tough, throw on a pulley or two and add some rope to build an advantage.
Slow and steady gets there too.

[takla1]

All it takes is one difficult extraction and one learns his lesson.If access is hard just hikeing in then hikeing out with 7-800 lbs of bull moose meat/antlers will be a killer.Ive passed on easy kills because of the distance and terrain to get the animal out to a trail that we could access with atv.
One area we hunted for over 20 yrs had excellent numbers of bulls but we would pass on many that were just too far back .We waited for the bulls to filter into a valley that was close to access ,we made all our kills in this one area that was hidden from the trail in but less that 200 yrds away.Weve had to build makeshift bridges into this area just to get closer with the machines because of the swampy conditions
For many yrs the annual hunting trip was harder on the body than full time work back at home,id usually take an extra week to recover after the trip before resumeing my full time job
Remember every yr theres case's of older hunters having heart attacks and strokes,some never making it home,i know of many such cases.My dad had a stroke in camp in 2012

takla

takla

takla