Loading Moose

[Boner]

Every situation is different and you make the best of your surroundings, landscape and the equipment you have on hand.

Word of advice - don't try running your winch cable back over the truck cab with the thought that you can simply winch your moose up a sheet of plywood and into your box. Bad shit happens why you do this.

This. But I do run my winch line over my SxS ROPS. I’m getting too old to lift a front quarter chest height.

Cordless reciprocating saw with extra batteries and blades. Gut, skin, cut into manageable pieces and put into game bags. That's how we roll.

And this. You can buy pretty long reciprocating saw blades. Long enough that you can run down the spine for a decent looking cut.

I always hunt alone, so I try and work smarter, not harder. Sometimes I have to cut the fronts into two pieces each to get the carcass to the truck. A quick knife cut on the inside of the shoulder blades gets that done. It cools the meat quicker that way anyways.

[rocksteady]

I just built one of those "plug into your hitch and its like a crane" things with a 1300 lb boat winch. Have not used it yet, but should work slick for us guys who are getting older and having body troubles.

They run about $300 American on some websites. All in, I spent less than $100 for the steel and the winch. Took me maybe 3 hrs of weld time.

https://www.cabelas.ca/product/11293...BoC3YgQAvD_BwE

Similar to this, but rather than going straight out from hitch, I 45 degree angled the leg so that it would be to one side of truck rather than in the middle.. Made more sense to have the whole tailgate area available to load the carcass onto rather than the middle.. Also put an "outrigger" type leg so that if something was to bend a bit that it would not be a catastrophic collapse. Ground leg would take a lot of the weight..

[2stroked]

I have taken the tailgate off and used it for a ramp and pulled the whole moose in with a cable come-along.

[IronNoggin]

My Outfitter Buddy in Alberta has a full sized winch mounted in the truck bed just behind the cab (steel reinforced plates under the box). Combined with the roll out ramp, loading moose and elk whole has never been faster nor easier.

I carry a full halibut skate line - gives me 1200 feet to latch onto any critter within that reach - as well as pulleys.
Has pulled many a critter to the truck.

Worse case, quarter and grunt.

Cheers,
Nog

[Arctic Lake]

If your wanting the carcass more manageable break it into quarters ( hinds and fronts) . If that is still too much break it down into main primals . Hip , Loin and Rib , 4 Rib Chuck Front with Shank attached . But you would want to that after it’s skinned less hair .
Arctic Lake

[Darksith]

https://www.discountramps.com/toyloa.../Toyloader-HD/

Easy enough to make it yourself. 2" square iron, with brackets that drop down into the holes on the top of the box rails so no bolting down required. Bolt winch to middle and use logs as ramps to load moose up into truck. I have seen these homemade, haven't bothered yet but will one day for sure
Just have spare loose battery or long cables that clamp onto truck battery to power winch

[coastalhunter]

As you all said, the circumstances dictate what needs to happen. We pack about 1500 ft of cable and lots of pulleys, so many times the whole moose can come to the road! One method that has worked very well for a small crew is pulling the moose up the cutbank of the road with the truck and pulleys, tieing it off to a tree, and then backing the truck up to it. Two guys can easily pull a whole moose fully into the forward tilted truck!! Problem arises when you are in the middle of a giant flat with no cutbanks. Doesn't work nearly as well when you back into a ditch as you are pulling the moose uphill into the box.

[westcoaster]

Home built hand winch that has successfully worked for us in loading a whole moose.
It levels out on its own when there is a load on and it distributes the weight in the stake pockets.

The winch is only half the solution, the ramp into the box is the second half.
We had some sketchy 2X10 that we had scavenged....

[sparkes3]

Last two big bulls we got were gutted then pulled to the road with long ropes and a snatch block on the front of one truck and the other truck drives down the road , then swap ends and back the trailer down into the ditch and hook the snatch block to it and pull the moose onto it then back to camp it goes in one piece.
we do the swap thing with the trailer because we bent the front rail when the moose got tangled in a stump.
If they are too far back to get with ropes or the quads they get quartered and packed out.

[rocksteady]

Home built hand winch that has successfully worked for us in loading a whole moose.
It levels out on its own when there is a load on and it distributes the weight in the stake pockets.

The winch is only half the solution, the ramp into the box is the second half.
We had some sketchy 2X10 that we had scavenged....

With the quality of todays pickups i would be concerned you box would end up going to the moose, not vice versa