Loading Moose

[coastalhunter]

How do most people load moose into their pickups? Whole, halved, quartered, etc? There was a time when I was younger and our group was bigger that we used to load the entire field dressed moose into the pickups and deal with them in the comfort of camp. Our group has shrunk to just 2 lately and moose are still big! Last few years we've been loading them in halves, but even that is getting to be too much. we much prefer dealing with the moose in camp where there is more light, noise, etc. and usually fewer grizzlies lurking in the dark!
We've been considering one of those hitch mounted hoists with a hand winch. Anyone use one? And are they worth the money?
How do you deal with getting moose back to camp?
Thanks in advance.

[Rieber]

How do most people load moose into their pickups? Whole, halved, quartered, etc? There was a time when I was younger and our group was bigger that we used to load the entire field dressed moose into the pickups and deal with them in the comfort of camp. Our group has shrunk to just 2 lately and moose are still big! Last few years we've been loading them in halves, but even that is getting to be too much. we much prefer dealing with the moose in camp where there is more light, noise, etc. and usually fewer grizzlies lurking in the dark!
We've been considering one of those hitch mounted hoists with a hand winch. Anyone use one? And are they worth the money?
How do you deal with getting moose back to camp?
Thanks in advance.

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. :sad:

If you can drag the moose with your vehicle to a tree and then sling a pulley up high enough and then winch the beast up off the ground and tie him up there so you can back your truck into/under the moose.

I've wondered if you had a portable winch to secure in the box of your truck and then pulley him up on a sheet or two of plywood or plywood on a ramp.

I have the post and hand crank winch that plugs into the receiver hitch - you can only lift pieces of moose with that.

[allan]

I’ve seen two guys load a moose in 5 min with a rope and pulley.
One end on moose, one to a tree and a pulley mounted in front of box using some sketchy wood. Drive forward and the moose gets pulled into the truck. Ramps or a couple of poles helped get the moose up into the truck box.
I cut my moose into 1/4 or more and just put them in piece work.

[huntingfamily]

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

[Squamch]

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. :sad:

If you can drag the moose with your vehicle to a tree and then sling a pulley up high enough and then winch the beast up off the ground and tie him up there so you can back your truck into/under the moose.

I've wondered if you had a portable winch to secure in the box of your truck and then pulley him up on a sheet or two of plywood or plywood on a ramp.

I have the post and hand crank winch that plugs into the receiver hitch - you can only lift pieces of moose with that.

I've never taken part in a moose loading operation, but I have damaged a lot of trucks...think carefully about how you might secure a winch in the back of the truck before dragging a moose with it.

I'm collecting steel and parts for a flatdeck for my truck that will include a 2" reciever mounted crane, with a few different mounts around the deck, depending on where it's needed.

[elch jager]

circumstances will always dictate how to dress your animal. where he dropped, temperature, circling predators, how many helpers, frame pack? ATV? Truck?... Lots of variables. As a kid I always loved to see a whole moose hanging in camp - was always disappointed if all I got to see was bloody game bags.

My favourite method is to drive up to it with the skidder, throw the choker cables around his neck and winch him up to a nice working height... gut him there and drive back to camp.... but alas, I no longer hunt behind a locked gate with the camp foreman.

Usually with two guys and a moose within a km or 2 of a road or ATV trail... we will quarter first, trim all edibles and move our game bags a couple hundred meters away - toward our exit route. Then go back to open the gut and get the tenderloins and ribs as well as rack/head... leap frog your meat to the closest access point for truck or quad and transport back to the meat pole near camp.

The 2 biggest threats are not cooling fast enough and ringing the dinner bell for bears - that's why we get the quarters off asap and move them before releasing the delicious aroma of moose guts.

Not a fan of doing this in the dark.

[PressurePoint]

I always short quarter. Easier to manage when solo.

[BRvalley]

I like to quarter and then debone the neck meat, tenderloin, straps, etc into game bag, then sawzall the rib cage off and deal with that in camp/home...I might try the rib roll method on my next successful moose

[Fella]

Gutless method.

[tinhorse]

Last one me and my buddy got we got it in whole. After chainsawing through 400m of terrible blowdown we dragged it out on top of a small mound of dirt. Gutted it then rolled it in. Drove back to camp and up he went onto the game poll. Skinned and wiped down. Next morning quartered and put into game bags. It was November so temperature was in the negatives or we would have cut it into smaller pieces earlier to cool quicker. I like getting the animal in whole and skinning from there as I find it cleaner. Have loaded moose whole, half, quartered and deboned......like others have said it really depends on the situation.

[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. :sad:


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/112932?productVariantId=308194&gclid=CjwKCAjwnf7qBRAtEiwAseBO_CDiq8O3ewwcOkvNFWdU ETCMjz0wQSjmU5lRU5nfUulXPKJyX-Y5vBoC3YgQAvD_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/toyloader-hd/p/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]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7548&stc=1

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]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7548&stc=1

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

[rocksteady]

I have a hard top tonneau so doing this in the stake pockets dont work.. plus i would need to crawl in there to crank it..

[Yuritau]

I've not yet had the privilege myself, but seems like a lot of good ideas here. Just make sure you have one option ready to go before ya need it, hehe.

[MRP]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/image49.jpeg

also I have a 2"x2" angle iron across the front of the box bolted to the frame with a hook in the center for a 2000lb winch to hook too.
but mostly I use the come-along, good old had tools never let me down. that is why the hand winch on the hoist. less to go wrong.

[Darksith]

I have a hard top tonneau so doing this in the stake pockets dont work.. plus i would need to crawl in there to crank it..
electric winch or just a pulley that the quad winch can connect too

[Darksith]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/image49.jpeg

also I have a 2"x2" angle iron across the front of the box bolted to the frame with a hook in the center for a 2000lb winch to hook too.
but mostly I use the come-along, good old had tools never let me down. that is why the hand winch on the hoist. less to go wrong.
lets see your quad do that with a big moose ;) but you could do the same thing off the trucks hitch. *Edit* oh the bar hits the ground to prevent the quad from flipping

[rocksteady]

electric winch or just a pulley that the quad winch can connect too

Got a tacoma.. no pack a quad in that thing..

Had bad luck with quad winches over the years so went old school mechanical

[gcreek]

You can cut a moose carcass into 8 pieces with a good pocket knife.

[walks with deer]

edge jager...i operate the same...just a knife..

if close to my truck i also use my razor sharp axe

[walks with deer]

hinds move fronts move backstraps in pack..

get secure and cooling go back for neck and rib...
normally on way back i come in up wind and above and glass for visitors..black bear will just shoot if its cubless...gbear i return to camp...

peeing in a circle around helps..

elk i have left where they fell at last light and gone for back up then come back for processing...

left one elk over night in a blizzard as i couldnt find innthe failing light..not the best way to have goood table fair....fast cooling is number one priority.

[jjsachmoe]

We use a front mounted winch and a utility trailer. Truck has a receiver mounted in the front bumper so that the trailer is in front. Since the front receiver is higher than the rear, it puts the trailer at an angle and with the gate of the trailer acting as a ramp, the winch pulls the moose in like nothing. Last years moose took 5 minutes to load including swapping the trailer from back to front and back after it was in. Been doing this for our hunting group for the last 25 years. Getting the moose to the road if it's farther away is a different situation though. That will always involve quartering and packing, either manually or on quads. Depends on regs in the area we're hunting in.

[MRP]

lets see your quad do that with a big moose ;) but you could do the same thing off the trucks hitch. *Edit* oh the bar hits the ground to prevent the quad from flipping

I seen some that fits into the reciver hitch on the truck for sale online .

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?125775-Old-s-man-game-hoist-4-quad

[Citori54]

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

Same set up we use but instead of roll out ramp we use 1" sheet of plywood and attach the moose to plywood with ratchet straps. Easy to load full moose for trip back to camp. We had a double header last year and were able to get both in one load. Same as Nog we use ground line to pull to truck. Furthest we have gone out is 3 - 1200' lengths to retrieve bull moose.

[robert05]

No problem, I have two big strong son's-----good planning on my part.