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Deer cart

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Toss a fillet knife in your pack. Light as a feather and makes deboning easy, even shoulders and necks
 
I'm not going to mince words with this "leave the shoulders in the woods" thing. Not bringing out all the meat is a sin! If you kill it, haul it out and use it, otherwise, go watch football. It's not only a waste, but a black eye for every ethical hunter and ammo for every anti. The carcass should look like a pack of coyotes got hold of it when you're through. If you don't know how to take care of it, watch a youtube video.
 
@ClimbingArborist, I respect straight shooters, and appreciate a man with convictions.

I don't want to completely derail a good thread, but I do want to make sure folks reading see both sides of the coin.

I know that wasting meat is generally frowned upon. A big part of that has to do with the old school hunting practices that wrecked hunting for decades, if it didn't lead to out right extinction. Think buffalo hunting, passenger pigeons, and things of that nature. American hunters came to realize that our resources weren't necessarily unlimited, and did a fine job trying to make sure we didn't repeat those practices. That's a good thing, but even a good thing can be taken to extremes.

When you clean a deer, do you harvest the sinew for fibers? Do you tan the hide for clothing? If you tan, do you keep the brain? Do you eat organ meat? Do you keep intestines for sausage casings? Do you split bones for marrow, and keep the shards for needles and hooks?

Of course you don't, and I'm not saying you should. It would be a massive waste of your time, and suck the joy right out of the whole affair. If you bird hunt, I'll hazard a guess you've debreasting a few dove or quail, and discarded the rest. Again, no judgement.

Also, if you're a nature enthusiast, you've probably heard that predators in times of good hunting will eat the "choice" bits and leave the rest for scavengers. We have an (over?)abundance of deer in my home state. Why should I be held to different standards as a predator than a wolf, bear, or cougar?

A carcass in the swamps I hunt will most likely be gone by morning, and I sincerely doubt it impacts the deer population. I do not feel I am harming the environment.

I think it's important to admit to ourselves that we do this for fun, not sustenance. If "waste not, want not" was the game, we'd all be better off buying ground beef. Even in Alabama, where a deer license costs all of $30 and we have a deer-a-day limit, hunting for big game is not a good way to put food on the table. It's a sport.

We kill for sport. How's that for not mincing words? :)

All that being said, I encourage folks to at least know how to completely process a deer. Notice I never said I couldn't debone a shoulder. There are simply times where doing so is not (in my mind) a fun or productive use of my limited time.

Yesterday, for example, it was 90 degrees. Had I killed a hog 3 miles back in the swamp, I would have absolutely cut the hams and backstraps, and left the rest for whatever needed it more than me.

A cold, holiday weekend hunt on my lease is a different story. My father and I are happy to cut up ribs, necks, and shoulders. And I'm happy to take anybody who wants to go hunting out for a little trip, and teach them everything I know.

I'd like to think that I've helped enough guys on this forum to show that I care about the sport and it's future, and am a cut above the average redneck that cuts horns and leaves the rest.

Everybody has to draw their own line in the sand. If you're happy with yours, I'm happy for you. I know I sleep fine knowing where mine is at.

Anywho, sorry for the novel. Hope you have a great season, and end up with a freezer full of shoulders!
 
MCDM said:
In my years of trying all sorts of dragging options i have concluded that carts are limited by terrain. I use a jet sled now!! @redsquirrel posted last year and i decided to give the sled a shot. Let me tell you it is smooth. It goes through everything up over anything and there is little to no resistance while dragging. The only con is when your dragging uphill in the snow. Once you stop that sled will pull the other direction and trust me when i say anchor in or muscle through it. Other than that it in my opinion is worth the measly money i think i paid $60-$70 for it through cabelas.
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What size did you get and are you happy with the size?
 
ImThere said:
Been a good place to stop.
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Kinda shocked by this to be honest. Maybe I'm old school but I sure hope this hasn't become the mindset of a lot of hunters. If I seem a little passionate, it's because I have hunted and studied whitetails passionately for fifty years, been hoodooed and outsmarted by them countless times and have the ultimate respect for them. I believe if we're going to take their lives that we should utilize every scrap of meat. If that is offensive, we're in trouble.
Done preaching.
 
ClimbingArborist said:
Kinda shocked by this to be honest. Maybe I'm old school but I sure hope this hasn't become the mindset of a lot of hunters. If I seem a little passionate, it's because I have hunted and studied whitetails passionately for fifty years, been hoodooed and outsmarted by them countless times and have the ultimate respect for them. I believe if we're going to take their lives that we should utilize every scrap of meat. If that is offensive, we're in trouble.
Done preaching.
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You said you didn’t want to mince words then you did.

I just don’t like the way things can go. I think we all try to avoid most confrontation on this site. Sometimes it’s ok to not say anything even if you disagree for the comradeship of the site.

That’s all I was saying

I’m not saying your wrong or right.
Personally I drag every deer to the truck and drop the whole deer at the processor.


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I don’t waste any meat but I can only get two tags and may not get two deer. We have less deer here than many states. A heavy snow year and cold and coyotes keeps our deer populations in check.

If I lived in the hot south and could kill a lot of deer I might not have the same attitude. I might leave more for the other predators. We are all different Let’s leave it at that

Oh and back to the thread. I am not allowed to debone deer in the bush. Dumb rule. So I use a sled or a cart or a bike or a sit drag or an John Deere loader tractor. The last is best. I got a hawk game cart to try. Oh I also have an ATV

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Ontariofarmer said:
I don’t waste any meat but I can only get two tags and may not get two deer. We have less deer here than many states. A heavy snow year and cold and coyotes keeps our deer populations in check.

If I lived in the hot south and could kill a lot of deer I might not have the same attitude. I might leave more for the other predators. We are all different Let’s leave it at that

Oh and back to the thread. I am not allowed to debone deer in the bush. Dumb rule. So I use a sled or a cart or a bike or a sit drag or an John Deere loader tractor. The last is best. I got a hawk game cart to try. Oh I also have an ATV

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We are very fortunate to have the game diversity and population here in the south. I hunt mostly private land so my preferred method of game retrieval is an electric cart but the front end loader on a tractor is an excellent form of retrieval if it’s available ;)
 
I will tell you guys what to do with your deer shoulders, just bone them and cut into 2 inch chunks, then buy a pork butt and do the same. Season , put into a large pan, add a little water, cover tightly with foil and cook at 250F for 8 hours, drain and save the broth, chop the meat and add some of the broth back to keep it moist and you have pulled deermeat. Serve sauce on the side and if any is leftover freeze it in ziplock bags, beats the hell out of lunchmeat, you can do the same with the neck.
 
As a capitalist, I paid for my license same as any one else and can use as much or as little of the deer I kill as I please. With that said, I usually bite the bullet and debone the shoulders even tho I question myself each and every time.
 
If it was legal to quarter animals on public land here that's what I'd do but they have to remain in tact. Field dressing is as far as we can reduce the weight. I typically use a cart but if I was going to buy another cart I would try one with in-line wheels. Side by side wheels can be hard to navigate through the woods. A friend of mine uses a Deer Sleigh'r and swears by them. I don't think they're very durable going over gravel and rocks but they're packable and we don't have rocks and gravel in the woods here.
 
I’ve never tried a sled but with the storms we’ve had the last few years carts don’t work well. Just too many trees down. The hawk one shown in the video has too small of tires. Any of them work ok with two people. I would like to try a sled. 90 percent of the time I only want to make one trip out with everything. I’ve done dragging whole, field dressed, quartered, boned out. Of course boning and quartering require more planning and more stuff too carry on the way in but less on the way out if you are successful.
 
I keep a 50lb ice bag (can be bought in bulk in various places) rolled up with gutting gloves and regular blue gloves in any of my setups. They are tougher than regular trashbags, but those work just as well. This takes up no room, weighs nothing, and gives you the flexibility to quarter or bone on site and pack out. Hell, in the JX3 hybrid - that bag and gloves, and the straps to keep in place when packing, - all stay in the space between the mesh and frame. The last deer I shot (I never made it up the tree) I just deboned, tossed in the ice bag and wrapped in my outer coat, and strapped to the hybrid and off I went. No extra effort. About 2 ounces of extra weight. One trip in and out. No fuss, No getting rid of carcasses once out the woods. No calling buddies for help.

If I were to use a deer cart, I'd definitely want to build one with slanted wheels that allows me to go over logs or on sides of hills without it tipping over. My buddies that use them have this plastic mesh zip tied to the frame to keep parts of the deer from getting hung up in brush or in the wheels.
 
I have a horrible cart, wish I knew the brand. The deer rides up high off the ground, leaving you with a very tippy cart. The cart isnt flat, its angled about 160 deg. So one guy in front and one in back works ok, provided they are the right height. Usually one guy is bent over, not good for your back. If I was gonna get another cart it would look like the one Eberhart had in that one video.
I borrowed a jet style sled opening day this yr with a couple inches of snow, worked awesome. No body parts to snag on trees, as they are down in the sled.
 
I have had a cart that someone gave me and have used it for several years. It was better than no wheels for sure. I borrowed a cart that had angled wheels. That was the beans.
 
EricS said:
I’ve never tried a sled but with the storms we’ve had the last few years carts don’t work well. Just too many trees down. The hawk one shown in the video has too small of tires. Any of them work ok with two people. I would like to try a sled. 90 percent of the time I only want to make one trip out with everything. I’ve done dragging whole, field dressed, quartered, boned out. Of course boning and quartering require more planning and more stuff too carry on the way in but less on the way out if you are successful.
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I've tried a lot of stuff. I hauled out a bear and some deer on a cart. It was nice on wide open trails and that was about it. I switched to a sled 4 or 5 years ago and will never go back.
 
I may end up with a sled at some point. As I get more into duck hunting it makes sense. Also, I've dragged way too many pigs through the mud. Doesn't matter how good your cart is, its not making it through the gumbo here.
 
I have a cart I built,one of the roll up style deer sleighs and always take the stuff to clean a kill and pack out.I use it all and decide what to use by where I am gonna be.They all work great in the right spot.Versatility is the name of the game for me
 
The Hawk cart looks absolutely amazing. I have always dragged my deer back to the truck but I am thinking I will save up for the Hawk Crawler it just look s to nice and I feel like I could find more uses for it.
 
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