Transporting Your Harvest

[Bobonli]

What strategies do you use to transport your harvest when you do not have a pickup truck?

I attended my bowhunter education course and the instructor asked to see the hands of people who don't have a truck. We were talking about how to avoid bringing ticks home with you in your car. To my surprise I was the only person in a room of 50 to raise a hand. I drive a small SUV. And I really hadn't given this much thought! I figured I would just field dress and put the meat in a cooler or, if that was not practical, put the seats down and lay out a tarp. The instructor said that I should expect the car to be inhabited by ticks if I did that. 

So, I'm open to suggestions and advice. How to you move your harvest around if you don't have a truck?
My car has a light duty trailer hitch for a bike rack. The first thought that comes to mind is one of those fold down metal trays, with the animal wrapped in a tarp to be discrete.

Thank you.

[Deadhunter25]

I have a few friends that use the trailer hitch with a carry rack and love it. When not in use it folds up too which is convenient


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[grampy]

The small platform that fits your hitch, will be perfect! I see many with cars or SUV's, using just that. An inexpensive blue tarp to wrap up the deer will kerp everything nice, neat and clean! And no crawlies in the car is another benefit. 

Be sure to treat your outer layer of clothes, along with your boots with Sawyers. That will also help to avoid unwanted crawling passenger's on the trip home.

Good idea to take a shower and check yourself once you get home too. You can never be too careful, when dealing with ticks.

[rob-c]

I used a trailer hitch carrier for years with my truck, between climbers and hunting gear I never had room for a deer  in the bed and washing blood out  was a pain to me. And as for wrapping the deer up HELL no , be proud that your a hunter .. 

[BigGuyNY]

Prior to buying a pickup, believe it or not I would use a bodybag.  The butcher would always get a kick out of it.  

[Bionic]

My dad has a beater to save fuel, and mileage on his truck, and he shot a 7 pointer at my house one opening day.  We put the deer in a contractor bag right in the trunk lol.  

[mlammerhirt]

Like Rob said...my trailblazer is usually full of gear or car seats so if we are hunting a bigger parcel I usually have my 5x10 trailer with my atv, so if we get one there is enough room for a few deer too.

If it's a quick hunt and the ATV isn't needed I have a hitch carrier that works awesome. Just bungee the deer down and your good to go.........until the whole carrier snaps off like in turkeyfeathers situation this season.

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[Doewhacker]

Wrap it in a $3 blue tarp and stuff it in the back. That’s what I always did before owning a pickup. 

[Nomad]

Posted this a time or two .

Ive been deer hunting 40 some years , never owned a pick up, today I drive an Outback .

Discrete my a$$, I circled Eastview Mall with this one .

Dont hide your deer, the more hunters remove things from the public’s eye, the less excepting It becomes .

Be proud, be polite but don’t hide in the shadows , or under a tarp .

Oh and welcome !

Edited March 11, 2018 by Stay at home Nomad

[turkeyfeathers]

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[Bionic]

13 minutes ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

Posted this a time or two .

Ive been deer hunting 40 some years , never owned a pick up, today I drive an Outback .

Discrete my a$$, I circled Eastview Mall with this one .

Dont hide your deer, the more hunters remove things from the public’s eye, the less excepting It becomes .

Be proud, be polite but don’t hide in the shadows , or under a tarp .

Oh and welcome !

I agree a thousand percent.  I am 31, and i remember the bus ride to school.  I started deer hunting at a yound age, and loved riding the bus, watching for bucks hanging in peoples yards.   You dont see that anymore! It is like everyone is afraid of upsetting others.  I always say if you are going to argue with me against hunting, you better be a vegan.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Bionic

[Nomad]

I have a friend in Washington state , he’s an attorney and traditional bow hunter . He’s held most offices in his state bow association, and he’s worked for free as an attorney fighting the antis .

He grew up,by me in Webster NY, he got interested in hunting because on his morning paper route there always was deer hanging for trees in guys front yards .

One reason I still often bring one home to hang , then the butchers .

[moog5050]

54 minutes ago, BigGuyNY said:

Prior to buying a pickup, believe it or not I would use a bodybag.  The butcher would always get a kick out of it.  

I did the same thing my first season.  Still have the bag. 

[G-Man]

Call a friend that has a pickup... or a relative..

[Nomad]

Uber !

[Jeremy K]

Hitch hauler !

[Pygmy]

Reminds me of a story....I have always had a pickup truck  except for a couple of brief periods in my misspent youth  , during which times It seems I was always BORROWING one from family or friends...

One time my sister borrowed my truck for some forgotten reason...She left me with her car, which was some sportscar type  of two seater Jap job that looked kinda like a 2/3 size Corvette...  I think it was a Toyota....It was bow season, and as luck would have it, I killed a buck that evening...There was no way I could bring it home in her rice rocket without messing the car up, so I stopped at  a friend's  house and asked  for assistance...We drove down into the field ( which belonged to another friend), threw the buck in the back of his truck and took it home and hung it up...I made sure my friend got some venison for his assistance.....The only other time I ever remember  killing a deer and did not have a truck I was driving my 1983 Buick Regal ( can't remember why) and there plenty of room for the PA  4 pt bow buck in the trunk..

[Robhuntandfish]

My buddy has a Ford escape and a Chevy Aveo and he has a hitch and hauler on both of them in case the wife needs the SUV.  The carrier is almost as big as the car!

I have only owned one car in my life.  Right after college I had a Ford escort pony - POS.  It ran fine and had a back seat but if anyone sat in it the car would bottom out everywhere.  

[GreeneHunter]

Seems simple enough !

 

[2012_taco]

The hitch hauler would be the way to go, as for wrapping it in a blue tarp, I would only because I don't want all the road slop to get on/in the carcass. Although  I suppose you can rinse it out when you git it home.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I toss them in the back of my ATV, then pop that on the trailer most of the time. The bed of my truck is for gear, plus its not easy getting a deer up in there since I lifted the truck.

If I was you, Id just use a hitch hauler. You can get them pretty inexpensively at Harbor Freight.

[Jeremy K]

I picked mine up at tractor supply , i bought the aluminium one that folds up when not in storage . Such a gimmick ,in the down position ,the rack is almost 2 feet from the vehicle . I removed the inner portion of the hinge set up and just plug the rack unit directly in to the receiver.

[ATbuckhunter]

If you have a hitch on your car, then I would get one of those racks you attach onto the hitch. I personally don't have that on either car i take hunting, so I always skin the deer and leave the hide in the woods. Ive only ever brought home a deer with its hide once and I doubt ill be doing that anytime soon. Ticks are the only thing im scared of in the woods. 

[hunter49]

I do it like GreeneHunter, put them on the wheeler, drive it on the trailer & drive it down the road!.  No shame, we use to hang them all over the car fenders, across the trunk lid, on top of the roof, any where they would fit. The record was 5 bucks at once on the outside of a 68 Plymouth Fury!  Those were the fun good old days.

[wolc123]

$29 at Harbor freight, and much easier to load than a pickup truck.

Edited March 11, 2018 by wolc123