The Drag

[Dave]

I hear you, I'm a year shy of 50, and NO WAY am I taking a quad out just to get to my stand. Nothing against those who do, but if I wanted to ride in a cart I'd start golfing.

Lets see how you feel when you are in your sixties. Life can change a lot from 50's to your 60's. If it's between using a Atv to get to your hunting spot and bring your deer out of the woods or not being able to hunt at all , what would you choose? Health issues change at a moments notice and we have to adjust. And an ATV might make the difference.

[growalot]

I can tell you this...living in hill country and hunting hills...down in Alfred even when I was in my 20's...trying to drag a deer up the hill to camp was a heart attack in the making.......the ATV with two ppl dragging a deer has a difficult time making it back to camp...some places just require an ATV...we use to keep them at camp and radio a pick up...but now the 70's crowd drive them in....here at home...I some times use the JD...slip them in the bucket and then pull them up with it....just don't drop the bucket on rack...lol this guy I got to close too...Snap!!...terrible sound

[Uncle Nicky]

Ha ha...did I show up on argument day & nobody told me???

Dave- I guess you definitely have a point. I DO use a quad to drag deer out of the woods sometimes, I use it for setting up stands and hauling logs, and I used to use it plant food plots before I gave that up. If it was a choice between not hunting at all or taking a quad...I'd take the quad. But in the spots I usually hunt, a quad (or game cart) will only get me so far, so I'd need to find new places to hunt, I suppose. I often hunt alone also, so I worry a little about tipping the thing over, breaking a leg, and being a mile away from any help (hopefully, I can get cell reception).

No disrespect meant for any of the older guys. I was poking fun at the younger guys (my own kids included) I sometimes hunt with who pout when I tell them I'm leaving the ATV or truck behind and they have to walk to their stands.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Uncle Nicky

[WNYBuckHunter]

Lets see how you feel when you are in your sixties. Life can change a lot from 50's to your 60's. If it's between using a Atv to get to your hunting spot and bring your deer out of the woods or not being able to hunt at all , what would you choose? Health issues change at a moments notice and we have to adjust. And an ATV might make the difference.

Nothing wrong with giving the old farts a break!

[burmjohn]

I always use an ATV to drag out the deer, thats why I have the thing. And we use to to go in sometimes too, we drop the ATV's off 1/2 mile in because the walk sucks (all uphill). When its nice and cold out, the walk is great, however during the warmer times its not worth it to be all sweaty for no reason at all.

Last Friday, my brother got his first Doe. I walked out got the ATV, drove up, gutted the deer with him, tossed it on the ATV and had it hanging and hosed out 10 min later, it was a beautiful thing.

[erussell]

I love the ATV crowd, they have chased a ton of deer to me. Guy came in on his property 300 yrds to my left on an ATV last monday. 5 min later I hear deer running up the hillside to my left and they crossed in front of me going right, just out of sight. Well just in time the neighbor starts his way up the hillside on his ATV about 500 yrds to my right and the deer split the differance and came right to me. Shot the nice 8 point in the group. Love it when a plan comes together.

[Nomad]

Hum at 52 I guess I got 3 years left till I hit "old guy" Me I work out hard to stay strong for life, deer hunting happends to be a small part of life.For ME buying,storing,maintaining, buying a trailer etc. is not worth an hour or so of work a year .Thats me hey some day I may need a wheelchair as well...... so who knows.

erussell, I hear ya, my friend who lives by where I hunt drives his everywhere,I'll be on stand watch him come out drive towards say the thick brush,he stops short but the deer have already blew out the other side ! Saved him a 10 minute walk though......

[Doc]

It's kind of funny what some feel is an old age that requires mechanical assistance for a deer drag. I had a neighbor a few years back that dropped dead of a heart attack on his way up our hill (on foot) ...... and he was in his late 40s......and he wasn't even dragging a deer....... and supposedly he was in pretty good shape. It seems that there are a lot of reports of people dropping dead during hunting season every year. For some it isn't that big a surprise. For others it is. All I know is that for some people who are desk-bound for almost all of the year to all of a sudden begin dragging 150+ pounds or so of dead weight up hills and through the woods might cause them to think they are doing something healthy but that wonderful activity of "good exercise" might just be creating a potential health disaster. If there is an opportunity to use a mechanized method, or to team up with a fellow hunter or two for the drag, I say go for it. It just might provide a few more seasons for you to enjoy.

There are times when I use the ATV to get me up the hill and then park it just under the ridge of the hill and start walking from there on semi-flat land. That may be a sign of deteriorating endurance, or it might just be a case of smart distribution of hunting effort and time. I suspect it is a combination of both. All I know is that it allows me to get deeper back in away from the crowds, and that ATV is always just a good "flat-land walk" away when I do get something. Unfortunately, since a lot of my hunting is done on state land, I still get involved in way more long drags than I probably should just getting the deer back to my land where I can use the ATV. Quite possibly my doctor would be the one having the heart attack if she ever saw some of the drags that I have undertaken in recent years..... lol.

[Nomad]

Good post Doc. you nailed it,its not just deer hunters that are in poor shape its most Americans.However,I'd suggest instead of buying a machine,perhaps work out hard and become one !

Anyone who dies walking up a hill or dragging a deer would have dropped shoveling the walk or driveway or any other such activity,which still is sad but largely preventable,but that takes work and most don't like that .

Hey if i lived in the sticks where i hunted and could use it for IDK whatever folks in the sticks use 'em for or hunted hill sides,or had a med. issue (my one buddy has a new hip) yet he still drags them....... or was at a age i felt needed to use one sign me up ! I get it.

I'd just rather see guys try to make themselves stronger and healthy. But then I flip tractor tires and hit them with sledge hammers non stop for 1/2 hour for fun.

[Doc]

Good post Doc. you nailed it,its not just deer hunters that are in poor shape its most Americans.However,I'd suggest instead of buying a machine,perhaps work out hard and become one !

Anyone who dies walking up a hill or dragging a deer would have dropped shoveling the walk or driveway or any other such activity,which still is sad but largely preventable,but that takes work and most don't like that .

Hey if i lived in the sticks where i hunted and could use it for IDK whatever folks in the sticks use 'em for or hunted hill sides,or had a med. issue (my one buddy has a new hip) yet he still drags them....... or was at a age i felt needed to use one sign me up ! I get it.

I'd just rather see guys try to make themselves stronger and healthy. But then I flip tractor tires and hit them with sledge hammers non stop for 1/2 hour for fun.

I kind of wonder if most guys even know how bad a shape they are in. A good long drag can tax people way beyond anything they may have ever imagined. I see a lot of hunters in the woods, and a bunch of them really look more like sumo wrestlers than marathon runners .... lol. I think Clint Eastwood put it best with his movie line .... "a man's gotta know his limitations".

By the way, the main use of my ATV is plowing my 1000' driveway through the winter. That keeps me from dropping over shoveling snow......lol. I suppose a few trips up the hill over the hunting season to help get a deer out probably is also a good use of that critter too.

[growalot]

Yuor right Doc....that's why I shovel our drive by hand most of the winter and hike the woods with no snow shoes....that right there is either a heart builder or attack on it's own...lol

Edited December 3, 2011 by growalot

[erussell]

Holy crap Grow, I thought my 20 yrds was bad enough. That would kill me and I'm 37.

[fasteddie]

Nothing wrong with giving the old farts a break!

Hey , I resemble that remark !

[GreeneHunter]

Nothing wrong with giving the old farts a break!

I'm curious .... Is being a member of AARP a basic requirement of the Old Farts Club ? LOL

[fasteddie]

You get to a certain and you get your own personal Crossing Sign like I did .......

[growalot]

erussell......It takes me a while to get her all done...breaks in between goals....and lots of water even in winter...and start before it gets too deep...some times I go out at 1am if the weathers bad...that way MrB can get his truck out for work...

[Doc]

erussell......It takes me a while to get her all done...breaks in between goals....and lots of water even in winter...and start before it gets too deep...some times I go out at 1am if the weathers bad...that way MrB can get his truck out for work...

I'll have to see if I can talk my wife into doing that. Save a lot of wear and tear on the ATV ..... No, on second thought, I think I won't even try that one!

[fasteddie]

My driveway is only 75' long and I use an 8 Horse power snow blower with a 26" cut . Bought a cap for it a few years ago so the snow wouldn't blow all over me when the wind shifts . I doan chovel no steenkin snow !

This will be my next snow blower .............

[growalot]

That's a dandy Eddie and diesel to boot ....lol don't get me wrong things can get hairy here quick...I still have the JD front loader and a smaller JD with a hydraulic plow...but the shoveling replaces food plotting and gardening as my winter work...plus I do a lot of fire wood in the winter and haul it out on sleds

[growalot]

there's one place I'm not allowed to shovel...so we hire guys.....

[Paula]

did i miss something? Grow is that what you have now or what it looks like when you get it?

[growalot]

That is from last year....would you believe I'm bummed it hasn't arrived yet?....What a swirly this gun season is turning into with no snow...51 here right now

[Lever action]

Don't worry it will come soon enough. I remember it was 50 degrees last New Years Day and then we got hammered.

Now about dragging deer, I.m 51 and have dragged my share of deer over the years.The worst one was when I was 37 and hunting alone in the Adirondacks.I shot a buck that dressed out at 190#s and I only weigh 160#s.I shot him at 7:30 in the morning and it took me all day to get him to camp.

Now you can call me lazy if you want but back here at home if Iget a deer I either bring it back with the 4 wheeler or the Kubota.All depends where on the property the deer dropped.