carrying deer

[tree stand]

just purchased a 4runner and wondered how you guys without trucks carried their deer.  thought about buying a cargo carrier for the trailer hitch.  any imput would be appreciated.

[frassettor]

I have a hitch haul that I put in my hitch of my car.It has a 500 lb capacity.

[owlbait]

Hitch haul/car arrier? Have one on my Jeep Liberty. Nice and low to ground so you don't have to lift too high.

[Orion]

when you do put it on the carrier for the trip home, wrap it in a tarp.  Less offensive to non-hunters.

[waiting4fall]

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0025764521480a&navCount=8&podId=0025764&parentId=cat20131&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat2141 2-cat20131_TGP&catalogCode=UH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20131&hasJS=true

[sagebrush]

Just get a big cooler and quarter the deer up and put it on ice. The meat is better that way. I even bone them out when I shoot an elk. I leave all the inedible stuff for the coyotes.
Gary

[stmpthmpr]

Originally posted by Orion:
when you do put it on the carrier for the trip home, wrap it in a tarp.  Less offensive to non-hunters.

That one blindsided me. Evoked some emotion in me. Not sure how I feel about that. The subject might make a good thread.

Growing up in Wisconsin in the sixties and seventies, it was so common to see vehicles running south on HWY 41 with deer strapped on hoods and on tailgates. It was the norm. Never heard anyone complain about it.

Why should things be different now. It is still a tradition, more people do it now than years past, yet the urge exists in us to be politically correct so not to hurt anyones feelings.

Does that help, or does it take the reality of hunting away from the public eye and create a deeper sensitivity to it when one does encounter it.

Again, not sure exactly how I feel about it. I am VERY concerned with maintaining a positive image of bowhunting, but my gut reaction to this is to say NO...dont cover it up. Im not ashamed of it, its a fact of life and always has been. Because people who eat beef dont actually see dead cows, doesnt make them any less dead.

Didnt there used to be a law in Wisconsin that a deer had to be tagged and clearly visible while being transported?

What do others think about this?

[fyrfyter43]

I know here in NJ it used to be that a deer being transported had to be in clear view, but I noticed that that was changed sometime in recent years.

Now the regulations read: "Be discrete when transporting your deer to and from a check station, butcher or taxidermist."

I also use a hitch haul cargo carrier.

[Stone Knife]

I have a Jeep that I use a hitch haul on, they work good, and you don't have to pick the deer up real high to get it on to the thing. And that's a good thing if your a pipsqueak like me  

[Deadsmple]

If for whatever reason I don't have my Jeep available, I just put'em in the back seat or trunk.

As far as covering up and being discreet, I too am not sure how I feel about that. I think stmpthmpr made a few valid points.

[JockC]

I agree with Stmpthmpr in principle, to a degree, but more important to me is keeping the meat from drying out or getting dirty.  

The only time I've transported an animal outside a vehicle is when I had to ask my now ex-wife to carry a BIG 5x5 whitetail home from an area that had exploded with ticks while I took off to work for a few days.  She refused to have that tick-covered carcass in the vehicle with her, our two kids, and a bird dog.  Fair enough...I tied it to the roof rack and tied a tarp around it to minimize drying.  Well, the road wind quickly shredded the tarp around the antlers.  In the five hour drive home, she had about a hundred men pull up alongside, give her the thumbs up, hold up a piece of paper with their phone number, etc...

[Jerry Jeffer]

I've had the back seat out of my car and put them in there. I've had tied on the top of the car, I even had one sitting up in the passenger seat, and that one got more looks then any of them. I never worried about public image before. Now that we seem to be wondering about it.... I'll still get it home any way I can.

[trapperDave]

i use a hitch hauler, great things they are

[NDTerminator]

We use Hitch Hauls on both our trucks.  Beats trying  to lift a big bodied ND buck into the bed alone (particularly my wife's big F350)!  

We leave a 4x6 tarp and bungees on each haul that are used to wrap up the deer & secure it.  Keeps the critter clean on the drive home.

Use 2 wheeled game cart to get them to the truck, move around the yard to wash & hang for skinning & butchering...

[James Wrenn]

I debone mine when it hits the ground.It goes into ziplocks and a cooler for the ride home.We have the call in check system now so bringing them out whole is not manditory any more.

I think the hitch haulers is easiest if you have to bring one home or to a check station whole.Some even tilt so you can just drag a deer up onto it.Covering it is an option you guys can choose.It does not bother me seeing one in the open but some people it does.

[4runr]

Hitch-haul on my 4runner.

[southpawshooter]

I even had one sitting up in the passenger seat, and that one got more looks then any of them  

Jerry, now that one made me laugh, never thought of doing that before    

[Ron LaClair]

When I was young we use to put our deer on the fender. Going north up old Hwy 27 when it was a 2 lane it was fun to see the bucks heading back south on the car fenders.

Some things have changed since those days, Highways are now Expressways, cars have no fenders, and God forbid, you might offend a non hunter with an exposed deer carcass.

This picture was taken in 1951 with my first buck on the fender of my Dad's 1948 Hudson.

   

[**DONOTDELETE**]

That's a great pic Ron...

[ksbowman]

Ron, Are you sure thats not a Nash?  Ben