Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, and now your
Speaker 1: host Tony Peterson. Hey everyone, welcome to the wire to
Speaker 1: Hunt Foundations podcast, which has brought to you you by First
Speaker 1: Like I'm your host, Tony Peterson, and today's episode is
Speaker 1: all about the best ways to get your deer out
Speaker 1: of the woods. There are I don't know quite a
Speaker 1: few reasons I don't want to be a murderer. Besides
Speaker 1: what should be the obvious reasons, I've pulled enough of
Speaker 1: dead critters out of the woods to know that I'm
Speaker 1: not interested in trying to. I don't know stealthily wrestle
Speaker 1: with a body as I love it to some far
Speaker 1: off spot in a swamp where hopefully nobody will find it.
Speaker 1: I'm too lazy to be a murderer, I guess anyway.
Speaker 1: The reality of getting a deer out once you find
Speaker 1: it can be as simple as driving the old four
Speaker 1: wheeler out to the field, or as complicated as piecing
Speaker 1: one out in a white tailed version of the back
Speaker 1: country and impacking it for miles. Knowing and understanding all
Speaker 1: your options and being confident with them, I can really
Speaker 1: save you some headaches and back aches, so listen up.
Speaker 1: That's what this whole episode is all about. When I
Speaker 1: was a kid, my dad hunted with a group of
Speaker 1: guys that were mostly pretty decent, aside from one dude
Speaker 1: who was a one eyed lunatic who fancied himself a
Speaker 1: tough guy despite being out of shape, pretty small, and
Speaker 1: really at a disadvantage when it came to depth perception,
Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. Those guys let me
Speaker 1: hang out with them at the hunt and shack, and
Speaker 1: while they bow hunted deer, I terrorized the local world
Speaker 1: population with my twenty two It was pretty fun to
Speaker 1: be around them. And while they seemed old to me
Speaker 1: at the time, I realized now sadly that they were
Speaker 1: younger than I am now. Even so, I remember how
Speaker 1: often they would talk about how you didn't want to
Speaker 1: shoot a deer in such and such a spot because
Speaker 1: it would be a nightmare to drag them out. And
Speaker 1: to be fair, the area they were hunting was the
Speaker 1: Bluff country of southern Minnesota, so there were some real
Speaker 1: hills to deal with, even if they were just Midwestern hills.
Speaker 1: And also, to be fair, at that time, the options
Speaker 1: for those guys. To get out a deer involved pure manpower,
Speaker 1: grab the antlers with a buddy and start huffing away.
Speaker 1: If it was a dough, they'd loop their safety harness
Speaker 1: around the neck. While some of them did. Some of
Speaker 1: those guys, like the one eyed lunatic who shoot his
Speaker 1: pants on stand one evening to everyone's delight, especially mine,
Speaker 1: they were too manly to wear a harness, which is
Speaker 1: so dumb. Anyway, Getting a deer out of those spots
Speaker 1: at that time meant you had to be up to
Speaker 1: the task of dragging them, and dragged them we did,
Speaker 1: which almost always sucked a lot. But I always felt,
Speaker 1: probably because I was young and really dumb and didn't
Speaker 1: have to do most of the work at that time,
Speaker 1: that it was sort of a write of passage to
Speaker 1: nearly kill yourself with a task. My dad, who was
Speaker 1: less inclined to i don't know, unnecessary suffering than his son,
Speaker 1: decided to try and remedy the problem. So he did
Speaker 1: what my dad always did, which was trying to build
Speaker 1: something that he could have easily bought. The deer card
Speaker 1: he made from two by fours in the cannibalized front
Speaker 1: fork and wheel of my dirt bike. It was like
Speaker 1: a wheelbarrel from hell. It was the worst. It was heavy, awkward,
Speaker 1: and the one small wheel in the center meant you
Speaker 1: had to spend all of your time fighting the balance.
Speaker 1: I guess it probably would have been one hell of
Speaker 1: a workout considering how much it engaged your core stabilizer muscles,
Speaker 1: but that isn't what it was built for. We used
Speaker 1: it a few times in my high school years when
Speaker 1: I occasionally shot dear, but it was not the answer
Speaker 1: to the dear removal question. What was I have found
Speaker 1: out now after a lot of years of trying different things,
Speaker 1: was the best option for the individual hunt. How's that
Speaker 1: for a letdown answer. The thing is, like I mentioned
Speaker 1: at the intro, is that there are really quite a
Speaker 1: few easy ways to get a deer out. It seems
Speaker 1: like everyone and their brother owns a side by side
Speaker 1: these days, which is crazy to me. After all, it's
Speaker 1: weird that we buy a little car type thing that
Speaker 1: costs as much as a little car, mostly kind of
Speaker 1: just to drive around our neighborhood or bring to deer
Speaker 1: camp on the off chance someone shoots a buck side
Speaker 1: note here, and I'm not shooting on people who own
Speaker 1: side by sides or four wheelers or whatever. But I
Speaker 1: noticed when I was driving to Colorado elk hunt this
Speaker 1: year that the road was full of fellow elk hunters.
Speaker 1: No surprise there, but what hit me was the amount
Speaker 1: of money people have invested in toys that are somewhat
Speaker 1: related to their hunting enjoyment. It made me realize that
Speaker 1: as much as I'd like to see hunting not become
Speaker 1: a pay to play type of endeavor or a rich
Speaker 1: man's sport if you will, it's going to There's so
Speaker 1: much money out there, and that money is always looking
Speaker 1: for an advantage in hunting, whether it's a little deer
Speaker 1: hauling vehicle or a lease or a landowner tag, whatever.
Speaker 1: That money isn't going to go away. It's here to
Speaker 1: stay and it will influence the future of hunting opportunities.
Speaker 1: Now that I have that out of the way, I'll
Speaker 1: get back to the dear retrieval issue. If you have
Speaker 1: a private spot and you can use a truck or
Speaker 1: a side by side or a four wheeler, things are
Speaker 1: pretty simple. But don't assume that every spot you hunt
Speaker 1: will allow that. If you travel, you might find yourself
Speaker 1: in a roadless section of the National forest or some
Speaker 1: other situation where wheels are a no no. When this happens,
Speaker 1: or if you just happen to not have the means
Speaker 1: or situation to use a vehicle, you have to be
Speaker 1: aware of your options besides dragging a deer. For me,
Speaker 1: one of the best things that happened was that I
Speaker 1: bought a real deer cart that my dad did not make.
Speaker 1: A deer cart with two wheels and a low center
Speaker 1: of gravity for the bulk of the weight to lay on.
Speaker 1: That thing is awesome. And when I first bought one,
Speaker 1: it was after I had really started traveling to kill
Speaker 1: public land white tales. Being solo on most of my
Speaker 1: hunt and often hunting a few miles from the truck
Speaker 1: meant that I might be in for like a six
Speaker 1: hour drag or more, which is no fun. It's also
Speaker 1: really no fun if you have to drag a deer
Speaker 1: that weighs as much or more than you now. Listen,
Speaker 1: I don't care how much jim time you put in.
Speaker 1: If you weigh a hundred sixty pounds and have to
Speaker 1: drag a two pound deer for three miles, you're gonna
Speaker 1: wish you were dead, or at least had a buddy
Speaker 1: with a helicopter you could call a good deer cart.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, it makes this whole process so
Speaker 1: much easier. But there is a catch, a catch that
Speaker 1: I figured out once I spent some time killing bucks
Speaker 1: and random places far far from home. A deer cart,
Speaker 1: a good deer carter, I should say, is amazing if
Speaker 1: you're hunting spots where there are two track roads or
Speaker 1: logging roads, and as an added bonus, where the land
Speaker 1: is mostly level. If you kill a buck in a
Speaker 1: swamp and then have to hike up a huge bluff
Speaker 1: to get to your truck, that game cart is mostly
Speaker 1: going to make things worse. Even with a buddy helping.
Speaker 1: Pulling a game cart full of dead weight isn't so
Speaker 1: much fun. If there are a lot of blowdowns or washouts,
Speaker 1: or you're just in tight, nasty cover or whatever. On
Speaker 1: a nice field road or two track, they're amazing. Two
Speaker 1: things to consider if you do go this route, though,
Speaker 1: are this Loading in a deer solo takes a little
Speaker 1: bit of technique. You want to lay the cart down,
Speaker 1: get most of the weight of the deer in the center,
Speaker 1: pick them up slowly so they settle, and then usually
Speaker 1: tie up the head in the legs so that they
Speaker 1: aren't dragging on the wheels or catching on brush or
Speaker 1: hitting you in the back of the legs while you walk.
Speaker 1: I'll also say this, if you go with a deer cart,
Speaker 1: don't go super cheap. The good ones aren't that expensive,
Speaker 1: but the more expensive they are usually they're a little
Speaker 1: bit better. And the cheapest options are the cheapest options
Speaker 1: for a reason. The deer cart I use has served
Speaker 1: me well for like fourteen years now, so for whatever
Speaker 1: I paid, which wasn't that much, it was worth it
Speaker 1: many many times over. And I should also say this too,
Speaker 1: there are no free rides and deer retrieval. Even with
Speaker 1: the deer cart that is designed well, you still have
Speaker 1: to work. Now if you go some other route, like
Speaker 1: with a harness design to make a drag easier or whatever,
Speaker 1: it may be slightly easier now. I know. Earlier I
Speaker 1: said I had two things to say about a deer
Speaker 1: cart when what you should consider, but I totally forgot
Speaker 1: what the first one was, so you only got one.
Speaker 1: But I might come back around to that at some point.
Speaker 1: If you go with a sled, which is another option
Speaker 1: out there, not like a deer cart, you still have
Speaker 1: to drag your deer. There are a few options this way,
Speaker 1: and I've used some of them. All of them have
Speaker 1: their trade offs, and even a good ice fishing type
Speaker 1: sled for late season retrieval when there is snow on
Speaker 1: the ground, that should, like theoretically, be the easiest retrieval
Speaker 1: you have, but if the snow conditions are really powdery,
Speaker 1: it won't be. I do think it's worth exploring all
Speaker 1: of these options for two reasons. The first is the
Speaker 1: obvious one, which is I don't know, why do way
Speaker 1: more work than you have to. The second is that
Speaker 1: if you have a good way to get a deer
Speaker 1: out of somewhere, you will hunt smarter and be far
Speaker 1: less likely to default too easier spots. Now. I know
Speaker 1: that we all think we are pretty fit, stubbed muffins
Speaker 1: out here, who, if we really wanted to, could probably
Speaker 1: throw half an elk over our shoulders and cover I
Speaker 1: don't know, like ten or twenty miles without too much trouble.
Speaker 1: But the reality of dead weight often shatters are illusions
Speaker 1: about ourselves. There are plenty of hunters out there who
Speaker 1: won't hunt certain spots, or more likely hunt deep enough
Speaker 1: into the cover to kill deer. This leads me to
Speaker 1: my last and most preferred method of getting a deer
Speaker 1: out of the woods, piecing it out and packing it out.
Speaker 1: When I first started hunting out west quite a bit,
Speaker 1: I killed a few critters that I could drag out. Then,
Speaker 1: one day in early September, a buddy and I were
Speaker 1: spotting in stocking milder in western North Dakota. We spotted
Speaker 1: at a late morning buck on his feet, and since
Speaker 1: it was my buddy's turn to stock, he took the lead.
Speaker 1: We got in above that meal deer, and eventually my
Speaker 1: buddy shot him. It wasn't a giant deer, but it
Speaker 1: was a nice one, and we were quite a ways
Speaker 1: from the truck. We were also pretty inexperienced Western hunters,
Speaker 1: so we thought, well, hell, we'll just drag it. But
Speaker 1: it was hot, dusty, and probably the second most miserable
Speaker 1: time I've ever had getting an animal out to the truck.
Speaker 1: It was also really, really dumb. We could have pieced
Speaker 1: that meal deer out and then packed half of him
Speaker 1: a piece to get to the truck with so much
Speaker 1: less effort. Well, lesson learned, because that's what I do
Speaker 1: every chance I can. For white tails. Now, before I
Speaker 1: get into this, I have to say you've got to
Speaker 1: check your local regulations on this. Not every state allows
Speaker 1: you to piece them out in the field, although I
Speaker 1: think it's pretty common these days now that in person
Speaker 1: registration is largely going away. If you can piece out
Speaker 1: at deer in the field, this option is incredible. But
Speaker 1: remember what I said earlier, there's a catch, because there's
Speaker 1: always a catch, and with this one, the catches, and
Speaker 1: this is going to seem dune, but it's true. You
Speaker 1: have to know how to do it. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell you my system, much of which I developed
Speaker 1: while hunting with Western hunters who really have no choice
Speaker 1: most of the time but to get an animal pieced
Speaker 1: out and in their pack. What I do, first off,
Speaker 1: is I keep a butcher kid in my truck. I
Speaker 1: don't carry it in my pack like I do on
Speaker 1: an elk hunt, for example, because I tend to have
Speaker 1: more time with white tails, and I tend to have
Speaker 1: a pretty full pack every time I hunt. And when
Speaker 1: you start to consider the tree stand necessities and extra
Speaker 1: clothes and the food and camera gear another junk. So
Speaker 1: I keep a butcher kid in my truck along with
Speaker 1: a box of one gallon or two gallons at block bags.
Speaker 1: I've used dedicated game bags for deer in the past,
Speaker 1: but it really has never made sense and it just
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like that good of an idea to me.
Speaker 1: I don't need to pack out quarters or make sure
Speaker 1: that I get them hung up instantly, so the freezer
Speaker 1: bags are really an easier option. And this is how
Speaker 1: it goes if I shoot a deer in the white
Speaker 1: tailed back country, where easier retrieval isn't an option, or
Speaker 1: more likely, if I'm just hunting solo, I'll make sure
Speaker 1: my tag is filled out and notched, get my photos,
Speaker 1: and then hike everything back to my truck. I want
Speaker 1: to empty my pack, which by the way, is the
Speaker 1: same pack I used to elk hunt, so I can
Speaker 1: get a full deer's worth of meat in There is
Speaker 1: something to consider at the truck. Everything I don't need
Speaker 1: comes out of the pack when I go back in.
Speaker 1: I want a small tarp skinning knife and a knife
Speaker 1: like the bench made meatcrafter, which is a badass blade
Speaker 1: for piecing out animals. Also want a small bone saw,
Speaker 1: and then about a dozen ziplocks. All of this ways
Speaker 1: next to nothing. Once back at the deer, I find
Speaker 1: a clean level spot and I lay it on its side.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Basically, just like you would with an
Speaker 1: elk or a meal deer in the high country. I
Speaker 1: start skinning on the top side, around the legs, straight
Speaker 1: up the chest, and essentially just trying to open up
Speaker 1: the front and back quarters to make it so the
Speaker 1: hide is only attached around the back side of the spine,
Speaker 1: you know, around the backstraps. Then I lay the tarp
Speaker 1: out and I start just taking off meat. This usually
Speaker 1: starts with the rear quarters because they are thicker and
Speaker 1: they hold more heat than the front shoulders. This is
Speaker 1: really hard to describe on a podcast, but you can
Speaker 1: basically follow the seams between muscle groups to piece them out.
Speaker 1: This is a skill I think every one of us
Speaker 1: should learn for couple of reasons. The first is that
Speaker 1: processing your own deer helps you own more of the
Speaker 1: overall process. The second is that you might not always
Speaker 1: have the option to bring your deer to a butcher,
Speaker 1: and if that's the case, having the knowledge to do
Speaker 1: this yourself is huge. So basically, you have to take
Speaker 1: all of the meat you can get your knife to
Speaker 1: off the deer. I start filling freezer bags up with
Speaker 1: various muscles without removing the hind legs. This helps keep
Speaker 1: the meat from hitting the dirt because it's easier to
Speaker 1: deal with a single roast than a whole hind quarter.
Speaker 1: It also lets you parse the meat out in the
Speaker 1: bags easily. I repeat this process on the front shoulders,
Speaker 1: and then with the neck, meat, the tender loins, and
Speaker 1: the top side backstrap. When you've cut all the meat
Speaker 1: off on one side, you flip the deer over on
Speaker 1: its hide and repeat the process on the other side.
Speaker 1: It's really simple actually, and once you've done it a
Speaker 1: few times, and it might take two hours, but even
Speaker 1: under a head lamp in the middle of the night,
Speaker 1: it's not too difficult or time consuming. With the bags
Speaker 1: of meat laid out on the tarp, they have the
Speaker 1: chance to cool off some and allows you to see
Speaker 1: what you're working with before you load them in your pack.
Speaker 1: And when you have all the meat off of your buck.
Speaker 1: If you're dealing with a buck, you can saw the
Speaker 1: skull plate off or twist the head off if you
Speaker 1: want a euro if you plan them out your dear.
Speaker 1: That's another big consideration that involves having some scalpels or
Speaker 1: at least replaceable blade knives, and the patients and know
Speaker 1: how to keepe them. This is a bitch in the field,
Speaker 1: but it can be done. And I should also say this,
Speaker 1: pay attention to your local c w D rules as well.
Speaker 1: You might have restrictions on moving a spine or moving
Speaker 1: the head with the brain in it, or you might
Speaker 1: have mandatory CWD testing where you got to get the
Speaker 1: lymph nodes out. Understand that stuff before you go out hunting. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're not carrying a head and cape out and
Speaker 1: are just carrying meat and antlers, you load them up
Speaker 1: into and on your pack and it's just time to
Speaker 1: start hiking. Now. Let me say this, it's not an
Speaker 1: elk packed job to get a white tail out, but
Speaker 1: I don't care because I don't know. Seventy or eighty
Speaker 1: pounds in your pack is seventy or eighty pounds in
Speaker 1: your pack, no matter what critter it originated from. I
Speaker 1: have had some hellacious, dear pack out jobs. But the
Speaker 1: good thing is that it should only be one trip,
Speaker 1: or maybe maybe two if you need it. To the
Speaker 1: point is this is an option, and it's a hell
Speaker 1: of a good one if you like to hunt solo,
Speaker 1: or you like to hunt deep or both. It also
Speaker 1: feels pretty bad ass to carry a whole dear's worth
Speaker 1: of meat and antlers out on your pack. And I
Speaker 1: can't prove this, but might just help you grow your
Speaker 1: chest hair a little more. For the ladies out there
Speaker 1: that listen to this, I mean all three of them,
Speaker 1: that's a negative. But for the rest of us, it's
Speaker 1: a bonus reminder that we are pretty badass dudes who
Speaker 1: will look just a little bit more like the Magnum
Speaker 1: p I actor Tom Selleck via. So figure out your
Speaker 1: options for getting a deer out, all of your options
Speaker 1: for all the places you might hunt. The more ways
Speaker 1: you have to take a deer from the spotty died
Speaker 1: to your truck, the better you should. Also tune in
Speaker 1: next week when I talk about not falling in love
Speaker 1: with deer hunting ideas, because that'll bite you right in
Speaker 1: your cameo covered asks if you're not careful. That's it
Speaker 1: for this week, my friends. I'm Tony Peterson and this
Speaker 1: has been a Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast which has
Speaker 1: brought to you by First Light. As I always thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your support and If you want
Speaker 1: more white tail content, go to the metator dot com
Speaker 1: slash wired and you can read all kinds of deer
Speaker 1: hunting articles. Or you can head on over to our
Speaker 1: Wired to Hunt YouTube channel to see the weekly how
Speaker 1: to videos that we put up