Ep. 589: Foundations - Coming Out Heavy

few reasons I don't want to be a murderer. Besides what should be the obvious reasons, I've pulled enough of dead critters out of the woods to know that I'm not interested in trying to. I don't know stealthily wrestle with a body as I love it to some far off spot in a swamp where hopefully nobody will find it. I'm too lazy to be a murderer, I guess anyway.

The reality of getting a deer out once you find it can be as simple as driving the old four wheeler out to the field, or as complicated as piecing one out in a white tailed version of the back country and impacking it for miles. Knowing and understanding all your options and being confident with them, I can really save you some headaches and back aches, so listen up.

That's what this whole episode is all about. When I was a kid, my dad hunted with a group of guys that were mostly pretty decent, aside from one dude who was a one eyed lunatic who fancied himself a tough guy despite being out of shape, pretty small, and really at a disadvantage when it came to depth perception,

if you know what I mean. Those guys let me hang out with them at the hunt and shack, and while they bow hunted deer, I terrorized the local world population with my twenty two It was pretty fun to be around them. And while they seemed old to me at the time, I realized now sadly that they were younger than I am now. Even so, I remember how often they would talk about how you didn't want to shoot a deer in such and such a spot because

it would be a nightmare to drag them out. And to be fair, the area they were hunting was the Bluff country of southern Minnesota, so there were some real hills to deal with, even if they were just Midwestern hills. And also, to be fair, at that time, the options for those guys. To get out a deer involved pure manpower, grab the antlers with a buddy and start huffing away. If it was a dough, they'd loop their safety harness

around the neck. While some of them did. Some of those guys, like the one eyed lunatic who shoot his pants on stand one evening to everyone's delight, especially mine, they were too manly to wear a harness, which is so dumb. Anyway, Getting a deer out of those spots at that time meant you had to be up to the task of dragging them, and dragged them we did,

which almost always sucked a lot. But I always felt, probably because I was young and really dumb and didn't have to do most of the work at that time, that it was sort of a write of passage to nearly kill yourself with a task. My dad, who was less inclined to i don't know, unnecessary suffering than his son, decided to try and remedy the problem. So he did what my dad always did, which was trying to build

something that he could have easily bought. The deer card he made from two by fours in the cannibalized front fork and wheel of my dirt bike. It was like a wheelbarrel from hell. It was the worst. It was heavy, awkward, and the one small wheel in the center meant you had to spend all of your time fighting the balance. I guess it probably would have been one hell of a workout considering how much it engaged your core stabilizer muscles,

but that isn't what it was built for. We used it a few times in my high school years when I occasionally shot dear, but it was not the answer to the dear removal question. What was I have found out now after a lot of years of trying different things, was the best option for the individual hunt. How's that for a letdown answer. The thing is, like I mentioned at the intro, is that there are really quite a few easy ways to get a deer out. It seems like everyone and their brother owns a side by side

these days, which is crazy to me. After all, it's weird that we buy a little car type thing that costs as much as a little car, mostly kind of just to drive around our neighborhood or bring to deer camp on the off chance someone shoots a buck side note here, and I'm not shooting on people who own side by sides or four wheelers or whatever. But I noticed when I was driving to Colorado elk hunt this year that the road was full of fellow elk hunters.

No surprise there, but what hit me was the amount of money people have invested in toys that are somewhat related to their hunting enjoyment. It made me realize that as much as I'd like to see hunting not become a pay to play type of endeavor or a rich man's sport if you will, it's going to There's so much money out there, and that money is always looking for an advantage in hunting, whether it's a little deer hauling vehicle or a lease or a landowner tag, whatever.

That money isn't going to go away. It's here to stay and it will influence the future of hunting opportunities. Now that I have that out of the way, I'll get back to the dear retrieval issue. If you have a private spot and you can use a truck or a side by side or a four wheeler, things are pretty simple. But don't assume that every spot you hunt

will allow that. If you travel, you might find yourself in a roadless section of the National forest or some other situation where wheels are a no no. When this happens, or if you just happen to not have the means or situation to use a vehicle, you have to be aware of your options besides dragging a deer. For me, one of the best things that happened was that I bought a real deer cart that my dad did not make.

A deer cart with two wheels and a low center of gravity for the bulk of the weight to lay on. That thing is awesome. And when I first bought one, it was after I had really started traveling to kill public land white tales. Being solo on most of my hunt and often hunting a few miles from the truck meant that I might be in for like a six hour drag or more, which is no fun. It's also really no fun if you have to drag a deer

that weighs as much or more than you now. Listen, I don't care how much jim time you put in. If you weigh a hundred sixty pounds and have to drag a two pound deer for three miles, you're gonna wish you were dead, or at least had a buddy with a helicopter you could call a good deer cart. On the other hand, it makes this whole process so much easier. But there is a catch, a catch that I figured out once I spent some time killing bucks

and random places far far from home. A deer cart, a good deer carter, I should say, is amazing if you're hunting spots where there are two track roads or logging roads, and as an added bonus, where the land is mostly level. If you kill a buck in a swamp and then have to hike up a huge bluff to get to your truck, that game cart is mostly going to make things worse. Even with a buddy helping. Pulling a game cart full of dead weight isn't so much fun. If there are a lot of blowdowns or washouts,

or you're just in tight, nasty cover or whatever. On a nice field road or two track, they're amazing. Two things to consider if you do go this route, though, are this Loading in a deer solo takes a little

bit of technique. You want to lay the cart down, get most of the weight of the deer in the center, pick them up slowly so they settle, and then usually tie up the head in the legs so that they aren't dragging on the wheels or catching on brush or hitting you in the back of the legs while you walk. I'll also say this, if you go with a deer cart, don't go super cheap. The good ones aren't that expensive, but the more expensive they are usually they're a little

bit better. And the cheapest options are the cheapest options for a reason. The deer cart I use has served me well for like fourteen years now, so for whatever I paid, which wasn't that much, it was worth it many many times over. And I should also say this too, there are no free rides and deer retrieval. Even with the deer cart that is designed well, you still have to work. Now if you go some other route, like with a harness design to make a drag easier or whatever,

it may be slightly easier now. I know. Earlier I said I had two things to say about a deer cart when what you should consider, but I totally forgot what the first one was, so you only got one. But I might come back around to that at some point. If you go with a sled, which is another option out there, not like a deer cart, you still have to drag your deer. There are a few options this way,

and I've used some of them. All of them have their trade offs, and even a good ice fishing type sled for late season retrieval when there is snow on the ground, that should, like theoretically, be the easiest retrieval you have, but if the snow conditions are really powdery, it won't be. I do think it's worth exploring all of these options for two reasons. The first is the obvious one, which is I don't know, why do way

more work than you have to. The second is that if you have a good way to get a deer out of somewhere, you will hunt smarter and be far less likely to default too easier spots. Now. I know that we all think we are pretty fit, stubbed muffins out here, who, if we really wanted to, could probably throw half an elk over our shoulders and cover I don't know, like ten or twenty miles without too much trouble. But the reality of dead weight often shatters are illusions

about ourselves. There are plenty of hunters out there who won't hunt certain spots, or more likely hunt deep enough into the cover to kill deer. This leads me to my last and most preferred method of getting a deer out of the woods, piecing it out and packing it out. When I first started hunting out west quite a bit, I killed a few critters that I could drag out. Then, one day in early September, a buddy and I were

spotting in stocking milder in western North Dakota. We spotted at a late morning buck on his feet, and since it was my buddy's turn to stock, he took the lead. We got in above that meal deer, and eventually my buddy shot him. It wasn't a giant deer, but it was a nice one, and we were quite a ways from the truck. We were also pretty inexperienced Western hunters,

so we thought, well, hell, we'll just drag it. But it was hot, dusty, and probably the second most miserable time I've ever had getting an animal out to the truck. It was also really, really dumb. We could have pieced that meal deer out and then packed half of him a piece to get to the truck with so much less effort. Well, lesson learned, because that's what I do every chance I can. For white tails. Now, before I get into this, I have to say you've got to

check your local regulations on this. Not every state allows you to piece them out in the field, although I think it's pretty common these days now that in person registration is largely going away. If you can piece out at deer in the field, this option is incredible. But remember what I said earlier, there's a catch, because there's always a catch, and with this one, the catches, and this is going to seem dune, but it's true. You

have to know how to do it. So I'm going to tell you my system, much of which I developed while hunting with Western hunters who really have no choice most of the time but to get an animal pieced out and in their pack. What I do, first off, is I keep a butcher kid in my truck. I don't carry it in my pack like I do on an elk hunt, for example, because I tend to have more time with white tails, and I tend to have

a pretty full pack every time I hunt. And when you start to consider the tree stand necessities and extra clothes and the food and camera gear another junk. So I keep a butcher kid in my truck along with a box of one gallon or two gallons at block bags. I've used dedicated game bags for deer in the past, but it really has never made sense and it just doesn't seem like that good of an idea to me. I don't need to pack out quarters or make sure that I get them hung up instantly, so the freezer

bags are really an easier option. And this is how it goes if I shoot a deer in the white tailed back country, where easier retrieval isn't an option, or more likely, if I'm just hunting solo, I'll make sure my tag is filled out and notched, get my photos, and then hike everything back to my truck. I want to empty my pack, which by the way, is the same pack I used to elk hunt, so I can get a full deer's worth of meat in There is

something to consider at the truck. Everything I don't need comes out of the pack when I go back in. I want a small tarp skinning knife and a knife like the bench made meatcrafter, which is a badass blade for piecing out animals. Also want a small bone saw, and then about a dozen ziplocks. All of this ways next to nothing. Once back at the deer, I find a clean level spot and I lay it on its side. I don't know. Basically, just like you would with an

elk or a meal deer in the high country. I start skinning on the top side, around the legs, straight up the chest, and essentially just trying to open up the front and back quarters to make it so the hide is only attached around the back side of the spine, you know, around the backstraps. Then I lay the tarp out and I start just taking off meat. This usually starts with the rear quarters because they are thicker and

they hold more heat than the front shoulders. This is really hard to describe on a podcast, but you can basically follow the seams between muscle groups to piece them out. This is a skill I think every one of us should learn for couple of reasons. The first is that processing your own deer helps you own more of the overall process. The second is that you might not always have the option to bring your deer to a butcher, and if that's the case, having the knowledge to do

this yourself is huge. So basically, you have to take all of the meat you can get your knife to off the deer. I start filling freezer bags up with various muscles without removing the hind legs. This helps keep the meat from hitting the dirt because it's easier to deal with a single roast than a whole hind quarter. It also lets you parse the meat out in the bags easily. I repeat this process on the front shoulders, and then with the neck, meat, the tender loins, and

the top side backstrap. When you've cut all the meat off on one side, you flip the deer over on its hide and repeat the process on the other side. It's really simple actually, and once you've done it a few times, and it might take two hours, but even under a head lamp in the middle of the night,

it's not too difficult or time consuming. With the bags of meat laid out on the tarp, they have the chance to cool off some and allows you to see what you're working with before you load them in your pack. And when you have all the meat off of your buck. If you're dealing with a buck, you can saw the skull plate off or twist the head off if you want a euro if you plan them out your dear.

That's another big consideration that involves having some scalpels or at least replaceable blade knives, and the patients and know how to keepe them. This is a bitch in the field, but it can be done. And I should also say this, pay attention to your local c w D rules as well. You might have restrictions on moving a spine or moving the head with the brain in it, or you might have mandatory CWD testing where you got to get the

lymph nodes out. Understand that stuff before you go out hunting. Now, if you're not carrying a head and cape out and are just carrying meat and antlers, you load them up into and on your pack and it's just time to start hiking. Now. Let me say this, it's not an elk packed job to get a white tail out, but I don't care because I don't know. Seventy or eighty pounds in your pack is seventy or eighty pounds in your pack, no matter what critter it originated from. I

have had some hellacious, dear pack out jobs. But the good thing is that it should only be one trip, or maybe maybe two if you need it. To the point is this is an option, and it's a hell of a good one if you like to hunt solo, or you like to hunt deep or both. It also feels pretty bad ass to carry a whole dear's worth of meat and antlers out on your pack. And I can't prove this, but might just help you grow your

chest hair a little more. For the ladies out there that listen to this, I mean all three of them, that's a negative. But for the rest of us, it's a bonus reminder that we are pretty badass dudes who will look just a little bit more like the Magnum p I actor Tom Selleck via. So figure out your options for getting a deer out, all of your options for all the places you might hunt. The more ways you have to take a deer from the spotty died

to your truck, the better you should. Also tune in next week when I talk about not falling in love with deer hunting ideas, because that'll bite you right in your cameo covered asks if you're not careful. That's it for this week, my friends. I'm Tony Peterson and this has been a Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast which has

brought to you by First Light. As I always thank you so much for your support and If you want more white tail content, go to the metator dot com slash wired and you can read all kinds of deer hunting articles. Or you can head on over to our Wired to Hunt YouTube channel to see the weekly how to videos that we put up