The author prepares to get his buck out of the woods using the Cabela's Super Mag Hauler. Photo courtesy of Wm. Hovey Smith

The deer is down and field dressed. The gun and knife have done their tasks, and now the work starts. At this stage I have often asked, "Why in the world did I shoot this deer in such a gosh-awful place?"

The answer is, "Because that is where it lived."

Deer seem always to slide to the bottom of the deepest ravine, go into the thickest cover or die in a mucky swamp far from where I would wish it to be.

As I often hunt alone, I have come to rely on devices to wheel, slide, float or tote the deer to wherever it needs to go. I built some of these from salvaged materials, purchased others, and one of the most successful has been an adaptation of a snowmobile sled. Each works best in particular environments, but at least one of the following techniques is applicable under almost any circumstance.

First Decisions
When standing over the deer the first steps towards removing it is, "How much do I want to process this deer in place?"

In steep terrain, the only alternative may be to bone out the deer and pack it to where it can be loaded onto a sled or transporter. Some hunters take deer out in quarters, but I prefer to reduce the weight to a minimum and bone out the animal. This is particularly true if the deer is too big to move, there is no one to help and a 4-wheeler cannot reach it.

Gutting removes a significant body mass, but also subjects the inside of the carcass to accumulated leaves, dirt or other debris. Whether I gut the animal depends on the legal requirements of the hunt (on some public lands you may not leave offal in the woods), how far I am from my deer processor and if there is any danger of the spoilage.

Wheeled Deer Transporters
My first attempt at making a deer carrier was a "redneck deer barrow." This consisted of an 8-foot section of aluminum ladder to which I bolted an oak plank for an axel and attached a fork and wheel from a kid's tricycle. A pair of tubular metal handles from my father-in-law's junk pile completed the assembly. When the handles were detached, the entire device would fit inside my 8-foot truck bed.

Even in its earliest evolutionary stages, the general concept was sound so long as the weight being carried was not more than 125 pounds. The deer barrow's lightweight and single wheel enabled it to be maneuvered along game trails in thick timber.

My first opportunity to demonstrate the successful use of my deer barrow came when I used a second-generation model with a larger single wheel to remove a deer, stand and gun. "Bess" my .75-caliber smoothbore flintlock had dropped the deer in its tracks, and now it was up to my homemade transporter to get it home. It did, but only with considerable arm fatigue and having to load up again after the deer barrow tipped over.

To complete the evolution of the deer-barrow, I attached a steel axel and two wheels and had a welding shop build stronger handles after bending the originals. These improvements made the deer barrow more stable to load and gave it greater bearing in soft soils. Now I could set the deer barrow down to rest my arms without fear of it tipping.

As long as the load was still about 125 pounds I could push the deer barrow some miles. However, the weight distribution back of the axel forced my arms to support much of the load. My redneck deer barrow was just not satisfactory with heavy loads.

Thinking that I still needed something to haul larger animals, I ordered a dual-wheeled Super Mag Hauler from Cabela's catalog. This hauler is rated for 700 pounds with dual wheels and 550 pounds with a single pair. Despite its capacity, the Mag Hauler still folded into a compact 44-inch package. I have even loaded it onto my 14-foot Gheenoe for island hunts. The only problem that I found with the Mag Hauler was that sticks kept getting into the spokes of the 20-inch wheels. Bolt-on wheel shields are now available as an extra to alleviate this problem. The cost of this carrier with a single pair of wheels is about $130 with dual wheels adding about another $50.