Truck free stalking?
- Thread starter ABL
- Start date
The heck basket is one thought. I’d need a tow bar fitted first. But also keeps the insects and smell out of the car. I will look into the bag. I’ve got a roe sack for the smaller deer, and chiller that can take up to 1 fallow or a couple of roe. It’s the extraction that I’m a bit concerned by. I’m told there can even be a few red around on permission - I won’t touch them with my current set up!
I spent 10 years stalking from a Ford Focus. Roe and fallow.
I made it work, but it was brutal. Roe are manageable: you can carry them a long way. Fallow need careful thinking about access points and extraction routes. I shot big ones a bit too far from an access points a few times, and really regretted it.
Occasionally I had access to a quad, and that changed everything. If you have one, or can get access to one, then you can do almost anything you need without a 4x4.
I would suggest a trailer. You can also put some sort of wheeled deer cart on it as well so you don’t have to drive where it is not suitable to go. A winch to haul carcasses onto the trailer. In reality, it depends on how big your ground and how good the access is, or even of the farmer will let you borrow his tractor to pick the carcasses up.
Donnington
Well-Known Member
Wouldn’t worry too much about that. I’m in the same boat as you. I used to use a 55 gallon drum cut in half and put the carcass in a fly net. Works well for keeping the bugs / blood away out of the car. Most farmers will have spare drums laying around.
Or if you have £130 I recently upgraded to a Coleman chiller box which seals with a lid. It’s also got basic wheels if the ground is good. It’s got 95ltr capacity and can take up to 110kg so big enough for a fallow but lifting it into the back of the car would be a back breaker with bigger deer. May have to quarter it in the field to manage.
I am putting up my L200 pickup as i have bought a mid size diesel van . Most my off roading is more because i can over why don't i just park right here and walk in ! Its amazing on fuel and its got a lot more space for dead deer, guns , kit and Dogs .
Will put some more grippy tyres on it when the current tread wears . If your looking for a good cheap L200 with long MOT etc I have one looking for a new home
Will put some more grippy tyres on it when the current tread wears . If your looking for a good cheap L200 with long MOT etc I have one looking for a new home
That cart looks a great job, I’m just getting started on some ground with reds only and been worried about extracting them, it’s fairly hilly ground and will be a climb out to get back to the vehicle so might need some brakes to stop it from pulling me back down the hill
I made it to sort recovery on the ground I shoot over and get that part with hilly land which people have, however after the slating from a number of members the first trip out was 300 yds with no chance of getting closer. After that first go they went quiet lolThat cart looks a great job, I’m just getting started on some ground with reds only and been worried about extracting them, it’s fairly hilly ground and will be a climb out to get back to the vehicle so might need some brakes to stop it from pulling me back down the hill
You can see the new plywood
Part of the 300 yd jolly lol
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I made it to sort recovery on the ground I shoot over and get that part with hilly land which people have, however after the slating from a number of members the first trip out was 300 yds with no chance of getting closer. After that first go they went quiet lol
You can see the new plywood
Part of the 300 yd jolly lol
Oh there’s no criticism here I’ll definitely be copying it, really like that winch setup at the vehicle too. The hills around me are all drumlins so short hills but fairly steep, my van won’t get anywhere near the deer so that sort of trolley makes the most sense I think.
I will start there too - should maybe have got a sika sack instead of the roe, but I haven’t tested it yet with anything larger. Whether my back would manage a fallow is another matter too!!
Blimey! I’m amazed you got out of that first one without a tractor pulling! Yup I can line the back like that for sure - the carpets are pretty muddy already, but they’d smell if I had carcasses on them for any length.
Yes, young does and prickets will be the goal
Years ago I helped a friend out culling mainly fallow on a small piece of private woodland up on the South Downs that had no vehicle access permitted.
We modified an old fashioned folding golfing trolley to get the carcasses out to the truck. It was ideal as it had large wide wheels so didn’t sink too badly in soft ground & in itself was fairly light meaning we were not pulling that much additional weight.
Pulled the animal headfirst towards the handle, the back then cradled into the bits which would’ve originally stopped the golf bag falling sideways. The bottom bit was modified so there was a ‘shelf’ to sit the arse of the animal on so it didn’t slide down as it was wheeled out & we used to tie round the chest under the armpits & up to the handle from memory. Unfortunately all before the advent of camera phones so I don’t have any pictures.
This type of thing but more substantially made.
One thing you need to be aware of with fallow is once they’re dead they become big heavy floppy lumps that aren’t easy to get up into the back of a vehicle. A ramp of some kind that you can slide them up will assist you immensely, as too will some sort of rope & pulley system - even if it’s just a rope you hook up between the outside seat hinges with a central loop that you can attach a simple doubler block to.
Back in the day when my carcasses all went inside my everyday vehicle I used an old ‘office moves’ / ‘teacrate’ box to contain all the mess.
We modified an old fashioned folding golfing trolley to get the carcasses out to the truck. It was ideal as it had large wide wheels so didn’t sink too badly in soft ground & in itself was fairly light meaning we were not pulling that much additional weight.
Pulled the animal headfirst towards the handle, the back then cradled into the bits which would’ve originally stopped the golf bag falling sideways. The bottom bit was modified so there was a ‘shelf’ to sit the arse of the animal on so it didn’t slide down as it was wheeled out & we used to tie round the chest under the armpits & up to the handle from memory. Unfortunately all before the advent of camera phones so I don’t have any pictures.
This type of thing but more substantially made.
One thing you need to be aware of with fallow is once they’re dead they become big heavy floppy lumps that aren’t easy to get up into the back of a vehicle. A ramp of some kind that you can slide them up will assist you immensely, as too will some sort of rope & pulley system - even if it’s just a rope you hook up between the outside seat hinges with a central loop that you can attach a simple doubler block to.
Back in the day when my carcasses all went inside my everyday vehicle I used an old ‘office moves’ / ‘teacrate’ box to contain all the mess.
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