Advice please
- Thread starter Davestuart
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Great until the deer overtakes you on a slope.
Davestuart
Well-Known Member
Very interesting,I have only had roe up to now and not been a issue, but I can see this being fun 
What make of sledge is that ???If you don’t have the luxury of a farmer with a tractor at your disposal, for manual multiple a sled is a good investment.
Singles off the beaten track, a Monach compact roe sack is hard to beat - take mine everywhere.
With regards to a simple suspended gralloch kit - have a look at the B&D stalkers assist kit.
View attachment 270149View attachment 270150View attachment 270158
I carry one of these in my waggon they self roll up in to a tube when not in use, helpfull for single handed extraction and keeps carcass clean, made a mod to harness bit but decent bit of kit
www.bushwear.co.uk
Trace Flexible Deer Sled
A heavy duty HDPE flexible sled which rolls up and can be easily carried into the field, weighing just 3.5lbs. The sled unrolls and is ready to use in seconds, the highly durable HDPE is easy to clean and is strong enough to take the abuse of dragging some serious animals over grasses and light...
www.bushwear.co.uk
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Unless you’re working in a field covered in slurry theres no practical advantage to a suspended gralloch, its just unnecessary work. With a bit of practice you’ll have the plumbing cleanly out and on the ground before the trainee Pierrpoint has unraveled his ropes.
A sika sack might be a good investment, but a piece of rope/strapping with a toggle for dragging is all you really need for most extractions.
If I‘m after big animals I use a section of step ladder to get the carcass into the car. Roll the carcass onto the ladder lift one end up onto the tail gate then lift the other end and slide it in.
Best of luck.
A sika sack might be a good investment, but a piece of rope/strapping with a toggle for dragging is all you really need for most extractions.
If I‘m after big animals I use a section of step ladder to get the carcass into the car. Roll the carcass onto the ladder lift one end up onto the tail gate then lift the other end and slide it in.
Best of luck.
mike308
Well-Known Member
I'm in my seventies and I'm still dragging out reds over rough clearfell where even a quad won't go. Sometimes up to a mile to drag. As VSS says do away with all the unwanted rubbish we carry just a length of good rope and a stick. I've got a sled but when you are possibly a couple of miles away from the truck I can't be bothered to walk all the way back to get it.
I've been defeated a couple of times and either butchered the deer on the spot or cut it in half and made two trips.
I've been defeated a couple of times and either butchered the deer on the spot or cut it in half and made two trips.
Yes but one of the main reasons I suspend is to allow the blood to get out to reduce the weight of the deer. I find a lot of blood remains in the deer if I gralloch on the ground, but it all drains out if suspended. I often leave the deer hanging and keep stalking. Anything to try and reduce the weight has to be tried!
It is a fair point, however deer being a high value end product are the only ones in the food chain who are cleaned out on the floor. Not saying people don't make a good job but that product sits in the meat counter next to pigs sheep cows chickens etc who after stunning go up on the hook to be cleaned out.
Yes the meat market is high volume but show all the sheep pigs cows being cleaned out on the floor and there would be a drop in sales like the wall st crash
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
If you gut it fairly quickly after death you’ll get just as much blood out, especially with a chest shot.
Even if I accept that hanging it up gets more blood out, the difference in weight between the 2 methods is going to be minimal, less than a Kg.
If I’m leaving it there and going for another I roll it onto the belly to let it drain and keep the bastard ravens out and tie a plastic bag on a stick to keep them away.
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
The killing floor in an abattoir is generally in a bit of a state with blood, muck and water. Its also set up to maximise efficient handling of heavy or very heavy carcasses with rails and hoists. Our situation is very different unless you’re operating a mass cull in a park.
I have no problem with a suspended gralloch, but its an unnecessary faf on clean ground, especially with the bigger species, once you get it off the ground you can’t reach the upper end so you end up hauling it half way up, making your cuts and then pull it up further.
If you want do it, go right ahead, I’ll make the coffee and give you a hand, but if you have to go to the car to get your stuff, I might just have it done by the time you get back.
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Erik Hamburger
Well-Known Member
Ok, 'by hand' so that does NOT include trucks/Quadbikes:
1. A dragging rope to drag the carcass from the shot site to a nearby place where you find a clean patch to gralloch, or a suitable tree/branch to fix a rope/pulley to hang the carcass for a suspended gralloch. Yes, you could so this by hand, not using a dragging rope, but just think of your back (!).
2. Gralloch on the ground - or much better do a suspended gralloch. There are many systems on the market that basically all do the same thing - fact is you will need a pulley system, and the more flimsy and cheaper systems are generally more awkward to work with than the heavy duty systems, but they are heavier and take in more space in your back-pack... Another fact is you can never find a suitable high and thick branch or nearby tree when you need one
3. A suitable size carcass tray/sledge to get the carcass from the gralloch site your truck - this of course you cannot have on you during the Stalk (!) so it all gets a bit time-consuming if you first have to get back to your truck to retrieve your carcass tray/sledge.
One site where I Stalk with a few Gents the carcass is retrieved before the gralloch, and the actual gralloch is done suspended using a system that fits on the tow-bar of the truck. The shot site can be more than a Mile from the gralloch site. The reason is that by working like this the main stalker keeps control of the quality of the gralloch, -and therefore the quality of the carcass- which goes to a Game Dealer. The disadvantage is that on a hot Summer day a carcass can be left for a quite a bit longer than 'best practise' dictates, before that carcass is gralloched, and the Rumen can get quite blown up and tense in that time, which the following gralloch a little more risky.
Because of the time/effort required to extract a carcass this site is mainly Stalked AM - so when you have a deer culled you can deal with it in day-light. A search and carcass retrieve and gralloch in the dark makes everything that much more difficult.
There are no easy solutions. The message you hear again and again: THINK before you pull the trigger (meaning, think of the extraction!) ; and if you pull the trigger, go for the smaller Fallow rather than the biggest beasts - because otherwise you will struggle and regret it!
Davestuart
Well-Known Member
Hi Mike ,thank you could you explain the stick use for me as I am totally ignorant on this method
Davestuart
Well-Known Member
Ah I understand now ,basically a handle ?
