Capstan winch vs quad bike

Definitely something I’d imagine you driving tim..... not quite my style though!
Tracked barrows have been considered but what I’m trying to avoid is the lump of money tied up in such a little used bit of kit so I doubt that will solve that issue.

I take your point (Tim) about the last light/slightly complicated extraction but I’m normally pretty reserved when it comes to taking chances in such situations.
 
Andy
I’ve not used a capstan for deer retrieval but I have for forestry works and it’s a great bit of kit. However slow and Heavy mate.
I’d stick with the quad bud

Cheers Steve, I’m thinking the weight won’t be an issue given I would be dragging the empty tray to the deer so would have the rope and winch etc in that on the way to the beast, you’ve been there so can see I can get the truck quite close anyway, I know it won’t be the quickest option and there would probably be times I’d curse selling the bike but I’m seeing a lot of pros currently
 
Looks good, cost?

That’s the rub. New they are quite pricey and AFAIK Honda only sell the bigger version in the U.K. I was lucky enough to buy the 250 version when they ceased importing them and paid £400 for it, but that was a fair time ago.

There are versions from other manufacturers or s/h on the Bay of Evil that are comparable to the price of a portable petrol winch.
 
Winching is all great if you have a clear straight pull but stick a few trees / rocks in the way and its a pain.

Also, shoot deer,
walk back move car
Set up capston
Drag out rope all the way back to deer (dragging out 300m of rope is not that easy)
Walk back to car
Run capstan
Possibly do multiple trips back and forth to free up sled when it gets stuck
Recover deer


As opposed to

Shoot deer
walk back to car
Ride quad to deer
Ride back to car dragging deer in sled behind quad


I am all for saving a bit of money when it has marginal effect on my pleasure IE ill get a Z6i rather than a Z8i and save a few quid without compromising very much at all

But looking at the winch concept, unless I had a situation where my quad simply cant do the job. Id only have it as a option not a primary response


We have one seat where extraction is impossible by quad so I set up a pulley system there. Id love a capstan for this but the pully was a LOT cheaper :D
 
Definitely something I’d imagine you driving tim..... not quite my style though!
Tracked barrows have been considered but what I’m trying to avoid is the lump of money tied up in such a little used bit of kit so I doubt that will solve that issue.

I take your point (Tim) about the last light/slightly complicated extraction but I’m normally pretty reserved when it comes to taking chances in such situations.


I can see myself making one from scratch drawings sent via watts app.....!! :rolleyes::)


The last light thing is what will test your metal ( or rope winching ) God forbid a client chips a beast nicknamed " Run Forest" :eek:



Tim.243
 
You could always just drag by hand but you might just need hip and knee ops at sometime. Money is only any good when you spend it. Save your body and spend the money.
 
Or a winch mounted on the quad?

Might only have a 50’ pull on the drum but you can hang multiples of 50’ or 100’ synthetic 6mm winching rope (eBay cheap) on it.

Get a £10 wireless remote for it and it should be a very flexible combination. I’ve singlehanded recovered reds from some quite sticky locations using mine.
 
£5159!!!!!
You might want to take a look at the Lumag machines. Made in china pretending to be german. A lot cheaper than the Honda but more "agricultural" in use in my experience and likely not as long lived. I find that it will go places a quad won't but is slower, it has a very low load height which matters with Reds. No unloading or transferring for me when I get to the vehicle, drive it straight into the trailer and off then drive under larder hoist so the animal never touches the ground again or makes a mess in a vehicle. Very easy to clean even if i am away from home, just use a garage jet wash, the barrow and trailer clean up a treat. If it needs replacing some time I will look into an electric one.
 
As others have said unless you have long straight pulls then a winch is going to be slow progress. I believe with a capstan winch you have to stay by the winch which if its 100m away form the beast being dragged doesn't give you good control of what your winching unless you have a buddy to watch at the beast end.
I don't think you can just decide between winch or quad. I think the two are best used together.
 
I don't think you can just decide between winch or quad. I think the two are best used together.

As previously said, there’s no ideal solution. - other than the Honda Power Carrier (or other make) of course ;). A quad with a winch mounted on it, plus a wireless remote control and some additional synthetic rope and a snatch block, tree strop, etc., makes a workable alternative.
 
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Ditch the quad, forget the winch, what you need is one of these.

Seriously, it will do exactly what you want and last years.
I bought (£500 ish) one of these when they first came out, probably 30+ years ago. We used it when going site welding and stuff on building / civil engineering sites. We took the side rails off and fabbed a bigger bucket to go on the front.
Exceptional pulling power. Ours is (Yep, still going strong) mechanical drive, but I think later models were hydraulic drive.
Brilliant piece of kit.
Regards,Ken.
Ps. Thinking back, I don’t think they were selling well at first and they were on offer when we bought from a company callled SEDDONS.
 
If you can get the truck to within 200m of an animal, buy 201m of rope.......

Was going to suggest this along with some pulleys and straps so you can somewhat affect the route (of course you'd have to stop and go change the setup before sled hits the pulley).

If going with capstan I'd try to (temporarily) attach it to the sled and use it "backwards". So you'd be at the sled all the time and able to spot any problems (get the excess rope in sled). With capstan and plenty of trees around I'd only get 100m of rope and make multiple pulls if longer distance.

Having choice of truck, quad and capstan it's that order. And even initially using capstan we've always used the truck once close enough. And that's with several people so there's always few at the sled/carcass (communication with radios).
 
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