Extraction with an e-bike - anyone tried it?

[Selous]

Simple really just get a big barrel-mine was an ex pheasant hopper-jigsaw in half, couple of holes wide spread for a drag, I improvised a neck/head securing option with the bungees. Not pretty but it works. A plastic sledge would work, and Bushwear do some custom built jobs-quite expensive. Also look a stirling gundogs on here, he does lovely extraction sleds.

I think for roe this should do. Reds are a different kettle of fish, and really need mechanisation if you want to avoid a chiropractor
View attachment 350531

Barrels work with Reds too ….. but I take your point about a chiropractor

 

[wytonpjs]

Did the dog have to walk back?

@Cranhill Yup - but he's a Teckel



He was giving me one of those looks though

 

[GBR66]

Really useful info. Thanks.

The legal bit obviously matters. At present I'm looking at using the bike exclusively off-road, however. From what I've seen, those models with motors of over 250W are typically electronically restricted to 250W but can be "unlocked" and "re-locked" easily as required. The main differentiating factor, therefore, appears to be the presence or absence of a grip or lever throttle.

Be careful - anything over 250W is a proper old fashioned "no insurance, no tax" type offence, that isn't normally user switchable but you can illegally "chip" legal bikes to de-limit them. Throttles are straight illegal on road. If all you want it for is your ground then crack on - lots of power, etc, but if like me you do want to use it on road be careful to buy legal, or at least be aware you haven't.......!

 

[Mr. Gain]

@Cranhill Yup - but he's a Teckel

View attachment 351030

He was giving me one of those looks though

Hawk Crawler? (Currently 100% Unobtainium)... Great pic!

 

[Mr. Gain]

My bike and trailer will tow a good 30kg+ up a 1 in 6 without me breaking a sweat....on a firm surface. The key is going to be tyres and ground, summer roebuck season I think it would be great, on our ground at the moment you would need a snorkel rather than good tyres.....

Which bike & trailer are you using? Sorry if I missed this info, but this thread has been delightfully hard to keep up with.

 

[GBR66]

Which bike & trailer are you using? Sorry if I missed this info, but this thread has been delightfully hard to keep up with.

No worries, Decathlon Rockrider ST-900 which is brilliant for general use (£2k) I have fitted more "road" tyres but originals are 3 inch knobbly, and a £120 dog trailer off Amazon that would probably carry 2 gutted roe, but I would fit fatter tyres to it. Trailer folds down for car. Your question has got me thinking the same way...low noise approach to stalking area, easier extraction back to truck.

 

[Essexsussex]

Is it just me or is thousands quite expensive to extract a deer? I am known to be tight, to be fair.

 

[Mr. Gain]

Be careful - anything over 250W is a proper old fashioned "no insurance, no tax" type offence, that isn't normally user switchable but you can illegally "chip" legal bikes to de-limit them. Throttles are straight illegal on road. If all you want it for is your ground then crack on - lots of power, etc, but if like me you do want to use it on road be careful to buy legal, or at least be aware you haven't.......!

The warnings are duly noted. It would be off-road only for me, as observation suggests that cycling on roads requires steelier nerves (and a lot more brass neck) than I would lay claim to.

 

[Mr. Gain]

Is it just me or is thousands quite expensive to extract a deer? I am known to be tight, to be fair.

You are undoubtedly absolutely right. It's probably nuts to pay more than a couple of hundred for a rifle or a scope, too. God knows why we do it. Too much enthusiasm and not enough common sense, probably. Don't mind me... I'm just off to take a long hard look at myself in the mirror.

 

[Essexsussex]

You are undoubtedly absolutely right. It's probably nuts to pay more than a couple of hundred for a rifle or a scope, too. God knows why we do it. Too much enthusiasm and not enough common sense, probably. Don't mind me... I'm just off to take a long hard look at myself in the mirror.

Sorry - I’m a misery guts! Ps that’s my rifle target price too!

 

[Ploddy Paul]

It’s a hobby, you’ve got to throw money at it. It’s the law!

 

[Eggy]

As things stand, and all other helpful suggestions duly banked, my wish-list looks like this:

• Ebike: this or this
• Car rack
• Trailer

Lucky finds on eBay would ease the £ pain, but I remain distictly curious as to whether this would be a pleasingly effective addition to my inventory, or just a source of buyer's remorse.

How are you going to attach the trailer to the bike?

 

[jthyttin]

Trailer

Have a plan B ready, since the plastic rims are going to break. You cannot fit fatter tyres either, I'd go for larger diameter since it helps a bit.

The design looks PITA, since the attachment points for wheel bolts seem to stuck below the frame (otherwise the frame would be flat and slide in your car). Those would be easy to swap on the top side of bottom frame, along with larger tyres. Also the bath can only be lifted upwards, no sliding out option. Only that you cannot lift it (when loaded), because it's resting the rim on the frame.

-> you get so little left of the original trailer that it's useful mostly as PoC. If you have welder and some tubing, you'd get much better product by designing your own.

 

[Mr. Gain]

Have a plan B ready, since the plastic rims are going to break. You cannot fit fatter tyres either, I'd go for larger diameter since it helps a bit.

The design looks PITA, since the attachment points for wheel bolts seem to stuck below the frame (otherwise the frame would be flat and slide in your car). Those would be easy to swap on the top side of bottom frame, along with larger tyres. Also the bath can only be lifted upwards, no sliding out option. Only that you cannot lift it (when loaded), because it's resting the rim on the frame.

-> you get so little left of the original trailer that it's useful mostly as PoC. If you have welder and some tubing, you'd get much better product by designing your own.

Thanks for the suggestion. A friend of mine has recently acquired a welder, so this might interest him as a project.

 

[75]

I've mountain biked a lot and have friends with eBikes. In short, no way this would work around here. However... it depends a lot on your ground so may work for you. Some thoughts:

• As others have said - e-mountain bikes in UK currently multiply the effort you put in - you pedal and it adds power. You can't use them on electric only (unless they are the dodgy stuff that delivery drivers use in towns but they'd not last 5 mins in the woods).
• You are limited in the width of tyres you can put on them by frame dimensions - there simply isn't the width to add really wide tyres unless you got with a "fat e-bike" - they exist but are fairly niche and I don't know much about them.
• If you have woodland with lots of forestry tracks then it could work (as long as you can drag the deer to the track) but I note your issue is narrow access tracks. In summer, maybe but unless the tracks are good quality or dry you've not got a chance in my opinion - especially dragging a load. Traction is going to be the biggest problem and maintaining momentum (and staying upright!) on a bike that is slipping and sliding around when you try and pedal is going to end badly. Every time the back wheel loses traction, you'll have to put your foot down and will grind to a halt. Getting started will be nigh on impossible if it's slippery so you'll end up pushing bike + deer to firmer ground / downhill section before you can get going again.

It was suggested somewhere higher up to hire one - I think this would be the best bet. Take one out for an afternoon around your ground; have a pedal around the tracks without a rifle over your shoulder or a deer behind you and see how you get on. You'll quickly get a feel for whether it'll be a goer or not.

 

[Mr. Gain]

How are you going to attach the trailer to the bike?

It looks like it should go on the saddle post at the rear of the frame. The rear racks are rated for fairly heavy loads, but the ratings are presumably based on weight placed directly on top rather than towed behind, so may not be a good guide in this case.

 

[Mr. Gain]

I've mountain biked a lot and have friends with eBikes. In short, no way this would work around here. However... it depends a lot on your ground so may work for you. Some thoughts:

• As others have said - e-mountain bikes in UK currently multiply the effort you put in - you pedal and it adds power. You can't use them on electric only (unless they are the dodgy stuff that delivery drivers use in towns but they'd not last 5 mins in the woods).
• You are limited in the width of tyres you can put on them by frame dimensions - there simply isn't the width to add really wide tyres unless you got with a "fat e-bike" - they exist but are fairly niche and I don't know much about them.
• If you have woodland with lots of forestry tracks then it could work (as long as you can drag the deer to the track) but I note your issue is narrow access tracks. In summer, maybe but unless the tracks are good quality or dry you've not got a chance in my opinion - especially dragging a load. Traction is going to be the biggest problem and maintaining momentum (and staying upright!) on a bike that is slipping and sliding around when you try and pedal is going to end badly. Every time the back wheel loses traction, you'll have to put your foot down and will grind to a halt. Getting started will be nigh on impossible if it's slippery so you'll end up pushing bike + deer to firmer ground / downhill section before you can get going again.

It was suggested somewhere higher up to hire one - I think this would be the best bet. Take one out for an afternoon around your ground; have a pedal around the tracks without a rifle over your shoulder or a deer behind you and see how you get on. You'll quickly get a feel for whether it'll be a goer or not.

Thanks. Your vivid description of how this could fail to work out is indeed food for thought!
Fat tyres and an off-road "moped" spec is indeed what I have in mind. So far, however, I have failed to find anywhere that has these for hire (even in road-legal form).
I appreciate your point re. durability, too. The bikes I've looked at mostly offer a 2-year warranty, but they are at the budget end of the scale, so build quality may well be questionable.
Every model seems to have a YouTube review, but they are almost all short-term impressions and mostly show use on flat, dry ground, which limits their value.

 

[Essexsussex]

Having watched this with interest I think I’d be inclined to try it with a low-geared pedal bike first and see how it goes. With a trailer I’m thinking it’s probably not as hard going as you might think.

 

[75]

Having watched this with interest I think I’d be inclined to try it with a low-geared pedal bike first and see how it goes. With a trailer I’m thinking it’s probably not as hard going as you might think.

Low gear is very easy to spin wheels if it's at all muddy. Generally you'd avoid pedalling on really slippery bits if you can (carry a bit of speed into them and use your momentum etc) but that won't generally be possible at very low speeds or pulling a load.

 

[Essexsussex]

Low gear is very easy to spin wheels if it's at all muddy. Generally you'd avoid pedalling on really slippery bits if you can (carry a bit of speed into them and use your momentum etc) but that won't generally be possible at very low speeds or pulling a load.

Would it be any better with an e-bike though? You clearly are much better informed than me but if the OP thinks he can get an e-bike down there wouldn’t a pedal bike perform in a similar manner but just take a bit more peddling? Soon find out anyway and could easily borrow one and see what happens. Probably easier than reply to 5 pages of suggestions from people like me!