Rope Suggestions?
Equipment
2 week drop hunt-I want to be prepared with rope and a come-along if a moose expires in the lake or shallows. Any suggestions on type, length, and diameter of rope I should purchase?
Come-a-Long and 200’ of 1/2”+ diameter rope is essential in my moose hunting kit. That and twice as many game bags as you think you will need cause it is really nice to change out wet bags for dry bags and let the wet ones dry.
I believe in a come-a-Long so much that on my custom moose boat I put a 2” receiver hitch in the bow just for putting a winch on to help drag the moose to me. Only problem is the moose weighs more than the boat so I end up winching the boat to the moose.
You might look at this you tube video, I have had one of these for about 30 years. Have used it to haul an elk up a tree to skin and take apart and for moving logs. Not fast, but then a come along isn't either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE6MjmBJk20
Terry
Heavy paracord works. I forget what strength we had, but we had to double it up. Just make sure what you bring is loooooooooooooooong. If the rope you bring gets to thick it will take up a ton of room.
Ours in the pic above was the 550 stuff. Was “ok” but even doubled was barely enough. I’d just bring 1000’ roll next time so there would be plenty to go x4. So dang versatile, tarp rope, meat pole ropes, tying canoe off etc etc. I also brought a “pack mule” which is a pretty nifty little come along that folds into a mini pistol case. You won’t be cranking a building over but was just enough for a moose.
Just a thought and question. What about a block and tackle system? With a 5/16” rope you can lift or pull 2 tons. You could add as much line as needed.
As an aside, you might also try NOT shooting a moose close to or in a lake!
I've been killing moose and guiding for moose for nearly 50 years and have yet to have one die in a lake. "It's my policy....!"
Pete
Its super expensive /ft but might fit your needs.
Take a look at Amsteel rope..... its insanely strong for the diameter.
Pete - really depends where you're hunting. In Northern Manitoba, many parts of Ontario I'm not sure there is a stretch of land long enough that a moose couldn't get to water with a dying run.
Also, I'll shoot a moose anywhere. For guys that don't get to moose hunt every year, first priority is killing a moose. Then you just get to deal with it. And dealing with it is a joy. We had to deal with mine in terrible gumbo. The kind where you lose your waders in the muck terrible. Even so, it was only like 6 hours of work. You go on a 10 day hunt who cares if you need to burn a day because you were successful? In our case we were cleaning the bull from like 9:30-3:30 hardly even lost any quality hunting time. Got lucky with Matt's bull. He decided to die on shore. That was like 45 minutes from pictures to reclining around the fire - much preferable, but I'd take em any way I can get them. I know as a full time guide you think about it differently, but for the guys where it's not an every day occurrence the sweat equity is part of the fun.
Never pulled a moose and I'm sure guys use it, but nylon stretches too much. Polypro is better. Used to buy it in 600' spools, one per crab pot or halibut groundline. If you got this route and get the 3 part rope remember to bury the bitter end. Poly will untie itself if not under tension for a while.
My Alaska bull didn’t read the script either, APauls! Made for a better story! ;-)
A come-along sure would have been nice, though.
Amazing picture-almost looks like a painting.
It's the beaver that screwed you t-roy. The moose didn't know when he was gonna die...
we use some stuff at work called mule tape. it's flat and has 2500# breaking strength. I packed up 150ft of the stuff in about the same amount of space of a 50ft 1/4" rope.
I saw two guys pull a good sized bull elk 1000' up a hill with the stuff they use to pull fiber optic cable through pipes. They had a 3000' spool in the truck. One of the damnedest things I ever saw. I'll bet it's very similar to the Mule Tape stuff.
It did end up half girdling the tree they pulled it around, but driving a truck up a road looked a lot easier than cutting him up and packing him up the hill bit by bit. When they got the bull to the road they ran the rope thru a crotch in the tree and raised the elk so they could back up and install him in the truck. I was impressed.
Dyneema rope - is used for winch line. Floats, does not stretch and is pretty light weight. I found it on here in a thread about Alaska moose hunt. Try searching for dyneema and you should find the thread (which is a great read).
