Deer hunting with a car
Contributors to this thread:General Topic
From: sunwarrior
10-Sep-11
My truck is on its last legs and if I am going to hunt this year I am going to have to use my car. Getting to my hunting site is no problem, but what am I going to do if I harvest a deer. I will have to put it in my trunk lol. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should handle this? Hate to get my trunk all bloody.
From: sundowner
10-Sep-11
Get a receiver type hitch and use a Hitch Haul, which is an expanded metal carrier, about 24"x60" for tree stands, coolers, and dead deer. Good luck.
From: JJJ
10-Sep-11
$89 at Cabela's...if you can get a hitch on your car. Or throw a tarp in your trunk...no big deal.
From: bad karma
10-Sep-11
55 gallon trash bags, aka "Jimmy Hoffa bags" available at Walmart. Quarter your buck, and throw him in the trunk, double bagged, and drive home.
We do it with wild hogs, works great. Good luck.
From: guidermd
11-Sep-11
i had a 74 dodge dart when i started hunting, and i have proven that it is possible to fit 6 deer in the trunk of that car.
From: Rubline
11-Sep-11
From: ChrisK1977
11-Sep-11
I use my mini van. Friends make fun of me but it works nice especially with the rear seat taken out. I call it my carcass carrier.
From: rock50
11-Sep-11
I have successfully taken deer with every car or truck I have owned since 1990, except for the current '06 Impala SS or the '06 Silverado..........even though I was not hunting!
Oh wait.........not the question LOL
I would use the 'Contractor Bags', nice heavy plastic garbage bags, after the quarters have cooled if possible. Receiver hitch platform would be better, but more expensive.
From: HeadHunter®
12-Sep-11
PINTO by FORD was my favorite hunting rig back in the day! Big MUD Tires on oversize rims on the rear.... I slept many a night/weekend in that baby bow hunting too!.....I sure miss her!
From: Jammer
12-Sep-11
Put the deer on the roof, roll down back windows, and run a ratchet strap through the windows and over the deer. Position it so the ratchet is in the middle on the inside so that you can reach back and tighten it every so often without stopping or getting out!
From: Jimbob
12-Sep-11
2001 Nissan sentra, 60/40 rear split seat. Wrap deer in tarp, fold down back seat, deer and tarp go into the trunk and on to the folded down seat.
From: S4Gear R&D
12-Sep-11
I used to hunt out of a 1985 VW Golf. It was a great hunting car. Back then I was in college and hunting the entire state of Idaho. One day I would be hunting antelope in southern Idaho, the next hunting elk up by the Canadian line... literally. I removed the back seat, which allowed a two things. It gave me a fairly comfortable place to sleep, and it allowed me to fit a whole deer sized critter, or a boned and bagged elk. I just used an 8 foot tarp to keep things clean.
About ten years after I drove the VW into the ground, I blew up the motor on my Toyota pickup on an elk hunt (might have been pushing it a little hard getting some meat to a cooler). The dealership gave me a little Corolla as a loaner while the rebuilt my engine. They were taking forever fixing my truck, so a couple of days before the start of deer season, I called the service manager and asked if they had a blue tarp and bigger tires for the loaner Corolla, because if they didn't have my truck done for deer season, I was going to use their loaner car. They managed to get the truck done in record time :)
From: Burt
12-Sep-11
As suggested get contractor bags or a large tarp. I've done the tarp a couple times with a dodge intrepid. Plenty of room, but can be tough to heave a deer in over the lip.
Sometimes a trunk is not a bad thing, turned mine into a giant cooler once on a humid 90 degree sunday afternoon with a long drive home. 15 x 15 tarp in trunk, packed bagged ice under, in and around the deer then wrapped ends of tarp. Everything was cold monday a.m. when arrived at the locker. Most of bagged ice was still frozen. Dont think it would have worked out in the bed of the truck. -- later discovered downside: major condensation.
From: MNRazorhead
13-Sep-11
As was said above, just use a big tarp folded over a couple times. Doesn't need to be complicated. I had an Escort wagon that was great - hatchback, and especially wagon, definately makes it easier for loading and unloading and gives you much more inside room, if your car is one, but sedans work, too. As S4 said above, they work great for sleeping, too - spent many nights camped out in the back. Good luck!
From: jeffh3c
01-Dec-20
I am handicap and have a DNR auth to hunt from my vehicle even from edge of road. I am blessed to have an option to hunt without pain, but is hunting from a vehicle even have a chance of success? I have a xbow I use so the space isnt an issue. I ask this also for firearms for the same reasons. I see no point in being comfortable if I will never have a potential shot. TYSM
From: PECO
01-Dec-20
Make sure it you ratchet strap it to the roof, you stop at the bar on the way home.
From: Lost Arra
01-Dec-20
Hitch Haul is the right answer
From: Lost Arra
01-Dec-20
Hitch Haul is the right answer
From: Screwball
01-Dec-20
I hauled many a deer in the trunk! Not sure the big deal?
From: TD
01-Dec-20
Trunk?
Traditionally I believe you're supposed to use the hood......
From: JayZ
01-Dec-20
You can get a mature whitetail buck in the trunk of a Honda Civic. Just use a tarp or two to contain blood.
From: TrapperKayak
01-Dec-20
I'd bet his truck died by now and he's got a new one.
From: TrapperKayak
01-Dec-20
At first I thought this was going to be a Frisky thread.
From: EMB
01-Dec-20
Back in the day Dad just strapped it over the hood of the station wagon and drove home. Seriously, a Hitch All Carrier should do the trick nicely. Alternatively, you can debone it and put it in a cooler with ice. A 50 or 75 gallon cooler should work out in most cases. I also have a game hoist that goes in the trailer hitch that I use for that purpose. In Florida we are now not allowed to bring out of state "bone in" meat into Florida anyway. You can also use the carrier to hold the cooler with your meat.
From: Rock
01-Dec-20
I use a rubberized roof top carrier bag and just put it in the back of my car, keeps everything clean and blood free. Hauled my Elk out this year in my car using this method with no issues (Elk was quartered).
From: Brian M.
01-Dec-20
You can get a body bag online for about $12. Human or deer.
From: John in MO / KY
01-Dec-20
I was in the Salem, MO Wal-Mart on the last day of rifle season in 1999. I saw this guy wearing camo coveralls who was COVERED in blood from head to toe, he was buying ice. I had to ask, so I walked up and said, "Did you get one"? He said "Yeah, a big 10 pointer. I tried to get it in the trunk, but I couldn't lift it in there. So I opened both doors and dragged it into the back seat"!
From: sitO
01-Dec-20
Jeff, I think most of these comments are directed at the first few posts from 2011. My grandfather had a special permit to hunt from his vehicle due to a lung condition. My uncle set up a horseshoe of round hay bails two bails high, but in the middle only one high. Grandpa could pull in and shoot over that middle hay bail and the deer couldn't see his truck.
Maybe you can rig up something similar? Good luck, glad you still have an opportunity to get out bud!
From: Joey Ward
01-Dec-20
John, I think I remember a story very similar to that on America’s Most Wanted. John Walsh said there was a $5k reward out for his capture. He may still be on the FBI’s list.
The stories some folks tell.....
From: Habitat
01-Dec-20
If you use a hitch haul be careful backing and in dips.Also some states such as Kansas require that no part of a dead animal be viewable
From: stagetek
01-Dec-20
Here's a pic of my 2012 buck...in a Honda Civic ! Where there's a will, there's a way.
From: LKH
01-Dec-20
In 1975 two of my shipmates showed up at my house with a large cow elk. They brought it in what I remember as a Honda Civic. They had cut the legs loose at the knees but were still attached.
Had stopped in Bovill and the bartender bought them a beer, went out to see the elk, came back and then she chewed them out for lying to her and took back the beer.
She had looked in the back of all the pickups. They took her out and got their beer back.
Hardest part was getting the cow back out since it had stiffened.
From: Grey Ghost
01-Dec-20
You can definitely hunt deer with a car. Sometimes a car is preferable because they are more maneuverable, and accelerate better than a truck. Those dang deer can be hard to run down. I'd recommend a Bambi bumper, however, to keep the insurance claims down.
;-)
Matt
From: Pyrannah
01-Dec-20
Field butcher in to a cooler
From: cubdrvr
01-Dec-20
From: PECO
01-Dec-20
There is always this option, but you still need a hitch.
From: midwest
02-Dec-20
Good luck, Jeff!
From: Rut Nut
02-Dec-20
Glad somebody found that pic of the elk on the hatchback.....................that is a classic! : )
From: elkmtngear
02-Dec-20
Gutless method, and a tarp.
Easy peasy !
From: wraith8
02-Dec-20
Some garbage bags and the trunk of an '86 Nissan Sentra brought my first buck home, and he was a big one according to the processor. Just make sure all the edges are up so no liquids run off into the carpeting.
From: Grey Ghost
02-Dec-20
I always liked this pic. It isn't my old Jeep, but it could have been several times. Back in the day, we stuffed many whole bull elk in the back of my CJ, and hauled them off the mountain.
Matt
From: John in MO / KY
02-Dec-20
I had a 1980 CJ-5. I can't imagine stuffing an elk in the back and then keeping headed down the road in a straight line. It was pretty squirrely to drive all on its own.
From: LINK
02-Dec-20
Jeff I’d bet if you can do as sito suggested and get someone to build a “blind” of some sort to pull your car into that you could get deer inside 35 yards. You could even try sun shades on the down wind side of your car to break up your outline through the window. I know I’ve had deer walk inside 30 yards of my vehicle many times while I’m guiding or scouting. I think it still comes down to movement.
From: Tonybear61
02-Dec-20
First buck I harvested I put on the hood of my CJ-7. I got so many high 5s, positive waves thought it was the bees knees. Back in the early 80s not too many nature fakers or PeTA fans around. I recall a story my Dad told me of his buddies shooting two big bucks in Camp Ripley. They were using a Volkswagon bug and they strapped them to the roof. It looked like an airplane going down the road.
There is a pic floating around the net of a guy in WI transporting a deer on his shoulder while riding a bike.
From: APauls
02-Dec-20
Been there! Any kiddie or Mr Turtle pool works good
From: 12yards
03-Dec-20
Guy I hunt with hunts out of a Toyota Matrix. Works for him and he burns far less gas than the rest of us. His Silverado sits at home most of the season. Lol.
From: DL
07-Dec-20
Old school
From: Zbone
08-Dec-20
Maybe think about getting a Pontiac...8^)))
From: Zbone
08-Dec-20
From: Rupe
08-Dec-20
Wow, this old thread sure brought back some memories. Lots of names I don’t see much anymore
From: Kanati
08-Dec-20
Get a jet sled. I have a Kia Sportage and the 25x54 fits perfect.
