Longest deer drag

[Steve Heiting]

Slightly more than 2 miles (per the topo map), dry ground, just myself and a friend. 9 1/2 hour drag to the truck. Buck was 202 pounds at the registration station.

Did I mention I was up all night with the flu the night before?

Nowadays it's an ATV (if legal) or a hand-pulled cart for me!

[Tufrthnails]

Slightly more than 2 miles (per the topo map), dry ground, just myself and a friend. 9 1/2 hour drag to the truck. Buck was 202 pounds at the registration station.

Did I mention I was up all night with the flu the night before?

Nowadays it's an ATV (if legal) or a hand-pulled cart for me!

It's funny how one tough recovery can make a person re-evaluate their methods. I got my sled after watching dan recover them from the marsh/swamps with his. I've had a cart for quite a while, but I bought it after my first mile long drag.

[Steve Heiting]

It's funny how one tough recovery can make a person re-evaluate their methods. I got my sled after watching dan recover them from the marsh/swamps with his. I've had a cart for quite a while, but I bought it after my first mile long drag.

That was in 1984. Sleds and carts weren't yet available for sale, and the ATVs of the time were small 3-wheelers and not everyone had one. I was also 24 and three years removed from college football. Now I'm 57, a whole lot older and hopefully a whole lot smarter.

[Tufrthnails]

It's funny how one tough recovery can make a person re-evaluate their methods. I got my sled after watching dan recover them from the marsh/swamps with his. I've had a cart for quite a while, but I bought it after my first mile long drag.

That was in 1984. Sleds and carts weren't yet available for sale, and the ATVs of the time were small 3-wheelers and not everyone had one. I was also 24 and three years removed from college football. Now I'm 57, a whole lot older and hopefully a whole lot smarter.

I was 5 in 84 I can remember my uncle coming back from the woods with a buck he killed so tired he could barely drag the buck out of the back of the truck. I have no idea how long the drag was, but apparently is wasn't easy at all. He used to give me crap because I got a cart and sled. I took him hunting in the swamp (he always hunted in KY) here in FL last year and he's not giving me crap anymore!

[tim]

I've had some long ones but the worst was a couple years ago when I had to drag all by myself in the bluffs and the buck made it 2/3 of the way down the hill and it was raining. Very tough

[Lockdown]

I've had a few doozies out in SD... MN not so much.

My first rifle trip west river SD I trailed a buck and doe off an alfalfa field. Every time I crested a hill they went over the next one. They finally laid down and I snuck to 100 yards and shot the buck bedded as I layed prone. Doe took off and I shot her too. I cringed as I got my gps out. 2.89 miles as the crow flies
Got crazy lucky though it was walk-in and the landowner pulled up to me on the walk out to go get my buddies. "Get anything?" He said. I told him two and he said "let's go get them!"

We threw them on the flat bed and we dropped them off at the closest point to our vehicle. 3/4 mile or so I went to town and bought him a bottle of whiskey later that day.

My 2010 public mulie was 1.9 as the crow flies... More like 2.3 after we avoided certain hills. He was a big 150ish 5x5 and his rack made it a pain to grab the cart handle and pull decent. Should have put his hind end toward the front! (Good problem to have)

I filmed my buddy shoot a mulie in 2014 that was just shy of three miles. Had 3 guys and backpacks already on (not meat packs) so it could have been worse. We were still pretty beat and we all had sore shoulders by the time we were done. It was after that hunt that we decided using frame packs and keeping enough food and drink for the whole day was the way to go. Kind of annoying but better than an unnecessary walk to the truck to get a cart.

We've had quite a few in the 2 mile range over the years. The big ones know most of the pressure is within a mile of the nearest drive able road.

[ThePreBanMan]

About 2 miles. Just a roll up plastic sled to help. I have a cart and a jet sled now. Ordered that night when I got home actually...

[Wetfoot]

Just over 2 miles, the first 1/4 mile was flat on an ancient logging road, then across a small river over a steep ridge then thru a swamp. Gladly, I was in my 30's and in the military so it didn't seem too bad. Seems like my drags nowadays are mostly 1/4-3/4 of a mile.

[BradC36]

I've had some drags that have been far (distance) but the most miserable by far was through a foot and a half of snow after it rained for a week prior and made the ground incredibly soft/wet underneath it. That was about a half a mile and had to drag up hill for almost all of it.

The shortest died 20 yards from the edge of my backyard, 30 yards from where I had to hang it. Doesn't get easier than that.

[woodswalker]

Mine wasn't all that far in distance but it was up hill about 65 degrees out of a ravine that runs about ten yards from my stand parallel with it. There are 4 deer trails that come out of the ravine well within gun range as well as other deer trails coming from different directions by the stand so I picked the spot the last two years the deer I shot swapped ends and ran down hill into the ravine and died in the creek at the bottom. Last year I knew I was 70 yo when I had to drag that deer up the side of the ravine. It will not happen again. I bought a used 4wd ATV and put a winch on the front, I also carry two hanks of 100 feet of double braid rope in my truck. The next deer that goes down into the ravine, I will position my ATV and descend into the ravine with a rope and a winch cable. A aint gonna pull no more!

[WV Bowhunter]

3 miles. Had a cart and 4 guys or I may still be there.

[Octoberjohn]

My buck from Iowa last fall was 1.2 miles from the truck. Not too bad as far as distance goes but getting him out of where he fell was an entirely different story. The first few hundred yards were pretty much straight up hill. Then I had a nice flat drag for a while. Then back into another steep creek bottom and out the other side. I didn't have any other route to get him out due to the surrounding private land. I started dragging around 9:30 and got to the truck an hour after dark. Probably a solid 8 or 9 hours total. And it was worth every agonizing second getting him out of there!