Gellar
Well-known member
Thanks for that image. Sadly in today’s day of instant fame and trying to go viral someone will probably try that.
Jet Sled
- Thread starter Fremont15
- Start date
6mm Remington
Well-known member
wytex the black sled I have is a little larger and thicker than the one you use. It works great also. If there is a foot or so of snow side hilling is not terrible if you have one guy pulling and one guy is on the back with a rope attached there and stays on the uphill side. Helps keep the sled in the track. The sled I have also has grooves in the bottom to hope hold it on side hills.
I've routed switchbacks with that simple one foot in front of the other w/o the stop tug sensation. It may be slow going though I've had full elk in the sled, excluding a shoulder or ham strapped to my pack...
Works a world better w/ two people, two sleds of course.
Though again, for wilderness w/o pack animals, it may bite though it works. I'd rather do a rougher exit once then 2-3 solo treks 5-10 miles each direction.
Wildabeest
Well-known member
Seems that these things would also tend to want to run you over going downhill, especially in snow if you don’t have a second person on the back. Or does the weight cause it to sink enough that it’s not a problem?
I've made room w/ a deer on a pack sled and slid my way down a gated snow covered road back to the truck. Gifts of hiking into a hunt location uphill.
Cut trails to go directly down hill in areas w/o much concern for tipping and controlled the sled's downhill force by holding the flat webbing, attached to the backside of the sled. Was along the line of walking a dog that kept pulling on the leash... haha! It has it's challenges though, when it starts rolling onto our back legs... that's about the time to control from the back or one front, one back. We did that with two sleds once. Picture a train.
Wildabeest
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Or I guess you could just jump on top of it and ride it down! Woohoo!
D
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Wildabeest
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That exactly what I was envisioning!
6mm Remington
Well-known member
No it will run you over. One guy on the front stepping off to the side and holding it from getting away, and one guy on the back holding the rope tied to the rear to hold it back. Same thing on sidehills. Walk slightly above the sled, both the front and rear guys. The critters and packs are always held in place with motorcycle tie down and bungie cords. That way if it does tip your critter and items stay in the pack.
That is always my hope… without such it would be a definite!
however often has to be re shifted to continue. It overwhelmingly beats the h*** out of packing on my back multiple trips though!We have a family landscape tree business where we use long winter plastic sleds (5' medium heavy duty) to pull our 6-8 foot tall trees from the harvest site to the new planting location (with time on our trailer in between). I reinforce the front lip of the sled with 10-12 inch lengths of wooden hockey sticks (top and bottom sandwiching the sled material) and hold it together with two strong eye bolts. I tie my extra long rope to the front. I've used these sleds dozens of times for deer and elk - snow and no snow. We are quartering/boning the elk and loading them on two or three sleds (whole deer on a single sled). Some "drags" have been the easiest ever due to snow and slight downhill conditions but even pulling over grass is doable. The reason for the extra long rope in front is to be able to get fully behind the sled on downhill runs where you can steer the sled from behind. We usually put the rope around our waist, just above the hips, and alternate pulling facing forward and facing backwards....as conditions warrant. The beauty of this system is that whenever you rest, you are not continuing to carry the weight. When faced with steeper uphill conditions, we team up on single sled. Though not ideal for every situation, it has worked very well for us. Hope this helps...
Hummer
Well-known member
Two years ago we used 3 sleds to haul my bull moose 4 miles off of Pawnee Pass. It worked so well that I'll always take one on my elk hunts for downhill packouts over snow.
Last fall I used a sled to drag a pronghorn a mile across the dry prairie. I figured it might be easier than carrying or dragging the carcass. Downhill over grass wasn't too bad but part of it was on rocky trail and there was some uphill which was grueling. I won't do that again but it was still easier than simply dragging the animal over ground given the slope and terrain. I've thought about building a simple wagon-like platform with four wheels to tie the sled to. Otherwise, I'll backpack it out in the future.
If you're in typical elk country you might want a narrower sled that will maneuver between rocks and logs better. I used the Paris Expedition Sled that was sold by REI. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Paris-Ex...nsLxvSsfRb2mKspfgIzj_PSCxyapuDNBoCv_0QAvD_BwE
Last fall I used a sled to drag a pronghorn a mile across the dry prairie. I figured it might be easier than carrying or dragging the carcass. Downhill over grass wasn't too bad but part of it was on rocky trail and there was some uphill which was grueling. I won't do that again but it was still easier than simply dragging the animal over ground given the slope and terrain. I've thought about building a simple wagon-like platform with four wheels to tie the sled to. Otherwise, I'll backpack it out in the future.
If you're in typical elk country you might want a narrower sled that will maneuver between rocks and logs better. I used the Paris Expedition Sled that was sold by REI. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Paris-Ex...nsLxvSsfRb2mKspfgIzj_PSCxyapuDNBoCv_0QAvD_BwE
