Who has plans for a heavy duty deer cart or ideas?
I live in Alaska and want to build a heavy duty cart to haul gear, moose meat or a deer through some of the roughest terrain you can imagine. It has ...
I live in Alaska and want to build a heavy duty cart to haul gear, moose meat or a deer through some of the roughest terrain you can imagine.
It has to be able to slide over rocks, logs and have good ground clearance, go through sand, mud, water etc. I have checked out game carts online and they are just too flimsy.
It needs to be able to carry at least 200 pounds.
It will be pulled by hand and with a ATV quadrunner at times.
So do you have suggestions for the tires, frame, etc etc?
I would rather go with over kill because I don’t want it to break down 10 miles from a road.
Any ideas welcome!
Ok let me explain more. We can only get so far on a quad and have to go by foot the rest of the way. I bought that whiz bang super duper game cart from Cabela’s and it fell apart just pulling it by hand over this terrain. It got good reviews from people but Alaska was too much for it.
Falconry2 answer is more in line of what I want.
Is there a better place to ask this on answers?
Even if it takes two men to pull it, it must be strong as hell. You see we also use it for gold prospecting and all that gear weighs at least 200 lbs. The area we go to is accessible only by flat bottom river boat with jet drive. So it will be hauled there by that boat. It not unusual for us to travel 30 miles into road less areas; rugged, remote. The bad lands of the Dakotas would be a picnic compared to where we go.
Only thing I can think of right away is using an older ATV frame and suspension system, stripped down and then build it back up to what you need. That way you match ground clearance with the Quad, but the weight is going to be a little heavy for hand carting , but I’m not sure how much a chassis and suspension weigh. Even if you rig something up, the best options would still be ATV components-bike and motorcycle wheels are too narrow and sink into mud quicker while ATV tires would "float" a little, but the rolling resistance is a little more for the ATVs. They use to market the 6 wheel buggies that where amphibious in the back of "Popular Mechanics", so something like that stripped down might work too.
Big garden style wheel barrows and carts might work-1st link below shows a very nice set up that you could probably weld up from tubing and use ATV axles.
I almost got something like in link #2 for my son’s wagon,not quite that big, but nearly as rugged looking.
EDIT: there is the ATV trailer route,but again notice it is using the ATV style wheels with limited suspension travel, and having only two wheels will make balancing more difficult. http://www.atvwagon.com/800aluminum.html
My old deer sled is a kids plastic 2 man toboggan with extra wood support where the ropes attach in the front. It slides really nice and down hill you can ride for better control. It definitely has never been pulled by any other power than hand though. I don’t know if it would stand up to the nasty terrain your talking but for less then twenty bucks it may be a reasonable choice.
The designs for these look sound, but flimsy. I would copy the carts that you have seen, just using heavier materials. Or use lighter, tougher, and more expensive materials.
Cut some high quality, but trashed bicycles apart for steel? (Strong and light.) Use larger, wider wheels to "float" over mud and roll over obstacles?
i have used a industrial wheel borrow painted army green with tire sealant and a foot air pump just in case the tire went down, i have carried 3 full deer well tied with thin rope
I use one that I bought from Cabela’s that has a 500lb capacity, 16 inch puncture proof wheels and has carried out 2 deer at one time that weighed over 300 lbs. I have pulled it behind my 4 wheeler, skidded it over logs and it has performed perfectly. It cost under $150 You can’t buy the materials and build one that cheaply.Check it out- It’s the super magnum cart.
You’re really talking about two totally different uses. Something you can pull behind a quad will have to take some serious stresses and abuse. I’d go with one of the carts they make for these that are designed to attach to a quad.
The other use is "human power". I used a deersleigher from Cabellas this year to haul an elk about 3 miles. (a simple roll-up tough plastic sled) Although it was largely deboned, the first 1 1/2 mi uphill was brutal (unlike the descriptions in Cabellas.) The last half downhill was pretty sweet. I recomend just packing it til you get to the downhill or flat section. It has to be hoisted up and over every log or bigger rock – slow and tiring.
I really can’t imagine using one of those game carts in the conditions I deal with. Some kind of sled or packing is all I’ve done. (snow, steep, downed wood, sidehills, etc.)
Bike wheels are good for hard surfaces.A old 3 wheel bike frame make s good hand puller by welding on some arms and chopping the frame.
Cabela’s has these starting at 79.00
If towing with ATV a good ATV trailer might be the ticket or a old ATV framed hacked and welded with a hitch.
We made a sheet of stainless steel into a toboggan for hauling moose. Worked great, and it was light!
Might not work for your set up, but the best plans are the simplest plans.