Extended Extended Winching: Hunting Related (1 Viewer)

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This is the winching forum and may be a bit of a funny question.

I have been hearing about guys carrying a mile of rope for winching out an animal out swamps, bogs, you name it.
Yes a mile, i know it sounds ridiculous.

I was thinking 600ft may be good enough in most cases. Probably a bit overkill

What would be the best way about going about this?
Capstan winch? Chainsaw winch?

I would love to hear other peoples opinion on stuff.
 
might be an urban myth?

1 mile of wire rope would be pretty heavy and unwieldy even if thin wire rated for only 1000lbs, say.
1 mile of synth would be pretty expensive I imagine, and unlikely to survive long being dragged in the woods on the ground.
 
a mile of wire rope is a lot lighter than a moose . you would probably use 100 foot sections and remove them as you go . i carry a couple hundred feet of cable just for personal recovery .

i wouldn't shoot anything a mile into a swamp . if i can't drag it out with my couple hundred feet it isn't worth it .
 
Yeah I think I would be better off having a couple of lengths of 100ft rope.
 
you would have to bring it in a section at a time then pull the section out and re attach . it would take a long time and be tedious but easyer than draggin a moose across a swamp .
 
The deer I harvest from my favorite food plot always (and I mean always) run downhill into a river bottom. Dragging them out you've got the elevation gain plus all the deadfall and debris from the creek flooding. I've dragged 'em out several times but man it's a chore. One day a year or two ago the little light bulb in my head clicked. I pulled my FJ to the edge of the food plot, spooled out my winch, attached my straps end to end and then drug the deer to that point. From there it was just the flip of a switch and the deer was sitting at my bumper. Dang I'm smart sometimes! :hillbilly:
 
they make nice ropes for pulling wires through conduit .i got some through att when they closed here almost a mile of it with a 2200 lb strenght.its not heavy and not to bulky maybey check with an electircal supply co.
 
My Braden (forget the designation right now... maybe an SMU-3?) is rated for 675 feet if I load it with 5/16 steel cable.

Dragging a moose a mile through brush is absurd and in my mind would show very very poor planning on the part of the hunter.

A moose is not gonna just slide easily for a mile through brush and bog without getting hung up a lot... unless the terrain is so easy that you would be able to just drive a Cruiser in to it.

A few hundred feet of line is another story and might work real well. But if you drop a moose a few hundred feet from where you can get your Cruiser to, you can probably pack it out just fine. Unless you are foolish enough to drop it in the middle of a swamp and then you deserve the work to teach you to never do that again. ;)


Mark...
 
IMO, too many people are forgetting that a large animal like a deer, moose, pig can and oftentimes do run for quite a distance before, ahem, bleeding out, even with a good shot. Of course its ideal to kill it where it stands, but thats not how things happen. All planning aside, a mortally wounded animal behaves in strange ways and it might not end up where you think it should.
 
Be that as it may, far more horror stories of packing an animal out are due to poor planning and choices before or as the trigger is pulled.

And generally speaking if the terrain is too nasty to pack the meat on your back... and too nasty to drive the rig too... Winching and dragging an animal across the ground, through the brush, over the hummocks, up the hill, across the ravine... is probably just gonna be another flavor of nasty. :(

Worth considering the idea...There might be situations where it will help, but I expect they would be a rare occurrence.

(Edit: Just a data point... Unlike a deer or a pig, Moose usually stand, or maybe walk a short distance, or perhaps bolt a few steps and then stop when they are hit with a well placed shot. It is in their nature to stand and and hope to let danger pass them un-noticed by or face it down. Evolution has taught them that running from their primary danger over the eons (wolf packs and bears) is a sure way to die. If you hit one with a poor shot then it may walk or trot quite a ways, but a kill shot will almost always leave you with a moose that pretty much stays put if he does not drop immediately.

Mark...
 
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It must work. Ive welded allot of receiver tubes in the back of old pickup truck roll bars for good ole boys over the years.

If you are shootin the right moose then ya will need a yarder most likely.

Small diameter rope can be capstan wrapped on a normal ole winch and fed off by hand into a bucket. Sportsmen are pretty crafty.

If hunitng a moose you are more than likely in Canada or Alaska, that means everybody has a bush plane or a dozer or a million miles of steel and rope and cable and anything equipment related laying around the hanger they live by. A couple thousand feet of rope in pipeline country would be easy to find Id think.

If not, go west till ya hit the docks and find a fishing/crabbing boat thats respooling line and load up. Pretty easy to find rope in hunting country.
 
Got a suggestion from a Canadian gent a few years back that made a lot of sense to me. He said on his hunting truck he ran a rear-mounted winch and hauled his game out in a trailer. Back 'er up as close as he could get, winch the kill right into the trailer, easy as could be.

Seemed like a fine idea, been considering the same if I can find a good way to rig a winch on my 40.
 
I agree with Mark - plan things better.

I just shot a good-sized bull moose in its bed at the bottom of a coulee. He looked up towards me after the first shot, stood up and turned 180*, then the second shot anchored him in place. It was 300' down a coulee, however.

And my brand new 2 year old (well, basically unused) M8274-50 24V didn't even have the balls to power up. The stupid piece of crap has brushes that are seized in place as the brush holders have corroded severely and one of the brush tension springs is broken due to a slight rust pitting issue. Also, one of the solenoids has a cracked housing... this winch has been used twice to hang deer, and once to help pull a danger tree down in a safe direction. I bet the motor is made off-shore.

Now, my 22 year old M8274 24V that has been abused to the hilt till runs flawlessly... funny how that happens. New = crap, Old = works just fine.

Very pissed off with the winch.

Very happy about the moose.

I just hooked up a few hundred feet of 1/4" wire rope and hauled the bull out of the coulee - the HJ61 didn't even notice the load.

Very pleased that my other Land Cruisers have Aisin winches on them (way better built than the Warn).

Photos of shamefull tell-tale cable wrapped up on front bumper. And, of Moose in the coulee.

~John
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I got to come over and get a clutch for the 74 JOHN and maybe be invited for dinner.


Very Nice Work!


Sorry to hear about the 8274-50
 
my dad used to have an old jeep with a pto winch. for long moose winching we would wrap the rope(yes just regular old rope! around the drum a few times and out the bottom. that way it never builds up on the drum. it was my job as a kid to stand beside the running on its own jeep with the PTO engaged and feed the rope off the winch. We did this lots as my dad always shot the farthest away moose he could for some reason!

I could do it with my hj61 as its pretty open on the bottom.
 
we borrow a 12 volt capstan winch and bring two or three 300 foot lengths of the ropes we use for tower work but we only use it if we have to come back because to pull is up hill
 
I got to come over and get a clutch for the 74 JOHN and maybe be invited for dinner.

Very Nice Work!

Sorry to hear about the 8274-50

Hey Prado T,

You'd be welcome to come to dinner any time and I have lots of BJ74 clutches here...

Just give me a head's up when you're coming and I'll have beer in the fridge and steaks defrosted.

~John
 
Hey Prado T,

You'd be welcome to come to dinner any time and I have lots of BJ74 clutches here...

Just give me a head's up when you're coming and I'll have beer in the fridge and steaks defrosted.

~John

Right On !

I will call soon John
 

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