Zim
Well-known member
Rope
Whiskeydog, I am from the midwest and was used to doing solo backpck elk trips out west where I boned out and backpacked my game out, or hired a horse to pack out. But I had my first eastern tag this year, moose in New Hampshire, and learned an entire different culture. Apparently up to not long ago it was state law the moose had to come out whole, limiting the "extraction" methods, the most popular being hundred of feet of ropes, and vehicles. Some super HD ATV use.
Well when I shot my moose this year we called around and got a guy to come out. We didn't find out til he got there his method was a chain saw winch and hundreds of feet of rope. The first thing I said was...........you're going to ruin my cape, and this looks extremely dangerous. I was correct on both accounts. First he takes forever to set up, and virtually destroys my moose cape dragging it. Then after an hour the winch blows off a stump he tied it to and slings the 50# winch 100 yards like a slingshot, knocking the operator out when it hit his shoulder/arm. My buddy is an EMT and cares for the idiot, then takes him to the hospital.
His sons come out, retrieve his equipment, then abandon us there at sunset. I get on the phone with a logger who comes out at 10 PM with the skidder shown in the attached photo. Now this guy is awesome, and that rig is the way to go. He hauled it out over stumps and rough terrain 1/4 mile cradling it like a baby. Dude saved us bigtime.
In the end I wish I'd shot it on a colder day, just quartered it in the feld and called an "extractor" with an ATV. No problem. But that would have gone against the culture they have down there of getting it out whole.
Check out the photo of my hunting partner who was a local from Maine. He had like 1,200 feet of rope in that trailer, just in case.
Whiskeydog, I am from the midwest and was used to doing solo backpck elk trips out west where I boned out and backpacked my game out, or hired a horse to pack out. But I had my first eastern tag this year, moose in New Hampshire, and learned an entire different culture. Apparently up to not long ago it was state law the moose had to come out whole, limiting the "extraction" methods, the most popular being hundred of feet of ropes, and vehicles. Some super HD ATV use.
Well when I shot my moose this year we called around and got a guy to come out. We didn't find out til he got there his method was a chain saw winch and hundreds of feet of rope. The first thing I said was...........you're going to ruin my cape, and this looks extremely dangerous. I was correct on both accounts. First he takes forever to set up, and virtually destroys my moose cape dragging it. Then after an hour the winch blows off a stump he tied it to and slings the 50# winch 100 yards like a slingshot, knocking the operator out when it hit his shoulder/arm. My buddy is an EMT and cares for the idiot, then takes him to the hospital.
His sons come out, retrieve his equipment, then abandon us there at sunset. I get on the phone with a logger who comes out at 10 PM with the skidder shown in the attached photo. Now this guy is awesome, and that rig is the way to go. He hauled it out over stumps and rough terrain 1/4 mile cradling it like a baby. Dude saved us bigtime.
In the end I wish I'd shot it on a colder day, just quartered it in the feld and called an "extractor" with an ATV. No problem. But that would have gone against the culture they have down there of getting it out whole.
Check out the photo of my hunting partner who was a local from Maine. He had like 1,200 feet of rope in that trailer, just in case.
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