No truck, now what?

[MCgunner]

Is that really a grown deer?

First year spike that dressed about 70 lbs. Biggest I've ever seen killed down there was a 7 point old deer, probably 4-5 years, went 120 dressed. They just don't get real big down here. I shot an 8 point last year, too, only went 100 lbs dressed. The doe are TINY down there. I've shot doe in this area that went 90 lbs dressed, but I don't think I've seen one down there over about 50-60 lbs. That spike was with a doe that was quite a bit smaller, believe it or not.

I have seen smaller deer, though, in the Chisos in Big Bend National Park, known as "carmen mountain whitetail", a sub species. Remind me of Coos deer. They look like overgrown jack rabbits with horns. Cute in a chihuahua/Shetland pony sort of way.

A close up, since you seem to need proof.

 

[MCgunner]

If so I ain't never saying nuttin about a 223 not being enough hunting deer again.

As everyone always says, it all depends on where you're hunting. Lots of deer are taken in Texas with the .22-250 every year, it's quite popular. However, down in the valley or around Freer, a good buck can break 200 lbs on occasion. In the hill country around Llano, tons of deer all look like that spike, even with "big" racks. LOL

Yeah, in Texas, a .243 is a FINE deer rifle and I never used anything bigger than a .257 Roberts until the last 15 years or so when I started to occasionally hunt mulies and big whitetails out in West Texas and New Mexico.

 

[eliphalet]

Woah! really interesting, thanks Mcgunner

 

[MDHunter]

Great Thread!

This is an awesome thread, and those pics of the big elk on the little car are classic! Would give some PETA type a coronary...

A question to the guys who did the deer inside the car thing....anyone's wife or girlfriend get fired up when you got home?? Let's hear those stories, boys....

Michael

 

[learningman]

I had an old 1965 Buick Skylark that I could fit three muley does into the trunk(they weren't all mine). Just some plastic on the trunk floor and away we went. The only problem I had was once when I pulled into the gas station for fuel and the lady in the stall next to me noticed a puddle of blood on the ground. Kind of got her attention to say the least. That car was great for hunting.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

Texas whitetails don't get very big.

Last season I shot a 10-point that dressed out at 132--and was the largest deer taken on that property to date.

The next day I shot a 5-point cull buck that dressed out at 72 pounds.

Down here, they don't call 'em "Dog deer" for nothing.

And just to show that I'm not off-topic, I didn't have a truck at the time. Deer were quartered, put into trash bags, loaded into coolers, and then they rode home in the back seat and trunk of my Chevy Malibu.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

The elk I had in the back of my Torino weighed 1000 pounds on the hoof. My brother and I were in our twenties at the time, and it was all both of us could do to drag one front quarter up a slight incline in two inches of fresh snow.

The old bull was so tough we ended up grinding the whole thing into hamburger, and even the hamburger was tough.

He came off the Taylor Ranch near San Luis CO, which had been closed to hunting for decades until that year (about 1973).

 

[Kingcreek]

Another oportunity to point out that trash bags should NOT be used for any meat you intend to eat. lots of bad chems in trash bags. Pthalenes, bispenols, insecticides, etc.
trash bags are for trash, not food.

 

[MCgunner]

Elk sausage. That's a LOT of sausage to stuff, though.

Nathanael, nice Texas deer! I've killed deer like Nathanael's out west, a nice high point 8 that went 154 dressed on the club's scale. I've shot doe out there bigger than most of the bucks I've shot here. That ranch was managed well by the club I was in. Biggest I've shot here was 125 dressed, and he was an old deer on the way down. Here's the 8 point I shot last year, only 100 lbs dressed, now that we've totally hijacked the "don't have a truck" thread. This is about big as a rack gets down there. All the small acreage, nothing managed. I don't know that they get very good nutrition down there, either. It's all brush and pasture, no grain anywhere around. Anyway, I don't pass on protein for a phantom "muy grande", not on MY place.

 

[sixgunner455]

I took a yearling mule deer doe that weighed 90 pounds. Bigger than most Cous whitetails I've seen in AZ.

I borrowed a truck to haul it to the meat packers. Adapt to the lack of a truck.

 

[Charles S]

Just to agree with Mcgunner....Deer do indeed grow smaller in Texas....I have a bucket full of 6 and 8 point horns that are less than 10-12 inside....that is why when I took this...


with a bow I thought it was a great trophy...

I realize it was nothing special...but to me it was incredible.

Back on topic....

Having hunted out of a car in the past, may I suggest an inexpensive rope block and tackle and a 60 quart ice chest. I would generally quarter on site. Bag the head and put all of the above in the car. Stop at the nearest convenience store and get ice and I was good to go...

Keep in mind in some states (Texas included) one cannot process beyond quarters on site or in camp.

Good luck....

 

[scout26]

Another oportunity to point out that trash bags should NOT be used for any meat you intend to eat. lots of bad chems in trash bags. Pthalenes, bispenols, insecticides, etc. trash bags are for trash, not food.

+10000000 Bad juju (and taste) if you use trash bags.


Lay out a tarp in the trunk and swing through the nearest StopNRob for a bag or two of ice to put in the body cavity/haunches to cool the meat and it's all good.

Mrs. Scout doesn't mind that I haul Bambi(s) in MY car (her car, a Saab 9-5 Wagon is right out ), as long as they arrive at Festung Scout neatly wrapped in butcher paper, ready for the freezer. No blood stains or yucky smells in either car I've used. Just use good blue tarps, be careful and wash/rinse off all the oookiness the tarp when done transporting.

The one time I did bring one home (gutted, skinned and decapitated, got him late in the day and didn't have time to butcher him at camp) and put him on the work bench in the garage so that I could butcher him the next day after work, the Killer Attack Beagle spent the entire next day barking his fool head off at the door leading from the house to the garage.

Mrs. Scout was NOT happy when I got home from work and I had to listen to her incessant yelping while I butchered the deer hanging from the tree in the backyard. One of the neighbors (who has since moved) was not happy to see a gutted, skinned, decapited bambi hanging from a tree and being sliced up. Mrs Scout thought for sure she would call the local constabulary thinking I was playing Hannibal Lecter or somesuch.

 

[.41 magnum man]

I shot a deer with a bow once that was so small I put it in the glove box and took it to the check in station!

 

[MCgunner]

I always quarter the deer on site if I'm at a deer camp somewhere and get it on ice. I soak the meat a few days on ice water anyway. I used to bone it and everything, but law in Texas now it can't be more than quartered for transport. I have a couple of big ice chests. I don't know if the 104 quart would fit in a small car, though. I've always owned trucks and vans. But, my 54 quart is big enough for a Texas deer...LOL!...and would fit in most cars. Kinda has a fish odor in it, though.

I have used trash bags before and didn't die from the experience. But, perhaps it's not advisable, don't know. If they're PVC bags and the plant I used to work at made 'em, they probably have enough residual vinyl chloride monomer in 'em to give you liver carcinoma.

 

[FLORIDA KEVIN]

down here anyone who shoots a dear or a hog needs to iceit down ,so they usually load them into 160-300 qt coolers ,I bet you could put one on those racks that mount to trailer hitches ! our dear are small but the hogs arent !

 

[Regolith]

I shot a deer with a bow once that was so small I put it in the glove box and took it to the check in station!

Does glove box mean something different to you than the rest of us? Like a trunk or something? Because I couldn't fit a full grown rabbit in my glove box, let alone a deer. Unless you shot one that just popped out of its mother and was a runt besides.

 

[MCgunner]

The "glove box" in my van will fit a J frame, but a 4" K frame is a little too big....

 

[dakotasin]

2005 and 2006 saw me hunting out of a ford mustang. you can fit a 225 pound buck in the trunk, and a 250 pound buck tied on the trunk, at the same time. make sure you wrap the horns well so you don't scratch all the clear coat off (oops... lesson learned).

2007 had me out in a ford taurus. a 120 pound antelope buck will sit upright and ride in the back seat with a cigarette in its mouth just fine.

2004 had me out in a mercury grand marquis. you can fit 2 buck antelope, 1 buck whitetail and a buck mule deer in the trunk of that car just fine.

so, hunting from a car is not preferred, but can be done. my wife has hauled deer on top of her minivan, on the decklid of her car, and on a receiver hitch rack.

the problem is not the haul, but how to contain the mess. make a 'basket' in the trunk with trash bags (this is your last line of defense between blood and the carpet), then lay down a couple of tarps, and wrap them up around the body as best you can. you'll be fine. also, go into this knowing there will be a little mess (and there will be), and go have fun!

 

[cpttango30]

If I can fit an 8' couch in the back of a 2001 Hyundia Accent 2 door hatchback. You can fit a little ol deer in just about anything.

 

[MCgunner]

My grandpa used to make big fun of those who carry their kills field dressed over a trunk or such. "Damn shame to ruin such good meat." he'd say shaking his head.

Yeah, I get my kills on ice asap, soak 'em several days before butchering.

 

[ducktail]

I used to drive a Plymouth Voyager. Front wheel drive hardly got stuck until I tried to run down a coon.

Anyway, we used to tie the legs to the luggage rack on tip and let the deer hang off the back window. I was a little rough on the rear windshield wiper. The dry blood prevented the wiping action from working.

 

[kungfuhippie]

Deer do indeed grow smaller in Texas

I thought everything was bigger in Texas???