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Bikes & Bows Part 2: How Do You Roll?

By Brodie SwisherMarch 5, 20143 Comments

LAST UPDATED: May 1st, 2015

Last month we took a look at the advantages of adding a bike to your means of bowhunting transportation. The bike allows us to cover more ground while on our actual hunting grounds in a much quieter and stealthier mode. Without a doubt it is a cool way of getting from Point A to Point B. Due to the high level of interest from readers, I’ve decided to do a follow-up to the previous article. This time, we’ll take a look at the gear that allows the hunter to get his/her game out of the woods or field following a successful “bike” hunt.

Pack on Your Back

Leading backpack companies have realized the need for creating packs that can handle ungodly loads of meat, gear, and anything else you want to put on your back. One of the easiest means of getting meat out when bike hunting is to bone out the meat and stuff it in a plastic bag and then place it in one of these quality packs for the ride out. You’ll obviously want to use caution when riding with a pack full of meat as you’ll be quite top heavy as you cruise down the trail.

Hunter and Deer

After you’ve employed the “bike” method you have to figure out how you’re going to get your trophy back to camp or the truck.

There have been times when the deer I shot was small enough to pack out whole. A good pack frame with a strong shelf allows this to be a doable means of transportation. The key is to have plenty of straps to secure the animal’s legs and head to prevent excessive swinging and swaying. When spring turkey hunting, the packs I use must be able to handle a Double Bull ground blind, chair, camera gear, tripod, decoys, my bow…and Lord willing, a dead gobbler on the way out. Some of my favorite packs for handling big heavy loads are: Mystery Ranch Metcalf, Badlands 2200, Badlands Sacrifice, Tenzing TZ CF 13, and the Bull Pac frame pack.
To check out the latest backpacks for 2014 Click here.

Deer Carried on a backpack

Finding the right pack for your style of hunting is important and takes a little time and consideration before making a choice.

The Meat Wagon

There are times when the trail allows for easier hauling with the use of a meat cart. The meat cart allows you to load the animal whole and roll down the trail without the back breaking labor involved with dragging a deer on the ground. I’ve used the NEET Kart (neetkart.com) for the last 6 years with great success. The NEET Kart is an in-line cart that can handle insane loads. I’ve hauled out multiple deer (whole) on the cart at one time, with relative ease. The in-line wheel design can handle going over logs and side-hilling like no side-by-side wheel design can. You simply have to see it to believe what the in-line cart design can do.

A Turkey Hunted

“Biking” in isn’t just for bucks. In fact, sneaking up on spring gobblers quickly and quietly is easy when using your 2-wheeled machine.

The BOB Yak trailer (bobgear.com) is another option that is actually powered by your bike’s pedals. The Yak is a pull-behind bike trailer that can handle loads up to 70 pounds. It allows you to lighten the load on your back and cruise down the trail with your legs doing all the work. One of my first meat-movers when I started bike hunting was simply a child/baby trailer. This style trailer can be modified from hauling kids to hauling meat, camp supplies, hunting gear etc. The side-by-side wheels ride very smooth and feature load capacities of about 100 pounds.

A Picture of a Meat Haualer

Although the author uses high-tech meat haulers now days, in the beginning he used a simple baby transporter to get big game from point A to point B.

Whether you’re packing critters on your back or rolling down the trail with a cart or wagon, you’ll know you’ve had a good day in God’s country when you’re faced with hauling meat out of the timber. Be sure to sure thank God for the moment…and then grab your gear and get rollin’!

Brodie Swisher is a world champion game caller, outdoor writer, and seminar speaker. Check out his website www.thrutheseason.com.

Brodie Swisher
Brodie Swisher is a world champion game caller, outdoor writer, seminar speaker and Editor for Bowhunting.com. Brodie and his family live in the Kentucky Lake area of west Tennessee.
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