Just take head or neck shots. Hit or miss you know instantly.

8hours dragging a deer???? My hat is off to anyone tough enough to do that. I'm whipped after 15 min I like flat land and a motivated wheeler

Back when Jacob's Mt. was still B&G, I was sitting on top of one of the bluffs and shot a 180lb 9 point that folded up in its tracks. I shot it at about 9:00am and it was about 1 pm before WE made it back to camp with it. That was only one level down the mountain. My buddy that helped me drag it shot a 200 lb 10 pointer about midway down the mountain not long after that. I'm not even going to talk about getting that one out.
The next year, I hunted in Lee and Russell county.

Well, the intellegence didn't stick with me. 2 years ago, I killed a doe and an 8 pointer on Choccolocca WMA, while hunting by myself, almost exactly 3/4 miles from the truck. And it was an uphill drag all of the way to the truck except for a little whoop-te-doo in the road that was down hill for about 20 yds. 6 hours worth of dragging (and gasping for breath) later, I had my stand and both deer dressed and loaded in my truck. That will NEVER, and I DO mean NEVER happen again.

Oh, here's a news flash, Hillbillys field dress their deer where they fall. Work smarter, not harder.

My first year deer hunting ... I live in N AL and didn't have a lot of choices for places to hunt. I could travel 45 minutes to Skyline, 75 minutes to Bankhead, or 45 minutes to Wheeler ... Wheeler doesn't allow gun hunting, Skyline was the closest of the viables.

Given that Skyline is my best opportunity to kill a deer I started scouting the area. Good thing I was in shape because the area at The Walls of Jericho that I started in drop 1000 ft in a mile. Big and Little Coon were'nt much easier and the same goes for Jacobs mtn. So, here it was February and I had 8-9 months to get ready for it ... this is what I've been doing all year to get ready for dragging my 14 pt outta the canyon. Can't say I'll do this every year but since I've never killed a deer I am ... uh ... somewhat motivated to get ready ... Typical training sessions last about 1 hour

If your gonna drag one outta skyline you need to put about 575 duzen rocks and tree limbs in your path...that looks too easy

I went hillbilly about 10 yrs ago. I have a backpack, a collapsible gambrel, and a sharp knife. All of mine are quartered out and put in a garbage bag and I pack it out. My dragging consists of dragging it to the nearest tree with a strong limb. All I leave behind for the coyotes is a skeleton and guts. Screw that dragging a deer out to make hamburger out of it. Never liked hamburger that much.

Never hunted Bankhead but did hike it. I have hunted Choccolocco for turkey and that is some of the steepest hills and hollows I have personally experienced. I finally got smart and starting hunting the Pinhoti trail that runs through Choccolocco running and gunning for birds. Alot easier walking. Rattlesnake Mountain on the WMA up above Heflin will test just how bad you want to go hunting that morning.

3toe I've been told by friends that I'll drag a deer outta the canyon just once ... Your method is my 2nd option and God willing I kill a deer, I might have to do it that way

Perzactly what 3toe said would be my method even on some of the small "hills" Im talking about. Anyone who spends 8 hours dragging a deer probably lick windows with a side of paint chip for dessert IMO.



Give me an hour..two tops and Ill have one deboned and packed up laying on the ground without a tree.

You are very correct, Sir.

If I had to hunt mountains like I did when I was 21 I would quit deer hunting.

Rocket you'd be better off to do that over on Green Mountain (one in the background). Your doing it on a flat surface, it ain't gonna compare to hauling one up Jacobs Mnt! Seriously if I were you I'd just through on a 70lb back pack and go walk up the cove side of Green Mountain...

I'm already doing that at the Walls of Jericho, Monte Sano, and Green Mountain ... not 70 lbs but about 50 lbs. Probably 15 or so hikes like that since May

Anyway, dragging a 230 lb sled for an hour once or twice a week for 8-9 months will certainly help

No doubt it'll help, I use to give the mountain turkey and deer all kinds of heck back when I played college bball, 10 years later not so much.

If it's a bad spot, I will only shoot a good buck. I then shoot him in the neck if I have a good rest to steady my shot. 99% of the time that puts them on the ground instantly. I have helped a guy carry deer out of a hollow so deep and steep (not a bluff) that if you stood at the top, you could throw a baseball 20 yards and it would drop 300 feet before it ever hit the ground. The last time I helped him do that is the last time I will help him do that.

I told him then if we had to drag any farther, he could just tie the deer to the MedFlight copter when they came to get me out.

You can also tie them to a rope and drag them up a really steep hill with a 4 wheeler. Tie the rope to the deer, run the rope under the 4 wheeler and tie it to the front rack. The weight of the deer and the force keeps the front on the 4 wheeler on the ground.

I've heard of people using come alongs to get them up over the cliffs over at the Walls

Never quartered one out , but a few times it might have been easier in the long run.

I have a buddy who trekked to Everest Base camp in 2008. I met him just before he went in 2008. He is wanting me to go back with him next year. I told him I would go if he was serious! This SOB is 67 years old and has dropped 30 pounds in three months! I might have let my alligator mouth override my hummingbird ass! He's talking about maybe going to Mt Kilimanjaro now! I've got to either start getting back in shape or tell him to find someone else to go. It would be a trip of a lifetime!

Yep me too.