Winching Animals into truck

[Warrior]

Here is my dilemma, I have a 3000lbs winch sitting in the garage. I want to be able to somehow mount it is such a way that it can sit in the front of the box to pull animals into the back of the truck. I don't want it bolted permanently, and hope to not have to drill any holes. I also want it so that if we go out with a different truck we can still take and use it in anyone's truck...

I seen the pole thing, but not sure that it will work with elk/moose

Any suggestions?????

[shooter]

D,
Sell that rusty old truck and buy a forklift!!!:rollin :lol

Anyway, could you rig up a pully system for the box area and maybe run the winch off the hitch receiver. Don't know if that will make any sence or not but it does in my head...:lol

I have a peice of 3/4" ply in the box come hunting season and also have a ratchet winch that i clip to the box hooks and then to the animal. Got my elk up that way in halves last year and worked great. Don't know what the hooks can take though.

Went to say hi to you on the weekend and you where gone. WTF!!!??? :lol

Shooter

[Canmoron]

My buddy's truck has a topper, and I drive a suburban - so the portable/swivel/reciever-mounted crane thing doesn't work for us. Putting a winch the box where it'd get covered in blood didn't seem like a good idea.

We just carry a 3 1/2 x 6 ft piece of plywood, with a ring on one end. Lie the deer down on the plywood and tie the critter's head to the ring. Prop that end of the plywood onto the end of the box. Pick up the other end and slide the plywood right into the box with the deer lying on top.
It's usually not the weight of the animal that's the problem - it's that it's 'dead weight' and when trying to heave one up into a truck, those damn deer seem 'slippier than snot on a glass door-knob'.

Andrew

[FiveO]

If you have tie downs in the bed of your truck mount the winch to a 2x10 with eyelits on both ends and attach with ratchet straps on both sides.
I have a Costco winch im going to rig up this way. I am also thinking of mounting a winch to a wall in my garage with pullies in variuos locations so i can easily get criters out of my truck. Im getting to lazy to host them up with rop and ladder.

[sprinklerdog]

You can have a plate mounted to a square tube that will fit the stake pockets on the bed rails. You would be abe to move that assembly from the back to the front or vice versa depending on what and where you are winching. We are looking at this set up in conjuction with a sheet of plywood to slide the critter up into the box. The plywood requires some support and again we are going to use square tube for this. Give me a call sometime and we can bs about this.

Geo

[Dick284]

I have that issue solved, when I get home I'll take a couple of pics and post them here.

[Warrior]

Hey Shooter, everytime I went to headover to talk to you, you were busy selling more of your stuff to the ladies... LOL

We should plan a to get together for lunch one day and plan a gopher day... That new 17HMR is wanting to go to work.

Thanks for the responses guys. Deer aren't generally a problem getting them in the back, it is the larger critters, i.e. moose that are the tough ones. Stack pockets aren't an option due the folding tonneau cover... Not sure that the tie down points are strong enough???? Thoughts?

Keep em comming...

[Jamie Hunt]

I also dont think the tie downs would be strong enough. Perhaps I misunderstood you, but if you have a tonneau cover would you have enough hieght for a big animal?

I think you are going to have to do some drilling and mount a removable bracket for your winch

Good luck
Jamie

[Warrior]

The cover is one that folder up in four hard panels, and if if need be removes with 2 bolts. BUT the rails/seals are still on the box rails of the truck...

[Brady]

Warrior, just curious here, but why wouldn't the pole think work? If you build it in sections so you can break it down, and still build it heavy enough, it should be enough for an elk or a moose. Like I said, I am just curious, as I am heavily considering the pole, but am open to ideas and thoughts.

[Pappy in AB]

I gather you want to drag critters right up into the box and don't really care about hanging it on the pole. Seems like a lot of bother just to get the animals into the box when you can position the truck right in front and slide them in using a piece of plywood like the others have said also. Works great on the biggest of deer but you've got to cut that moose in half though lol. If you just have to use the winch I would use a pulley in the box and the winch outside of it..........going to take some engineering to accommodate this without drilling any holes though............and why not drill holes........it's done for 5th wheel hitches all the time?

[re]

We use the ply wood and 2 people can get a moose in no problem, it is easiest if you can kinda back up on a slope. THe guy who helped get my elk out a few years back had a chain pully rigged on a sort of spreader pipe that coulde be adjusted to fit very tightly on the holes cut is his wood liner. Whole elk loaded in 5 minutes no sweat!!

[Canmoron]

same experience as Buck - a piece of plywood and 2 guys and you can load up a moose no problem. Did it with a yearling cow last fall.

Andrew

[Buckwheat1]

My brother-in-law welded this rig up for me and it has no problem pulling moose size game into the box. The rails are made out of 1 1/2" square tubing and rest on top of the box rails. The front piece is a 4"*1.5" piece of tubing and the winch is just bolted on. There are posts that fit into the square receivers at the back of the box and its secured at the front with removeable clamps. The whole thing breaks down into three pieces and is stored till the next hunting season.

img232.imageshack.us/my.p...nchxz9.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=winchxz9.jpg)

img232.imageshack.us/my.p...802gj7.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img00802gj7.jpg)

img232.imageshack.us/my.p...843xv9.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img00843xv9.jpg)

[Brady]

Hey that's a perty good idea there too Buckwheat. Thanx fer sharin....

[bagwan]

Saw an outfit in Sask a few years ago. A guy had run 4" sq tubing from stake to stake and had a big eye bolt in the centre and mounted a fairly big snatch block in the middle and used rope to an Elks head and tied the other end to a telephone pole and jumped in the truck and drove ahead. We got there just as he finished and it was a one man job. He had a beater truck so he wasn't worried about his end gate. He used an old set of home made Quad ramps to slide it up. Cost him 20 bucks for the snatch block and rope.

[Dick284]

Ok gang here is the pictures I forgot about.
My Truck is a 2002 Dakota Quad cab, so the box is only 5.3' long.
The winch is a 8000lb Warn, on a home built receiver mount.
I power it up via the red plug by the motor, It plugs right into a matching plug up at the front of the truck, power is routed to the rear with the use of a extension cable made with #2AWG welding cable with matching plugs on both ends.
I can move this winch from the front to the rear or into the box as shown, I even have enough cable to mount it 6 to 8" behind the truck like to a tree of such.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/Dick284/IMG_0861.jpg
As you can see security is always an issue hence the Master "Python" lock.
I used to think if necessary I would rig the winch behind the truck to a tree and use a snatch block in the front of the box for pulling in game.
It took a buddy one cold November night to dream up this configuration.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/Dick284/IMG_0863.jpg
We were able to suck his moose 7/8 of the way into the box no trouble. We did use the 3/4" plywood seen on the bottom as a loading ramp, I reinforced it with strips of 3/4" plywood cut from the sheet to make it fit the truck box.
I guess you could use a snatch block on the opposite tie down as a way of allowing a pull closer to the front.
Here is a close up of the rigging:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/Dick284/IMG_0862.jpg

[prairieboy]

I have loaded deer and elk by using the trucks tailgate as a ramp,and pulling the carcass into the bed with a cable puller.One of the outfitters I know mounts electric winches on the top rail of the headache rack of his trucks.The extra height provides a better angle for winching game into the truck box.

[Warrior]

So just to confirm, you basically just secure the winch to one factory tie down in the corner of the box and winch them in that way? Any thing reinforced on that tie down?

Look pretty simple...

[Jamie Hunt]

Dick, no bending of your tie down?
Huh, lot stronger than I gave it credit for.
Nice easy solution and if your tie downs dont look as strong as Dicks, a guy could run it off of both front tiedowns and you should be fine.
Learn something new every week on this board.
Thanks Dick

Jamie

[Dick284]

Did'nt have no troubles, but also remember we used the plywood ramp as well, that migh be half the problem solved right there.

[Re:Winching Animals into Truck]

Just wondering if you had a winch, wouldn't it be easier on the truck to just winch the animal into a tree and then back under it? If there is any trees around that is. Just makes more sense to me.:smokin

[Dick284]

DMH:
Ever hunt moose in the farm country?
Sometimes trees big enough to hoist a moose are really scarce.

[Warrior]

Just digging this up from the past....

Anyone else have any other suggestions?

[catnthehat]

Here is my dilemma, I have a 3000lbs winch sitting in the garage. I want to be able to somehow mount it is such a way that it can sit in the front of the box to pull animals into the back of the truck. I don't want it bolted permanently, and hope to not have to drill any holes. I also want it so that if we go out with a different truck we can still take and use it in anyone's truck...

I seen the pole thing, but not sure that it will work with elk/moose

Any suggestions?????
My buddy ran a wiring harnes back inot the box, and built a fgrame that drops inot the stake pockets to mount his winch in.
he takes it off when not using it.
Cat