“Lift with your legs, not with your back,” I advised myself as I struggled to hoist a giant whitetail doe into the again of my Jeep Patriot. My fingers had been coated in blood and the disguise on the deer’s hind legs was slippery as I labored to get them off the bottom. Apparently I didn’t use sufficient “leg,” as a result of as I lifted I felt one thing pop in my again. Ignoring the truth that it out of the blue damage to face up straight, I reached as much as shut the again of the jeep solely to comprehend my work had been in useless—the door wouldn’t shut as a result of large hindquarters blocking the latch. Time to name in reinforcements.
That wasn’t the one hunt the place I ended up throwing my again out or pulling a muscle or two. If you’ve loaded many deer right into a automobile, you possibly can most likely say the identical. Eventually I made a decision I wanted a greater answer. For my birthday, I picked out a winch to put in within the mattress of my pickup truck. It was simply the most effective birthday items I’ve ever gotten, and value each penny.
The Badland winch from Harbor Freight is a 2,000-lb utility trailer winch with metal rope and a distant. Despite its compact design, it’s fairly highly effective and would haven’t any points pulling up even the most important whitetail in all of southern Ohio. If you’re seeking to drag one other automobile out of a ditch, this is probably not the selection for you, nevertheless it actually does the job in terms of massive recreation.
Badland 2000 Utility Trailer Winch
My husband was the brains and brawn behind the set up, so I can’t take credit score for that half. He additionally altered the set up a bit to make issues simpler for me.
The very first thing he did was set up a chunk of metal throughout the mattress of my pickup truck, proper up in opposition to the cab. He put it in place with bolts and secured the winch within the center. Harbor freight additionally sells a mounting plate individually, in case you don’t have spare metal laying round. This setup will even be straightforward to take away ought to I select to take it off after deer season.
The winch, together with the distant, must be linked to an ATV or automobile battery in an effort to run. Buying an costly separate battery didn’t seem to be one of the best answer. Instead, my husband purchased some longer wiring and ran it beneath my truck and up beneath the hood to attach on to my truck battery. If you do that, take note it’s best to have your automobile working when the winch is in use so that you just don’t kill your battery and find yourself stranded.
The distant plugs into the winch with the wiring linked to the battery. I preserve my distant unplugged and saved in a water-proof container within the cab of my truck to stop it from getting ruined or stolen. I additionally bought a canopy for the winch to guard it from the weather.
I lastly bought to place the winch to the take a look at in mid November. At 36 weeks pregnant, throughout a chilly and snowy mid morning hunt, I shot a doe. Conveniently I used to be capable of get the truck proper up subsequent to her so didn’t need to do any dragging. It solely took just a few seconds to hook up the distant, loop the cable across the deer’s neck, and haul her up into the mattress. It was extraordinarily satisfying to face by lazily and watch the useless weight being pulled effortlessly up over the tailgate.
I did find yourself having some tangles within the cable as a consequence of not working it forwards and backwards sufficient when it was spooling. However, I’m planning on changing the cable with artificial earlier than subsequent deer season, which shall be a bit simpler to spool in addition to much less more likely to tangle.
Out of all of the looking gear investments I’ve made through the years, the winch makes it to the highest of the listing.