A couple months after bagging my first black bear, my memory of the grueling task of dragging it out of the woods was still fresh in my mind… so when I found the Deer Dragger at the SHOT Show, I was instantly interested. Not long afterward, I became the proud owner of a Deer Dragger.
During the previous October, I had only managed to move the 263-pound beast by looping a strap around the bear’s neck and around my waist, then slogging forward until I couldn’t go any further. Meanwhile, the strap dug into my waist more with every step. I got the job done, but it was mighty tough — and I was certainly glad that my bear had not been bigger.
I could only go a short distance at a time, at which time I would catch my breath and have a drink of water, then go back for my pack and rifle and carry them ahead a ways… and repeat.
The Deer Dragger allows you to lift and pull with your upper body, using a simple but effective harness of three-inch-wide straps that goes over your shoulders, allowing you to pull a load — hands-free –from the top of your body. A pair of steel “buckles” (plastic-coated to reduce noise and corrosion) on the harness allow you to quickly attach it to the long (7’4″) drag strap, which is also three inches wide.
Each end of the drag strap has a series of three loops, so you can adjust the length of the strap. This is useful because if you make the strap too long, the animal can more easily become snagged on brush, deadfalls, rocks,…
