Where in SW Ok can one hire a paid deer-dragger?

A

AlongCameJones

Moderator
Golfers hire caddies for assitance on the course. Fishing party boats hire deck hands. Where and how can a non-guided deer hunter hire a sort of "caddy" for field assistance? Is there a special name for such a "deer caddy"?

The CADDY (unless there is a better term for this line of work) should be able to drag the deer from where it's down to the parked truck. I would also like a CADDY who can gut the animal and do it well. The quarry should be handled well by the worker to prevent contamination and ruining the meat. I don't want full-on guide or outfitter services, just some strong helping hands that can do the hard and dirty work after I squeeze the trigger. The meat processor can do the rest once the gutted deer is pulled off the truck. I don't like loafing or goofing off on the job. The CADDY, if you will, should have the work ethic of an Amish plowhorse and only charge a fair-market fee for good services rendered. I would like a flat rate for the whole hunting trip and not pay an hour-by-hour wage. What is a fair-market price for deer-dragging services to get one whitetail doe out of the field gutted?
 
You can find those folks at some of the high dollar high fence hunting ranches. Buy the package hunt and the help will be included.

The rest of the stuff you want is just nonsense.
 
dunno but........

I read an account where a guy had killed a bear in the NE somewhere, I think PA. He drove down to the nearest tavern and promised a case of beer to anybody who's help get the critter out.......worked like a charm. :)
 
I have never heard anyone ask the deer-dragger-for-hire question. But, that sort of ties in with a basic hunting rule of mine - never shoot anything too big to drag.

Last night I remarked to my wife that there was one more good thing about our living in Texas - that the deer were smaller than back in NE Louisiana, and I was able to easily drag the deer here. I’ve aged (74) and dragging a deer is a lot tougher than it was when I was young.

When the neighbor’s kid gets a year or two older and stronger, I think I have my future deer dragger close at hand, if needed.
 
AlongCameJones said:
Golfers hire caddies for assitance on the course. Fishing party boats hire deck hands. Where and how can a non-guided deer hunter hire a sort of "caddy" for field assistance? Is there a special name for such a "deer caddy"?

The CADDY (unless there is a better term for this line of work) should be able to drag the deer from where it's down to the parked truck. I would also like a CADDY who can gut the animal and do it well. The quarry should be handled well by the worker to prevent contamination and ruining the meat. I don't want full-on guide or outfitter services, just some strong helping hands that can do the hard and dirty work after I squeeze the trigger. The meat processor can do the rest once the gutted deer is pulled off the truck. I don't like loafing or goofing off on the job. The CADDY, if you will, should have the work ethic of an Amish plowhorse and only charge a fair-market fee for good services rendered. I would like a flat rate for the whole hunting trip and not pay an hour-by-hour wage. What is a fair-market price for deer-dragging services to get one whitetail doe out of the field gutted?
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$225 ,Kill or not, per 3 hour hunt would be about right.
 
For many years i hunted on Fort Sill. Few times i tired out from dragging a deer or hog. i walked to the nearest road and stood looking old and pitiful. Soon a couple strapping soldiers would come by and offer to help. i really did appreciate that.
 
Just go down to the Stop & Rob and get a "rent a wino". Done it several times when I've needed a low skill hand. Gotta do it early though.
 
Invite someone to go with
A long as they get to hunt, too

Let them know beforehand, you will need help dragging and know nothing about cleaning.

I will go with you, IF I got deer some, too. If I'm dragging and processing, I am keeping half.
 
Take a kid hunting, get a game cart, sled or even a tarp.

I think everyone wants to laugh but my dad has trouble walking in thick cover and dragging so I hunt 9 days of deer season with him but after that he's on his own. He ended up shooting a deer after I left and had to call my cousin to haul it out. She did the job and was happy he got a deer.
 
After dragging 6 deer yesterday, i'm looking for one or 2 in PA.!

And to think people pay lots of money to flip & drag old tires at a gym!

My butt should look like JayLo's after yesterday!
 
One reason I quit hunting large parcels of public land was the drag out. In my younger days, dragging a 140-170# deer 3/4s of a mile by myself, wasn't a big deal even if it took a good part of the day to do it. The came those days when I seldom hunted without one or both of the boys within shouting distance. When they and I both got older and that became the oddity and not the norm, I just quit going in so deep on those days I knew a cell phone call wouldn't bring them to help. Then I just quit going in so deep all together. Got so the deeper I went in, the bigger the buck had to be in order to take the shot. Shooting does got delegated to field edges and or relative closeness to the truck. I did the game carts and the tarps too, but neither works well in the swamps and bogs. Nowadays, I hunt private land where I can drive the SxS right up to the animal. If there is a drag, it's downhill. As ol' Inspector Harold Francis Callahan said, "a man's got to know his limitations".
 
"a man's got to know his limitations".

And plan accordingly...even before that critter's on the ground. The well-placed killing shot, proper field dressing, the extraction (your concern, mostly?), the hanging, skinning, butchering/processing/wrapping, then in the freezer, is all (to me) the whole experience in what hunting's all about, and how I learned it many years ago. Then, while you're eating that steak, you can remember/relive that day of the hunt and know you've done it right, and respected that animal properly.

I'm 70 years old this year, and just a couple of weeks ago, I killed a nice whitetail doe with my ol' Marlin 336, 30-30, with one shot. She ran about 25 yds., and when I got to her, she had already given up the ghost; exactly how I like it (oh, that it could be like that all the time...). I made the kill at the base of the Big Horn Mts., on a creek bottom just above my town and only had to drag her about 300 yds. Had to cross the creek, and up the bank to my vehicle, and was thankful when she was loaded up in "Ol' Blue," my old Durango. Had it checked for CWD, and she tested negative. So thankful on that, too.

So, ACJ, I would just suggest that you try to line up some field help beforehand (energetic youngster who's a hunter comes to mind) on a big game hunt you plan for. Also, be in on the whole processing job on a critter from kill site to freezer (learn to sharpen knives properly, too). All that you can experience on the whole big game hunting shebang will greatly enhance your own knowledge and appreciation of what it takes to be a good big game hunter. And don't forget to fill out that tag properly at the kill site, too...
 
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