It’s no secret that the best big-game hunting is often off the beaten path, but hunting in the boonies presents a special set of challenges. Primarily, hunters who venture into remote areas must devise a plan to retrieve a harvested animal without cleared paths or assistance. The solution? A well-designed game cart.
I couldn’t find a commercial game cart that met all of my needs, and eventually I settled on building my own from scratch. I set certain criteria before construction: The cart must be light enough to carry over downed logs and across creeks if the need arose; it had to break down easily and fit in the back of a small SUV; the wheels must provide sufficient ground clearance; and it had to be capable of hauling an entire field-dressed whitetail. And I didn’t want to pay more than $100 to build it.
You Will Need
- Three 1-inch-by-10-foot PVC pipes
- One ½-inch-by-10-foot PVC pipe
- Twelve 1-inch PVC T-connectors
- Six 1-inch PVC cross connectors
- Six 1-inch PVC plugs
- Six 1-inch PVC caps
- Six lock pins
- Two ¾-inch electrical conduit EMT (10 feet)
- One ½-inch electrical conduit EMT (10 feet)
- One ½-inch round bar stock (36 inches)
- One ⁵⁄₁₆-by-1-inch flat bar stock (36 inches)
- Two 15-inch cart wheels
- Two ¾-inch 90-degree EMT connectors
- Two ¾ EMT connectors
- PVC cement
- Spray paint
Instructions
- To make your own, start with the axle. Add the wheels to the ½-inch round bar stock with lock pins, then build out the framework of the cart using ¾-inch galvanized conduit fitted inside plastic PVC pipe.
- Use the three- and four-way PVC connectors to hold the sections in place.
- Attach the upper and lower PVC frameworks by running the bar-stock axle through pre-drilled holes on both sections.
- Fasten the upper and lower sections into position using bar-stock arms held in place with four lock pins.
- Spray-paint if desired, but don’t spray it so the pieces stick together—by removing the six lock pins, the cart can be folded almost completely flat.
- The cart carries a maximum load of about 200 pounds and weighs less than 33, and it cost $109 for the materials.