Tips & Tactics

Don’t Overlook the Hook!

Don’t Overlook the Hook!

By Vail Case

One simple and fairly inexpensive item has proven itself to be very useful in my hunting camp: a metal construction or towing hook.

You might have never considered a construction hook to be a hunting tool, but I’ve found the number of uses it has in the field to be surprising.

My buddies and I have used my hook numerous occasions to hoist game when a gambrel was not available. We simply tie the hook to a rope and toss the hook over a tree limb to create a makeshift skinning rack.

Even with larger game, such as elk, antelope and mule deer, the hook is strong enough to attach to a slit in the animal’s hock and lift a hind quarter off the ground far enough to skin or at least cool.

The hook comes in handy for other chores, such as yarding out logs for firewood or pulling a vehicle out of a ditch or snow bank. The possibilities are limitless for pulling things behind an ATV.

I like a 4-inch hook; it’s small enough to bring in a backpack and large enough to do most jobs.

Sometimes, I attach a length of construction chain to the hook for the bigger jobs, and the chain helps keep the hook-end of the rope from getting tangled when I throw a gambrel rope over brushy tree limbs.

Since I keep a necessities bag with extra knives, water, fire starter and other useful items, that’s where I keep my hook. The necessities bag usually stays in my vehicle, but sometimes it goes in my pack.

Here’s hoping you will be able to put your hook to use this fall, especially for hanging game!

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd