Why do anything to it especially add anymore weight?
I guess I did mod mine with adding a few tie down loops along the edge of the sled. Another mod might be a longer pull rope with some type of wider handle so the skinny rope doesn't dig into your hand as bad with enough extra length to be able to put the rope across the body for them long flat drags.

 

The grandson and I built a sled for winter backpack/camping. We used a small 2 kid sled as used by people going "sledding". The sled works great. The main thing that will give up problems is the traces. You can't just tie a rope to these things and pull them along. The traces must be ridgid and 6-8 feet long at a minimum. We used 1/2" PVC pipe and it works pretty good. I don't know what size Jet sled you have but a 4-5 foot sled loaded down is about all one man can handle. I personally think Jet sleds are too heavy (made to be pulled behind a machine) and you might want to consider an alternative or cut the thing way down. A low profile when packing is a must to keep the sled from overturning all the time. Good luck.

 

I purchased a Jet Sled with the intention of converting it to a pulk for my late season cow elk hunts I go on every year. Packing 70 pounds in knee deep snow is for the birds..

I know that one of the first things I buy for my next winter cow hunt will be a sled. Packing 70-80 lbs on my back in knee deep snow is no longer much fun (if it ever was). Age has caught up to me and said "No more!". Truth be told, in should have invested in one long ago.

 

Not a jet sled, but so easy a girl can do it

 

how well would a pulk sled work in climbing up and down hills, seems when I get animals down they are not on the flats, but late season elk are typically.

 

They suck. Going up your pulling dead weight with the added friction of the sled on the ground or snow. Coming down your either getting ran over by the dead weight or holding it back and not letting the sled run away from you.

If theirs enough snow to use a sled then a half of an elk will drag out just fine hair side down without a need for a sled with two handy handles on each end.

 

The only conversion I have made is to add a section of old hose that covers the rope handle making it much more comfortable to tow. Careful weight distribution will be helpful.

 

One of the worst drags I’ve ever done involved a sled. Damned thing was like dragging a bloody log through knee deep snow.

That’s not to say I haven’t had plenty game retrieval sessions that sucked without a sled as well.

Weight distribution is the key. Spread it out well and you should be okay.

 

Ok I have to admit I had to look up the defination of a pulk.

After running toboggans for 40 years on the ski patrol I will make the following recommendations.

If you are worried about controlling the decent of the sled a piece of chain can be draped side to side under the nose of the sled. You can attach a lanyard from the middle of the chain to your handle using an O ring sliding on the handle. This allows you to engage the chain when you want to and reduce the drag when appropriate. Make the chain long enough to drape it over the nose of the sled when you want no drag.

If you want to put the handles on a fulcrum so they fold back along the length when you are pulling it uphill which is easier you will want to make a way to fix the handles for the decent.

More ideas Google rescue toboggans.

I still have a sheet of heavy duty flexible plastic that has grommets along each side you can use to lash whatever you want to it and drag away. I don't remember who made it but it's much morecompact than a sled.

And I think the last elk we dragged out was on a cheap blue 10x10 tarp

 

Thanks KineKiller and Middlefork! That’s exactly what I was looking for! Now I’m googling yours, Middlefork 😂

 

I do a lot of ice fishing. Jet sleds work well for hauling equipment, but they are too flat on the bottom and there is too much friction. They do not pull easily. As someone else said, they work well behind a machine, but not behind a person. After you build one and try it, you will understand. If you put ski's on the bottom, then you have something that pulls nice and easy. The ice fishermen use a system sled they refer to as a "Smitty". Trust me, the difference in how they pull is like nite and day. You can go to Deseret Industries and pick up some used ski's for real cheap. Mount them on some 2x materials and go. Go to the Big fish tackle web site, visit the Utah fishing board and lookup the references to a "Smitty Sled". Well worth the effort, and yes, it doesn't matter if it is ice or snow, the Smitty will out perform the jet sled on either surface.

 

I just shoot them close to the road. Don't have to worry about dragging a think on any contraption.

 

The last cow that I shot a couple of years ago I just backed my truck up to her and loaded her whole. I was back home by 9am.

After doing my fair share of humping them out I came to the conclusion that there isn't a cow elk out there worth packing more than 100 yards to a road or wheeler trail.

 

MuddyDogs is spot on. When I have used a sled, I only pull it up the bottom of canyons and then drop it off once I get to the ridge I'm going to hunt. If I do shoot something up there, I'll move the meat down to the sled, and then pull it out from there. They work well on flatter ground but suck with any sort of topography. As has been said, sleds with as little friction as possible are best, but even a Jet sled on flat ground can be a relief from carrying too much weight on your back.

Some people say you can put a rope on front and back and have two people manhandle a sled downhill like that. I haven't done it myself, but I have seen it done, and my end assessment of that method is that it looks like more work than it's worth!

 

The only time I rember using a sled was helping packout pack out his moose. Dont know how he could have gotten a 1000 lbs of meat off that mountain any other way.

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I typically also try and shoot cow elk near a road. Imho not worth the effort anymore.

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Ice fishing sled works OK if we have snow... I had sled in the truck last November 16, but did me no good at all since we had no snow... I did it the old fashioned way... I earned it.