Need some advice

[Jason4x4]

First off, I'm 31 years old but am relatively new to deer hunting. My father-in-law took me deer hunting for the first time in 2009. Last year (2010) I got my first buck. I live in Maryland but my in-laws live in western West Virginia. Anyway, so I went hunting with my father in law again this year in WV firearm season (i.e. last week). The weather didn't really cooperate and I wasn't able to kill a buck. Here in Maryland I believe the season started this past weekend and runs for the next couple of weekends, so I was thinking about getting my in-state MD license this week and going out to the state forest to hunt this weekend.

I have two problems with this:

1) I don't have a pickup truck - I have a Jeep Wrangler. When I hunt with my father-in-law we take his Dodge Ram so it's no problem - I'm referring to carrying a deer, I can fit my rifle and equipment in the Jeep with no problem.

2) The second problem is that even if we assume for the moment that I could figure out a good way to carry a deer, I live in an apartment so I can't exactly hang a deer up here at home.

Here's what I'm thinking and I want to know if it's a good idea or not.I don't have a hitch so I can't use one of those little basket trailers that attach to the hitch or anything like that. And even if I could carry the whole deer, like I said I can't exactly hang it up here at home. What I was thinking is, I could get one of those 4:1 pulley/gambrel lift systems and use that to hang the deer - I'm thinking throw a rope (for example I carry a 30' recovery strap in the Jeep that has loops on the end or I could get a strap with hooks on it or whatever) over a heavy tree branch with the other end hooked up to the Jeep and hook the pulleys to the strap and use the pulleys/gambrel to hang the deer there in the woods. I could then skin it and quarter it and fit the meat I intend to use into a cooler to transport home. I could then discard/bury the remains that I don't intend to use.

I really would like to try and get a deer but I'm having doubts as to whether or not this is a good idea. If someone has a better idea let me know, and any input would be appreciated.

[Nick Roehl]

Easiest thing you can do is quarter out the deer in the field. You can do this right on the ground and pack it out. This will save you money on the rope and bracket to hang the deer. Just throw it in a big cooler and clean up the quarters at home.