Overview
If you don’t plan to quarter up your game in the field, loading larger animals into your vehicle, especially by yourself, can be difficult. As long as you have a receiver hitch on your vehicle, the Kill Shot Deer Hoist 500-pound capacity game hoist is an excellent option for hanging and loading game in the field.
We bought this to use at our property, where most areas are accessible either by truck or UTV, and it has made loading larger animals a breeze for us. My father (71 years old) especially likes this as he still likes to go hunt by himself from time to time, making it possible for him to load larger game solo.
Be sure to check out the video review!Key Product Feautres
Kill Shot Deer Hoist
$169.99- 500 lb capacity multidirectional winch
- Drop down support foot to relieve pressure from the receiver hitch
- Extended receiver bar to allow for the tailgate to be down while in use
- 360-degree swivel allows for loading into the bed of the truck or UTV
What we liked about Kill Shot Deer Hoist:
I have owned game hoists like this before that were very basic models, and the added features on this hoist make a noticeable difference for ease of use. The drop-down “foot” stabilizer takes a lot of pressure off your receiver hitch, and the 360-degree swivel makes it much easier to load game into the bed of your vehicle.
It sounds basic, but the handle in the middle of this hoist is positioned to balance the weight of this hoist when carrying it and makes carrying it around and setting it up much easier. I was able to load a 300lb+ Simitar Horned Oryx into the back of my truck alone with this winch with no problems, and I would have struggled to get that animal loaded without this winch.
Who we think will like this product:
This product appeals to the hunter who can drive a UTV or truck up to their game and wants to make loading game (even by themselves) much more manageable. This product is excellent for all hunters, but for that older hunter that may not want to, or be able to, load game by hand into their vehicle.
Pro tips:
For larger animals that are more difficult to field dress on the ground, you can use this winch to hang them up and field dress the animal vertically before loading them into your vehicle. You can also use this hoist to completely skin and quarter your animal vertically if you don’t have another setup to hang them on.
If you aren’t driving too far with your game, carry some ratchet straps to secure the head to the handle or bed of your vehicle to prevent it from swinging too much, and you can drive with your animal just hanging on the hoist.
Pros
- Heavy-duty and well-built steel construction
- Lots of added features like 360-degree swivel and support brace “foot”
- 500 lb winch can handle most North American game
Cons
- The winch can cause the wire cable to bind up when cranking under pressure, and you may have to guide the wire by hand to keep it from binding up
Video Reviews
Nick Zinsmeyer
Nick is a lifelong Texan and hunter of native big game, exotic animals, predators, waterfowl, migrator birds, and fur-bearing animals. Nick is an expert in hunting with several legal means, including archery, black powder/muzzleloader rifles, and long-range rifles.
He has hunted in several states across the United States, both on private and public land. He spends most of his time hunting all over Texas, including several years in the storied South Texas Brush Country, Central Texas Hill Country, and West Texas. In addition to hunting across the country, Nick runs wildlife management programs on multiple ranches in Texas, focusing on conservation and quality deer management.
Nick was published in Texas Trophy Hunters magazine in 2020, where he told his story of harvesting a trophy whitetail from a public land drawn hunt, and again in 2022 for a DIY Elk hunt in Arizona where he harvested a 358 net-inch bull.
