I currently hunt whitetail, squirrel, and coyote very successfully less than 100-200 yards from my back door, depending on the stand/blind I sit. No vehicle technically necessary, but I’ve been thinking about getting a Ranger or Defender 1000 for property chores and food plot work. Owning some quality small acreage is the dream, and I’m living it.
Believe it or not, my economy sedan. The back seats fold down and I put my rifle and Eberlestock just one J34 pack there. 54 quart cooler in the trunk. I will skin and quarter in the field. Maybe even de-bone, too.
I hauled a rutty whitetail buck nearly 4 hours (field dressed, body cavity packed with ice) in my 2011 Ford Fusion a few years back. I went down to visit a college roommate for a weekend rut hunt when my own prospects weren’t looking so good at the properties I had access to. I intended to spend more time drinking beer than actually sitting in the stand, but underestimated my buddy’s commitment to hunting and lack of weakness to peer pressure. With no cooler to call my own, and my success being in the 11th hour before I had to be leaving for home anyways, I folded down the back seat, saran-wrapped my center console, tossed down a tarp in the back, and rode with the windows down.
The wife was none too pleased about the smell for the next week, but a quick detailing and some carpet deodorizer fixed it right up.