I normally carry a short stepladder in my pickup or my small extension ladder.
I do have a couple of other options that I have put to use. When a buck is a long ways from the road or to heavy to drag I normally hang it, and cut it in half or quarters. Sometimes if I shoot a deer just before dark I will hang it and come back early the next morning.
I carry a small pulley and about thirty feet of parachute cord in my daypack to use when hanging a deer in the woods. Admittedly it is still work.
I also carry a small backpacking double edge meat saw. The wife gave it to me 25-years ago and it is great. I think it would be handy for cutting limbs for a temporary shelter if need be.
How it worked this past season:
After killing my buck this year I gutted it, and hid it behind some brush. I then created a waypoint in my gps so I could find it later. I then hiked back to my pickup so that I could get it a little closer and for equipment.
A couple of key Items was a pulley similar to this setup:
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_20582?cmCat=CROSSSELL&cmid=PP_P2_1I fasten a length of parachute cord to a rock and tossed it over a high limb on a Pine tree. I then fasten one end of the cord to the eye on the pulley and with the rope in the pulley extend I pulled the top of the pulley up into the tree. I then went around the tree a couple of times so the tension of the deer's weight was not on the knot.
While the buck was still on the ground I split the pelvis using the saw blade on my Leatherman Knife. The saw blade on the knife was just right and did not put the bladder at risk.
The Gamble I have is similar to the one pictured, and I do not like it. When lifted a deer pull normally starts from the side and one or both legs come lose. I tie each one in place with parachute cord.
After skinning the deer out and sawing it in half I lowered it on to a blue tarp I grabbed back at the pickup. I bundled the deer in the tarp, and dragged it out to the pickup. At the pickup I opened a clean tarp in the bed along with a couple of deer bags. I then lifted each half on to the tarp in the pickup bed.
With the deer in the pickup my next worry was getting down the old washed out 4x4 road without damage. Two hours after hitting a main dirt road I was able to call the wife and tell her to get the jeep out of garage because I had a deer to put in it.
P.S. I did use the little step ladder. As I get older, and the beds of pickups get taller from the ground it is nice to have the little ladder to assist me getting in and out of the pickup bed. I can do it without, but I like easy in, easy out. I will use the step ladder when setting up camp. It allows me to fasten ropes high in trees for shelters over the kitchen and eating area. I also use it for putting up a game pole.