Abstract: A one man round hay bale lifter and transport device is disclosed for quick assembly and disassembly to a conventional trailer hitch mounted on a pick-up truck. The lifting and transport device includes an anchoring structure and a hay bale lifting and holding structure pivotally mounted on the anchoring structure. The rearward end of the anchoring structure includes a square tube for quick assembly with the square tube of the conventional trailer hitch. A ratchet binder is pivotally mounted on the anchoring structure at one end and on the hay bale lifting structure on the other end. By manually rotating the ratchet handle mounted on a threaded sleeve of the ratchet binder, the lifting structure is elevatable to a maximum angle of about 45.degree. with respect to the anchoring structure. A stop bar engages an edge of the anchoring structure to limit further elevation or lowering of the lifting structure.