Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Coolers?

No trailer option.

Sounds like a pair of 120 qt coolers each, maybe with a couple smaller coolers as well. Each is wishful thinking but at the very least they would be gear storage to and from.

Dry ice out there would be a very good thing. A layer of dry, then a layer of regular, meat, then more regular.

I don't think processing out there is in the plans. Just deboned meat packed out and transported home.

If we tag out the first day, we can jerk it all and drink beer the rest of the time....

We tag out on the first day, we'll find a processor out there, have it all worked up and frozen, go fishing and drink beer the rest of the time.

Don't bet on that, though, even with your vow to shoot the first one you see whether it still has milk on its lips or not.

Meat in the freezer, dry ice on top wrapped in newspaper. Fill any air space with wadded up newspaper. The dry ice will freeze the meat solid, and no need to drain water.

Ice and coolers can run a fairly wet condition for curing bone in meat. Tainting and spoiling some where the blood and water pools.

My dad did the homemade improvised method and made a two day trip work.
Before you load up. Covering the meat during the day and exposing it at night making the best out of a good night's chill is a good start.
Actually cooling the quarters by hanging in the coolest place you can find as soon as you can, within minutes of an early season kill is where the process starts.

Personally I would say the generator/freezer would be the gold ring. Even the event of a truck problem or scorching hot flatland weather and the goal is preserved!

My theory is take as many coolers as you can. Coolers make good multipurpose watertight boxes to store gear and clothes in. So you go home with one or two packed with smelly bloody clothes. Nothing worse than having to buy a cooler when you have then sitting in your garage at home.

Very good to know. Thanks!

My only reservation on freezing meat within a day or three of killing an elk is it won't be as tender as it would be if aged somewhat longer. Aging continues when kept meat is kept cool with regular, not dry, ice. (Saddlesore's comment that boning meat can make it tougher if done before rigor mortis is gone--which happens in 24 hours or less--is also pertinent.) Of course, a young animal doesn't benefit nearly as much from aging as an older animal, so it may not be a factor.

As far as KSalonek's contention that "wet" ice causes problems with spoilage, that is not my experience. Yeah, you don't want meat to swim in meltwater, but draining coolers once or twice as day prevents that. In fact, in warm weather my wife and I often age big game taken near home in big coolers using regular ice. In fact we did it with her last moose, taken a few years ago in mid-September when temperatures were in the 80's, and it worked fine. That's just one of many examples.

I suspect the main source of warnings about not getting game meat wet is due to creek and lake water, which is full of microorganisms. But commercial ice isn't.

JB,

Agreed. I've been "wet aging" venison (in a cooler with ice, draining water as necessary and adding more ice as necessary) for several years now.

Sounds like more coolers and lots of ice is the best recommendation.

I brought two cows home from Wyoming in 2 coolers, 1 a 120qt and 1 a 70qt. I'd think a 120qt/person would be more than enough room. Since you're spiking out, the bones should be staying on the hill. You'll have no problem IME/O in fitting a boned elk in a 120gt cooler with plenty of room for ice.

Not sure what kind of rig your driving out in, but 3 120qt coolers will take up plenty of space.

Newer model Toyota; Tundra I believe. The bed will be full of coolers.

Idon't have the long distance drive,but here is whatI do.

Prior to season, I freeze gallon bottles of water.Either boughtor washed out milk jugs.Usualy bought. Each cooler can hold eight with room to spare.

Once elk has cooled , I place in the coolers with jugs of ice around it.If no elk,I have 15 gallons of drinking water instead.

Those 8 jugs in each cooler will last a week in the September ML season and if one worries about having the meat touch water, it won't because the water is in the jugs.

BTW.NEVER carry dry ice in coolers in side a vehicle.

That sums it up for me. If you're camping away from the trailhead you can have the best of both worlds (leaving it on the bone for 24 hours but not carrying bones on your back) by just hanging the quarters in a shady spot overnight and boning them out the next day right before you put the meat in the pack for the trip out. A couple of heavy duty trash bags split lengthwise make a good clean place to lay the meat while you're working.

It can be tough to hang a hind quarter when you're solo. One way to do it is leave the leg whole and make a hole behind the tendon on the shank, tie a 1-2 ft. loop through the hole, break off dead limbs close to the trunk, and lift the quarter up and loop the rope over the stump of the limb:




I've never worried much about getting meat wet either. If you can store your gear so that you don't have to worry about a little drainage in the truck bed (plastic totes work great) you can leave the drain plug out and let the cooler drain as the ice melts. You just have a little blood to wash out with the hose when you're done.

I've also sunk quarters in a spring-fed creek to cool overnight in warm weather, and they were none the worse for the wear.

THANK YOU!

One thing about hanging quarters like that is, it doesn't account for the tenderloins. I've had some TLs that I filleted out right after the kill that were not as tender as they should have been. I've thought about packing a saw with a bone blade so I could leave those on the bone at least overnight, but never done it. I guess you could also leave them on a skinned and gutted carcass overnight if they were up off the ground, but that would leave them where varmints could get to them. Something to consider. Tough TLs are a big disappointment.

Obvioulsy Smokepole has killed a few elk and knows how oto take care of them.It would do a person good to heed his advice.

I'm crazy, not stupid.

smokepole (and you, saddlesore), and many others here have a ton of experience. Words of wisdom are well considered and advice is appreciated.

Thanks but it's more like I've eaten a few tough tenderloins.....

I've waited a while before chiming in on this to see what others have to say.

Others have mentioned that coolers work great as waterproof gear carriers that can be emptied to make room for meat. I've used this method on several out-of-state trips and it works fine. I use 100 quart Igloo coolers that I bought at Wal-Mart. They now cost $53. One of those will hold all the boned meat from a bull elk. Wal-Mart also sells 150 quart coolers made by Igloo and/or Coleman for $75. And that is big enough that you won't have to completely debone the meat. Avoid coolers with wheels because they make the cooler heavier and they take up room where you could put contents. Also avoid coolers that have little door in the top because the doors leak in the rain. I also take at least one 48 quart cooler to hold food and drinks.

Coolers are so inexpensive and work so good that I think the only reason to build a homemade cooler is because you just enjoy building things.

Putting meat in a plastic bag is a good method to enhance spoilage. The only time that I put meat in a plastic bag is when I'm packing it out in a backpack. I just use the plastic bag to keep my pack clean then remove the meat from the bag as soon as I've reached my destination.

Generally I put all the meat in game bags and hang it in the shade overnight, before boning it out.

I've only once had the luxury of freezing the meat before the trip home. The obvious advantage of this is that, as long as you keep the cooler closed, you don't have to add ice. On most trips, I have had to use ice. I keep the cooler drained and put in extra ice when necessary. I've driven from southern Texas, NE Wyoming and Southern Arizona, to Colorado Springs. No problems.

I've never used dry ice. I think saddlesore's comment about using dry ice inside of a car is spot on because the carbon dioxide slowly evaporates and you don't want that filling the closed vehicle compartment where you might breathe it in. Also I think the dry ice might burn any meat that came into direct contact with it. I have used frozen jugs of water and that works fine. I also use bag and/or block ice and that works OK too but it costs a little extra.

On one Alaska hunting trip, I deboned a caribou on outside cutting tables, when ambient air temperature was about 30°F, put the meat in a 100 quart cooler and then carried it home on the airlines as checked baggage, no ice. I flew home on the same day and the meat was fine when I arrived.

KC

A buddy and I built a cooler in 2011 in the event we both tagged out. Neither did. Took it to MT last year and I was lucky enough to kill a small bull. Boned it out and froze it the following day. Put that in the built cooler a few days later for the trip home (2 days). It was still solid when we arrived. In retrospect, if we had thought it out and broke down the large bags of meat, it would've fit in the (2) 120qt coolers we took along (really optimistic ). Add some dry ice and duct tape the seams.
Only taking the bought coolers this year.