Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Getting the meat home?

JMR40,

Have driven all over the Lower 48 to hunt from Montana and brought back game meat from as far as Florida, New York and southern California. Have also brought meat back on both planes and pickups from Alaska, Canada, Mexico and even Argentina, often in pretty warm weather. All of the techniques listed so far will work, but the biggie is to get the meat thoroughly cooled BEFORE putting it in whatever reasonably insulated container you use, then not allowing it to get much warmer.

I have put elk and moose quarters meat inside waxed cardboard boxes with a cheap sleeping bag across the top during the 2-1/2 day drive from northern British Columbia in mid-September. I kept checking the ice in the boxes and when it got low, replenished it. (The water leaked out of the bottom of the boxes and then the bed of my pickup as well.) Worked fine.

The heavy cardboard boxes were from a trip to Alaska in early September, where the boned, cooled meat from a moose and caribou was flown from camp to Dillingham to Seattle to Montana. It was still cool upon arrival, and I dumped ice in the coolers to keep it cool in 80-degree temperatures until butchering a day or so later.

The big deal, again, is to cool the meat down thoroughly before heading home. If that's done, a little ice and common sense will result in great eating even after several days of travel, whether you use coolers, boxes or whatever.

We have good access to ice on demand so this may not work for everyone. We use XL, 10Gal sized Ziplock bags that aren't "treated" like garbage bags are. Bone out the carcass, layer of ice in the bottom of the coolers, bagged meat (top of bag open, not sealed) goes in on top of the ice, layer some more ice in wherever it'll fit, then prop the lid open a bit to let heat escape, drain cooler 1x-2x/day, add ice as necessary while we're on our hunting trip. At the beginning of our trip home we'll empty the coolers of water, seal the bags, then pack in as much ice as they'll hold, shut the coolers, usually tape the lid down so they can't bounce open.

I've been using the same 120qt Igloo since '02, however as I stated earlier, I have good access to ice, a place to let the meat cool without worrying about critters getting at it, and a 12-15hr ride home depending upon how many gunshop stops we make.

Here are the bags I use for meat to keep the water off:

10Gal Ziplock

Many hunters have come to Wyoming to hunt elk , antelope and deer and what a lot do is to buy a small chest freezer and a small generator and set them in their truck bed. When an elk is 100% boned out it takes a lot less space then you might think. They cut and wrap the meat here, put in in a freezer with an extension cord and plug it in. In 1 day it's all frozen. You then only need to run the generator for 10-20 minutes a day to keep the meat frozen, and you can do it for weeks.

I had some friends from South Carolina who killed a moose on the Kenai in Alaska, froze their meat, then drove to Montana and killed an elk, froze it too, and then took 4 days from there to drive back to South Carolina sight seeing, and all was perfect when they got back to Myrtle Beach.

I learned the trick in Alaska from them and now I recommend it to those coming here too. A small chest freezer can be had for under $200 and the smallest generators cost only about $150. Well worth the investment if you intend to hunt out of state very much.

hang it for a few, buy a case of water bottles and freeze them, pack the frozen water bottles around the meat in a good cooler, duct tape the seem around the lid, good to go
or go buy a small freezer that fits in the back of your pickup and a small generator, when you stop for gas fill up both

We hauled 2 moose 1500Mi + 1 overnight stay to home from Alberta using the generator/freezer trick. Meat was just crystalizing when we got home, made it easy to separate muscle groups as well as remove facia.

You can put ice blocks in a cooler or two, put a sheet of plastic over that, lay the quarters/pieces on there, lids open as needed, and cover the works with sleeping bags. Slick. Sleeping bags over coolers is always a good thing.


Gotta be boned out to/from some states nowadays, right? CWD rules.