Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Use Tarps/Alaska Fish and Game..This is from the Alaska Fish and game

It totally surprises me that the word tarp amuzes some inexperienced hunters here...I love tarps and they work good to keep game out of the sun in warm weather....

This is from the Alaska Fish and Game on keeping meat in warm weather..Note the "Bring enough Tarps".....




I mean,really?..Some of you guys are amuzing some times.....

I'm proud to be a "Tarper" as Alaska fish and game recommends.....

Jayco

Well when you hunt in an area that is basically treeless how else can you create shade?

Tarps also make a decent sled for dragging out a critter on snow. As long as the snow is not too soft anyway.

Anyone that wants to get deep into the meat care process needs to head over to pristine ventures website and check out Larry Bartlet's information. It might be too "sciencey" for some folks.

I agree totally.I just ran accross the Alaska Fish and Game site about taking care of meat in warm weather and saw the tarp reasoning and just had t post it for the non-believers....

I have had to do this many times also,especially bow hunting in September's warm weather.....I HAVE HEARD SO MANY SAY NEVER DO THIS but I have been doing it for years and never lost any game doing it.



Jayco

Another good reason to cover meat with a tarp is to keep birds away from the meat.

KC

Taking care of boned out meat is a pain in the azz in warm weather..I try to keep it atleast quartered,bone in or halfed ,if applicable.I sometimes split the hams to the bone and peel it back so the bone itself gets cooled down good at night acting like a miniature cooler during the day,within.

Using a cooler and boned out meat is a pain in the azz,you have to have alot of large coolers and alot of ice needing to refill every couple days but then dry ice,without being a rocket scientist can do more harm than good.

Portable/small freezers are good with a drain plug and a generator if you have a thermometer to regulate the temps inside and pay attention.

I just prefer to do it the old way without having to haul an extra trailer full of crap just to take care of meat,and I have...

Tarps/creeks and sleeping bags work wonders when it get's cold at night and hot in the day.Take the Tarp/Sleeping bags off after it cools down n the evening then wrap it up before you head out in the morning,and let the meat cool really good right down to the bone(Sliced and pulled back)......

Never lost anything doing it this way with temps rising into the 80's in the day and below 40 at night.....

Jayco

If you leave an elk in the field with the hide on overnight, even at 40F, the next morning it will still be quite warm under the hide. That hair is a fantastic insulator. I've made that mistake before although I've never lost any meat by doing it. The hair enables an elk to stay warm at -40 so it's not going to cool much at +40. To get the meat cool, skinning is much more important than gutting as it exposes a lot more meat to the air.

Back to the tarp - at the high altitudes of the west, it can be quite warm in the sun but quite cool in the shade. A tarp blocks the direct sun and the thin, dry air of the Rockies will be much cooler than you might think. I suggest using sticks or something to keep the tarp off the meat and let the air move under it for the best cooling.

If I recall the former posts correctly, it was not the tarps that amused the others but you. miles

In the old days we used Military Pauncho's to block the game from the sun and heat,and wrapping the game in sleeping bags during the day heat,when needed.Sheets made into game bags was the choice to cover rather than the thin nylon/panty hose type bags they went to that doesn't bother the Rocky Mountain horse and deer fly much in getting to the meat.

If the rascles can bite right through a pair of levi's and put the hurt to a guy,I don't have much faith in those stretchy/thin panty hose game bags they have out now and even back then.

Wrapping meat in sleeping bags and covered with a tarp in the day time after a night naked cooling down,has been the way I've done it for 50 some years without ever losing any meat.

Had a sale at the local Kings store here for sleeping bags for $9 and we bought a bunch of them,like tarps,they have many uses.

Jayco

I think that you missed the point, again. miles

Hanging meat over a creek or any running water is good

The main thing I've found is to get them taken apart. Several times in the past few years we've had to leave parts hide-side up laying on brush. The hide kept the birds off and the cool overnight temps cooled the meat through the exposed side underneath.

First time I did this I was afraid I would lose meat. None lost so far.

last year during the early part of our Wyoming season, it was very warm. We put the meat on an upturned root near the edge of a small stream and covered it with a tarp. We tried to keep an airspace between the tarp and the meat. It worked well she stayed on the root for 6 days and was ready to cut and wrap when we came home, with the second cow on the last day of our hunt.

So keeping meat in coolers on ice is a pain in the ass, but this is not?

Well Ya,especially when the nearest ice is 75-100 miles away and it get's into the 80's(unexpectibly) in the daytime.That is a pain in the azz.

Jayco

That's why I bring ice with me. Never had a problem with it.

So do we,but ice doesn't last long at 80 degree temps even if you go to the extreme with burlap and in a creek,ice will last 3-5 days at most in blocks in an extreme cooler.Use chopped ice and it is much less...

And how many coolers with ice for Elk and deer so the others in camp can keep hunting to fill there tags?What some do is drive back to town and hang it in a walk-in at a daily cost plus gas.No thanks...

If I new it was going to be hot,I would take my smaller freezer and keep it cool but when it gets down to 40 or below,using tarps and sleeping bags in the day and unwrapped at night,works just fine.

How many coolers does it take for you to take care of just one Elk,not counting Deer/Bear or anything else you might get on the hunt?Then you have to bone it all out which I prefer not to do if at all possible on an extended stay.

Jayco

Like I said jayco, I've been doing it this way for years and it's never been a problem. I hunt out of a backpack so I bone out the animals before I haul the meat out to the truck and it takes one large cooler for an elk. I bring two, with block ice and frozen 1-gallon water jugs and I can keep ice longer than 5 days, I park the truck in the shade at 10,000 feet and it's not a problem.

Much less of a problem than screwing around using my sleeping bag as a meat cooler and a bunch of tarps. Seems like you'd have to be in camp a lot during the day to fool with that stuff, and camp is not where I like to spend my days. And I'm not putting a bunch of bloody meat in my sleeping bag.

Bloody meat is good for you,it turns on women!

Your post was my point,not everyone hunts the same/takes care of there game the same nor bone out there game or bone it the same.....As the quote I posted from Alaska Fish and Game said for being back in,bring lots of rope and tarps to protect your meat in warm weather.

I go way back in with my truck/camper used as a base camp and hunt from there.With all the closed logging roads around here,there is no lack of access to some great hunting....

Lately,the guys packed way back in either on foot or horseback,are far less successful than those hunting known spots not to far from access,thanks to Mr Woof.

10,000 feet....Sounds like oxygen starvation to the noggin for flatlanders like me.8,000 feet is to high for game around here..5-6 seems ideal...Another example of different hunting meens in different States....

All packed up right now to leave untill hunting season then BAM....My house heat pump blew up...No Heat/No Air and burnt wires, I hope it isn't Turkey burgers for the winter.

I'll throw a tarp over it for now.

Jayco

Two big coolers with ice is all I need in the back of my Jeep. What I can't fit in the coolers gets blasted with the AC on the way home. It gets cold enough to freeze your balls off.

Cover 'em with a tarp.