Posted: 7/23/2013 11:31:48 AM EDT
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Going hunting this fall, Last week of September first week of October, and between the 4 of us we have 4 buck deer tags and 3 cow elk tags. We are truck camping in weather that can range from freezing at night to 80's during the day. Last year it rained for 3 out of the 5 days we hunted with temps in the low 60's. This year we are going to stay the whole 9 day season so I am looking for idea's or options for keeping any meat we might acquire in good shape. I have no problems quartering and butchering game animals and have enough meat bags to get the job done but what I am really concerned about is taking an animal the first day and having to deal with temps in the 80's.
If its freezing at night I figure that the meat will be fine hanging on a shady meat pole during the day. If its not freezing at night and the day temps are getting up there my plan is to cut the meat off the bone, seal in zip lock or garbage bags and cover with ice in a cooler. Any suggestions or opinions? |
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If its freezing at night I figure that the meat will be fine hanging on a shady meat pole during the day. If its not freezing at night and the day temps are getting up there my plan is to cut the meat off the bone, seal in zip lock or garbage bags and cover with ice in a cooler. Any suggestions or opinions? That's about all you can do. |
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You can build a very efficient cooler using 2" Styrofoam insulation board covered with plywood on the outside.These work very well,especially of you can find dry ice to put in them.I've used them in Wyoming with good results.
Many game processors will have dry ice and some Walmart stores even sell it now. |
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You can build a very efficient cooler using 2" Styrofoam insulation board covered with plywood on the outside.These work very well,especially of you can find dry ice to put in them.I've used them in Wyoming with good results. Many game processors will have dry ice and some Walmart stores even sell it now. That's not a bad idea, and broken down would store easy. OP, you are correct, all depends on the weather. Are you going to be close enough to the high country to find a meat cache location at a cooler altitude? We did that once when the temps were pushing high 70s in camp. Found a spot in a stand of pines that was 20 degrees cooler than the camp meat pole. Just hang it high enough to keep the scavengers hungry. |
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That's not a bad idea, and [violet]broken down would store easy.[/violet] OP, you are correct, all depends on the weather. Are you going to be close enough to the high country to find a meat cache location at a cooler altitude? We did that once when the temps were pushing high 70s in camp. Found a spot in a stand of pines that was 20 degrees cooler than the camp meat pole. Just hang it high enough to keep the scavengers hungry. Quoted:
Quoted:
You can build a very efficient cooler using 2" Styrofoam insulation board covered with plywood on the outside.These work very well,especially of you can find dry ice to put in them.I've used them in Wyoming with good results. Many game processors will have dry ice and some Walmart stores even sell it now. That's not a bad idea, and [violet]broken down would store easy.[/violet] OP, you are correct, all depends on the weather. Are you going to be close enough to the high country to find a meat cache location at a cooler altitude? We did that once when the temps were pushing high 70s in camp. Found a spot in a stand of pines that was 20 degrees cooler than the camp meat pole. Just hang it high enough to keep the scavengers hungry. On the way out we used the cooler box to store non- perishable food,clothing,rain gear,tarps,etc. |
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That's not a bad idea, and broken down would store easy. OP, you are correct, all depends on the weather. Are you going to be close enough to the high country to find a meat cache location at a cooler altitude? We did that once when the temps were pushing high 70s in camp. Found a spot in a stand of pines that was 20 degrees cooler than the camp meat pole. Just hang it high enough to keep the scavengers hungry. Quoted:
Quoted:
You can build a very efficient cooler using 2" Styrofoam insulation board covered with plywood on the outside.These work very well,especially of you can find dry ice to put in them.I've used them in Wyoming with good results. Many game processors will have dry ice and some Walmart stores even sell it now. That's not a bad idea, and broken down would store easy. OP, you are correct, all depends on the weather. Are you going to be close enough to the high country to find a meat cache location at a cooler altitude? We did that once when the temps were pushing high 70s in camp. Found a spot in a stand of pines that was 20 degrees cooler than the camp meat pole. Just hang it high enough to keep the scavengers hungry. No to go any higher would require packing the meat up the mountain. I was thinking about building a box to put a cooler inside as an extra layer of insulation. Some of my planning this is for next year when we are planning on going to Wyoming for 2 weeks chasing Antelope in September which will probably be a hot one. How long will dry ice last in a cooler packed with paper as insulation and the lid taped down? I know it will vary with the temps but wondering if I could get a week or better? A local grocery store sells dry ice so I could take some with me. Will have to check and see if the local community close to our hunting area sells it. A freezer hooked to a generator would work great but I would have to buy a smaller freezer and probably a bigger trailer to haul it and the rest of my gear. When chasing hookers in Canada we used a small chest freezer we had in an enclosed trailer to keep the birds, we stayed in a campground so we had power which made it easier. |
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Another thing to consider is packing in dry ice and shipping out to someone you know can take care of it. (Figure a trip to Walmart for a cooler and packing tape, UPS or FedEx terminal)
Frankly this one reason people pay guides because they have this meat issue well worked out. |
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I second the taking it home to process and hang or freeze. When I lived in UT I hunted the in the Unitah mountains and lived in the Provo area. It was a little over an hour and a half once you hit asphalt. I took my elk down to the house and dropped it in the deep freeze and returned back to camp. My friend who didn't want to fuss with going home kept his in coolers and lost some of the meat due to spoilage.
When you add up the costs related to hunting( all the money spent scouting, tags, food, and everything else) a tank of gas isn't that expensive. Losing meat isn't worth it to me. |
Wrong thread? |
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You can build a very efficient cooler using 2" Styrofoam insulation board covered with plywood on the outside.These work very well,especially of you can find dry ice to put in them.I've used them in Wyoming with good results. Many game processors will have dry ice and some Walmart stores even sell it now. THIS! I don't even cover it with plywood. Ends are a simple frame of 2" X 3"s, with 3" wide strips of scrap plywood 4',5' 8' long (how ever big you want your cooler) (Hauled up to a moose home that way) Lays flat until needed, then simply screw it together in a couple minutes. Have used LOTSo fbagged ice if we can't find dry ice, or we haul out HUGE homemade blocks of ice with us. Also, if you can pull a trailer where your are headed, chest freezer ,and gen, and/or extension cords if hitting a motel, etc |
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Ok thread is a month old but the hunt is getting close and I am revisiting my meat storage. I am thinking about picking up a used freezer and taking my genny. We decided that we would have to pull two trailers anyway to get our gear and ATV's up the mountain so we have some room.
So say I shoot a fat cow elk the first day of the 8 day season would I be able to put the quarters in the freezer and be alright for the next 8 or 9 days? Would I want to keep the quarters frozen or just about frozen? Should the meat be wrapped to protect from freezer burn right off? I figured I would clean up the quarters, wrap in meat bags, let them hang over night if its cool so they dry a little then throw the quarters in the meat bags in the freezer. I also figure that if I keep the freezer in the shade and cover it with an old sleeping bag that I would probably only have to run the genny a couple times a day for a short time to keep the freezer cold. What do you guys think? Thanks for the help. |
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I used to go Elk hunting in Craig Colorado and we were camping and hunting. When ever someone got one down, the group pitched in and packed it out. The shooter drove it down the mountain to one of the meat processors in the area that butchered and froze it The time I got mine, it was on the last night of the hunt. Quarter and packed it out to the spike camp that night. This was the 1st week of September for Archery. The next morning down to town, bought a cooler and dry ice and packed it up. Took it to the airport on Friday morning and flew back to Virginia and butcher Friday night. The meat was excellent.
The real issue is the flies, game bags and pepper only do so much, so while the meat may not spoil the flies will ruin it in a day if you don't get it in to a controlled environment. |
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Ok thread is a month old but the hunt is getting close and I am revisiting my meat storage. I am thinking about picking up a used freezer and taking my genny. We decided that we would have to pull two trailers anyway to get our gear and ATV's up the mountain so we have some room. So say I shoot a fat cow elk the first day of the 8 day season would I be able to put the quarters in the freezer and be alright for the next 8 or 9 days? Would I want to keep the quarters frozen or just about frozen? Should the meat be wrapped to protect from freezer burn right off? I figured I would clean up the quarters, wrap in meat bags, let them hang over night if its cool so they dry a little then throw the quarters in the meat bags in the freezer. I also figure that if I keep the freezer in the shade and cover it with an old sleeping bag that I would probably only have to run the genny a couple times a day for a short time to keep the freezer cold. What do you guys think? Thanks for the help. Probably the best idea yet since you have the room. |
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Ok thread is a month old but the hunt is getting close and I am revisiting my meat storage. I am thinking about picking up a used freezer and taking my genny. We decided that we would have to pull two trailers anyway to get our gear and ATV's up the mountain so we have some room. So say I shoot a fat cow elk the first day of the 8 day season would I be able to put the quarters in the freezer and be alright for the next 8 or 9 days? Would I want to keep the quarters frozen or just about frozen? Should the meat be wrapped to protect from freezer burn right off? I figured I would clean up the quarters, wrap in meat bags, let them hang over night if its cool so they dry a little then throw the quarters in the meat bags in the freezer. I also figure that if I keep the freezer in the shade and cover it with an old sleeping bag that I would probably only have to run the genny a couple times a day for a short time to keep the freezer cold. What do you guys think? Thanks for the help. 9 days? If you got a couple elk the first couple days and the weather was hot, you may have a tough time getting the meat cold enough and keeping it cold. Freezers aren't made for rough travel and I'd expect a high likelihood of compressor or condenser failure under those conditions. For the cost of the freezer, the cost of running the generator, the space it takes up, etc, the extra weight, the risk of the freezer failing etc., I think you'd be money ahead to just buck up and take your meat to a reputable meat processor in town and let him deal with it while you continue to enjoy your hunt with your buddies. You don't want to freeze the quarters whole and then try and process them into roasts and chops anyway. You'd have to spend a couple days or nights cutting, boning, trimming, wrapping and labeling packages before you freeze it. There goes a LOT of your precious hunting time if you have tags for multiple species, etc. Processing a horse-sized animal or six to that extent isn't quick or easy in a nice kitchen or butcher shop, and it's a lot tougher in the field with no running water, poor lighting, etc. |
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Buddy has a 13 CF freezer which is loaded in the trailer, my 5500 watt genny will go in on Saturday along with 5 20 pound bags of ice. Freezer is plugged in getting cold and will be left plugged in until we hit the road. If we get anything and use the freezer I will let you guys know how it turns out. If nothing else we will have plenty of cooler ice, if the freezer doesn't make the journey then we will have lots of water. Plan on putting quarters in the freezer, if we run out of room then we will bone out the meat and keep it in chunks until we get home.
I have not found a meat packer that will just let us hang the meat for a couple days and I will not let anyone else cut my meat. Just to many bad experiences. Before I let someone else cut my meat I will drive the 3 hours home and cut it up myself. The wife and I can cut and wrap up an elk in about 2 hours, throw the burger meat chunks in the freezer to be ground later then head back to the woods. |
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Quoted:
Buddy has a 13 CF freezer which is loaded in the trailer, my 5500 watt genny will go in on Saturday along with 5 20 pound bags of ice. Freezer is plugged in getting cold and will be left plugged in until we hit the road. If we get anything and use the freezer I will let you guys know how it turns out. If nothing else we will have plenty of cooler ice, if the freezer doesn't make the journey then we will have lots of water. Plan on putting quarters in the freezer, if we run out of room then we will bone out the meat and keep it in chunks until we get home. I have not found a meat packer that will just let us hang the meat for a couple days and I will not let anyone else cut my meat. Just to many bad experiences. Before I let someone else cut my meat I will drive the 3 hours home and cut it up myself. The wife and I can cut and wrap up an elk in about 2 hours, throw the burger meat chunks in the freezer to be ground later then head back to the woods. I just got back from scouting CO unit 62, ran into two different camps doing the same freezer/genset thing. They had no complaints, and freezers were full of boned quarters  . One camp had a remote thermometer sensor in theirs, they were trying to keep it from freezing and only ran the genny 1-3 hrs a day.
Good luck hunting |
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I just got back from scouting CO unit 62, ran into two different camps doing the same freezer/genset thing. They had no complaints, and freezers were full of boned quarters . One camp had a remote thermometer sensor in theirs, they were trying to keep it from freezing and only ran the genny 1-3 hrs a day.
Good luck hunting Quoted:
Quoted:
Buddy has a 13 CF freezer which is loaded in the trailer, my 5500 watt genny will go in on Saturday along with 5 20 pound bags of ice. Freezer is plugged in getting cold and will be left plugged in until we hit the road. If we get anything and use the freezer I will let you guys know how it turns out. If nothing else we will have plenty of cooler ice, if the freezer doesn't make the journey then we will have lots of water. Plan on putting quarters in the freezer, if we run out of room then we will bone out the meat and keep it in chunks until we get home. I have not found a meat packer that will just let us hang the meat for a couple days and I will not let anyone else cut my meat. Just to many bad experiences. Before I let someone else cut my meat I will drive the 3 hours home and cut it up myself. The wife and I can cut and wrap up an elk in about 2 hours, throw the burger meat chunks in the freezer to be ground later then head back to the woods. I just got back from scouting CO unit 62, ran into two different camps doing the same freezer/genset thing. They had no complaints, and freezers were full of boned quarters . One camp had a remote thermometer sensor in theirs, they were trying to keep it from freezing and only ran the genny 1-3 hrs a day.
Good luck hunting Interesting; sounds like I might want to rethink my reservations against the idea. I wonder if it might be worth looking into a used Schwann's ice cream truck to use as a hunting vehicle?! |