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Coolers

Hello all hope all is good and everyone is counting there days to elk hunting some where in the western mountains my training is on the last 30 days been pushing myself every night with heavy doses of cardiovascular workouts tons and TONS of packing up and dpwn stairs with 82 pounds we have a meat processor that will store our elk for $12 per day per elk till we head home were bringing a small enclosed trailer for all our gear and trip home so my question to everyone is how many big coolers should we bring along?????? There are 3 of us hunting so if we're successful we want enough cooler space

Two 125 QT coolers per elk.

Throw a small chest freezer in that trailer if you have room.

X2 Les!

ElkNut/Paul

For a regular hunt on my own, I usually throw in my two Coleman 120's and go. With a group or say if you want to haul a Bison, I throw in the "Redneck Yeti".

Depends. Are you going to have it butchered there or taking quarters home to do yourself. I have gotten an average butchered bull in a 150 qt plus a little cooler.

Slightly off topic, but has anyone ever had issues keeping dry ice in a cooler in their vehicle while out for a few days? As a kid, we used to put chunks of it in gatorade bottles and put the cap on and watch them explode..kind of makes me wonder about throwing a few pounds of it in a sealed cooler but I doubt a normal Coleman cooler is air tight enough to explode?

I used to put dry ice blocks in coolers when we camped in a wall tent. Never had any issues but the coolers were opened-closed several times a day.

You could pack a Yeti in the redneck Yeti! I like it!

I've packed an average size bull in a 150 qt. and a 48 qt. Now I use a 150 qt. and a 120 qt.

Before I leave home I pack the 150 qt. with as many frozen 1 gal. and 1/2 gal water jugs as I can fit in it and then pack all of the extra space with ice cubes as full as I can get it, close it up and wrap a ratchet strap around it. I pack other gear inside the 120 qt. When I get a bull I empty the gear out of the 120 and divide the ice jugs and boned out meat between the 2 coolers. I also have room for a cape if necessary. I have no problem keeping ice 2 weeks or more this way.

I never mess around with dry ice.

Downside to the "Redneck Yeti": It's not very "portable"...But yes, I have put coolers inside the cooler box.

You could buy one Yeti 250 for $900 or a similar size chest freezer for $300 :^)

As above, 2 big Colemans per elk. You probably know the odds of all three killing. Processing out here can be pricey but if you kill one early it might be worth getting a basic process done since with all the trim gone and the meat wrapped and frozen it packs and transports easy and clean..

Duct taping the lids shut and around the seam helps keep ice longer on regular coolers for long drives.

Our original thoughts were to bring my chest freezer but now that we have a storage place for our meat till the last day of season we now are planning on having just coolers in the trailer. We are just quartering in the field hanging it trees then putting each quarter in heavy duty industrial garbage bags and putting in water and hiking meat out to the truck from there straight to the meat locker stprage

I strongly advise against the plastic. Unless you are 1000% sure you have water to dunk your meat in, and who knows, the water may be 2mi the wrong direction. Use game bags and if the opportunity presents itself put the game bags in the contractor bags then dunk in the creek. Small price to pay to be prepared, large price to pay if you are not. IDK where you're hunting but meat doesn't last long in plastic when the air temp is warm.

Thanks for the heads up on the plastic bags we all have different game bags to try out this season

X10 ohiohunter...use game bags for sure. Only use plastic when ready to put in creek. If getting it out same day of kill I wouldn't bother with water cooling...

I'd recommend frozen milk jugs filled with water instead of ice, they take a lot longer to melt and they are sealed so your cooler doesn't fill with water. But you might need a bigger cooler.

I use my 150qt. Coleman cooler for 1 elk/boned off meat.

I simply spread one bag of ice on each layer of boned off meat I lay out in the cooler.

Good luck, Robb

I'm not sure where you'll be hunting but instead of buying a bunch of coolers I would wait until you get your bull/s and head to the nearest Walmart! There is a big difference in bulk of meat if you bone out your bulls. If you use ice, make sure to put some sort of layer (garbage bag?) between the ice and your meat and put the meat on top of the ice/garbage bags....if the ice melts and the cooler is full of ice you will have a mess! You may also want to leave the drain plug open so as the ice melts it leaves the cooler. If you bring home a cape it will likely take up a fairly large cooler. Frozen water jugs work super well but obviously if your hunt is long the ice may not last long. Look at the ratings on cooler labels...some are better than others. Game bags work well for meat and cape.

With the new CWD laws you have to fully bone out or process your meat prior to taking across state lines. Michigan already has there warning bill boards up on the highways. We use a small freezer.

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