best cooler for quarters?
Elk
Tired of replacing my big igloo and coleman coolers every other year. Gonna bite the bullet and get two quality coolers to hold a full elk bone in quarters. What do you recommend? I'm guessing they will need to be 145 qt min?
How far are you hauling them? Trailer or??
You can get a lot cheaper and better than the yeti
I think WV Mountaineer has a line on some good deals. ;-)
Sorry, Justin.....had to before someone else did.
I have a RTIC and a nICE cooler. Both do great holding ice for days with minimal melting.
75 quart g2 nICE cooler is $250 online. I like it better than my RTIC frankly.
I love my Yetis but one was a gift and the other was basically new on Craigslist for half of retail. They are NOT worth retail price. I also have a couple of RTICs I like. They are about 65% price of Yetis but the same quality. The thing to remember when comparing is that Yeti measure outside dimensions and most other coolers measure inside. So Yetis hold less than other coolers even if both are 65 qt. They have a lot of competition today. Don’t know about other brands.
"You can get a lot cheaper and better than the yeti"
^....after watching the various cooler tests on YT over the last few years, I would tend to agree with that statement. I would point out the top end ones (including Yeti) WRT to keeping the ice the longest are all comparable plus/minus to a degree. To me...it then comes down to the functionality of the product you get to the dollars you spend on that product. By that measure...Yeti looses in a landslide. They have a great marketing dept and get a lot of exposure. IMO.....they are more of an outdoor fashion statement these days when comparing them to other compatible high-end coolers that have come on the market and are less expensive. I wouldn't turn one down if it was a good value, but I would never pay full price for one.
Buy a good igloo type cooler, drill holes in the underside of the lid, fill with great stuff foam. Replace plastic hinges with metal ones and the front latches. You can even cut some foam to line the inside walls and the bottom if you want more insulation. Pull them out when your done and rinse them off.
I also freeze water bottles and 1/2 gallon jugs for my ice. Ready when I need it and when it melts it stays in the bottle and now I have extra drinking water. Block ice melts a lot slower than loose ice does. My other method is to make sticks out of 2” pvc and freeze water inside of those. They are cut to fit my coolers. Rinse them off when done, place in a box and refreeze them for the next time.
I love my Yeti 125, but I agree that there are comparable coolers for less money. I just couldn't find any in stock when I was ready to purchase mine.
One thing to consider is the height of the cooler, if you run a tonneau cover on your pickup bed. My tonneau cover barely clears my Yeti 125. The RTIC 145 that I was hoping to find is an inch taller, and it wouldn't have allowed me to close my tonneau cover.
Matt
Also consider handle configuration. Many coolers (e.g. Cabela's) have handles that waste a LOT of space when you're trying to pack items into the bed of your truck...
Get one with a lock, had a quarter stolen out of one.
What is happening to you igloo and Coleman coolers that need replaced every couple years? I have the huge blue coleman and used this to replace the hinges and strap. It works great and they still work like new? I am betting the last one I bought was in 2008? Store indoors and haul them every where on all my hunts and off roads trips, moving, etc. https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Cooler-Hinge-Replacement-Kit/dp/B08ZL8YPBH/ref=sr_1_34_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=coleman+cooler+hinge+kit&qid=1631655018&sr=8-34-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEySDlRMzFYNlc5MTNFJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTY1ODc2MlpJVEQ5VzdSN0c0NiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTE5NDkxMTlYU0NMSzFNOFozSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX210ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
There are a few great coolers out there, Lost Creek from Sportsman's Warehouse, Grizzly's, Orca's to name a few. I have a Lost Creek 110 and still have my old Igloo 150 I bought new in 1996, both work great for hauling meat back home.
Not sure what your hauling in, but get a 7cu' freezer. if you can haul it. Bring meat home process it and freeze in freezer.
Grizzlies are amazing! I love mine!
Cordova Coolers are made in Idaho and have aluminum handles. The Excursion model is 128qt and will fit a whole quartered elk. I even fit an entire antelope in there…and I mean the whole gutted animal!
Why are you replacing them every other year? Damaged? or just trying to find a better one?
I've had no issues with my coleman 70qt for deer, holds ice well. For elk obviously bigger. Just remember you have to move it once filled. So wheels will be a good idea. And after 110qts they get big and unruly/more than a 1 man job.
Sometimes you have to put it in perspective. A "cheap" cooler today is light years better than a cooler 2 decades ago because the tech behind it has advanced so far. Do you really need a marginally colder/longer lasting cooler for $$$$ when a run of the mill one will still work. That's just my philosophy
The tests I have seen show cheap coolers keep ice basically the same as expensive ones, but the tests are flawed.
They start with coolers at outdoor temps, usually in summer, so let’s say 95 degrees. They fill them with ice and see which cooler keeps ice longer. That is flawed!
Why? Because the better insulation in Yetis, or similar coolers, melt more ice getting the insulation cold in the first day. The cheap coolers insulation gets cold faster
What I do is this: the day before I leave I bring them in from my garage into the house and put some ice packs in it. After 24 hours of pre-chilling. The Yetis of the world will outperform the cheap coolers.
But to answer the OPs question, my elk cooler is a Yeti 250 qt that I got on Craigslist for $450. Two 110 qts would probably also do it.
Even if you don’t want to completely debone, cutting the rear quarter at the knee/ stifle and the front at the elbow helps lower needed packing space a lot. You can cut those joints with just a pocket knife if you take your time.
My lil 5 x 8 huntrlr. It is just perfect for me
My lil 5 x 8 huntrlr. It is just perfect for me
I always have used 150 qrt coolers for my boned out elk meat.
I use them for packing gear on the travel to Elk camp and then for meat and cape & head on ice in another one coming home.
The Yeti's are too dang heavy for one man to handle full of meat, so I have always used like the Coleman type.
Good luck, Robb
Cool drain set up you have with your cooler and trailer, Robb.
Thanks man
It drains out any bloody melted water really nicely.
Even with my elk meat taken out of the game bags, cleaned up real good (hair & some dirt) and put in plastic bags on ice, there still seems to be some blood in the ice melt.....
Good luck, Robb
Just built this one for a truck bed. About 1100 quarts for about $200 worth of material.
Not sure why this didn't post yesterday......
A little blood/melt did leak so I'll rewrap with plumbers tape and go from there.
Good luck, Robb
A little bit more on the Pricey side but I'm from Arizona and our local Cooler seller is Canyon Coolers I use them for everything I would say getting two 125q coolers would do the trick.
Out big igloos do no fail, but we did put on metal latches. Rough use all summer on fish charters then, hunting season I doubt yours see the use ours do. I was given a Yeti, too small for hunting use, for me
2X butcherboy, except I replaced my hinges and latches with some made from old fire hose. Cheaper and bomb proof.
Whatever your cooler of choice, laying a sleeping bag or blanket over the top of the cooler(s) gives them an extra layer of insulation.
Buy once cry once,,,,,,,
Bought this same box except in white back in 2005.....good as the day I bought it, holds ice a week
what are you doing to them that you have to replace them so often, that might be the better question? I only use the 150qt blue igloo coolers. Have had them 5 years and still going strong. In good shape and hold ice for more than a week during hunting season. I use them through the summer and to hold boned elk meat during hunting season. I have no complaints. especially for the price
I bought one of the CaterGator's last year. I don't have much time with it, but it looks like it will hold up as much as the Yeti and IcyTek coolers I have.
Look up Blue Coolers. I have two and they will hold ice up to 10 days in the shade and much cheaper than the yeti
I have a few Yeti's (largest is 125 qt) and a marine grade Coleman, a 150 qt cooler that I bought several years ago. I reach for the marine grade Coleman about 95% of the time. The marine grade Coleman is much lighter than the 125 qt Yeti, has more insulation than the standard Coleman, and my model has metal hinges...the metal hinges are a big upgrade.
One of the biggest reasons is when someone steals it out of the back of my truck one day, I've saved (in losses) about $500 over the Yeti. I've had them side by side on extended elk hunts filled with ice and I see no meaningful difference.
Can't believe no one has said anything about the Lifetime coolers. I have bought 5 of them form myself and friends for my hunts. They have been great with the exception of the occasional broken lock lever.
Had one on my Wyoming hunt last year at 8500' that kept nearly all it's ice for a complete month in the shade next to my trailer. If you pack them with block ice then pack in cube ice to fill all the space it lasts forever.
This was from the 13th of sept and I filled it on the 26th of Aug. It got cooler from there and still had ice in it on Oct 1st.
Just my $0.02 !!!
Cheers, Pete
