How Do You Secure Your Coolers

Equipment

Contributors to this thread:

Jacob 21-Jun-20

TurboT 21-Jun-20

LKH 21-Jun-20

cnelk 21-Jun-20

Cheesehead Mike 21-Jun-20

Jacob 21-Jun-20

Cheesehead Mike 21-Jun-20

Jacob 21-Jun-20

txhunter58 22-Jun-20

Bou'bound 22-Jun-20

Rock 22-Jun-20

txhunter58 22-Jun-20

Jacob 22-Jun-20

Cheesehead Mike 22-Jun-20

wytex 22-Jun-20

Jacob 22-Jun-20

From: Jacob

21-Jun-20

Happy Fathers Day Fellas,

Just joined the site. Hope to be able to learn a lot from y'all and maybe even contribute a thing or two in the future.

This will be my first year hunting elk and I have a few questions about coolers.

What is y'alls set up (size, number of coolers, how much ice you put in, what kind of cooler)? And how long do y'all leave the coolers and have ice still in them when you come back? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I drive a Tacoma with a topper and will be hunting during first rifle for Colorado. I am planning on backpacking in for the whole 1st rifle season and setting up a base camp a few miles from the trail head. So, I would be leaving my coolers behind in my truck for about a week. How do you guys deal with securing the coolers to your vehicles? Is theft an issue?

Apologies if this issue has been hashed out before, I'm still learning the site functions.

Any info would be greatly apprecitiated.

Thanks again!

From: TurboT

21-Jun-20

I use as many frozen milk jugs as I can fit then I empty ice bags in all the free space. Deer are pretty small but I would bring several coolers as u can use them for storage on the return trip if neeeded. If u can pre chill the coolers it helps a ton. Thankfully I haven’t been robbed but it is getting more common. Might be able to use a bike lock to secure and detour thieves.

From: LKH

21-Jun-20

Each year for quite a while I wheel fished the Copper River. Was not unusual to put up 150-200 reds and kings over 3 days.

Here's what worked. 1. Get a hard styrofoam layer or 1/2" plywood under the coolers. Amazing how much heat comes up thru the bed.

2. Bring old quilts/sleeping bags, etc. to cover the coolers. Keep them as close to one another as possible.

3, Once you have the quilts on, cover the lot with a cheap tarp to stop all air flow. If you study thermodynamics you will learn that a rapidly moving air later will eat your ice.

4. park in the shade if possible. If not, at least try for afternoon shade.

5. If it works for you, put a plywood layer on top of the works. Hides contents from thieving yes.

From: cnelk

21-Jun-20

"Apologies if this issue has been hashed out before, I'm still learning the site functions."

Rule #1 - there is no Search Function here

From: cnelk

21-Jun-20

Here is my 6pt bull from last year. All 4 quarters with bone and loose meat. A few frozen milk jugs lasted 3-4 days until I brought him down to the processor

From: Cheesehead Mike

21-Jun-20

I have a 150 and a 120 qt cooler. I fill the 150 with gallon and half gallon juice jugs that I filled with water and froze. Like TurboT I fill all the voids with ice cubes until I can barely close it. Then I wrap a rachet strap around it to keep it closed.

I store extra gear in the 120.

When I kill an elk I divide the boned out meat and ice between the two coolers. I've kept ice for at least 3 weeks in the 150 qt cooler.

I also bring a 48 qt cooler for food and drinks.

From: Jacob

21-Jun-20

Awesome guys. Thanks for the info. How big of coolers are y’all using? I have a 75 qt and would like to know how much more room I’ll need.

From: Cheesehead Mike

21-Jun-20

See my post above.

You're going to need a minimum of about 250 qts of storage for meat and ice.

From: Jacob

21-Jun-20

Thanks, sorry didn’t see your post when I sent mine.

From: txhunter58

22-Jun-20

In my experience 2 coolers in the 100-120 qt size will be plenty. You can just add a 120 qt and with your 75 you should have enough room

From: Bou'bound

22-Jun-20

How much more life will you get out of your set up if you use Yeti coolers?

From: Rock

22-Jun-20

Rock's Link

Like has been mentioned above keep your coolers covered, I use moving blankets to cover my 2 150 qt coolers. One cooler is just frozen jugs with cubes to fill the voids, the other is frozen jugs with water and other drinks I want to keep cold along with any food that needs to be kept cold.

I do this on my Antelope hunts and still have plenty of Ice when I get home after a week or two hunting on the hot Wyoming desert with no shade while setting in the bed of my truck inside the topper.

Another thing I have done is shown in the attached link. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=poor+mans+yeti+coolers&docid=608026987878942873&mid=868E80C6166611CF690B868E80C6166611CF690B&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

From: txhunter58

22-Jun-20

In my experience 2 coolers in the 100-120 qt size will be plenty. You can just add a 120 qt and with your 75 you should have enough room

From: Jacob

22-Jun-20

Thanks for all the info fellas. Are y’all securing the coolers to the truck? If so, what method are y’all using?

From: Cheesehead Mike

22-Jun-20

From: Cheesehead Mike

22-Jun-20

I'd rather have too much room than not enough. A little extra ice is good peace of mind when you have a long drive. Keep in mind that you might also need room for a cape.

From: wytex

22-Jun-20

Yep, how will you get an elk rack home ? A topper rack would help tremendously.

From: Jacob

22-Jun-20

Yeah, I will have a Thule rack on my topper. Would y’all just tie it down on that?

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