Cooler size for Mule Deer
General Topic
What size cooler would one suggest for boned out mule deer and cape? I will be driving from Wy to WI
125 qt should be more than adequate, if it's boned out.
Matt
Perfect I have a 150qt cooler.
You'll be able to fit ice blocks in your 150 qt cooler besides the meat and cape. I recommend using dry ice for long drives though - less risk of melting ice water getting all over your meat and cape.
I was going to hopefully put ice on the bottom, then layer over the top with plastic garbage bags and place meat and cape on top
Try this, place a layer of ice in the bottom of the cooler, add in a few pounds of dry ice, (dry ice will keep the ice from melting. Cover the ice and dry ice with a layer of cardboard, (no contact with the meat and hide.) Should keep all nice and cool of the return trip. Wisconsin may have a rule that a cape/hide, hide on skull, can not be brought into the state. I know some states have that restriction. The skull needs to be meat, hide, free, much like a Euro Mount skull if that is the rule.
DEER PARTS THAT MAY BE MOVED into or around Wisconsin If not brought to a licensed taxidermist or permitted meat processor within 72 hours after harvest, the following are the only parts from wild cervids legally-harvested in the CWD-affected counties [PDF] that may be transported beyond those counties or an adjacent county. These are the same parts that are allowed into Wisconsin from other states and provinces that have CWD.
Meat that is cut and wrapped (either commercially or privately). Quarters or other portions of meat to which no part of the spinal column is attached. Meat that has been deboned. Hides with no heads attached. Finished taxidermy heads. Antlers with no tissue attached. Clean skull plates with no lymphoid or brain tissue attached. Clean skulls with no lymphoid or brain tissue attached. Upper canine teeth (also known as buglers, whistlers or ivories). The department recommends not transporting whole deer carcasses to areas outside the county or adjacent county where the animal was harvested. Additional recommendations for practices to reduce and prevent the spread of CWD are found in the CWD Transmission Reduction Recommendations document [PDF].
Thank you for the ideas. I was pretty much going to have it fully taken care of by a processor in WY due to the CWD rules. Lol I almost typed covid rules.
My concern is if I shoot it late in the trip, I may have to donate all the meat and leave the head there to be mounted. As I will not have time to get it taken care of and back to WI as I have a very short window to get back due to work obligations.
You don’t have to donate the meat just cause you don’t have time to have it professionally processed.
Why would you donate the meat? The rules clearly state you can take quarters or deboned meat without spinal column attached...
"My concern is if I shoot it late in the trip, I may have to donate all the meat and leave the head there to be mounted. As I will not have time to get it taken care of and back to WI as I have a very short window to get back due to work obligations."
Am I the only one who is a bit disappointed by this comment?
Matt
I think what he is saying is that if he shoots it late in the trip he won’t have time for the meat to be processed in Wyoming by a butcher before he has to leave for Wisconsin.
I understood what he said, but I don't get why he couldn't have his processed meat shipped home, just like he'd have to get his mount shipped home, assuming he killed late in his hunt.
Matt
70qt coleman cooler fit a mule deer buck bone in, in quarters with room for a bit of ice. It was tight though With Cape I would look near 100qt
Thanks for the information appreciate the help.
It takes me about 2 hours to completely bone out a deer and throw it in a cooler. If you're getting the head mounted you can cut the skull plate, clean the brain tissue off and bring it home. There's no reason to leave anything behind. If you're bringing a skull home to do a euro mount you can clean the brain cavity out with a cordless drill and bent piece of wire and then dump boiling water in the brain cavity, rinse and repeat.
