Freezing meat for travel
Elk
What do you guys do to keep your elk meat from spoiling when hunting out of state? I’ve thought of trying to run a small chest freezer with an inverter but I’m not sure if my car alternator can keep up.
Generator with a small chest freezer that fits in the back of your pickup works. At least that's what I see all the West Virginia guys do when I'm travelling the interstate back from not getting my elk.
I’ve seen people do that and also have it processed at location and froze for travel…Or just transport home in Coolers…I had one proceeded, only because I knew I was going to be there longer visiting friends in WY…Others, I’ve just brought him in Coolers or under tarp and sleeping bags with DryIce in the corners…All have worked for me!
Yeah, I will do my own butchering. I’m wondering about cutting the meat up/packaging in the field and then paying for freezer space for a night and then dry ice in coolers for the trip.
Chill in meat locker then pack 100 qt coolers full with ice or a little dry ice for return trip. Never had a problem even a 24 hour trip.
I have about a 10cu.ft. chest freezer that I put in the back of my pick up.I pre- freeze a bunch of 1 gal plastic milk jugs, and fill the freezer with them. They will stay frozen for several days. ( If staying somewhere at night that I can plug it in it will stay frozen forever). When I need to put meat in, I just take out the number of jugs to allow enough space for the meat. ( Again if staying in a motel/hotel on return trip home, plug it in at night.) Don’t forget to take an extension cord. Works great. I’ve also wired in a 2000watt inverter to the truck battery, and run it during the day while driving. I shut it off a night so it doesn’t drain the truck battery down when the truck is not running. Have made 3 day trip like this with no problems.
I hunted a Tule in California on Aug 1. It was about 100*F in the shade in the day and dang warm at night. Arrowed the elk in the evening, put the skinned quarters in a screen room overnight. Then I deboned, cut and vacuum sealed the meat the next day (bagged the hamburger meat for grinding at home). As soon as a package was vacuum sealed it went in to my chest freezer, which was plugged into ranch power. I did have my Honda generator along but didn't get it out. The ranch also had a bit of freezer space so maybe 1/4 of the elk went into their freezer. When I left a couple days later all my elk meat was frozen rock solid and all fit in the small chest freezer in pickup canopy. Drove up to Seattle the first day, and the meat was still solidly frozen with the freezer, acting as a large cooler. Did not have to run the freezer the following day driving back to BC either...100* days.
Love having a freezer and generator along on hunts. Worry free meat care, my own processing, vacuum sealed, etc.
I've kept meat in coolers for over a week in 90 degree temps. I like to put something in the bottom of the cooler to keep the meet off the bottom (5 gal painting grates work wonderfully) and then just drain the melted ice/blood every day. Always surprised at how little ice I need to add once its cooled down. I use frozen 2 qt lemonade bottles I save throughout the year and then buy ice once I start getting low. I take a large cooler completely full of frozen bottles and don't open that cooler until I have to. All the ones on the very top are still hard frozen after 5+ days. And no, I don't have a Yeti or high priced coolers. In fact, my best cooler is aa 30+ year old Coleman I bought at Walmart in the early 90s or maybe even the 80s. I then cut my own meat when I get back to KS. Never lost any meat this way.
I built a cooler that fits over the wheel-well and against cab of my pickup. It holds two butchered moose or 4 caribou quite easily. I have also hauled quarters. The cooler has seen the Atlantic and Pacific, just south of Yukon to southern tip of Texas and all over in between! Dry ice is all I use unless the meat was previously frozen.
I built an extension platform level to the back of pickup bed. All the gear slides underneath and we can sleep on top (topper enclosed).
I use a freezer I run off a inverter in my truck or enclosed trailer when traveling and a generator when at camp. Use if for our pre made frozen food also. Works great.
If you layer it.... we've frozen elk meat in layers of dry ice.... meat layer on the cooler bottom, card board or paper layer, dry ice, paper, meat, paper, ice etc. Not good to let the dry ice directly touch the meat. Took 10 or 12 hours but three coolers frozen by the time we hit the Boise airport for the flight home. A little rock or two of dry ice still left. Was still mostly frozen when we got home 14-15 hours later, all made it in great shape.
Darrell - Pick up a couple of the egg crate light diffuser panels from a home center for your coolers. Lay a few dowel rods running lengthwise in your cooler and set a diffuser panel that you cut to size on top of the dowels.
Find some 2 gallon zip lock freezer baggies. Use the zip lock brand, the others suck. Trim up your meat and put in the baggies. Put in a cooler with ice and drive home. No need to freeze it solid. This way you don't have to worry about you meat laying in melted ice water. Also then your backstops, tenderloins and other steaks start the aging process which will make them more tender. So keep all your steaks in a bag of their own. Then when you get home put them in the refrigerator for7-10 days then freeze. I now leave the backstops in a chunk that I freeze. I do not cut into individual steaks and freeze. I cut when thawed the day I cook them.
Have vacuum packed 8 moose from NL and easily made the ferry n 3600 miles back home in large coolers. Many ways to get the meat from hunts home in great condition.
I'm with Tom, I'd never process, package, and freeze my wild game in camp right after killing it.
IMO, hauling your meat home in coolers, deboned and chilled, but not frozen, is a perfect way to age the meat. Just keep it dry, and shuffle the meat often. Ideally, you can use stackable wire racks inside the cooler, with ice on the bottom, so cool air can circulate around all the meat. That's basically how professional butchers age meat. It takes a lot of cooler space on an elk, though. I typically use two 100 qt coolers for an elk.
Matt
Small chest freezer and a generator. Cheaper than a Yeti cooler.
I don't go anywhere without a small chest freezer. (!Out west that is.) I forget the exact numbers but most 5-7cu/ft freezers only pull about 65 watts...maybe like 75-80 at start up. That being said they'll pop the fuse on most cig/aux ports on vehicles. I carry an extra battery & run the freezer off of an inverter when traveling that alligator clips to the battery. The cig/aux port will run a battery charger to charge said battery. As joe said, your food and all is right there. Very versatile. Make your own ice or whatever and not having to drive to town to get ice alone will pay for the whole system pretty quick. Great as a cooler if you don't want to freeze whatever as well.
I don't care what the other experts say, our Tule was about the best elk meat we'd ever had of the 40 or so elk we've cut up and eaten...it was packaged and frozen 12-16 hrs after it was killed.
A cheap cooler and ice will work just fine. I leave most of my stuff in the cooler for several days. Trip home then a cpl days before I cut it up.
This is what I’ve used for several years. Plugs into my 12V port and keeps it at whatever temperature I want. You can also plug it into 120.
https://www.vevor.com/products/vevor-30l-32qt-car-refrigerator-portable-freezer-fridge-12v-cooler-camping?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImbrMjeLF9gIVASCtBh1p8grVEAQYCiABEgI5e_D_BwE
15-20 lbs of dry ice. I’ve put whole quarters into 120 quart Igloo coolers and after driving from Wyoming to Pa the ice was gone and the quarters were starting to freeze on the surface. Perfect! No need to go the chest freezer route.
Lot of ideas here, and they all work. Getting meat home in good condition is not difficult at all. Pick which style suits you best.
Elk meat ain’t ice cream. Keep it chilled and it’ll be fine for a long time
I've stored maybe 100 animals in coolers with just plain ice. It will last for at least a week like that and usually longer. Once it's cold, you only have to add ice about every other day. When you get home put the cooler in the shade, tilt it so the drain is lower and let the liquid stay drained.
Back with we hunted elk with horses and had a trailer we would take a small freezer and generator. That works great but it's not really worth the hassle.
Before I go on an elk hunt, I will make ice in tubs that are about 50# of solid chunks. 2 of those will fit in my super cool 72 quart ice chest. I keep it covered and if I kill an elk 7 days into the hunt, I still have plenty of ice in my truck to cool a hole elk. I break up the chunks with a hammer and put on the meat in the coolers. The next day I will be driving home so getting more ice is not an issue.
Is it feasible to debone an entire elk at camp, put it in freezer bags and be done processing before heading home?
I wrap up the meat in an old-style double sleeping bag (like a huge burrito), and lay it on top of a 3 inch piece of foam.
When I get to the nearest "Civilization", I buy about 6 blocks of dry ice, and lay it on top of the meat. I'm good for 2 days of travel at that point.
Been doing this for many years, with zero spoilage.
Don, read my post above. I processed the entire elk on tailgate except to grind the burger, but it was all cleaned up, frozen and ready to grind when I felt like it. Great to put the vacuum packed elk into the home upright freezer after a long drive back and not have to worry about it. My wife appreciated it too!
I was on a ranch with power, but with the Honda generator could have run the vacuum sealer and freezer in any location my truck was at. Note that i also take a big piece of plexiglass for a tailgate cutting board as well as my electric knife sharper and a good Wusthof filet knife. Makes for smooth processing.
Thanks Kurt. How about freezer bags compared to vacuum sealing?
I've been moving elk/deer/copper river salmon for over 30 years. A relatively cheap 48-52 quart cooler will hold enough to hit the 50# limit.
I have never bothered with dry ice. You simply don't need it for 24-48 hours. You may have some near the top get a little soft but that's not a big deal.
As mentioned earlier, a couple cheap blankets and a windproof tarp really help.
"Elk meat ain't ice cream......." Gotta love Brad's practical experience and perspective. LOLOLOL Classic BS
I have 3, 110qt coolers that I fill with frozen 1 gal jugs in the bottom (about 6 per cooler). They stay frozen for a loooong time and they contain the water so your meat isn’t wet. Way cheaper than buying dry ice or even 20 Lb bags. Can fit 1 elk in 2 coolers with plenty of ice.
Yeah, for just getting elk meat home for many years I used a 150qt and a 120qt cooler with frozen gallon jugs. Also never messed with dry ice. I agree, elk meat is not ice cream. But these days I might be out west for a month or more and have multiple tags. The generator and chest freezer work great for that and is peace of mind when you might not be home for a month or more.
Don, It's harder to get all the air out of freezer bags, hence in our (my wife's) opinion the vacuum sealed bags are superior for storing meat for extended periods as air causes freezer burned meat which affects taste. The vacuum seal is superior as well as I've seen some Ziplock freezer bags end up with more air in them than when I closed them. That said I've transported meat home in freezer Ziplocks and later vacuum sealed it. You can even get them in several gallon sizes but they are costly.
I will bone out an elk ASAP but will never cut steaks until it has aged some. Even a spike will be tough if you cut off steaks the day you kill it. Ideally, you would leave the backstraps on the spine to facilitate the stretching and shrinking that makes for the most tender meat.
Since you don't have enough room to leave the meat on the spine, you have to rely on some tenderizing just by the passing of time. I've stored dozens of elk, boned out in coolers, covered with ice and never been disappointed. I keep them cool for at least 7 days if at all possible. Once the meat is cooled, as long as there is ice in the cooler, the meat stays at about 35 degrees.
On deer sized animals, I will leave the bones in and cut them up just small enough to fit in the cooler. I aged a whitetail 10 days last year in a cooler. I had to cut the spine at the hips and cut off most of the rib cage to get it to fit, It was great.
Chill in meat locker then pack 100 qt coolers full with ice or a little dry ice for return trip. Never had a problem even a 24 hour trip.
Well you must to bone out all meat to take it out of the western states into other states per CWD rules. No bones and no heads, unless full euro is done.
No spine and no brains would be more accurate for generally accepted CWD transport rules. Each individual should familiarize themselves with the CWD rules in the state they hunt and where they are transporting to.
Thanks, guys. Great ideas here.
Thanks, guys. Great ideas here.
There’s an Olympic Biathlon competitor that has a good technique for freezing his meat.
Correction the skier was in a 50km cross country race when he froze his meat
Small chest freezer worked great for me. It was cooler so it did not have to run a lot. If it was below freezing at night I opened the freezer and unplugged it. It really depends on temps. Also VERY important to get your meat below 40 degrees before you pile it large amounts. Otherwise center may rot. With the exception of early Sept and warm weather I never had difficulty.
One great trick is bring a dozen contractor trash bags - the strong large black bags. Double bag 5- pounds at a time and submerge in a cool creek to cool meat. This helps with aging and getting meat cool enough for the chest freezer.
Years ago when out west for a month I removed the passenger seat in my taco and had a small chest freezer as my "copilot". Rednecky but it worked great! My taco had a plug in the bed.
When my oldest son visits me,in Maryland, I give him frozen deer meat for his drive back to Florida. He stops for a day in North Carolina before heading home. We get dry ice to put in the huge cooler and he says everything is still frozen and still has dry ice when he gets to Florida.
Just so you know, dry ice is available at almost any grocery store in Wyoming, other states may vary. Fill one cooler with ice jugs, for the trip out and top with dry ice to keep frozen when you hit the last good sized town. Ice jugs should stay frozen for many days if the cooler is kept closed and out of direct sun. Hang your quarters in the shade to cool the meat thoroughly before you put it in the coolers and use the ice jugs to keep it cool during travel.
I like to use pre frozen 1/2 gallon milk jugs, water bottles, plastic soda bottles, etc. just keep them in your ice chest, cover, keep it in the shade. Good to go for quite a few days. Bulk ice will always last longer than loose bagged ice.
My other favorite is I made ice sticks out of 2” and 3” pvc. Cut them to fit any cooler you have. Cap one end, fill with water and leave a slight gap for expansion. Glue another cap on. Freeze them before you leave and Now you have reusable ice sticks for many years to come.
