Be careful what you wish for PSA

[crmiller84]

So last week, a few buddies and I were talking about our first venture out west, planned for next year. Besides the normal problems for a group of first-timers (where to hunt, will there be elk, how crowded will it be, what temp, etc.), we got on the discussion of how to get meat home to IN from CO if we happen to beat the odds and get one down. None of us can really justify a Yeti at this time (we still need to purchase some gear for this hunt), so I started researching. Low-and-behold, I found several instances of people using broken-down chest freezers that were slightly modified to accomplish this task. So I went on the hunt for one.

This morning I found one......in my dining room. Yep, my 5 ft tall upright Frigidaire decided to crap out on me sometime in the last couple days and proceeded to leak lots and lots of blood all over the floor.

Casualties include: about 60# of ground venison, 20-30# of venison roast/steak/backstrap, 2 nice turkey breasts, a large amount of beef, a ham, and the nicest coyote fur I've ever had the pleasure of harvesting. There was also a rattlesnake I was trying to find the time to skin out for friend who tans but can't skin, and that is the most depressing part.

On the upside, now I'm simply looking for a WORKING freezer, which is actually a bit easier to locate than a non-working one (people don't post those on Craigslist nearly often enough)

 

[dotman]

Sorry but I got a chuckle out of this post. Had the same thing happen to me a few months ago. I think your taking it better then I did.

 

[crmiller84]

Sorry but I got a chuckle out of this post. Had the same thing happen to me a few months ago. I think your taking it better then I did.

Chuckle away!

I'm not gonna lie, when I woke up this AM and the dog ran straight to the freezer, I may have let out a few four-letter-words. But after I got the mess cleaned up and the freezer out to the garage, I told myself "It's not that long until October, and when that time comes, things are going to hit the ground"

 

[BigDog00]

Take a look at the Coleman Xtreme coolers if you still want to get one or two of them. I got mine at Walmart. I think i paid $30-40 for a 125 qt. I think there was a thread on here last year about coolers and how to pack them. You don't have to spend $400 on a cooler to get the job done.

 

[Dos Perros]

I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago. The freezer wasn't bad, the outlet it's plugged into is on a GFI tied to other outlets. I guess one pops and they all pop. I now plug my hot-water recirculation pump into that outlet too, so if I have cold water in the morning I know something is up.

 

[Poser]

An $8 freezer alarm is a excellent investment for an hunter.

 

[tttoadman]

I have my big freezers in my shop. I hooked my shop perimeter light to the same circuit as the freezer outlets. If my night light goes out, I can go and check for a popped breaker or ??.

 

[ndbwhunter]

I used two of the 120qt. coleman xtremes last year, and they worked well. Picked them up at Wally World for 50-60 each. Wait for a sale and you can get them even cheaper. I froze a bunch of milk jugs throughout the year and put about 10 in each cooler before leaving my house, and then covered them with cubed ice. 5 days in to the trip and there still wasn't a drop of water in either cooler.

Make sure you pre-chill them before fully stocking with ice, and don't leave them sitting in the sun.

 

[5MilesBack]

What's PSA? All I could think of when I saw the title was Palmetto State Armory.

 

[Ray]

What's PSA?

public service announcement for decades now.

 

[crmiller84]

The Coleman coolers seem like a pretty good deal, I'll have to check them out. Also, lots of good ideas on getting a head's up on a malfunctioning freezer, thanks for that. Never really thought about losing it before, this is the first time I've had it happen. I'll take it as a learning experience and make sure it is done better next time. Still wiring my garage circuits, so I may throw the freezer on with outdoor lights or even the overhead door, and check out these freezer alarms if they will detect when just the freezer goes bad.

 

[TXCO]

I use a chest freezer. Same thing happened to me while out of town for Thanksgiving, but no blood spilled out in the house. I was able to put it on a dolly and take it outside to dump the disgusting water. The other nice thing about a chest freezer is if you travel to CO in a truck and shoot something, you can plug it in to your truck via an AC converter and extension cord for the trip home.


Where do you find a freezer alarm? That sounds like a great idea!

 

[Poser]

http://www.amazon.com/CDN-TA20-Visual-Refrigerator-Freezer/dp/B000I62FQI

 

[Gobbler36]

bought an old 150 quart from a catering service for $20, Hauled my elk from Wyoming to Florida no problems at all. Just drained blood at every fill up and added ice maybe three times. definitely dont need a yeti or a fridge to hold the meat

 

[Shrek]

My cheap Coleman coolers work just fine. Fill them full of really cold ice , keep the lid closed , and out of sun and you should be good for a week. Yeti coolers and the like are an unnecessary luxury.

 

[camping1601]

If you have a sam's club near you they always have those huge white Igloos for a great price.

 

[KHNC]

Fill them full of really cold ice. Yeti coolers and the like are an unnecessary luxury.

Does Florida have different grades of ice?

 

[cuerro viejo]

An $8 freezer alarm is a excellent investment for an hunter.

Yelp, then put freezer on its own none GFI breaker

 

[Chris Sloan]

Probably worth mentioning alot of campsites/trailheads in grizz country require food/meat stored in bear proof containers or locked in a vehicle.

 

[LiquidGib]

bought an old 150 quart from a catering service for $20, Hauled my elk from Wyoming to Florida no problems at all. Just drained blood at every fill up and added ice maybe three times. definitely dont need a yeti or a fridge to hold the meat

That's quite the trip. How long did it take?