Cooler vs Chest Freezer - Mobile Hunt

[ktm450]

I have a few hunts planned 5-9 hours away and need a different meat cooling system for bear, elk, deer, antelope (not all at once). I have read cooler reviews to the ends of the internet, but have not seen a clear comparison between cooler and freezers for mobile hunts. I am only using my truck and have homes/cabins to stay in once on site. This is just for meat storage not for food/drinks. Temps will be 30-65 degrees.

For those of you with experience, would you:

• Small Chest Freezer (electricity available)
• Fancy 140+ size Roto Cooler
• A couple cheaper 80-110 Igloo or Colman type

Thanks in advance

 

[Cubby]

We have been taken a small chest freezer with us on elk hunting trips with a small generator for close to 15 years and works great, you can put 2 elk in it easily and still have room. No need to spend big money on high end coolers.

 

[Roofer1]

I'd say chest freezer as well, if there's electricity available. Saw an ad in the paper Sunday for a small/medium chest freezer for less $ than most of the high end coolers.

 

[Whisky]

First, I would rule out the huge, heavy, expensive roto coolers. My next questions would be how long are the hunts, and how accessible is ice?

We utilize bigger cheap 120-150qt coolers, smaller 45-65qt roto coolers, and chest freezer/generator. Just depends on the two questions above, and what we are hunting that trip. In general, the freezer only makes trips that are longer than a week. But we also use it to store food and extra ice on those trips.

 

[Southforkguy]

If it's hot the freezer is a huge plus. If it's cold a couple big cheap igloos with some home upgrades (ie added insulation like the mail order meals come with) is the way to go.

 

[ktm450]

Thanks a ton for the replies. Hunts vary between 3 and 9 days. Last year, I was lucky enough to get an elk on day 2 of a 7-day trip. Weather was uncharacteristically warm (65 and sunny). I ended up processing it at camp and had to cut my trip short because of temps.

I am all over from eastern MT to WA and hit everything from 0-65 degrees. Blazing sun to Monsoon.

Ice is accessible, but 30 min of driving from any of my stops. Using a couple of cheaper 120qt with some mods seems pretty appealing.

 

[hutty]

We have been doing DIY in Wyoming last 6 years coming from Maryland. We have gone with the chest freezer and small honda generator and could not be happier. 100 ft cord and honda are quiet and at night we turn the generator off. turn it on when one of us is back in camp mid day.

We also have several large yeti coolers with us but the chest freezer ( on sale at the time at home depot for $300 ) has been the way to go.

 

[2rocky]

We took a chest freezer to North Dakota for Pheasants. It was a group of 8 of us and we each brought home a limit of 9 birds apiece. It was in a 12 ft trailer with the Dog kennel boxes and luggage. We plugged it in at the ranch, and each evening birds were skinned , labelled and vacuum sealed. They froze solid over night and remained cold for the 2 day drive home.

Elk hunting in Wyoming we used a meat locker to either cut & wrap or get primals cold and almost frozen. They were still cold with the help of Dry Ice in coolers 2 days later. A one day trip with cold (in the 30 deg morning) but not frozen meat in a standard Igloo and Late Fall temps in 40-50-60 I've done with no additional ice. But I have had times it was 100 driving through the Sacramento valley where I made sure to wrap the cooler in Moving blankets and keep the direct sun off it.

if you are going to use a generator during the hunt it would be worth it, but not for just the travel time.

 

[crich]

Ive used a dewalt power station to power my freezer/refrigerator during hurricane power outages. Dont see why 4 large amp hour batteries couldn't substitute for a generator for a couple of days using it on and off on the tail end of a hunt and drive home. Plus side is it can be used in an enclosed space.

 

[tttoadman]

chest freezer fan. We had a bull on ice for almost 2 weeks in sept. It takes away thr stress. We fired up the generator for a couple hrs every 2-3 days.

 

[stonewall]

I’ve hauled a freezer before and it’s ok. I now prefer to bring two large (inexpensive) coolers filled with jugs of ice. This lasts throughout the hunt. The coolers pack better for me using a topper (and not pulling a trailer). Wyoming trip two years ago we never had to buy ice. This year in colorado, I shot bull on day 6 (plus two days of travel to get there - so 8 days call it). Had enough ice. Did buy 40# for the drive home (but I only brought one cooler this year)