Elk In a Cooler on Ice - How long?

[Brendan]

I have a story I'll post in the coming week. But, Thursday morning I shot and killed an Elk. Got the meat de-boned and into hanging game bags, then down the mountain, into trash bags, and then into coolers submerged in ice which is where it still is now that I'm home on the other side of the country (It was 80 degrees by the time I finished packing it out, so didn't want to let it hang longer). Started processing at 8AM - last load in the cooler was 3PM.

My plan - take everything out of the trash bags, switch to new, clean game bags, then back in the coolers. I will have ice on the bottom, then a trash bag, then a towel, then meat in game bags.

Any thoughts? Good / bad? How long do I have to get it butchered and frozen? I'll probably be worried until I get it vacuum wrapped and frozen solid...

Thanks!

 

[rayporter]

i stop and get dry ice and leave it in game bags- 20 lb of dry ice has it almost frozen in 36 hours. and all i do is build a cooler from sleeping pads in the front of the trailer and add the dry ice.

your way will work even though it aint how i roll.

 

[rob_E]

I would just throw the meat in the cooler and cover it with ice no need for the trash bags, towels or clean game bags in my opinion

 

[rob_E]

Oh yea and I like to get mine cut up and frozen within a week of getting home. A little each evening after work until I'm done but you've got a good while as Lind as you keep it on ice

 

[wapitibob]

I leave mine in cooler for a week with ice. Two days for temp to stabilize and ice to quit melting.

 

[Brendan]

Thanks everyone. Got it out of the trash bags and into clean game bags yesterday so it wasn't stewing in it's own blood, but everything looks good. Keeping it on ice in the basement and processing every night this week until I'm done, think I should be good.

I think primarily I was worried about what condition it would be in after the first 24 hours until I really got it cooled down, because it was close to 80 when I packed it out.

 

[Ironman8]

This will be the first year for me to get an elk (hopefully) but I have been hunting whitetail for 20 years and the method that we use is just an ice chest with ice. No game bags, trash bags, or anything. We bleed the deer for 5 to 7 days keeping ice on it the whole time. After 5 to 7 days, we butcher it. Never had a problem with meets spoiling or gamey taste.

 

[Chem-E]

This year I had my elk in coolers on ice for about 10 days, after it took me 5 days to get it out of the woods. I had it submerged in a stream, that was COLD, while I was packing it out prior to having it in coolers. No problem.

 

[gobbler1662]

Same thing for me I shot my bull and we packed the deboned meat to the trail head and placed it in the cooler. I added 11 bags of ice and completely covered the meat bags in ice.Left ti for only 3 days but in 80 degree temps. No meat loss worked great.