Fish cooler bags for quarters?

[Grady.J]

Anyone ever used those soft sided fish cooler bags for quartered or boned out meat? Looks like they're a good shape for it.

I wouldn't expect them to hold ice for long, but I'm thinking you could keep some block ice or frozen water bottles in a smaller cooler, and throw them in the fish bags with the meat when you get back to the vehicle. Seems like it would be easier to handle and take up less space than packing 100-150qt coolers for meat.

Does anyone have any recommendations for brands?

 

[Dented]

I never considered that, but then, I've never seen soft bags that size before. I'll be interested to hear the replies.

 

[Djacker]

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/large-soft-cooler-kill-bag.327045/. This was talked about last fall. I hope the link works. Great space saver.

 

[Grady.J]

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/large-soft-cooler-kill-bag.327045/. This was talked about last fall. I hope the link works. Great space saver.

Perfect thank you! Disappointing to hear they all leak considering they arent cheap, but using frozen water bottles and lining it with a contractor bag should mitigate that. A 60ish qt hard side for camp food and trailhead beverages, and some frozen bottles, and a fish kill bag or two for the drive home should be a pretty manageable setup for size and weight.

 

[geterdone]

I have a few and bring them to just about every hunt. They work great for transport, not any long term warm weather type storage. They take very little space when empty, and will hold ice for 24-48 hours depending on the temperature outside. They do leak, it's not a big issue unless you are placing them in the trunk of a car. They don't leak all the water out, they will hold water but the seams seep water over time. When tuna fishing they will have 10 gallons of slurry with 10 fish and 100lbs of ice in them the next day and a wet spot under the bag. I have WPS and reliable bags. WPS has a better zipper, reliable bags have more room with the flat bottom design for the same advertised dimensions.

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[Chode223]

Perfect thank you! Disappointing to hear they all leak considering they arent cheap, but using frozen water bottles and lining it with a contractor bag should mitigate that. A 60ish qt hard side for camp food and trailhead beverages, and some frozen bottles, and a fish kill bag or two for the drive home should be a pretty manageable setup for size and weight.

I ended up going with an Opah bag. It’s big and a bit bulky, but a lot smaller than comparable cooler(s).

I got the Opah as it doesn’t leak. Have had it in the back of my SUV with some meat in it and was good to go.

It wasn’t cheap, but I’m glad to have it.

 

[Grady.J]

I have a few and bring them to just about every hunt. They work great for transport, not any long term warm weather type storage. They take very little space when empty, and will hold ice for 24-48 hours depending on the temperature outside. They do leak, it's not a big issue unless you are placing them in the trunk of a car. They don't leak all the water out, they will hold water but the seams seep water over time. When tuna fishing they will have 10 gallons of slurry with 10 fish and 100lbs of ice in them the next day and a wet spot under the bag. I have WPS and reliable bags. WPS has a better zipper, reliable bags have more room with the flat bottom design for the same advertised dimensions.

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They would be in the trunk of a car, I hunt out of a subaru, so the space savings is a big reason for looking at these. I think the leakage could be mitigated by not using loose ice, and lining the whole thing with some plastic and keeping it upright? The flat bottom ones look ideal for that. Wouldn't be for long periods, just from the trailhead home, which I suppose could be a day or two depending.

I ended up going with an Opah bag. It’s big and a bit bulky, but a lot smaller than comparable cooler(s).

I got the Opah as it doesn’t leak. Have had it in the back of my SUV with some meat in it and was good to go.

It wasn’t cheap, but I’m glad to have it.

These look awesome, I hadn't found them when I was looking initially. The 4 or 5 size looks like they would work well for a quartered out buck. The price is comparable to some of the others on the market too. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Jmartin]

Flew my frozen caribou back from Alaska in one. Worked great

 

[Arkangel86]

Reviving this thread

What sizes are you guys going with?

 

[Marshfly]

Reviving this thread

What sizes are you guys going with?

I have a few Reliable bags from when I lived in South Louisiana. Go bigger than you think you need. You lose some space in the corners and at the top at the zipper simply due to the design of these bags. I'm almost positive one of my Reliables is the 30x60 (it's in storage) I tried to fit a bull elk in it a couple of years ago and ended up with parts sticking out the top and the zipper open. Thankfully it was cool and the drive home was only a couple of hours.

IT probably would have fit if I had cut the shanks off of the legs and deboned the hams. the 72 would be much better. I think that will be key for any of these. If you can hang your quarters for a night and let them get through rigor mortis so you can debone the legs you will have a much better time fitting things in one of these since the meat will be much more easy to shove into the shape of the bag.

These do not keep ice like a Yeti. If the drive is hot and long, you are going to end up with a slurry mess that needs to be drained so you can add more ice. That is going to be difficult or impossible to do if the bag is full of an entire elk in a car trunk. 2 smaller 30x60 or 28x48 bags will be much more manageable. Do not buy a bag that is only 24 tall. You will lose 6-8" from the top since the sides have to narrow in to close the zipper.

 

[Marshfly]

This image from the Opah Fathom 5 deep shows how the top narrows when you close it very well. Notice how much lower the zipped end is than the open end. This one is 58x18x30. You'd think that would be enough. It's VERY clear from this image that you ain't fitting an elk in there.