Meat back at the car/trailhead

[ahatclif]

Does anyone have any tried/true strategies for keeping meat cool back at the car/trailer/trailhead while you are camping in the wilderness? I am thinking early-September Colorado archery (9000-11000 feet) so the temps go be 40s-90s (I think). This is my first western hunt so if there is a lot of conventional wisdom on the topic, i haven't encountered it yet.

If we actually filled a tag with a few days to go is it feasible to store meat in coolers and continue the hunt or are we going to have to find cold storage somewhere?

We will probably be using some standard igloo/coleman type coolers and/or maybe a deep freeze (unplugged). I havent tested ice/temperature over time but I will probably conduct a few experiments in the next few days.

Thanks.

 

[Gorp2007]

There's an ongoing discussion over in the great section, but blocks of ice (think frozen milk jugs) and/or dry ice will keep things cold that long. Just make sure you have enough cooler space for the meat and the giant hunks of ice.

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/gear/74039-cooler-size-theory.html

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[AndyJ]

Hang your game bags in the shade over a stream with fast moving water. It will last for days even in fairly warm temps. There is also a butcher in Walden that I think will store meat.

 

[Felix40]

We always just throw the meat in a cooler full of ice. Coolers can hold ice for a week or longer even in fairly warm temps. Keep it simple.

 

[Cinch]

Cooler with ice... I freeze a few cases of water bottles. They don't last as long as a milk jug but they pack a little better

 

[ahatclif]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of blocks/milk jugs or maybe even buckets of ice to at least keep the coolers cold until we need them.

Realistically we will probably be driving back to Lincoln with coolers containing nothing but melting ice jugs but...failing to prepare is preparing to fail, and all that stuff.

 

[bwlacy]

Last time I was out there I had frozen milk jugs and power aid bottles. We took 2 100 quart igloo coolers. Kept all the ice jugs in one cooler, put it in the backseat of my truck while we were up the mountain. I put an old sleeping bag over the cooler also.

When I got back to Michigan I still had ice in the jugs, not a lot but some. The cooler was in the back of the truck on the way out and back. No meat though just jugs of melting ice. But it lasted 12 days and that was for the first week of archery in Colorado.

 

[xziang]

2nd the milk jugs, 2 liter bottles etc for ice. I haven't had a chance to pack meat yet but I've had it last for over a week easily. Just try and keep the cooler in the shade during the heat of the day.

Personally I wouldn't take a 'freezer', for me that would be to much of a PITA, and for me there are better options.

Good luck up there might see you on I80.

 

[mike.adams.467]

My cooler will hold 2 hind quarters (with the bone in) of an elk with a few ice blocks in it as well. I rotate them around every day or 2 and keep the water drained. A sleeping bag thrown over the cooler adds more insulation.


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[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

As noted in the other thread, two 120qt coolers and a bunch of block ice fit an elk just fine. Same routine for deer/pronghorn but usually just one cooler unless I have a pile of tags.

 

[5MilesBack]

I will generally hunt the entire season in CO, so the frozen milk jugs work great for me. I'll go out for 5-10 days at a time and then come home for a couple days and throw the milk jugs back in the freezer while I'm home. Load them back up for the next trip and keep going like that. Then when the season is over, I have no freezer space left to keep them frozen so I have to start all over the next summer.

 

[cnelk]

If you mix salt to your water and then freeze the jugs, it will be a lot colder and last even longer

Think 'Homemade Ice cream'

 

[PF_JM]

If you mix salt to your water and then freeze the jugs, it will be a lot colder and last even longer

Think 'Homemade Ice cream'

Keep in mind that adding salt to the water will make the melting point lower as well. So while it will be a little colder you will have salty water at less than 32* F. My point being that you should not do it with loose or block ice, make sure it is in a container.

 

[LaGriz]

I'm saving my Arizona Ice Tea jugs to be filled with filtered drinking water and frozen. They are tough, hold up very well, and can be refrozen. You can always thaw one or more for additional drinking water as needed.

LaGriz

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

If you mix salt to your water and then freeze the jugs, it will be a lot colder and last even longer

Think 'Homemade Ice cream'

FYI the longevity part is faulty logic, other than a tiny change in thermal mass from the salt it won't last longer. Yes the salt will make the environment maintained while it melts occur at a colder temperature (hence the icecream reference) than plain frozen water (~32F phase change) but that won't make it last longer. Actually it might reduce the time it lasts since the temperature difference between the inside of the cooler and the outside environment will be greater and the larger the temperature difference the larger the heat transfer rate (all else being equal).

If you want longer from the same cooler you need to increase thermal mass (more ice) or start with the thermal mass at a colder temp (freeze the ice even colder, it turns solid around ~32F but in a deep freezer you can get those blocks <-10F and ice or not doesn't affect how cold you can get the solid blocks off the bat).

Frozen salt water would only be relevant if you needed/wanted the environment to be colder during the phase the blocks are melting to liquid (after the thermal mass of the ice has warmed to that point). General rule of thumb is <40F retards bacteria growth so plain ice seems fine for hunting purposes. If you need it colder/frozen then dry ice would be more suitable.

 

[PantherCity]

I took a 7.1 Cu. Ft. freezer to Colorado last year in my truck. Had it full of frozen gallon jugs. I took a 100' extension cord and plugged it in at the motel on the way up and back. It worked great and a chest freezer that size is not that heavy or hard to deal with, not any worse than a 110 qt. yeti. It fit 4 bone in quarters and the rest of the meat from my bull no problem.

I imagine you could find somewhere to plug it in for a small fee if you have a town near by.

 

[cnelk]

FYI the longevity part is faulty logic, other than a tiny change in thermal mass from the salt it won't last longer. Yes the salt will make the environment maintained while it melts occur at a colder temperature (hence the icecream reference) than plain frozen water (~32F phase change) but that won't make it last longer. Actually it might reduce the time it lasts since the temperature difference between the inside of the cooler and the outside environment will be greater and the larger the temperature difference the larger the heat transfer rate (all else being equal).

If you want longer from the same cooler you need to increase thermal mass (more ice) or start with the thermal mass at a colder temp (freeze the ice even colder, it turns solid around ~32F but in a deep freezer you can get those blocks <-10F and ice or not doesn't affect how cold you can get the solid blocks off the bat).

Frozen salt water would only be relevant if you needed/wanted the environment to be colder during the phase the blocks are melting to liquid (after the thermal mass of the ice has warmed to that point). General rule of thumb is <40F retards bacteria growth so plain ice seems fine for hunting purposes. If you need it colder/frozen then dry ice would be more suitable.

Thanks! Good to know I got some wrong info in the past

I'll stick to dry ice which Im more familiar with

 

[COLOelkman]

I buy the 2 1/2 gal. drinking water jugs from the grocery store and freeze them after draining out a little to add some expansion room. I've also read that you can line your cooler with the thin Reflectix duct insulation that takes minimal room (I'm gonna try it this year.) I also made my own redneck Yeti using thin plywood that I got free, and lined it with 2-inch rigid foam sized to fit my older Igloo marine cooler, filled with the 2 1/2 gal. ice jugs. I also cover it with an old sleeping bag and only get in it occasionally when the ice in my other coolers get low and keep the windows cracked to minimize heat buildup. I spent 22 days in WY in 2015 and it still had over 50% ice left. The negative is that it takes up a lot of room in the back of the Suburban and is too heavy to move around but it did work great and I plan to use it again this year.

 

[MtnOyster]

FYI the longevity part is faulty logic, other than a tiny change in thermal mass from the salt it won't last longer. Yes the salt will make the environment maintained while it melts occur at a colder temperature (hence the icecream reference) than plain frozen water (~32F phase change) but that won't make it last longer. Actually it might reduce the time it lasts since the temperature difference between the inside of the cooler and the outside environment will be greater and the larger the temperature difference the larger the heat transfer rate (all else being equal).

If you want longer from the same cooler you need to increase thermal mass (more ice) or start with the thermal mass at a colder temp (freeze the ice even colder, it turns solid around ~32F but in a deep freezer you can get those blocks <-10F and ice or not doesn't affect how cold you can get the solid blocks off the bat).

Frozen salt water would only be relevant if you needed/wanted the environment to be colder during the phase the blocks are melting to liquid (after the thermal mass of the ice has warmed to that point). General rule of thumb is <40F retards bacteria growth so plain ice seems fine for hunting purposes. If you need it colder/frozen then dry ice would be more suitable.

heck yea!!!!!!! let me guess......science degree?? kinda thinking the same thing but I guess more in redneck term,,,yea salt for colder ice cream but they spread salt on the roads to melt or prevent ice around here ,(scratching my head) things that make you go "hmmmmm"

 

[danarnold]

last year our camp was in the sun w/o shade, I went to grand junction where they did processing and rented some freezer space $50, we tarped and wrapped the quarters in old sleeping bags
still frozen when we got home to Mo...18 hours