Talk to some meat lockers before the summer and have a plan to get ur elk there before the hunt even starts then you won't be sitting around trying to plan how to take care of the meat. I don't like letting meat sit in coolers unless I can attend it. Leaving it in back of a truck on side of road or in woods in shade is just asking for trouble. In ur situation I would have a locker picked out an plan to get meat there ASAP. Good luck