How much cooler space for an elk?

[DEHusker]

My yeti 125 quart cooler will hold all four bone-in quarters + loose meat and leave a little room for ice. If you were to debone everything you'd have plenty of room. We hung the quarters out overnight and then put ice in and around everything and they stayed chilled all the way home. If you had a cape I would think everything would fit comfortably if the meat was deboned.


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Seriously? You can fit all 4 bone in quarters of a bull elk with backstraps, loins, neck, and rib meat AND ice in a Yeti 125? I'd like to see a video of this if you ever get the time.....

 

[Stid2677]

I have only killed one elk and did not need a cooler for it, but when I lived in Hawaii, I used fish bags a bunch for getting large marlin and tuna back from long range trips. I have used my fish bag to keep deer hole inside with ice in their chest. These bags are large and made to hold fish and ice. Just a thought as large square cooler eat up more space.

Like this one....

DAKINE Freestanding Vinyl Fish Bag, 6 ft. | West Marine

 

[rbljack]

This is a great topic that I think gets overlooked when planning a hunt. I am hoping to get drawn in NM or go OTC in Colorado next year. I bought the yeti 105 for our all around needs. When I saw this topic...I was really interested to hear what others are doing, and I agree that it does depend on your situation.

For me, the space needed will need to be big enough to hold an Elk, and ice (or ice blocks). I think Ice blocks are a better option so I have been buying the large Gatorade bottles to freeze. I think they are 32 ounces. Yes it will take a bit more space in the cooler, but at the same time...they wont melt as fast as the ice. If the Yeti 125 can hold all 4 elk quarters, that definitely be a good option to go with my 105 for storing Ice, drinks, and IF we get lucky, and elk!

 

[missjordan]

Seriously? You can fit all 4 bone in quarters of a bull elk with backstraps, loins, neck, and rib meat AND ice in a Yeti 125? I'd like to see a video of this if you ever get the time.....

I'll Remember that for next time. I like I said in my post it doesn't leave much room for ice but if the quarters are already chilled then it's good enough for me!


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[Topo_trekker]

I can fit a boned out elk in a 150qt cooler with frozen 16oz water bottles on bottom and top. I use some old sleeping pads and bags on bottom and top of cheap cooler to insulate further. I'll also use those to sleep in truck if I stash gear on the mtn making a meat load to truck. I use 8 frozen milk jugs to keep cooler cold until I get meat in there. Keeps for a week in hot temps.

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[Topo_trekker]

Make sure you dump out 10% of water before freezing bottle. They'll expand and break and leak water when thawing in cooler if not.


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[Huntingpreacher]

This info is super helpful! Thanks guys!

 

[Scott/IL]

I had milk jugs (gallon and 1/2 gallon) froze in my 2 150's. Before I headed out, I topped them off with ice. It was 90 degrees until about the time we hit Wyoming and my bull was back to my truck almost 5 days after we left.

We got the coolers emptied of all the ice, and all milk jugs were still frozen solid. We kept a few in each with all the meat and after we had the meat in a cooler in town, we put all the other jugs back in (now partially thawed) and kept hunting. When we left, we emptied the coolers out, and all jugs were still holding ice.

We did freeze the deboned meat, so it did make organizing it a little difficult, but there is no way we could have fit the meat and cape into less than the 2 150's and the 70 qt. coolers. We actually had to stop and buy the 70 qt before heading home. If it wasn't frozen, we would have been adding ice, and it still would have been difficult to fit it all into the 2 larger coolers.

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[UtahJimmy]

Grab a Coleman Xtreme 6 in 150 and 120 from Wally world. You'll be in it for under $120 (150 for $66, 120 for $50). Store your gear in them when you drive or fill full of jugs/block ice. You can easily get all your bone-in meat into them with plenty of room for ice.

 

[Topo_trekker]

I can fit a boned out elk in a 150qt cooler with frozen 16oz water bottles on bottom and top. I use some old sleeping pads and bags on bottom and top of cheap cooler to insulate further. I'll also use those to sleep in truck if I stash gear on the mtn making a meat load to truck. I use 8 frozen milk jugs to keep cooler cold until I get meat in there. Keeps for a week in hot temps.

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Also the layer of 16oz bottles on the bottom leaves room for blood to drain out of meat. Not really any room for ice bags(I don't like to get any melted water on my meat, hence bottles).


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[bz_711]

I would second that 2 - 150 qt coolers for 1 deboned elk would be best option. I have gotten by with a 150 and a 90 but not much room for ice...and then this year my bull was far bigger than my previous bulls...and I filled a 150, 90, and 70...with just enough room for ice. I place all game bags individually in separate contractor grade trash bags (waterproof), place in cooler with top of bag outside of lid to make sure no water gets in...after icing, I fill rest of cooler up with water to make sure it cools meat even faster by water getting into ever loose area of space. It's always done me well. Longest I went was a Tuesday to a Saturday before processing...meat was in great shape. Elk is the best I've had yet and worth every hassle making sure it all gets to freezer OK.

 

[shadow]

My bull this year, I took to the locker and had processed, and it was done before I headed home 18 hours. Final hanging weight with no bones and trim was 260 pounds. A friend of mine shot a similar bull a week before, and his hanging weight was 263. I did the general processing of steaks/roasts, half the grinding I left as is, and the other half was made into salami, breakfast sausage etc...

All was frozen, I used no ice on the way home (everything was still 100% frozen and in perfect condition 20 hours later). It 100% filled a 150 QT coleman extreme, and a 65 QT Yeti to the top of both coolers.

 

[Bill V]

If you're taking just the meat, fully deboned, one bull plus ice will fit in a 150 quart cooler. We just did this with an average sized 6 point and could fit in three blocks of ice.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Just a thought, as I'm admittedly not an Elk hunter just yet.... but my plan was to bring a chest freezer in the bed of my truck plugged into a appropriately sized inverter for the long drive home. My thought was to buy the ideal size for my truck, 12-16 cubic feet somewhere in there and use it for the trip than upon arriving home it makes a great spare freezer, or sell it at a decent price. Either way a freezer and an inverter will cost way less than 2 yeti coolers and keep things frozen till I arrive home. Bring an extension cord to plug into a hotel room (get a first floor, I did this for years trailering my walleye boat around the country), or in the back country bring your generator. Personally I think a freezer is a much easier option than a pile of coolers.

ALW


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That is a big invertor/draw. Most folks that use chest freezers run them off a generator (freeze it all solid before starting the drive type deal). A 5amp 120V chest freezer takes 600w to run and might draw 1200-1800watts on startup. Assuming you had an invertor that handled it that is a ~50amp load on the alternator which is pretty substantial for an extended period of time. I'd load it with ice and pull the drain plug over running it on an invertor if a generator isn't an option.

 

[Rthur]

Canyon coolers 222 quart.
Ours has been very handy.

R

 

[power54]

I would second that 2 - 150 qt coolers for 1 deboned elk would be best option. I have gotten by with a 150 and a 90 but not much room for ice...and then this year my bull was far bigger than my previous bulls...and I filled a 150, 90, and 70...with just enough room for ice. I place all game bags individually in separate contractor grade trash bags (waterproof), place in cooler with top of bag outside of lid to make sure no water gets in...after icing, I fill rest of cooler up with water to make sure it cools meat even faster by water getting into ever loose area of space. It's always done me well. Longest I went was a Tuesday to a Saturday before processing...meat was in great shape. Elk is the best I've had yet and worth every hassle making sure it all gets to freezer OK.

This

 

[alwayslookingwest]

I'd agree anyone using a chest freezer must be cognizant of there vehicles charging capabilities. I drive a Ram Power Wagon with 220 Amp alternator already installed so a 2000W inverter running a small chest freezer isn't an issue while running the truck down the road. Obviously overloading your electrical system isn't a good idea and this option should be only undertaken with proper understanding of load requirements. Please understand the Amp load of your freezer (both running and Peak), and do not just plug it into the 400W plug in your Tacoma truck bed as easy as that would seem. It is definitely solid advice to run the freezer off a standard outlet (or my plan of a Honda EU2000i) when everything is cooling down. Once frozen up the cycling should be quite minimal.


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[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I'd agree anyone using a chest freezer must be cognizant of there vehicles charging capabilities. I drive a Ram Power Wagon with 220 Amp alternator already installed so a 2000W inverter running a small chest freezer isn't an issue while running the truck down the road. Obviously overloading your electrical system isn't a good idea and this option should be only undertaken with proper understanding of load requirements. Please understand the Amp load of your freezer (both running and Peak), and do not just plug it into the 400W plug in your Tacoma truck bed as easy as that would seem. It is definitely solid advice to run the freezer off a standard outlet (or my plan of a Honda EU2000i) when everything is cooling down. Once frozen up the cycling should be quite minimal.


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Sounds like you got your head around it. Even with the derating at idle/cruising speeds that is a stout alternator from the factory for the winch provision.

 

[Dinger]

it's tough to let it sit out for more than a few hours in the sun before it starts to rot.

I split and salt capes ASAP, then wrap in a hessian bag to save on cooler/12V freezer space for any trips away from home. No need to waste cooling capacity.

 

[paxamus]

Ya'll really are making things like meat transportation a lot easier with threads like these!!