Cooler size and theory

[rk_trad]

I'm always used to elk hunting out my back door but I moved recently so I have to drive a few hours to get into elk country. I'm trying to figure out the proper cooler set up for 5-7 day elk hunts. I'm hoping for a solution that would allow me to pack an average sized colorado bull out of the woods to the truck, put it on ice, and go back in to fill a buddies tag... My thought is the following:

High dollar (yeti,orion,engle, etc) 65 quart cooler
+
Cheap 125 quart cooler

The 65 quart will be filled to the brim with ice so it will hopefully have ice 4-5 days later if I show up with an elk on my back. I would split the meat and ice between the empty 125 qt and the 65 qt coolers to head back in to hunt for another ~1-3 days.

I've talked with cooler companies who haven't been able to give me an idea of what I need.

I'm also thinking about what to fill the 65 quart cooler with so I have the most ice possible to cool an elk off. I'm thinking frozen water bottles and block ice. Thoughts?

 

[ckleeves]

I'm not sure how much ice you would have left after a few days after putting the meat on it. I think the temp the meat was at when it went in would play a huge role.

Everyday at work we start the day with a 65qt RTIC filled to the top with ice, water bottles and Gatorade. If it's really hot and guys are rotating warm ish bottles in for everyone they take out the ice will be gone by noon sometimes.

 

[Eagle]

I would suggest having ice in both coolers from the start, frozen coke bottles or milk jugs have worked well for me. I would also have a couple bags of ice in each cooler, but I would leave them intact.

Upon returning to the vehicle with meat, I'd remove the bags of ice, and put the meat on top of the jugs to suspend the meat off the bottom and keep it relatively dry; then I'd break up the ice bag and pour it over the top of the meat. Having ice in both coolers prior to putting meat in them will allow them to cool the meat more efficiently, and maintain more ice after the warmer meat is thrown in.

I'd also look into filling up all the empty cooler space available, prior to meat being thrown in, with some type of expanding material (cheap sleeping bag works great). This will decrease the amount of air/space in the cooler and in turn, decrease the amount of ice lost. After you throw the meat in the coolers, and remove the sleeping bag, you can then drap it over the top of the cooler for an added layer of insulation.

With this method, I don't think the more expensive coolers are necessary. On a wyoming mule deer hunt, I left Alabama with a 100 qt. cheap cooler full of jugs and bagged ice on a thursday. Drove to Wyoming, killed my mule deer and packed it out the next tuesday, and made it back to alabama the next thursday, and the majority of the ice was still intact, and the milk jugs were still 75% frozen.

 

[Gorp2007]

I'm not sure how much ice you would have left after a few days after putting the meat on it. I think the temp the meat was at when it went in would play a huge role.

Everyday at work we start the day with a 65qt RTIC filled to the top with ice, water bottles and Gatorade. If it's really hot and guys are rotating warm ish bottles in for everyone they take out the ice will be gone by noon sometimes.

But that's starting with loose ice, opening the cooler frequently throughout the day, and putting warm drinks in to cool off.

OP, I'd recommend you freeze a couple of one gallon milk jugs and and fill a cheap cooler with them. Put the cooler in the shade somewhere and see how much ice is left at 3, 5, and 7 days. If the blocked ice holds up, you can get by with just two cheap 125-qt coolers. If not, maybe start looking at an expensive version.

Like Eagle said, keep both coolers full of ice. Milk jugs are a lot cheaper than a new Yeti.

 

[rk_trad]

I'm not sure how much ice you would have left after a few days after putting the meat on it. I think the temp the meat was at when it went in would play a huge role.

Everyday at work we start the day with a 65qt RTIC filled to the top with ice, water bottles and Gatorade. If it's really hot and guys are rotating warm ish bottles in for everyone they take out the ice will be gone by noon sometimes.

Ya i know the ice would go very quick once meat hit it but as long as I can cool that meat off enough to just get some more time in semi-ideal temperatures for storing it while i go try to fill another tag. Am i foolish to think I could cool it down enough to make a difference you think?

 

[rk_trad]

But that's starting with loose ice, opening the cooler frequently throughout the day, and putting warm drinks in to cool off.

OP, I'd recommend you freeze a couple of one gallon milk jugs and and fill a cheap cooler with them. Put the cooler in the shade somewhere and see how much ice is left at 3, 5, and 7 days. If the blocked ice holds up, you can get by with just two cheap 125-qt coolers. If not, maybe start looking at an expensive version.

Like Eagle said, keep both coolers full of ice. Milk jugs are a lot cheaper than a new Yeti.

You just overkill the hell out of space to make up for all that volume of milk jugs (like 2x 150qt coolers)? I'll search youtube to see if anyone's done that experiment for me yet.

Thanks

 

[Brendan]

Yeti Tundra 160. Fill with loose bag ice in Boston MA on a Thursday. Drive to Wyoming on a Friday arriving on a Sunday. Two weeks from when the cooler was filled with ice - it was still half full when I finally got my bull. Cooler sits under a topper in the back of my truck the whole time, and I try not to open it very much - except when I need a little ice for a glass of scotch....

With that said - I'd just get 2x85QT Coolers, or 3x65's if I was doing it again. The 160 is just too damn big.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Two 120qt coleman extreme coolers from walmart. Load 100-120lb of block ice into ONE and keep it shut until needed. Why one? More cold thermal mass versus exposed cooler surface area, its more efficient. When a bull shows up put 50-60lb of block ice in the bottom of each and put 1/2 an elk into each cooler on top. I've done this in Oct putting a bull on ice after 5days and then it was 5 more days before I was home and got it all processed there was still a couple pounds of ice left.

I see ZERO need to run any of the high dollar coolers if they are merely sitting in your truck waiting for game meat. Weight isn't a premium so just load with more ice to make up for the marginal performance difference and they aren't in a raft or on a pack animal where bombproof latches are needed. You can buy two 120qt coolers and a lifetime supply of ice for the cost of one of the fancy coolers...

 

[rk_trad]

Two 120qt coleman extreme coolers from walmart. Load 100-120lb of block ice into ONE and keep it shut until needed. Why one? More cold thermal mass versus exposed cooler surface area, its more efficient. When a bull shows up put 50-60lb of block ice in the bottom of each and put 1/2 an elk into each cooler on top. I've done this in Oct putting a bull on ice after 5days and then it was 5 more days before I was home and got it all processed there was still a couple pounds of ice left.

I see ZERO need to run any of the high dollar coolers if they are merely sitting in your truck waiting for game meat. Weight isn't a premium so just load with more ice to make up for the marginal performance difference and they aren't in a raft or on a pack animal where bombproof latches are needed. You can buy two 120qt coolers and a lifetime supply of ice for the cost of one of the fancy coolers...

Where the hell do you even get a 100 lb block of ice? Ice sculptors? lol

 

[rk_trad]

Yeti Tundra 160. Fill with loose bag ice in Boston MA on a Thursday. Drive to Wyoming on a Friday arriving on a Sunday. Two weeks from when the cooler was filled with ice - it was still half full when I finally got my bull. Cooler sits under a topper in the back of my truck the whole time, and I try not to open it very much - except when I need a little ice for a glass of scotch....

With that said - I'd just get 2x85QT Coolers, or 3x65's if I was doing it again. The 160 is just too damn big.

Would you fill all of them with ice if you were to do it? or just fill 1 85 qt full and then leave one empty?

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Where the hell do you even get a 100 lb block of ice? Ice sculptors? lol

The ice coolers at my grocery store have 10lb blocks next to the 10lb and 20lb loose bags. I feel like the block don't melt as fast but never imperially tested it. Secondary effect is when putting the quarters on top of a layer of block ice is that it holds the meat above the water from the melting ice (which I drain, I'm not in the water bath the meat camp). Loose ice does also to an extent but I like the structure of the block ice, and also as noted I think it lasts longer (in my head at least ).

Long story short for seasonal use in a cooler sitting in a truck ice is cheap compared to an very expensive and only marginally better high end cooler...

Edit: as you've gathered its in 10lb increments, not a 100lb single block. Yes that would be an interesting find...

 

[Vids]

Ice melting is a function of temperature difference and mass. Mass is the key here, you can't control the temperature difference which is based on the air temperature outside the cooler. Large blocks of ice will take longer to melt because they have more mass. The best way is to load the cooler as full as possible with ice blocks and they will last longer than cube ice. A cooler full of cube ice has a lot of air in between the cubes taking up space, reducing the mass of ice in the cooler as opposed to blocks. (I remember this from calculating temperature and state change in college, but that was a long time ago and couldn't tell you the exact equation now)

That's not to say that cube ice isn't useful. It will fill all the nooks and crannies around your quarters after you put them in. Maybe the best solution is to go 80% blocks and 20% cubed, something like that.

If you want to do an experiment at home - Take two different volumes of water (say 1 cup and 1 gallon), put them in the freezer and see which one freezes first. 1 cup will freeze faster, because there is less mass for the freezer to cool down and change the state of water from liquid to solid.

 

[Brendan]

Would you fill all of them with ice if you were to do it? or just fill 1 85 qt full and then leave one empty?

You'd need to test it to see how long ice lasts in the 85... The Yeti was expensive - but i got a good discount on it and it has been shockingly amazing for how long it's kept ice, and I've used it to haul two bulls across country now. The ice longevity is probably because there's so much of it and I generally keep it closed until I need it.

 

[cuerro viejo]

I'm always used to elk hunting out my back door but I moved recently so I have to drive a few hours to get into elk country. I'm trying to figure out the proper cooler set up for 5-7 day elk hunts. I'm hoping for a solution that would allow me to pack an average sized colorado bull out of the woods to the truck, put it on ice, and go back in to fill a buddies tag... My thought is the following:

High dollar (yeti,orion,engle, etc) 65 quart cooler
+
Cheap 125 quart cooler

The 65 quart will be filled to the brim with ice so it will hopefully have ice 4-5 days later if I show up with an elk on my back. I would split the meat and ice between the empty 125 qt and the 65 qt coolers to head back in to hunt for another ~1-3 days.

I've talked with cooler companies who haven't been able to give me an idea of what I need.

I'm also thinking about what to fill the 65 quart cooler with so I have the most ice possible to cool an elk off. I'm thinking frozen water bottles and block ice. Thoughts?

Don't over think it, ice and then put two dry ice blocks on top.
At the End of the day you are just trying to get meat to a store so you can incase meat with more ice.
I have a really big cooler and deep freeze so I make my own ice buckets/blocks then add dry ice. I went 14 days last year.

space out the meat between coolers so it can chill, the more ice the lower the meat temp will be.

 

[oldgoat]

Whatever you end up doing, covering what ever coolers you have with a cheap sleeping bag greatly increases the time it holds ice, even opening it fairly regularly. I use 2L pop bottles to make ice, works great and lasts well

 

[5MilesBack]

I run a 200qt marine rotomolded cooler and a Coleman Xtreme 120qt filled with frozen milk jugs. They will easily last 10+ days in these coolers. I put the meat in the 200qt because I have it, but I wouldn't hesitate to use two Coleman 120's.

 

[Beendare]

3 of the cheap 5 day medium size coolers with dry ice gets an elk home ice cold. Use a couple layers of grocery bag next to the dry ice. IMO, Those really big coolers get so heavy you can't move them.

I've had ice last 7 days in those cheap coolers if you aren't opening the lid all the time. You can find those 5 day coolers in the off season for $25 or less in a lot of places.

 

[mcseal2]

Anyone tried filling one of the rotomolded coolers partially full of water, sticking it in a deep freeze with the lid open, and making the bottom of it into a block of ice before a hunt? I didn't know if they were tough enough to withstand the water freezing and expanding or not and don't want to ruin one trying. I recently got a Grizzly 165 I'll be hauling meat in if I'm successful this fall.

I have used block ice in the past I got from the store or made in jugs. I have always had cheaper coolers or a freezer for packing meat before, just got this good one. I have a Magellan 25 and Yeti 65 I've used quite a bit. They do well when kept closed and pre-chilled. The night before I load my Yeti 65 with ice and beverages or food for a trip I put a bag of ice in it that I'll remove/drain the next morning. Having the inside of the cooler already cold when I pack it full of stuff makes a huge difference, as does having the beverages in the fridge until the hit the cooler. Those good coolers hold heat just like they do cold so if the interior of the cooler is hot it will melt ice chilling it down. If you buy cubed ice from a convenience store it's worth throwing it in your freezer overnight too when possible to freeze it harder. Some convenience stores ice coolers don't seem cold enough.

 

[GKPrice]

I'm always used to elk hunting out my back door but I moved recently so I have to drive a few hours to get into elk country. I'm trying to figure out the proper cooler set up for 5-7 day elk hunts. I'm hoping for a solution that would allow me to pack an average sized colorado bull out of the woods to the truck, put it on ice, and go back in to fill a buddies tag... My thought is the following:

High dollar (yeti,orion,engle, etc) 65 quart cooler
+
Cheap 125 quart cooler

The 65 quart will be filled to the brim with ice so it will hopefully have ice 4-5 days later if I show up with an elk on my back. I would split the meat and ice between the empty 125 qt and the 65 qt coolers to head back in to hunt for another ~1-3 days.

I've talked with cooler companies who haven't been able to give me an idea of what I need.

I'm also thinking about what to fill the 65 quart cooler with so I have the most ice possible to cool an elk off. I'm thinking frozen water bottles and block ice. Thoughts?

you must be talking of early or archery season ? here in OR I've never lost any elk meat to spoilage in rifle seasons and we've killed a shit ton of elk - got nervous a time or two but that was after 4 or 5 days hanging without nighttime freezes but never lost a pound

 

[rk_trad]

you must be talking of early or archery season ? here in OR I've never lost any elk meat to spoilage in rifle seasons and we've killed a shit ton of elk - got nervous a time or two but that was after 4 or 5 days hanging without nighttime freezes but never lost a pound

Ya archery season in CO