Hauling meat home

[dayhunt85]

Getting ready for the CO archery opener. Need a plan for getting meat the 14 hours back home. I have plenty of coolers but having to haul a bunch of empty coolers out and leave them locked up in my truck (tempting possible theft) sucks. A friend said to run to town and buy a small deep freeze and throw in some dry ice in, if we kill.

What have others done?

 

[cnelk]

Two words....
Dry Ice

 

[dayhunt85]

Two words....
Dry Ice

I believe you are kind of missing my point...

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[N2TRKYS]

Carry the coolers

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Get some low cost 120qt Coleman coolers from Walmart if worried about theft (or buy them when you kill something if you want to hold off).

 

[camping1601]

Fill those empty coolers with your gear and food during the trip out. I had one of those 120 qrts rigged up to hold two bows and some gear.

 

[ST52v]

I have heard of guys buying garbage cans and a cheap Wal-Mart sleeping bag. Put the can in the sleeping bag to insulate it.

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[cnelk]

I believe you missed my point.
You can put cooled down meat in just about anything as long as it's kept cool.
Like a cardboard box and a plastic bag. Add dry ice, wrap your sleeping bag around it and drive home.
14 hrs ain't nothing unless you take a scenic route.

 

[rayporter]

i build a cooler in the front of my trailer every year with insulation i bought in 1984 on a hunt.

a piece on the floor and one on the side and an end for a 3 sided cooler. meat is put in with dry ice and gear is thrown on top. the meat will be frozen in 20 hours and stay frozen for another day. a plastic or wood box would do as well. a pick up with a topper would be easy to do the same.

as cnelk said use card board and a plastic tarp or painters cloth. we ship meat on the airline back from alaska in cardboard this way.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

I carry coolers most times. On more than one occasion I have purchased coolers after shooting something. Never have used dry ice...never had to.

 

[dayhunt85]

I believe you missed my point.
You can put cooled down meat in just about anything as long as it's kept cool.
Like a cardboard box and a plastic bag. Add dry ice, wrap your sleeping bag around it and drive home.
14 hrs ain't nothing unless you take a scenic route.

Gotcha. I miss understood what you where getting at there. Thanks for the feedback.

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[Takem]

I would agree to bring the coolers. We've never had trouble on trips up to and longer than 14 hours. We put the cooler in the shade out of site of the truck to keep the ice as cool as possible.

 

[jmez]

I just bring coolers. I've always just left them in the back of the truck and not worried about them. Never had one stolen and don't really worry about that. Could always just pick a couple cheap ones up in town on your way out if worried about them. 14 hour trip a few bags of ice and cheap coolers will be fine.

 

[ChrisC]

If you're worried about a 14 hour drive, maybe I should be more concerned than i am with my 31 hour drive. my plan was either dry ice or frozen jugs of water to keep the meat cool. I would think it should last at least several days like that. certainly hoping so.

 

[ndbwhunter]

I usually fill gallon milk jugs with water throughout the summer and freeze them. Once my departure date rolls around I fill the PRE-CHILLED coolers with the jugs and off I go. I've left them in the coolers for up to 7 days and the jugs were still 3/4 ice. This is with the 120qt coleman xtreme.

You can always add more ice as you go....It's not like you won't have to stop for gas.

 

[wapitibob]

14 hours is nothing, less than a days drive. Two 120qt coolers will get you home just fine. Use one for a dry box on the way to the hunt.

 

[paleraider]

You can always add more ice as you go....It's not like you won't have to stop for gas.

I met a few people out at the gas station where I hunt last year and they were pretty heart broken in that there was no ice to be had, anywhere, for like 50 miles in any direction. So might get some before going in depending on how many stores are in your area and how many hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts there will be at that time of year.

 

[cnelk]

Man, I tell ya, dry ice is the way to go.
A 2lb piece will last many hours in a cooler or insulated box.

If you arent familiar with using dry ice, go down to the store and get a piece and experiment with your cooler.
Its advantages include lower temperature than that of water ice and not leaving any residue (other than incidental frost from moisture in the atmosphere).
Just be sure to bring leather gloves to handle it with

Also,
dry ice gives CO2 so be sure not to sleep where it is stored and not vented

Here is a helpful link - Dry Ice Safety | How to use Dry Ice Safely

 

[Burnsie]

I built one and slide in the back of my van or pickup. 4+ inches of insulation that was thrown out on a job site.

 

[dah605]

I drove from Montana to Pennsylvania last fall with a processed, but not frozen, elk. I had it split between two coolers, 110qt and 65qt. I had lots of room on the top where I added a couple layers of heavy cardboard (to prevent the top layer of meat from getting freezer burnt) and then placed a decent amount of dry ice on top.

I left on Wed around lunch time and it was Friday afternoon by the time I got home. The top 1/2 was frozen solid and the bottom 1/2 was well on its way to being frozen. I still had dry ice in the coolers. The trick is to not open them at all.

I've started to collect milk jugs to fill and freeze based on Randy Newberg's suggestion.

-David