Cooler capacity?

zacattack

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
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Michigan
Quick question. Trying to decide if I have enough cooler or need to get another. How much cooler space will a quartered/cut up antelope take?
 

Fitzwho

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Apr 18, 2017
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Midland, TX
Though it will fit in a 45-65qt, I live by the creed of "overkill is underrated". The smallest I would go would be around 75-80qt. This will hold part of an elk or a decent sized muley buck. I run a 120. I can put an entire (whole) antelope in it with room for plenty of ice.

Most Pronghorn seasons are during times of year that you need plenty of ice/packs to get and keep things cool.
 

bmf0713

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Jan 25, 2017
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Last year it was 80 degrees when we were hunting antelope. We brought 2 150qt coolers with us full of ice. When we got one down we would quarter it out and get it on ice right away. That ice would melt really fast with the warm meat so that why we had another cooler with ice. After deboning for hauling home we could fit 3-4 in a 150qt cooler with ice.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2017
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I can fit a quartered whitetail in my Igloo 120. I’ll load my Engel 80 with frozen jugs/ice and take an empty 120 for packing meat on ice and driving home.


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hutty

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Mar 12, 2018
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maryland
Used a yeti 65 the last four years and no problem fitting a quartered antelope in . Used frozen ice packs on top, ice on the bottom with the drain open .
 
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86indy

Lil-Rokslider
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Aug 5, 2019
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S. IL
Great info. Not to derail this post, but what is your favorite/most efficient form of icing the meat down after its in the cooler?
 

jimney

FNG
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Jul 5, 2018
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Location
Iowa
One thing I did in addition to the info above, is I bought a 120 qt cooler, bought some of that insulated wire shelving, trimmed off the legs and put rubber caps on them. Then I can put the meat into the cooler and the water stays off the meat. It makes putting a head into the cooler a little difficult if you're looking for a mount. There's something else for you to keep in mind, or at least we had to - a cooler for the head if you will be out for a while. We put the head into a bag and got it into the cooler, then took it to a local locker to freeze.
 
Joined
Aug 20, 2019
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Along with coolers, how do you pack the meat in there to age? Meat right on the ice or in the gamebags or in plastic?
 

archp625

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Jan 17, 2018
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St. Joseph, Missouri
I shot an antelope couple weeks ago that barely fit in my 45 qt yeti. That was packages meat with no ice and frozen. I drove back to northwest mo and messed with it the day after we got home. The meat was still rock solid.
 

Britt-dog

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Jul 19, 2016
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Cheney WA
For most hunts and fishing trips I take a small chest freezer and 1 or 2k generator. The freezer will get your meet cool very quickly while keeping it dry. Once cool you only have to turn it on a few minutes a day to keep it that way. Traveling to and from home I plug in at hotels or run the genny while driving. Did this last week for the Wyoming antelope opener. Brought home three in one freezer. The small ones only cost $100.00
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2017
Messages
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Location
Minnesota
Along with coolers, how do you pack the meat in there to age? Meat right on the ice or in the gamebags or in plastic?

I've not noticed a difference between having the meat in game bags or not in game bags while in the cooler. Any meat touching ice/water will get a little discolored whether in the bags or not. A barrier of plastic or tin foil can help with that, but make sure everything is cold before you add vapor barriers like that.

Having the meat out of the bags (just laying the quarters right in the cooler) makes it easier to arrange for good air circulation and efficient use of space. If you just plop the game bags in there, your backstraps are all balled up, bones poke into soft muscles, etc. Also, the flatter/thinner you can get your meat in the cooler, the faster it will chill to cooler temps. A big ball of meat takes a lot longer to get cold in the middle.

As for your original question. I just got back from Wyoming. Two hunters, filled three tags. We had a few coolers and lots of extra ice. You can fit a quartered (4 quarters plus backstraps and trim) antelope, plus ice, not counting the head, in a Lifetime 55qt easy, a little tight in a Yeti 50 (which is really only like 45qts). Three quartered antelope plus 5 frozen 1 gal jugs will fit in a Yeti 125.

If it's warm out, you'll need extra ice to cool the meat down fast. Plan to burn half your ice just doing that, in a separate cooler if possible. (If you shoot one in the evening and it'll be cool enough overnight (mid-40s or colder), or if it's cold enough during the day, hang it (or set it on the roof of the truck) until it's at ambient temp to save on ice.)

Having 3 coolers was nice for this as one held extra ice, one we used to chill the meat (frozen water bottles were nice for this as they can fit in irregular spots and can be used as camp water once melted), then moved the cold meat to the big third cooler for storage, that just had a layer of gallon jugs in the bottom, and all the cold meat on top. For the drive home, we had enough cooler space left over from the used-up ice that I was able to put the head of my buck in a cooler too.

One other note. We brought out two coolers filled with frozen 1 gallon water jugs, and the other filled with frozen 16oz water bottles. While the gallon jugs definitely hold ice the best (still frozen, over a week later now), they limit your packing/arranging/space utilization options within your cooler a lot. They take up so much space you just don't have very much flexibility, and can't fully capitalize on your cooler space. I think a sweet spot is probably half-gallon jugs.
 
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