Tips tricks and technic to keep your meat cool on the way home

[killer_shot]

In the past I've quartered deer in early season and put in a cooler for ride home but it doesn't make for best butchering. Later when the weather is cool and it has time to set up I usually keep a deer whole wrapped in game bag then tarp and high tale it back home. One time though came home on sunday to 20c weather had no cooler to put it in and was spoiled before i could get to the cutter.
With the weather this year who knows.

Please share your tips on transporting your meat and keeping it cool when temp spikes.

[bearheart]

put quarters in cloth game bags, stop at first source of ice. buy 10-20 bags of ice ( depends on amount of meat deer/caribou vs. elk/moose.pre purchase box of garbage bags from costco. put ice in garbage bags, tie securely. place these bags under and on top of meat. drive like crazy to the coast, big smile on face, stopping only to onload and offload coffee. viola!

[adamgarbett]

I heard of filling the bed of your truck with ice cover it with sawdust then a tarp meat then another tarp..........??

[Mikey Rafiki]

Best to try and cool it off before you head out. Nearest creek or river for 20 minutes. Debone or make a big cut into the hinds to the bone and let the cold water get in there. I always have a big Rubbermaid type container with all my clothes and sleeping bags that doubles as an ice box if I need it.

Always take the hide off! Went to the butchers in town last week to get my elk and there was a whole elk in the back of some guys truck, 27 degrees outside middle of day! I know it seems "cool" to bring one out whole for some people but it only takes a couple minutes to peel them quarters off and skin it. Butcher was mad because they had no room to skin it so I'm guessing they sat in the hot parking lot skinning that hot elk. Really cool.

[Big Lew]

Most of my deer for the last many years have been shot in hot weather. Gutting, skinning, quartering, and game bagging, immediately followed by finding the coolest place to hang for awhile until the body heat diminishes before transporting has always worked for me without tainted meat. Usually a gully or ravine on the north side of a mountain has a cool breeze compared to the surrounding area. On those occasions where I knew this wasn't possible, I have left the hide on after gutting and put the carcass in a stream, rotating every few minutes until the body cooled. I then removed it, skinned, quartered, and bagged.
Other than not skinning immediately, storing the carcass in your vehicle right away without allowing it to cool down is probably one of the worst things to do.

[Downwind]

For the drive down, cut some pecker poles and lay them in the bed of the truck, put meat on top. Keeps exhaust heat away and get good air circulation that will keep the meat cool. Other then that call your butcher BEFORE you are heading home so you have a place to take it or can make other arrangements. We generally alway let the meat hang for a couple days before we head home, if we can, to make sure everything is cooled properly.

[GotaGun]

Have stopped at gas station to get bags of ice to pack around animal.
Friends have stopped at an ice rink and shovel ed snow on top of tarp covering animal.

[cambo]

i hang it in my walkin cooler mounted on my trailer :wink:

[Stone Sheep Steve]

In the past I've quartered deer in early season and put in a cooler for ride home but it doesn't make for best butchering.

Why doesn't it make for the best butchering??
When I butcher my deer I don't put the whole deer on the counter......it's usually only one quarter at a time.

Just did this with my daughters deer. Hung and skinned it in the bush and let it cool overnight. Then removed the quarters and rest of the meat.....and into the cooler with ice blocks during the day when temps were high.

SSS

[adamgarbett]

My butcher loves a quartered and clean animal......usually saves me a buck or two aswell

[quaint bucket]

Have stopped at gas station to get bags of ice to pack around animal.
Friends have stopped at an ice rink and shovel ed snow on top of tarp covering animal.

That makes me want to throw up, to be honest. Ice rink snow is not good at all, even if you have a tarp covering the animal. Think about all that spit, vomit, piss, and blood just sitting in the snow and melting over and around your meat.

And it's supposedly edible. I'm just saying as a zamboni driver.

[Fred1]

As mentioned, air flow is important! Cut a bunch of willow and get your meat up off the bed of your truck! Air flow! get ice in and around the meat ASAP!! When stacked hot, meat will cook itself fast! Personally when its warm out I will never load a kill until it has cooled - and then on willows and head for the ice machine!

[Big Lew]

" Personally when its warm out I will never load a kill until it has cooled"
Like I said, this point can't be empathized enough. I have seen it so many times by hunters that think
everything is all right....meanwhile their prize is cooking itself to ruination.

[270ruger]

Go pick up a box of large first aid instant cold packs.Activate them and fill the cavity up gives you time to get to town to get ice blocks,they're good for a couple of years.

[6pt_elk_wannabe]

Wrap up the deer in cheese cloth, tie it off, make sure nothing can get inside and make sure it's free of bugs. Next step is to wrap it in a tarp then tie it up, then you pack ice blocks inside the body cavity (with the tarp still covering the deer so it doesn't get wet) and on the outside around the quarters. Then you wrap it up in
another tarp and tie it up.

[Sitkaspruce]

When I was guiding, I would have clients bring palets and old sleeping bags.

Quarter the meat and get them in game bags. To get them home in their vehicle, place the meat on the palets to keep them off the truck box due to the heat of the exhaust and to allow air to circulate underneath. Stop at the first store and grab a bunch of block ice and place around the meat, but not on it. Cover with the old sleeping bags to keep the cold in, change the ice when ever the blocks get down to half or so.

This has worked for guys who have to drive to Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado and North Dakota.

Cheers

SS