Storing meat in a cooler on pack in trips

[luger]

Hey all

Im looking for some input on a problem I’ve been having. Any advice or suggestions will be welcome.
I hunt mule deer in September and October and do several 4-5 day trips where I backpack in and set up camp. Then do day hunts from camp.
When I shoot a deer early on in the trip and I have to pack the meat back to my truck ( after a night to cool and hang) which has a large ( 110L ) cooler in it.
I know that it’s not great for meat to be moist in the cooler and the drier I can keep it the better
All my ice is frozen in water bottles but I find as the ice melts water forms on the bottles and gets the meat wet. What do you guys suggest for some kind of moisture barrier between the meat and ice? I know I can’t wrap the meat too much cause that would keep in heat but I need to improve on my method of storing meat

Thanks

[Redthies]

How far from home or a local butcher are you camped? Obviously the best thing for the meat would be to drive it to a butcher who can hang it in a locker asap. If you are so remote that that isn’t possible, and “need” to stay in camp to hunt some more (I totally get the desire to stay), you could try dry ice in the cooler?

[Ron.C]

I have done the same with spring bear and some early season deer (using 2L pop bottles as Ice Packs). I've never found it to be much of an issue. I wrap my meat in Yukon Game bags and the bags tend to absorb some of this condensation and the meat doesn't feel wet when I get it home.

I also leave the lid cracked tad and tent the cooler with a light sleeping bag if the meat is still even the slightest bit warm. If you don't, that trapped head makes for more condensation.

Splitting the meat between 2 coolers also helps allot.

[buckshot]

Place the water bottles in plastic bags individually. Bread bags would work fine. Ice in them will last longer and minimal condensation will ensue.

[AllDay]

Wouldn’t sept or oct be fine to hang the meat outside in the shade?

I have a large cooler and have a plastic grate (from old plastic shelving) that I use to separate my meat from the ice. Also have cut an old tote lid and drilled holes in it for a similar affect. Works to separate meat from ice and water

[Carrollizer]

Use an old BBQ grill or the like, to be the barrier between ice and meat

[moosinaround]

Air circulation is your friend!! Buck the hide off, open the meat up along the bones or debone. Then hang it in shade with good air movement. Early season elk/moose need this done, then to a cooler/meat locker! Getting the heat out of the meat is the answer, then air circulation!! Confined in a cooler with moist ice cools it for sure, but once cooled get air on it! Moosin

[whitlers]

Use an old BBQ grill or the like, to be the barrier between ice and meat

This!! I have done the same and it worked great to keep the meat from touching the ice directly.

I have also seen guys de bone meat and throw it straight into a cooler full of crushed ice. I can't see that turning out well but I could be wrong.

[Tim Tam Slam]

If you’re using a decent bit of dry ice on the top, I’ve found it actually freezes the meat, so moisture isn’t even an issue!.


2 cooler setup from top to bottom:

1st cooler:
- dry ice covered with newspapers at the top (cold air goes down to bottom of cooler)
- frozen milk jugs below or ice packs.

2nd cooler:
- leave empty

cover the cooler with ice with a blanket when you leave to hike.

bring meat back and disperse dry ice and milk jugs between the two coolers, put the dry ice on top and separate with news paper.

on a 4 day backpack hunt, left the truck in the sun for all of it, the dry ice was depleted 30% and milk jugs were frozen solid still.

^ id be confident in a 10 day with that. Cheaper too than converting a trailer to a freezer/cooler for moose etc.

you can scale it up too depending on how much meat you’re bringing out, ie: 4 cooler total, 2 full of ice/dry ice

[Rob Chipman]

I'm no expert but have never lost meat to heat. The practices I use are break it down (sometimes deboned, sometimes not) to get it cool right after the kill. I hang it in a shady spot (and have often put a good tarp/fly over top like a roof (as in, not draped over the meat, and lots of air movement under it).

When at higher elevations with no tall trees (packhorse trips is where I've done this) meat is deboned, bagged and we put it in packboxes in the creek. Worked ok. That's usually for overnight at one night camps.

I don't know about you but I bet you're the same - I keep a good eye on the meat from the time the animal hits the dirt to the time I vacuum seal the bag in the kitchen. I think being aware that something *could* go wrong helps you avoid a ton of problems. Anyway, I haven't had any meat loss due to heat. For sure in October, if I was in a place with some tall trees so I could get the meat squared away pretty well I wouldn't leave camp early to get it out.

[wsquared]

I faced a similar problem in fall of 2017. I had won a Rosie Elk hunt via WSSoBC, and had to figure out how to have chilled coolers in the back of the truck for the drive from Fort Nelson( no dry ice available) to Powell River. They would sit for up to 10 days and then drive home, hopefully full of elk. Some online research led me to lowering the freezing point of water in milk jugs using table salt.
Adding 100 g of table salt to 1.0 kg ( or 1.0L) of water lowers freezing point to -6 C.
Pre-cool coolers( Yeti/Engels) before trip, load as full as possible with frozen salty water milk jugs, use newspaper to take up ant excess space.
Keep out of sun, and cover up with wool blankets or insulated tarp.
Upon my return home 7 days later( I got lucky on opening morning)I still had frozen jugs able to partially freeze elk for 2 more days, before I was finished cutting it up.

[tyreguy]

Bingo - TTS has the right idea
Dry ice from Welding supply (Air Liquide) pack in cooler then fill the spaces.
Wrap coolers on outside with blanket (value village)
Had a large cooler full of ice after 8 days in over 35c in the back of my canopy. We would "make" ice in August hunting camp with the dry ice!!!!

If you’re using a decent bit of dry ice on the top, I’ve found it actually freezes the meat, so moisture isn’t even an issue!.


2 cooler setup from top to bottom:

1st cooler:
- dry ice covered with newspapers at the top (cold air goes down to bottom of cooler)
- frozen milk jugs below or ice packs.

2nd cooler:
- leave empty

cover the cooler with ice with a blanket when you leave to hike.

bring meat back and disperse dry ice and milk jugs between the two coolers, put the dry ice on top and separate with news paper.

on a 4 day backpack hunt, left the truck in the sun for all of it, the dry ice was depleted 30% and milk jugs were frozen solid still.

^ id be confident in a 10 day with that. Cheaper too than converting a trailer to a freezer/cooler for moose etc.

you can scale it up too depending on how much meat you’re bringing out, ie: 4 cooler total, 2 full of ice/dry ice