Transporting Meat

[Darksith]

If you have your animal haning in a cooler, then take it out of the cooler and transport it say 16h in the back of a truck in say 20C temps...will it spoil that quickly?

The only reason I ask is that I have a local butcher that is a personal friend, and I can get my game cut and wrapped for nothing here, but if I am being risky with my prize then I won't even consider it.

Will be travelling from fort st john to kamloops basically fyi, non stop except for gas and food.

[NaStY]

Pack lots of ice in and around it or try to put it into coolers............

[mark]

If you have your animal haning in a cooler, then take it out of the cooler and transport it say 16h in the back of a truck in say 20C temps...will it spoil that quickly?

The only reason I ask is that I have a local butcher that is a personal friend, and I can get my game cut and wrapped for nothing here, but if I am being risky with my prize then I won't even consider it.

Will be travelling from fort st john to kamloops basically fyi, non stop except for gas and food.


I have done it before several times with quarters....."well chilled" in a meat cooler in chetwynd, load up early in the am, drive non stop to 30 degree heat in Kelowna and back to a meat cooler.....no problem!

[boxhitch]

no prob, make sure it is chilled to the bone.
Make sure it is insulated from the bed of the truck box, especially if you run a diesel, lots of heat under there. Styrofoam, cardboard, blankets all help.
Have done similar trips with warm meat, but wouldn't recommend it.

[270WIN]

I went up the alaska hwy a few years ago probly 8 or so and shot a nice bull moose later part of sept. the afternoon were hot so I took the bull to a local butcher, as I too had a preferd butcher in 100 mile are. The butcher on the alaska hwy hung it for me no problem. We went up 2 years later in aug. we shot 2 bull 2 days after opening and the weather was brutal hot and tones of flys. We took the moose to the butcher as we did before the only thing this time he would not only hang it. he would only take are animals if he cut it as well. needles to say after the butcher bill and the bill to ship the meat back to lower mainland the next time we went up the alaska hwy we had a big cooler one a trailer.

[budismyhorse]

make sure the meat stays dry.............you should be fine. Keep heat and moisture away from your prize......I've used wood pallets to put it on top of and loosely tarp it to the sides of the pallet just to cover it but still allow air to flow around the meat.......That was elk quarters though.

[Glassman]

Put chilled quarters on wood pallets. Pre freeze 10 or so 2 litre coke bottles and put into and on meat. Keep out of sun but best to drive at night and get to butcher 1st thing in morning. Don't have plastic tarp stick to meat. Had no problems coming back from way up north last year with elk.

[rcar]

I made a plywood box that fits into my truck easily and lined it with styrofoam then lined it with heavy plastic so the game "juices" don't make the box a bacteria farm. It's no 7 day cooler but perfect for meat transport. Pre chilled meat arrives home still nice and cool. Also you might want to ask your butcher buddy. Since meat is his world of expertise he will probably have the best advice and a few good ideas for safe transport.

I have actually wanted to ask my butcher about using dry ice. A few times I have wanted to stay a few days after taking my animal especially if you get him on the first day and you still have a few days "booked away from the family". Ice melts fast and tends to make keeping the game dry a pain. I have thought about putting a layer of dry ice in the bottom of the box and covering it with a heavy cloth but I am not sure if the evaporating CO2 will have an adverse affect on the meat....Anyone tried this?

[BearStump]

I just picked up a freezer for just this reason. Its going in the back of the pick up for this septembers hunt.

Shoot elk, quarter elk, put in freezer plugged in for 10 hrs or so, unplug, drive home.

[ianwuzhere]

if you can leave it at a cooler for a few dayz then it should be chilled to the bone and with the help of ice and wrapped nicely it should be ok..

[deezday]

we do it everyyear from up north to the island, make sure it is well chilled and then leave in late afternoon or in the evening when temps are cooler and drive all night and it should be fine.

[Caveman]

Quartered with tarps over the meat, blocks of ice placed on and around the quarters on pallets if you can get a couple to keep it of the ground. Works fine! But as said, needs to be well cooled before you want to try this

[Phil]

Take a deep freeze, generator and build a freezer regulator to hold your meat at 1 degree. I've done the trip twice at that time of year and wouldn't recomend going without this stuff. A flat or a breakdown could spoil everything.