Freezer size needed for elk or moose

[Ry151]

I'm currently looking to replace my freezer and can't decide on what size to purchase. After a moose or elk has been butchered how many cubic feet do you think that meat will need or fill? Any advice would be great
Thanks

[Caveman]

I believe mine is a 22ft. I have gone to an upright and would never get a chest freezer again. So much easier to keep organized. I actually have two of these now. A average moose will fill it about 3/4 full for sure

[sneg]

have 21Ft. fits 3 moose sized animals de-boned.

[Steeleco]

For one moose of average size my 13 cu ft unit took nearly all of it with only a few pieces having to go into the fridge freezer.

[Riverratz]

Long time ago we used to have one large (I think it was about 18 cu. ft.), it worked well, but found that you had to almost be a trapeze artist/contortionist to dig anything out of the bottom, .........and, stuff at the bottom inevitably got missed or forgotten over time and thus wasted.
Then we switched to two smaller (12 and 8 cu. ft.) ones. Much better, no shortage of room/space, keeps things sorted out better, and when starting to get low, simply move everything into one of them and shut the other one down. Works for us. You can juggle with the sizes to fit your needs.
Freezers are half the price they used to be 20+ years ago.

[tash]

I have a 14 cu ft and find it small for deer and chickens....
We also have a 5 cu ft (about to replace it with a larger one) for fish and fruit/veggies.

I personally would never go to an upright as it's much tougher to fit in awkward sizes or shapes (like chickens!), and with my luck, I'd open the door and be knocked flat by a frozen turkey...

[tuchodi]

Like Caveman said get an upright and preferably a manual defrost which is the ones that have a freezing coil on each shelf. Meat will last longer with manual defrost than auto defrost. I have a 25 Cu Ft one and i can get three animals in it and still a little room for fish and chicken.

[pete_k]

around 15 better. Definately no smaller than the 10 or 12 range. Where you gonna put bread when you buy it on sale?
Uprights are nice, but a 15 cube upright will only hold a little better than 1/2 as much as a 15 cube chest. But ya gotta dig around in a chest.
i just got a nice used (like new cond) 15 from the kijiji for 150.
ps: Dont buy from the Brick.

[Darksith]

depends on the size of your moose. I just split up the moose we got, weighed 700lbs on the butchers hook, and half that moose filled my entire freezer. Mine is about 5'x3x3. I wouldn't buy another one that wasn't at least 7' wide...sorry don't remember the cu footage.

[white moose]

22 cubic feet. I shot a moose in the liard area that was 735lbs on the hook and filled the freezer, cut and wrapped.