Best Way to Cool Meat Fast in Warm Weather

[Dravis]

Hunting early season, looking for real-world methods to cool meat fast and safely.

 

[Caseknife]

You need to sign up for Elk 101, will probably answer a lot of your questions.

 

[INMT]

Break the animal down fast and get it in a cooler.

 

[Doublecluck]

Pee on it, elk is 104 but human is 98. Gotta get the process started.

 

[wyoboypt]

Don’t cool it fast. Let it cool slowly with the hide on in the shade ideally. Throwing hot meat into an ice chest is dumb. The ice will melt then you have a nice breeding ground for more bacteria to grow.
If possible keep the animal whole. If you need to quarter it leave the hide on and hang in the shade while it cools. Keeps the meat clean and protects it from the sun during transport. I will bag it with the hide on if my pack out isn’t too tough. Then I will skin it in the evening and put it back in the bags.

Cooling meat fast forces you to keep it cool at that point. If you let it warm back up after it’s cooled, prepare to eat some gamey meat! Killed lots of antelope on warm days. We keep them whole (gutted obviously)with skin on until we get home in the evening, where we then hang and skin it. Never had a bad goat.

 

[wytex]

Bone it out, bag it and hang in it the shade so the wind can blow across the bags.

 

[2rocky]

California coastal blacktail season starts in July. Shade and air movement is primary first step. Along a stream in shady bottom of a canyon good start.

Form a good dry crust and when the sun goes down and temperatures drop it will be cool enough to to drop with it especially if skinned and quartered.