My trip..... Meat care.

[Bukwild3]

I'm going to Wyoming in October to hunt antelope. My uncle and I both have 3 tags a piece. 2 bucks 4 does. If we are successful in filling all the tags we will be handling a decent amount of meat. On top of that we are thinking about doing a rabbit hunt one day if possible which means another 20 potential rabbits. It's going to take me 26-28 hrs to get home. I have 12 days to make the trip happen. I also have reserved a room in a near buy town for 7 days. With all that being said. How would you suggest handling the meat over the trip as we will probably want to do some sight seeing also. Was thinking about bringing a freezer but have reservations about rolling a freezer into the lobby of the hotel. I know of a placr to get dry ice but it's only one place and is about 45 mins away and that's if the rest of the hunters don't buy it out. Any help solveing this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JohnCushman]

I would suggest block ice and some dry ice and duct taping your coolers shut. It has worked for me in the past in relatively high heat. I would also leave your cooler of meat at the hotel in the air conditioning.

 

[glass eye]

While at a motel 6 in Wyoming during antelope season, I saw a truck that backed into his parking space next to his room and had an extension cord going from his chest freezer to a crack in his window. Just get a ground floor room.

 

[Bukwild3]

I would suggest block ice and some dry ice and duct taping your coolers shut. It has worked for me in the past in relatively high heat. I would also leave your cooler of meat at the hotel in the air conditioning.

How long will antelope keep before it needs to frozen?

 

[Bukwild3]

While at a motel 6 in Wyoming during antelope season, I saw a truck that backed into his parking space next to his room and had an extension cord going from his chest freezer to a crack in his window. Just get a ground floor room.

I will call them today!

 

[Coyotes-R-Us]

At 90* not quite a day.


We have a "dorm" refrigerator and a small chest freezer we take in the back of the truck and a good size generator.
For extended hunting/ fishing trips.

 

[Bukwild3]

At 90* not quite a day.


We have a "dorm" refrigerator and a small chest freezer we take in the back of the truck and a good size generator.
For extended hunting/ fishing trips.

Do you just leave the freezer in the truck when at the hotel

 

[JV842]

I'm a meat processor on the side; make sure n get hide off, clean ur quarters n meat off, cool meat thoroughly before freezing. If u freeze it before it is all the way cooled down the inner portions will still be warm and spoil. I have shot elk in Colorado September/October, taken the cooled quarters n place them in ice chests, put news paper on top, then a couple blocks of dry ice. Drove home from there all the way to San Antonio; where still high 90's in area, meat frozen.

 

[JohnCushman]

I've kept meat on ice for up to 5 and 6 days in high temps in a duct taped cooler with block and dry ice.

 

[maxx]

My 8 year old shot a hog in TX on Thursday. It stayed in zip locks on ice until Sunday. It was perfectly fine when we got home.

 

[JohnCushman]

I don't think high temps are going to be too much of an issue in October. You can probably get an extra day or two on ice in coolers that time of year.

 

[1_pointer]

I've kept meat in a cooler with ice for up to a week with no problem. Just keep it cold and drained often to keep it as dry as possible.

 

[6mm Remington]

When we go to Lewistown antelope and deer hunting, we take two or three large coolers each. I usually like to process my own game, but on trips like this, I truly enjoy the convenience and not having to rush to deal with meat care when I get home. We take our animals into a local processor daily as we make harvests. We plan on an extra couple days in our trip also. We have the processor cut, wrap, and freeze our game. We pick up the frozen packaged meat and completely fill the coolers, the fuller the better. Put everything in the back of the truck and cover with an old sleeping bag or something. The meat is frozen rock hard still when we arrive at home. I imagine it would survive a 24 hour trip just as well as it does an 8 hour trip.

Best of luck.

 

[Coyotes-R-Us]

Yup

 

[Bukwild3]

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[oswald2581]

There is a group that comes out from Wisconsin every year where I go elk hunting. They bring two chest freezers and put them on the front of their ATV trailer. They fill with ice and run a generator for a few hours a day to keep it cold and frozen. After they shoot an animal they will hang the meat and air cool for as long as possible. They then pack the elk with the ice into the freezer and freeze with generator going. They drive half way and get a room where they run an extension cord to bring back down to temp over night. They say it works well for them.

 

[5Speedjim]

I use a local processor and get it cut up and froze. Pile it in coolers and add 10# of dri ice for every 24 hrs on the road.

 

[JDH]

I've kept meat in a cooler with ice for up to a week with no problem. Just keep it cold and drained often to keep it as dry as possible.

This is what we did with the addition of taking the heads/capes to a processor in town to have them frozen for around $20 total for 3 of them. They were slightly reluctant to take them due to them being busy but once they saw we had them wrapped up tightly it was ok. You might be able to do something like that for the meat since you will be staying in town anyways.