Every year, after the season is done, we all have about 350 days to come up with new ideas to make camp better the next year. Thought i would share one that came up this year from on of my buddies, that made camp even better. May be old to some, new to others, however my thoughts were it may be helpful to others!
This summer, one of my hunting partners talked to me about bringing a small chest freezer to elk camp. He had an old one that easily fit in the back of his pick up, with wise ( would hold 3 boned out elk). After looking into trying to convert it into propane, etc, we did some summer experimentation with frozen 1 gallon milk jugs and realized we could keep it quite cold with enough frozen ice for several days.
Our plan was simple; freeze the ice, transport to base camp, cover with a tarp and when we got an animal down we would bring it back, insert into the freezer, and run the generator over night to help with the warming spike, then when we got another down, repeat the process.
I have to tell you this worked like a charm, we kept my elk and another partners bear in there for a week. It never got above 40 degrees. The last day at camp we set did a cut and wrap ( nice that one partner is a butcher) assembly line and knocked out both animals in about 4 hours.
This saved me not only gas to the nearest butcher who we usually use do to hot weather conditions (the Dalles Oregon), however also saved tremendously in the actual butchering cost. I recon we saved at least 200-400 over all.
whats has been the best for you all?
