After the shot

[CP]

Is your pack blaze orange? I'm looking for ones now.

No, I don’t hunt modern rifle.  I do keep a blaze orange vest and HI-vis tape in my pack for marking spots, trails, etc.

[sirmissalot]

Last year for my elk hunt I brought a big white cooler full of frozen water in milk jugs. Worked great and I'm glad I planned ahead because it was HOT.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

One method of cooling your meat before the trip home we've used on remote summer hunts in Alaska is to put the meat in heavy duty plastic bags and seal them good and put the animal in a stream or lake or snow if it's available. Be sure not to allow water into the bag as this introduces bacteria to your meat.This gets the core temperature down good before you transport the meat.  Unless you're in extremely hot temps, this should keep it until you can get it home. Once cooled, get it out of the plastic bags and into game bags to get good air circulation. 

In Washington, you're usually not so far from a game locker that you can't get an animal there quickly enough to get it in a cooler without ruining the meat. Check out the area you're hunting in beforehand to see what's available.

But if you're hunting within a couple hours of home, I'd just get it there as fast as I could.

[fish vacuum]

Everyone should have a couple of coolers anyway. Try yard sales.
Have the coolers in the car with one or two milk jugs of ice in each. A large cooler will fit one boned out deer.

[ctwiggs1]

As far as quartering it out goes... There are a few different theories but here is mine:

Frankly I don't care about the cut of my deer.  Most of it goes through the grinder anyways.  I cut the meat down into whatever sizes will fit in my pack and I start walking.  It's kinda Jeffrey Dahmer-ish. 

As far as cooling it - my brother bought a fishing boat this year and YES ice gets expensive fast.  He started freezing zip lock bags full of water in his freezer.  I'll have to tell him about that saw dust trick - very cool!

Curtis

[Wose]

My wife and I needed a bunch of coolers for our outdoor wedding last year, and we had good luck finding them at Goodwill for just a few bucks.  We cleaned them out and they worked fine.