Getting it home

[Wanderer]

going on our first out of state hunt.  Elk tag in arizona late november.  driving down.  assuming we have good luck - looking for suggestions on how to get the meat back.  should i just take a bunch of coolers down or ??

[vandeman17]

Get it cooled quick, debone it and get it on ice. Should be good to go

[lokidog]

Easier is to buy U-haul boxes as needed and line with foam from Home depot.  Works great and doesn't take up room on the way there.

[Guy]

I hunt Wyoming every two or three years. What I do is take a couple of coolers in my rig.

Once I tag my game I take it to the local meat processor and have it cut, wrapped and frozen while I do a little photography or fly fishing for a day or two. Pick up the meat, pack the coolers with it, and drive home. Once I had a delay in the trip home and it was almost three days from the time I picked up the meat and the time I got home.

The meat was still frozen solid as rocks when I got home! Good coolers, packed tight, frozen meat and if you want to get real good about it, some dry ice in the coolers helps too. I just came home with a mule deer and a pronghorn, it's about 900 miles. The deer was in one cooler, the pronghorn in the smaller cooler and all was well, once again. I've brought home I think: 2 pronghorn, 4 mule deer, and 1 elk over the years. Wyoming has been good to me.

Regards, Guy

[Guy]

Oh, and it's well worth reviewing the CWD regulations... Prohibiting transport of brain & spine across state lines.

This one perplexed me for a bit until I made contact with a taxidermist near where I hunt. Now he takes the heads, mounts them, and ships them to me several months later when complete. It's all very legal and safe. You're not going to get caught with a nasty CWD deer skull in your rig along the way.

[actionshooter]

I have done what guy has recommended a few times hunting in Colorado, seems to be the best way I have found.