Washington Moose: Meat Care

[HereDuckyDucky]

Thinking more about logistics for my wife's moose hunt. We typically process all our own meat, but we will be three hours from our meat shop. Assuming she manages to shoot her moose in October, how would you guys go about getting the moose back to the shop?

My initial thought was to quarter, de-bone, and hang while we go and check out of the hotel and purchase ice. Then transfer in large, open coolers over a bed of ice. Or, as crazy as it sounds, fill the truck bed with ice, and lay meat bags on top keeping them exposed to air for the drive. I've contemplated transporting it whole, but I'm just not sure that will be an option.

How would others do it.

RW

[WapitiTalk1]

RW, why not just get the boned out meat (in your big ol’ block iced coolers) to a local processor and pay the nominal fee to have it cut, wrapped, and frozen for transport back to your ranch?

[jrebel]

We bring ours back from Canada in freezers and very large coolers.  Quater it and hange it to cool if the weather will allow.  Then place in big coolers and travel home, it will be fine.  Moose have a ton of really large muscle groups.  Make sure if you are leaving it on the bone that you open the muscle goups with a nife to allow them to cool.....especially on the front hump and hinds.  A butcher in canada used an 8" fillet knife to do it and said it is a must so you don't spoil any meat. 

If the weather is warm and you cannot cool it quickly, maybe find a cooler that will let you hange it over night.  Once cool you can easily make the 3 hour ride home. 

[WapitiTalk1]

jrebel knows what he’s talking about. If you’re hell  bent for leather to bring it home to process, follow his lead. You could also get some dry ice, suspend it ABOVE the meat, in a chunk of cotton fabric, in the coolers (or super cool homemade wood box lined with styrofoam) and get it home that way.  It’ll be froze solid within hours.

[Karl Blanchard]

Game meat is pretty bomb proof stuff. Once it has initially cooled you've got a lot of time. As Jrebel said, let it hang and cool off and then just load in coolers, toss some ice bags on it and go home. 3hrs is a pretty short drive. If you don't want to spend a small fortune on coolers, get some big rubbermaid totes. They stack together, don't cost much, and for a short 3hr drive they will contain meat and ice just fine. I've done it with elk before. Good luck this fall

[Jason]

We bring ours back from Canada in freezers and very large coolers.  Quater it and hange it to cool if the weather will allow.  Then place in big coolers and travel home, it will be fine.  Moose have a ton of really large muscle groups.  Make sure if you are leaving it on the bone that you open the muscle goups with a nife to allow them to cool.....especially on the front hump and hinds.  A butcher in canada used an 8" fillet knife to do it and said it is a must so you don't spoil any meat. 

If the weather is warm and you cannot cool it quickly, maybe find a cooler that will let you hange it over night.  Once cool you can easily make the 3 hour ride home.

How many coolers for one average size moose?

[cle elum bowhunter]

When I got my Selkirk bull it was HOT.  I had preplanned and had an apple bin on my motorcycle trailer that I had lined with foam board insulation.  It was not water tight so as ice melted there was no pooling of water around meat.  We pulled front and hinds off whole and boned everything else and threw it all in game bags.  I keep an inventory or about 12 large game bags.  As quickly as we could get out of the woods to Newport, I then basically layered meat and about 40 bags of ice into the apple bin.  Pretty much cleaned out the ice supply at the mini mart.   Covered all that with an old sleeping bag and moving blanket and then a tarp, silver side up straped over that.  Broke down camp the next morning, transit home and another overnight and second morning after kill ended up with very cool meat and even some ice still left when we got it to the butcher.  Ice was the most expensive investment to that transport method.  Nowadays the nice plastic apple bins might provide some insulative properties too.

[HereDuckyDucky]

Luckily, I already have four large (150qt) coolers, and I have some (3-4) large totes I can use as backup. Sounds like my initial plan will work out fine. Thanks for all the input!

RW

PS And yes, I am a glutton for punishment when it comes to processing my own meat.

[Karl Blanchard]

Luckily, I already have four large (150qt) coolers, and I have some (3-4) large totes I can use as backup. Sounds like my initial plan will work out fine. Thanks for all the input!

RW

PS And yes, I am a glutton for punishment when it comes to processing my own meat.

  You are not alone when it comes to the meat processing. It is a superior product 100% of the time.