keeping meat in a cooler

[piled-up]

not counting my chickens before they hatch but if i get lucky and get a cow after letting it cool the first night can i break it down and put it on ice if it gets to warm or should I get it to a meat locker?  hunts oct2 so could be warm still

[Todd_ID]

Meat will spoil if left in a cooler without question.  That being said: yes, you can use a cooler and ice effectively.  Only keep the meat on ice when the temps get too warm to leave it hanging in a cool creek bottom (maybe a couple hours a day).  Make sure to get the meat off ice and hanging in a cool dry place as often as possible.  The key to not losing meat is two-fold: one, you must get the original body heat out ASAP, and two, it needs to be dry with air able to circulate around it.  You can hang an elk in 70 degree days and 45 degree nights type of weather for a week as long as these conditions are met.  You can lose meat by putting a hind quarter in the snow if you don't meet these two conditions. 

[piled-up]

thanks todd id ,glad I asked, I would have guessed being in a cooler would be fine...guess not

[Hunterman]

If its worm out, get it out... Elk meat spoils quickly.. If I was to kill an elk in October, I would have it in a meat cooler as fast as I could.. The only time I that I have put meat in a cooler was when I hunted in Wyoming, and the temps were below 0 most of the time..It was boned out and had cooled for a few days,,and I covered it with snow..Best damn elk I ever ate..

Hunterman(Tony)

[lokidog]

If you are near a river with logging roads, under a bridge is a good place to hang it, shady and cool.

[Crunchy]

My opinion only but I have had no issues with any of the elk I have killed with keeping them in a cooler.  Longest was four days September hunts.  Layered ice and open drain plug slightly to let water/blood drain out.

[lokidog]

Oh yeah, I have kept meat, in plastic garbage bags, in the fridge for up to a week and had no problems.  Cooler with ice should be fine, just keep it from sitting in the ice water.

[bullcanyon]

If you do put your meat in a cooler. Put ice on the bottom with a garbage bag over the ice.  Than a canvas game bag over that.  Space the meat out over the bag.  I'd recommend rotating it every few hours or so.  Try and keep the meat from touching as much as possible.  Gotta keep it dry.  Very important to remove the moisture.

[MagKarl]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with those that say meat can't get wet.  Clean and cold quickly as possible is my rule.  I have two 150 quart coolers.  Those are my meat locker.  A deer fits in one, an elk I use both.  I put 6" of ice or so on the bottom, usually frozen milk jugs.  Then layer meat and ice until full.  I have no problem wasting a few bucks on ice.  Once home I park the coolers in the shade, tilted up a few inches to let the melt drain.  I add ice as necessary during the cutting phase to keep all meat covered.  I cut my own meat and it takes me several days to finish an elk.  Never had a single piece of bad meat treated this way. 

[Cylvertip]

If you are near a river with logging roads, under a bridge is a good place to hang it, shady and cool.

Then you won't have to worry about packing it home...  someone else will be more than happy to load it up and take it to their place

I have hung meat over a spring on the side of a road before though.  Hung it in the evening and had it back to the truck by 9:30 the next morning.  It was behind locked gates, and no one had drove passed the entire day while I butchered it right next to the road, so I figured it would be safe overnight.  Hanging from a bridge for more than an evening, and I would be worried it would grow legs.......

[runamuk]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with those that say meat can't get wet.  Clean and cold quickly as possible is my rule.  I have two 150 quart coolers.  Those are my meat locker.  A deer fits in one, an elk I use both.  I put 6" of ice or so on the bottom, usually frozen milk jugs.  Then layer meat and ice until full.  I have no problem wasting a few bucks on ice.  Once home I park the coolers in the shade, tilted up a few inches to let the melt drain.  I add ice as necessary during the cutting phase to keep all meat covered.  I cut my own meat and it takes me several days to finish an elk.  Never had a single piece of bad meat treated this way. 

actually this sounds like an extremely sensible and easy way to cool and store while processing....very similar to how we have stored fish

[lokidog]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with those that say meat can't get wet.  Clean and cold quickly as possible is my rule.  I have two 150 quart coolers.  Those are my meat locker.  A deer fits in one, an elk I use both.  I put 6" of ice or so on the bottom, usually frozen milk jugs.  Then layer meat and ice until full.  I have no problem wasting a few bucks on ice.  Once home I park the coolers in the shade, tilted up a few inches to let the melt drain.  I add ice as necessary during the cutting phase to keep all meat covered.  I cut my own meat and it takes me several days to finish an elk.  Never had a single piece of bad meat treated this way. 

Frozen milk jugs do not get meat "wet" and by placing ice on top with the jugs below, it allows the water a place to drain off.  Bacteria do not grow well on dry surfaces, they do, however, thrive on wet ones.  Take a piece of steak, dry it off with paper towels and put it in a tupperware container and let it sit.  At the same time, put a piece of steak in a container and put a little water on it and let it sit.  I'll bet you that the wet one spoils first.

Go to any butcher shop/meat market and I bet you will not see steaks sitting in a pool of water, no matter how cold.

[MagKarl]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with those that say meat can't get wet.  Clean and cold quickly as possible is my rule.  I have two 150 quart coolers.  Those are my meat locker.  A deer fits in one, an elk I use both.  I put 6" of ice or so on the bottom, usually frozen milk jugs.  Then layer meat and ice until full.  I have no problem wasting a few bucks on ice.  Once home I park the coolers in the shade, tilted up a few inches to let the melt drain.  I add ice as necessary during the cutting phase to keep all meat covered.  I cut my own meat and it takes me several days to finish an elk.  Never had a single piece of bad meat treated this way. 

Frozen milk jugs do not get meat "wet" and by placing ice on top with the jugs below, it allows the water a place to drain off.  Bacteria do not grow well on dry surfaces, they do, however, thrive on wet ones.  Take a piece of steak, dry it off with paper towels and put it in a tupperware container and let it sit.  At the same time, put a piece of steak in a container and put a little water on it and let it sit.  I'll bet you that the wet one spoils first.

Go to any butcher shop/meat market and I bet you will not see steaks sitting in a pool of water, no matter how cold.

Not trying to argue, I'm offering different experience, not just opinion.  This is based on my experience aging deer and elk meat in coolers.  It's not swimming as the drains are open, but it's wet the whole time, the key point is it is very cold.  Cold enough that your hands hurt when cutting it.  No stink, no lost meat, and I have the time to cut my meat the way I like it.  I take ice with me and bone quarters out and put the meat on ice in the woods.  Which meat will be spoil first, the meat that's boned and on ice within hours, or the meat hanging outside in 55 degree September nights?  I'll choose cold over dry every single time. 

[ribka]

Based upon personal experience is  better to keep dry if possible. But that being said if water is cool enough will not affect the meat too adversely to affect taste promote spoilage.  On caribou, moose hunts up N in Quebec shot our bulls first day and had to keep meat cool for 6 more days and temps up in the high 80's some days. We paddled meat out in canoes out in the lake and sunk the meat on the bottom in about 30 ft of water. Meat was fine when we retrieved and it tasted great.

[high country]

I pack a 150 qt cooler loaded with frozen jugs of water. I bone my elk and place it where ever I can to get good contact on my meat....during the day. at night, I will hang the meat to allow it to breathe/crust. once it is cooled you can pile you sleeping bags and other insulators on it in a shady area during the day or just put the meat in the cooler, I like to put the ice i garbage bags to lower contact moisture.....been done 5 times this way ad no problens yet. PS a cow elk will fit in one 150 qt cooler easy.