meat lockers

[archeryforever101]

old topic, same story, going elk hunting in september my son will get his elk first he has a toutle tag (lucky kid). however I process my own animal and would like to find a meat locker that will hold my elk for me so I can get my elk too. However I have found that the majority of butchers will not hold your meat for you unless they are processing it. I have even offered to pay a space fee and still got rejected. Back up plan is to cool it by a creek and hang dry over night then into coolers with ice. I have spoken to allot of outfitters from montana to wyoming and found that a week is about all the time you can get out of a cooler with ice then the meat starts to turn. does anybody know of a meat locker in woodland longview or castle rock. bolar custom meats will not hold elk without doing the processing matts has not gotten back to me and vancouver area sucks for a decent meat locker, any recommendations?

[Icdeadelk]

Are you gonna have any power where your camp is at?  If you do get one of those smaller chest freezers from Costco.
 We did this last year and worked awesome. just left the quarters in the game bags. no issues at all.

[jeepasaurusrex]

We built one at home. A well insulated 4'x4' room that has meat hooks mounted in the ceiling. We picked up a AC unit and mounted it in the one wall so it cools it down in there rather nicely.  I have often thought about building a portable one that could be assembled at camp and power it with a generator to keep it cooled down from time to time.

[bobcat]

You could do what I did and look on craigslist for an older chest freezer for cheap. Four of us went on an August cow elk hunt in Oregon a few years ago, and that's when I bought one. Found it on craiglist for $50. It's probably 40 years old and doesn't look the greatest, but it works well. We were able to fit all four elk (quartered) in the freezer, with room to spare, and kept the meat cold on the drive home and then for a few days until we had time to get it all cut and wrapped.

Matter of fact I just plugged it in tonight, to get it cold for my dad's elk hunt which starts Monday. When we get his elk back here we'll throw it in the chest freezer, and I'll be able to cut and wrap it whenever I have time.

[archeryforever101]

thanks, did not think of a chest freezer. 3 weeks till the  hunt I will build a cooler for next year after hunting good idea, again many thanks..

[elkoholic]

P.M. sent