Handling meat on backpack hunt

R

rbaldini

New member
Joined
Dec 7, 2017
Messages
15
Folks,

This year will be my first year hunting. But I've been backpacking since I was a teenager, so the idea of a backpack hunt does appeal to me. I may not do it this year, but in any case I have a question: how do you handle meat on a backpack hunt?

Say I set up camp 5+ miles from the truck, in backcountry. Say I shoot a deer an extra 2 miles out. What do I do?

I'm guessing the answer is "it depends." If it's cold and likely to dip below freezing, I'm guessing I can skin the animal and move the meat back to camp for the night, without necessarily having to pack it back to the truck on the same day? Whereas, if it's a warm day and won't dip below 40 at night, probably best to do the full trek back and get the meat on ice?

For those who have backpack hunted, what has been your experience? Looking for some insight.
 
Generally yes, it depends. Hide has to come off and you have to get it off the bone for transport anyway, so that helps. Bambistew started a good thread on this a while back if you search for it. In my experience you will have a good sense of how urgent things are. I have sunk boned out meat in a creek in heavy plastic before if it's truly hot. Circulation around meat and meat bags is your friend in general.
 
It depends. If you are in the backcountry, there are typically sections of dark timber and/ or springs that typically run through ravines. If you can find a creek in a ravine that has shade, try to hang the meat above the creek. These areas will many times be 10-20 F cooler than in the sun. The water coming out of the mountain is very cold and will keep the ravine very cold as well. I would say the key would be to get the hide off and get it hung up in the shade as quickly as possible. If you shoot one later in the day, you can hang it up in a tree over night. This lets the surface of the meat dry and brings the temperature down. Then the next morning you can find a more ideal spot ( like a creek in dark timber) if you need to stay an extra day or two. I did this with a deer 2 years ago that I shot on September 17th and the meat stayed perfect for 2 days while I waited for my partner to fill his tag. The key with hanging the meat is to make sure you don't have too much in a game bag. The meat wont cool / dry properly and warm, wet meat is a recipe for spoilage.
 
Babistew started a great thread about this a few years ago. Search backcountry meat care I think. If he sees this he may post a link. I'm not computer savy enough
 
rbaldini said:
Say I set up camp 5+ miles from the truck, in backcountry. Say I shoot a deer an extra 2 miles out. What do I do?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I would necessarily worry about it being below 40 at night. Meat can keep ok, as long as it gets into the 40's/low 50's and you cool it out well right off. If you bone it out make sure to spread it out so it cools down. Don't put it all in one bag unless the bag is big enough to spread it out. Keep it off the ground to cool out, i.e. hang the bags, or drape over logs, rocks etc.

If its cold, it won't be hard to manage it. If too cold, it could freeze and become a PITA to plan your meat bags accordingly. A giant frozen awkward blob of meat that doesn't fit in a pack is not much fun.

As far as your situation, it would basically depend on time of day for me. If I shot it in the morning, I would probably just bone it out, and head back to camp, pack up and walk out with all of it. If I shot it in the evening, I'd hang it at camp over night and head out the next day. A deer maybe 75lbs+/- of meat. Take a light camp so you have the option of packing out everything at once.

We keep meat every year in temps that range from the mid/low 40s at night to maybe 60 in the day, for 3-7 days in the field.
 
My archery deer season out here starts in mid-July and rifle in August and temps are often 80-high 90's. I have never had an issue by gutting and skinning asap (literally minutes after the last breath passes, no need for 400 pictures in those conditions). Get the boned or quartered meat in a tree with a breeze and get it out firs thing next am. I do not have any creeks in this area that are flowing then, so shade and a breeze are the only help I get.

Those 8-10 mile death marches with 100-120lbs suck, but seeing the truck is a godsend and I hike, run, lift all year so the suckage is less and less. I have never lost meat in these conditions with bone in or quartered.

But you can't bag it up until it is cooled. I know more people that have lost loins and such because they bagged boned meat when it was warm.

One more than one occasion I would air out and then hike out in the dark once the meat is cooled. At least the temps are in the 60's - 70's then. YMMV
 
If it is warm weather, and you have to get meat cool, You are going to have to be ready at the Trailhead to pack out meat right after boning it out.

If you have a cooler at the truck with frozen milk jugs, and a spare sleeping bag and food, you can hump your boned out meat back to the truck that night sleep at the TH , and then hike back in the next morning to pack out your camp. I've even driven the meat to town then gone back in to break down camp in bear country. 7 miles one way is doable on most Government trails in a little over 2 hours. Off trail could be sketchy though. YMMV.



I'm assuming we are talking a Deer Sized Animal too. A common saying was "Hunt is over when you have meat to pack out."
 
I always thought the hunt was over when I have the meat in the freezer - at home.

As for getting it from trail head to home, that can be quite long. I've turned an entire pickup bed into a giant cooler using foamboard insulation on the bottom and the meat, plastic tarps, piles of ice, more tarps and sleeping bags over the top. Worked perfectly.

An alternative to to build a cooler from foamboard and thin plywood that perfectly fits a pre-defined space in your pickup. I have done this making a very large box that just fits under the tonneau cover on my pickup. It has 4" thick walls and is far better than any Yeti or other high end cooler and wastes no precious cargo space. It is set up to use with DRY, not wet ice. Meat is butchered and bagged or wrapped to the final product in camp or at the trailhead and the frozen on dry ice. Not cold - frozen.

The logistics for using dry ice can be a bit difficult but when they can be dealt with, it's hard to beat.
 
Citric acid powder. Mix with h2O dribble on the meat &spread it evenly. Do this as you lay out to cool. It will creat a crust on the meat that helps seal out flys, yellowjackets & dirt
 
If it's hot, I always take a big cooler w/ 4 blocks of ice inside, and leave it in the truck covered with a sleeping bag. Like others have said, if the weather is cold/cool, it's not that hard to manage if you keep it out of the sunlight and de-bone it properly. If it's hot, just be mentally prepared to walk it out all night and get it all in that cooler.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

kevine001
Backpack - large or small?
Replies
11
Views
754
WVmike
WVmike
B
Joint Replacements and Hunting
Replies
18
Views
738
noharleyyet
noharleyyet
Paul in Idaho
In pursuit of my first bull - nothing like I had planned.
2 3
Replies
43
Views
3K
Paul in Idaho
Paul in Idaho
B
Camping first when hunting
Replies
5
Views
340
Dave N
Dave N
D
In Defense of Mountain House -- a Treatise
6 7 8
Replies
147
Views
8K
Deleted member 16014
D
Use Promo Code Randy for 20% off OutdoorClass

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
111,048
Messages
1,944,965
Members
34,990
Latest member
hotdeals

Share this page

Back
Top