Take a chest freezer hunting?

bomberdeer · May 27, 2018

Myself and two of my family members drew cow elk tags here in my home state of Nevada. The scary part is that the hunt occurs in August, so meat care is a priority! We have a number of Coleman/Rubbermade 60 quart coolers, which in the month of August in Nevada will probably keep ice for about 4-5 days in the shade. And the closest town is about 2 hours away... Yikes.

We could either invest in a couple new YETI type coolers ($1,000+), or.... take my 14 cubic foot chest freezer. We'll have a travel trailer with a 5500W generator (w/ plenty of gas) to plug into. Wouldn't need it to run all day, just need to get it to temperature and fire it up in the early AM for a couple hours, while cooking breakfast and planning the day, and again in the evening for a few hours before calling it a night. It would be super nice to put meat right into a freezer. I just wonder if it keeps it cool enough when only powering it for 3-5 hours per day.

Anyone tried this...? thoughts?

Thanks!

PrairieHunter · May 27, 2018

I have not done this, but have seen several freezers in the back of trucks during hunting season so I suspect it works just fine.

Topgun 30-06 · May 27, 2018

Take it and run it as much as you find you need to in order to keep things okay and you'll be glad you took it since you already have it and that generator that is way more wattage than you'll need. PS: Don't put warm meat right into it, as you need to let the main heat dissipate for several hours in the shade before putting it in.

mevertsen · May 27, 2018

Not sure what area you drew?

I have an August tag as well for elk, and have had one in the past.

I need to get one more big cooler this year. I plan to freeze milk jugs all summer. I have 9 days off and will take a mid hunt break if needed to recharge the milk jugs that I will leave home.

If you kill an elk, skin, quarter and get the tenderloins out. Get them on ice with a barrier between, and keep the cooler cracked to prevent condensation. Get to town ASAP. Unless you have the ability to butcher the whole thing on the spot, but I like a little age on the meat. We had a deer in a cooler for a week last year, making sure to keep the water drained and keeping the ice changed. It wasn't too difficult.

brnsvllyjohn · May 27, 2018

I have not taken a freezer but know guys who do. They love it.
I keep my game meat in a chest freezer at home and last year during some huge wildfires we were evacuated and my home had no power for 5 days. The meat in the chest freezer was all frozen solid when we finally got back too our house (we were lucky no fire damage at all). I think that would indicate that once the meat is cold you wouldn't have to run the freezer very many hours per day to keep it that way. Not really sure how long it would take in the beginning to get the meat cold enough for what you want.

bomberdeer · May 27, 2018

Thanks for the feedback. I think we’ll give it a try. Yes, I recognize the generator is over kill, but it’ll run the trailer utilities, AC and appliances too. Good luck to you all this season.

utahminer · May 27, 2018

I have discussed this idea several times when discussing the cost of large Yeti, RTIC... style coolers. My only worry is how well they would travel on bumpy roads in very dusty environments. Granted you pick up a cheap freezer on craigslist for less-than $100 so you arent out much.

cheeser · May 27, 2018

a small to medium chest freezer cost a 175.00 bux at walmart. you go to town and buy a new one , put meat in freezer till you leave, whether its at your campsite with a generator or some local place that will allow you to plug it in til you leave. drive home with new freezer and sell your new one or your old one. done it a couple times now. no ice. no coolers, hell last year i didnt even take meat out of freezer just moved it in with meat in it

Mountainguide · May 27, 2018

We started doing this several years ago, and it's nice to have along. We keep our food for the week and any meat/ heads we need to keep til we make it to the processor. It lessens our trips to town so we can hunt more. We chain it to the frame of our camper so nobody walks off with it

F250 · May 28, 2018

We have been hauling a freezer for a few decades. We travel over 2000 miles one way in order to hunt elk in the US and waterfowl in western Canada. The freezer holds food for us on the way out, and game on the way back. When we are on the road, we plug the freezer in at the motel at night. Never had a problem. Just remember to pack a couple long extension cords.

buckbull · May 28, 2018

I took a chest freezer on a 2010 elk hunt. I had it strapped down to a utility trailer. From all the bouncing it did, the compressor locked up and I ruined the freezer. After I shot my elk that year I went to walmart and bought a couple blocks of dry ice and used the freezer like a cooler. It ended up working well, the dry ice still had life left after 3 days.

bomberdeer · May 28, 2018

mevertsen said:
Not sure what area you drew?

We drew the early 081 depredation hunt. It starts on August 1st... it'll be at least 90F around 2pm. We had the 3rd season last year (mid-September) and we didn't hunt it until the second week of the season knowing that a huge rain storm was rolling in. Any dirt road in northeastern Nevada with a lot of rain will turn into greased owl s#!t really fast. We hunted for 5 days and saw one nice bull. Pretty convenient! All of the cows and calves had vacated for Idaho and Utah by the time we arrived... We put in for the early hunt this year to get ahead of the pressure and hopefully see an elk, or multiple elk, without antlers within 400 yards

Mmmm.... elk chops, elk burgers, elk stew, elk anything really!

Any way... hypothetically, if we all tag out, 3 dead elk is a lot of meat that'll need a icy cold home quickly. I think the chest freezer is the most practical option under the circumstances.

bomberdeer · May 28, 2018

mevertsen said:
Not sure what area you drew?

We drew the early 081 depredation hunt. It starts on August 1st... it'll be at least 90F around 2pm. We had the 3rd season last year (mid-September) and we didn't hunt it until the second week of the season knowing that a huge rain storm was rolling in. Any dirt road in northeastern Nevada with a lot of rain will turn into greased owl s#!t really fast. We hunted for 5 days and saw one nice bull. Pretty convenient! All of the cows and calves had vacated for Idaho and Utah by the time we arrived... We put in for the early hunt this year to get ahead of the pressure and hopefully see an elk, or multiple elk, without antlers, within 400 yards

Mmmm.... elk chops, elk burgers, elk stew, elk anything really!

Any way... hypothetically, if we all tag out, 3 dead elk is a lot of meat that'll need a icy cold home quickly. I think the chest freezer is the most practical option under the circumstances.

Take a chest freezer hunting?

bomberdeer

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Topgun 30-06

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