Tips for Meat Care on a flat land (no trees) multi-day hunt

[2Rope]

Since you are staying in town, find a local processor and utilize his walk in cooler. I use the large ice chests for transport to the processor. If you are not too far, skin, bag, and haul. Be sure to make arrangements before your hunt starts. I'm lazy and not ashamed to admit it, so I make a hunt as easy as possible and enjoy the hunt!

 

[338 dude]

WY Antelope and Deer. I dont think we are ready for elk yet

I went to Wyoming a buddy of mine and myself each got an antelope our first time out west on DIY hunt we just had good quality coolers with ice and dry ice things were kept frozen for five days once the coolers were loaded we did not open them till we return

 

[1hdhunter]

We are going on a 5 day hunt on pretty much flat land that has no trees and shade to hang meat. No streams nearby either and we dont want to go near wildlife water source. Have you been in such situation? This is our first time on hunt like this and we really appreciate any tips or tricks for meat preservation and care

We take a generator and a chest freezer problem solved,freezers are under 200 bucks

 

[DavidleeCole]

I use a big ice 150qt chest and can fit two large white tails quartered or three if I bone them. I use bag ice and 1lb box of salt to preserve and draw out blood and some wild taste. Drain and refill with ice and salt every two days or as ice melts. Salt cure will tenderize the meat and keep it from spoiling. Go no longer that 10 days with bone in the meat it will start to bone sour. However you can go 21 days with the meat if deboned. I have been doing this for over 10 years now and never suffered any loss of meat and sometimes my temp hits the high 70's in the day.

 

[spfarr]

FWIW, on a solo pronghorn hunt in hot, dry remote country, I brought a game-hoisting tripod in my truck. (Similar to the trailer-hitch hoist/gambrel mentioned in another's post.) I got my pronghorn in the evening, packed it back to the truck, and then skinned and hung it that night because I couldn't get back to town until the following day. Luckily, the air temp cooled some at night and there was a light wind that quickly cooled and dried the meat. I deboned the first thing next morning, and put in the cooler until I could make the hours-long drive to get to town to load the cooler with ice, and then the 13-hour drive home before final processing and vacuum sealing.
This worked for me on that particular hunt, but of course I should have loaded the cooler with ice before driving way out to where I chose to hunt.
As others have said, important to try get your pronghorn cooled quickly, to avoid bone souring the meat.
FWIW, you can boost your coolers' performance, if needed, by wetting a fleece blanket on top of your cooler(s). I'm not a scientist, but this creates evaporative cooling, like the old blanket-covered canteens. I also use this wet-blanket trick to keep the horses' water from getting scalding hot in the water tank on top of the horse trailer in hot, dry country. In my limited experience, i use a fleece blanket because it cleans easily, doesn't stink, and doesn't require as much water as a cotton blanket. Good luck and enjoy your hunt.

 

[skipglo]

No off-road vehicle. But walk is not bad. Chest freezer idea was brought up during our discussion. Not sure how will we power it. We are renting a pickup. Few more idea were Dry Ice, Frozen Salt water bottles and, of course a lot of ice bags. We are not camping.

3000 watt generator

 

[Deleted member 107796]

+1 on a quality ice chest packed with ice.
We get away with using 3 tipi poles as a hoist system and use tarps to shield the meat from the sun. Use divots in the ground for each pole for wind resistance.

 

[muleskinner1]

We debone our game and pack the meat in ice in coolers. It has always worked for us. Another thing you should consider is a tarp to reflect the sun away and give shade for the coolers. Set it up in a way that you still get air flow around the coolers. Or forget the tarp and stack square bales around and on top of the coolers. you will be good to go.

I agree with the above post. You want it good and cool before sealing it.

Hey I like your tent is that Alaknak?

 

[muleskinner1]

Large guailty coolers with ice and rock salt. Ice should last at least 7 days even hot weather. Leave drain plug open to let bloody water leak out. Put more ice on top as needed. This process soaks a lot of the blood out if the meat that improves the flavor of the meat. Rock salts lowers the temp of the ice and protects against bacteria. I use this process all the time in the west and hunting down south for even two week hunts, with no problems. Rock salt does not make meat salty.

water and salt solution makes one good brine

 

[NEMTHunter]

Hey I like your tent is that Alaknak?

Thanks! Yes it is. Its a older one about 10 years old. It works good as long as you prepare for wind. Where I hunt it can get windy and this tent as it comes does not like wind.

 

[Hoss Smith]

Get the hide off the antelope and debone immediately. Cool it with ice. Almost every time I talk to folks who don't like the taste of antelope, when I ask about how they cared for the meat... they did not get the hide off and at a minimum get quarters in a cooler on ice right away. If it's warm do the same with deer. I agree with the previous posters, debone as soon as possible, but get the quarters done in the field.
Take a small chest freezer in the back of your pickup. Run an extension cord in through the window and you have a freezer. But, any good quality cooler with ice will keep your meat cool a week. Some folks even age their meat in a cooler - be sure you drain the water off.

 

[Dr. Vette]

Can you expand on this for me? What was your experience?

You're taking warm meat and sealing it.
The last time I did that, they called it sous vide cooking. In effect, that's what you will be doing.

Meat ages at temperatures just above freezing.
Bacteria grows well at body temperature.
Which one do you want?

We all say to cool meat as soon as possible, get the hide off, etc. (see post just above this one) If you vacuum seal it you're trapping the heat in there.

I hope those short thoughts help.

 

[Dr. Vette]

Anyone here try rinsing and a short soak in ice water for pronghorn (after skinning and quartering, of course), followed by transfer to just ice in another cooler? Was recommended to me by a rancher who said they needed to do that with their sheep to minimize any gaminess when they slaughtered them. I tried it just once last year and it seemed to work great.

How short?

We had one sit in ice (and then ice water) overnight, not in game bags, and the meat was very tough which is unusual for antelope.

Since then I do not let meat touch the ice or the water.

Gallon milk jugs freeze well, and work for me.

 

[1Moose]

How short?

We had one sit in ice (and then ice water) overnight, not in game bags, and the meat was very tough which is unusual for antelope.

Since then I do not let meat touch the ice or the water.

Gallon milk jugs freeze well, and work for me.

When I did it I blanched it all for 5 mins or so with a bit of sloshing around—just enough to fully numb my hands and then I moved to water-free ice. The meat was very good, but I only tried it just the one time.