Hey all. Got a question. After harvesting the deer and gutting it,how can I keep it cool in the warmer temperatures? Ziplock bags filled with ice in the body cavity? I am roughing it. No electricity or walk in coolers.
LOL
THanks,
Troy

Skin it, quarter it and put it on ice. Check the ice every 8-12 hours add as needed.Drain and add ice as needed.

Spanky

Either quarter it up and put it in a cooler, or what I like to do is clean it, leave the hide on, and throw an 8# bag of ice in the cavity and cover with one of those cheesecloth deer cover thingys

quarter it and put it in a cooler with ice on it. but be sure to drain the water and add ice

First,invest in a GOOD cooler! Skin it, quarter it, ice it down!

LG is right...invest in a Marine Cooler...they'll hold ice much longer than the others.

One trick I've used is to tape around the opening of the lid. That effectively seals everything off.

DRY ICE!!! it lasts longer and gets much colder.

How long are you going to need to keep it cool?

Keeping the meat cool is probably not going to be a problem.
Keeping the hide in good shape can be if for an extended period of time.

If you are going to be a good ways from a taxidermist, flesh it and salt the hide. Visit your taxidermy on how to skin it and flesh it out. It's not that hard really.

When we used to take hunters out west we had a generator and a small deep freezer. That worked perfectly. We just kept it in the back of the truck and we could freeze the meat and keep the cape in good condition.

Other than that, I would suggest to try some of those Igloo 5 day coolers in the 120-150 qt size. They keep stuff cold for a short enough time for you to get home. But you will need to empty the water and put fresh ice on it as soon as possible.

No need to bag the ice. You want ice covering every inch of the meat as much as possible. Its going to melt anyway and you will need to empty the water.

Academy sells 150qt. ice chests for around 60 or 70 bucks. It will easily hold a large deer that has been quartered. Tape the lid like Dave Davidson said. Also, get a couple of old blankets and wrap them around the ice chest. If it is really warm, once the meat is chilled, put it in garbage bags. May want to double the bags and make sure no water can get in and then pour salt in with the ice. The salt will lower the freezing point and the ice will last longer.

We did the salt in the ice at a fraternity party in college and froze the ice solid couldn't get any beers out. I have not tried that with a deer in the cooler. Good idea. I hope I get to try it out. We used rock salt

My friend insulated a bathtub and just field dressed his deer and iced the cavity. Hauled it to a Dallas processor.
I quarter everything and imediatly put it in a cooler full of ice. I dump a whole bottle of red wine vineger in and don"t worry about the water. I used to completely butcher the meat and cool it that way but the game warden didn't like that so i quarter now. I have kept meat for two days like that before freezing and had tasty steaks 6 months later. The vinegar codifies the gristle so it is easy to trim. The meat is tender and delicious