Poluke, The whole Idea of using the plastic bags in my case is to keep the meat as dry as i can, Even if the water is clean, I don't want to risk the chance of any bacteria getting into the meat. Water is also an ingrediant that helps bacteria grow. This is the main reason that hospitals use humidity in their incubators, it helps the bacteria specemins grow. I feel by keeping water, heat, and air off of the meat, there will be less factors that inhibit bacteria growth. Don't get me wrong. The air is good to get rid of the initial body heat, but by purging the air from the bags, It helps starve any bacteria. We usually don't have the luxury of getting the meat out right away. I have left the meat submerged in the creek for up to three days. And none of it has spoiled. I am familiar with the cooling effect of your canteens. It works on the same principals as the evaporative coolers used in drier climates. Usaully during archery season in Late August or early Sept. the humidity levels are generally higher in the surrounding air. The effect of cooling would be less because of the morning dew evaporating and filling the air. I don't think that it would be a great idea to put wet meat bags into the plastic bags. The meat bags should be dry before being submerged. When I pull the sealed bags from the creek. The meat bags are still dry. The whole concept is the same as putting the meat in the refrigerator. The creek that I hunt along is fed by a glacier. Thhe water is colder than normal. Good idea about hanging the meat to keep it away from predators. We are always running into the overgrown racoons ourselves. We had meat hung one late rifle season and Mr Bear decided to pay us a visit when we were away from camp. He never did get the meat, however he decided to indulge himself on a box of power bars. It wasn't hard to find out which scat was his. You could see it shining from a mile away. with the creek method we have found that the predators don't smell it, The meat is covered by the water and sealed in a bag. This has greatly reduced our encounters with the bears. Another thing that we do is, when burying our cache, we will fill the top 1 1/2 feet of the hole with boulders. The bears have tried to dig up our goods but failed when they reached the rocks. They moved them around a little. But gave up when they couldn't lift them out of the hole. When hunting up high in the back country, a person should do everything he can to make sure extra work is not created. If done right, hunting in remote areas can be some of the most rewarding that you will ever encounter. Good luck on future hunts. I can hear them bugling already.