Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

I have heard a few people talk about building there own coolers to house the meat until it can be cut up. Can anyone give me suggestions? What do you guys use? What type of insulation is best and what kind of cooler?

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

8Ball...the easiest thing to do would be to get an old non-working fridge (no cost) and put the meat in there with a little ice or dry ice.

Around here, dry ice is about $1 per pound and 5 pounds will last for a few days.

Good luck!

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

8Ball are you talking about a cooler to take to the woods or to use around home??
Mr-Pirk

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

I am looking for a small shack type thing that will hold more than one deer. I am tired of paying $65 a deer to have a processor give me someones deer that has not been dressed properly or that has been gut shot. I need a building to store my deer in because Missouri weather can be extremely warm during hunting season.

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

Some buddies in a local hunt club got a small truck body, reefer and reworked the cooling unit to 110V and it work pretty good. It is about the size of a pickup body , maybe a little bigger, like an old ice cream truck.

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

If you dont want your deer to get mixed up, you could try shaving the first few letters of your name into it's hide. that might work? Or shave a patch and write your name with a sharpy? Just some ideas...

Evan

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

8BaLL,
RonM is on the right track, If you can find something like that it would be perfect! I've thought of either building a small building or buying one of the small building kits from any lumber yard. Insulate it, I was thinking of about 2" of styrofoam sheets. 3" would be better and about 4" is almost what pro's would have. Pick up a Air conditioner and set it to the coolest setting. If you can get it to mantain about 40 degrees you would be in the safe zone. for a few days ( you also would have a lot of friends in warm weather ) This is only an Idea I have had in my head with concerns about bear hunting with warm weather. You would have to brace the roof of the building if you were to hang your deer especialy if there is more than 1. Maybe this will spark another idea from yourself or another hunter. One note about the temp setting it would be better to maintain a steady temp. than have it change too much 44 steady would be better than 36-48. EAT what you Harvest,Mobrandy

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

For just one or two deer at a time find a drink vending machine and rip its gut out. Tons of insulation built-in already.

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

8ball
GEEz, I know where you are coming from, deer had a dozen legs, butcher gave you lots of soup bones. I wouldn't let a slimy theiving butcher-locker near my meat, ever again.

Your problem: There is no quick-fix other that you yourself buying another freezer.

Minute you bag that critter, you are totally commited. Where you live, you should be able to hang it outside (in the shade shade) unskinned for a couple/three days and with a tarp or something draped over it.

Deer aren't that big to get rid of.
Buy you a meat cutter (Hunter's style) book.
Buy some butcher paper and tape and string.
First few times it will seem awkard and not right.
Get a cheap meat (hand-crank) grinder.
Yea, you'll need a bone saw of sorts too.
In no time you'll be rolling off roasts, labeling and ready for the freezer.
Peel off all the scraps for hamberger and/or stew meats.
I like a good weighing scale too.
Granted, it will take a good hard couple/three days of work to finally get it all done and mess cleaned up.

Push comes to shove timewise after it has hung (tenderized) for a few days, skin it and quarter it. Hack them legs off. Dump in the freezer and work quarters as fast as you can get to it. By the time you debone what you will, 100 pounds of meat to contend with.

Buy a Home Canner too. 3-Lbs to a quart jar, one load and you got rid of 20+pounds that will never need freezing.
alliedkenco.com <--- Buy a cheap stuffer and plain blank hamberger bags with a crimper & rings to seal them shut. Final produck will look like storebought in nice heavy-duty bags.
I just finished off a deer yesterday making 20-Lbs. of different Sausage types.
Everytme I do it, it gets easier and faster and not such a drawn out job to do.
Home Canner, Weighing Scale, Grinder, Stuffer<--- I look at that stuff equally as important as buying that gun and that Hunt to go on.
nohunt

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

Best way to get started, to see if you really like and can cut up your own deer is to get an old fridge and just quarter the critter the day you shoot it. Place the quarters in the fridge and process within a week or so.

Hunting is a right, treat it like a priviledge - respect nature

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

I live jusst east of you. If it is warm out, quarter it and be done. If really short on time, put it in a bathtub and cover with ice and quarter when you get off work. Hanging it will not make it taste better. No need to build a cooler when you can cut it up in about 15 minutes.

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

Heres What I do. Since I do my own butchering, and it does get pretty warm during the Va bow season, I keep a large cooler handy. I skin the deer, then quater it. Cutting the shoulders, backstraps and rib meat out. Cut out the neck roast, and the the back hams. I leave the bone in, and place all the loose(burger meat) in a stainless steel bowl, I fill the cooler full of ice, and put the rest of the deer with the bowl of burger meat on ice. It will keep for over a week like this, provided you keep ice in the cooler. I keep the drain plug open to keep the meat from soaking in water. I have actualy found that the meat is more tender and flavorful after 3 days in the cooler than when I don't do it. Like you though I would like to build some kind of shed or large cooler to hang deer in with the skin on, just nice to have that option.

TAKE YOUR KIDS HUNTING AND YOU WON'T BE HUNTING FOR YOUR KIDS

RE: Freezer/ cooler ideas please??
 

This year's gun season was unusually warm here in Ohio. We kept an old fridge in the barn to store stuff and kept out the mice. My buddy had the idea to clean it out and put the quarters in the bottom fridge part and dry ice in the upper freezer chamber. This was and old model with one outer door and an inner door for the freezer compartment. We removed the freezer door and put dry ice in it. We also cut several 2" holes in the bottom of the freezer part to let the cold air drop down to the meat. It worked out great. We ended up with 3 sets of hams and loins and 4 shoulders in that damn thing, but it kept the meat cold for 3 days while we kept on hunting!

Now we're on the lookout for a "free for the hauling" fridge for his place.