el unit
Well-known member
That's one cool cooler, CTELK! 
Cooler talk
- Thread starter CTELK83
- Start date
Dry ice basically solves all meat shipping issues just many people have never used it or understand it. Coolers for dryice are more important to be airtight than super insulated. A roll of duct tape and few paper bags make it a complete meat shipping kit.
CTELK83
Active member
Buddies who helped me tried to talk me into a drain, but I opted for no drain and made it water tight. However I will do my best to limit actual "water" that is in there.
grandejuan
Active member
FWIW, my buddy and I went on a moose/black bear/wolf hunt north of Prince George BC. We drove from Flagstaff, AZ to Lake Louise, Alberta in 23.5 hours. Eased up the icefields parkway to Jasper and then to PG. We both shot 50 inch moose and nice 6 ft bears. We had arranged before hand to pick up a U-Haul trailer that needed to come back to the USA. While our moose were being processed and frozen, we bought several sheets of 4inch foam insulation and fitted out the trailer as a rolling cooler. When we picked up the meat it was frozen in cardboard boxes. We packed the meat, our racks, hides and skulls and covered everything with the form we had left over from lining the trailer. Then we covered the foam with our down sleeping bags. We rushed back to Flagstaff in two days. The meat was still solid and no problem with the moose and bear hides. We were happy to have the trailer as we had about 900 lbs of moose meat plus the racks and hides. Worked great! GJ
CTELK83
Active member
Grandejuan. I'm going on the exact same sounding hunt... what outfitter did you use if any? 4 of us are going. 2 driving ( me and a buddy) with everyone's coolers and gear. 2 flying with carry on and rifles. We are hu tint oct 1st to oct 8th. I have no idea what's a "good moose" is. I was thinking anything that looks "like a moose" with paddles. We are driving from western NY. About 42 hours!
CTELK83
Active member
View attachment 86293
Also got bed extender and that hitch mounted carrier
Along with adding helper springs to my truck yo allow additional 1500 lbs of payload... I feel ready!
Also got bed extender and that hitch mounted carrier
Along with adding helper springs to my truck yo allow additional 1500 lbs of payload... I feel ready!
grandejuan
Active member
We went with a guy named Gerald Pattison. He is out of the guiding business now. In fact he's in prison for murder!!! Always thought he was a bit of a hot head. Anyway, we hunted just north of the polar divide in the parsnip river drainage. There was a lot of logging in the area, which is where we both shot the bears in the cut blocks. We would glass them out and then climb above them. I was using a 340 Weatherby with 250 gr Nosler partitions. I had a Swarovski scope (6×) with not near enough eye relief. It came back and socked me on the eyebrow. I saw stars and then nothing but blood. Anyway, the 340 and the partition did the job and if he moved it was only a few ft. As far as moose goes, remember these are western canadian moose and are fairly close to the Yukon border and are bigger than those in NY or Ont. Look for long paddles with lots of points. Even better if there are no separation into eye guards up front. My buddy and I shot ours in boggy muskeg. When I walked on it, it bounced it was so spongey. Look for wide paddle widths too. If you see one like this, drop him. I used the 340 and made sure to be out of the way. He did a back flip and never moved. Hope this helps some. GJ
grandejuan
Active member
If you can bring a shotgun there are Franklin's grouse in the area. We had a guide who didn't know what an elk looked like. We saw maybe fifteen one day and this guy would only say that there are no elk around here. Go figure. Watch how they field dress a moose. They get into rain gear to make it a bit less meesy. GJ
Rzrbck918
Well-known member
That cooler looks like it will work great.
CTELK83
Active member
Thanks for the info. Our outfitter mentioned bird hunting and said he had multiple "ponds"? We can fish in. Said we can catch 5lb rainbows all day... sounds fun. I'm using a 338 win mag and went with 225 grain nosler accubonds.
CTELK83
Active member
CTELK83
Active member
Thats how I made my truck "bigger" haha
grandejuan
Active member
Take a bit of time and enjoy the icefields drive from Lake Louise to Jasper. Lots of elk near the road and goats on the cliffs. Push it going home. GJ
D
Deleted member 38069
Guest
I realize the cooler discussion has ended but I'm gonna play the advocate. Of all things to budget on, coolers are the last thing to skim on. Just my opinion. The meat, after all, is the most important part of the hunt.
CTELK83
Active member
I agree 100% about the meat. I researched online how to make an ice chest/cooler...etc... I combined most of the good ideas and went overboard. I will also test it this week. I read high end coolers have an r value of 9. This cooler I made has an r value of 16+ also I have multiple seals on the lid. And again. Once the lid goes on (hopefully full of moose meat) I have a roll of tape to seal up with. I'm bringing an old sleeping bag to fill the empty space of needed. And obviously dry ice. I made the cooler with left over materials from my job... if I had to buy it, it would probably run 1000$+
I second the Coleman extremes. I picked up two 150qt Coleman extremes at Walmart for $60 each. We were able to fit an elk and two mule deer in them. We got the meat frozen before we left but it was still frozen solid a week later when we got it home.
I do not have experience with Moose. However, we have transported many elk back to Pa from the various western states. For Moose >You will need two 150 quart coolers for meat, a 100 quart for the cape. Your meat will not need to be frozen just cooled down prior to transportation. Pack the coolers with meat and wrap the dry ice in cardboard at various locations in the middle and top. Many factors at play here depending on meat temperature & air temperature & time, but 20lbs of dry ice always has got none frozen just cooled meat home in a semi frozen condition regardless of the travel time home and outside temps. I don't even know the name brand cooler we have used because they are from various manufactures and just basic cheap coolers. FYI they will be heavy!
I had a truck tool box that I wasn't going to use so I made a cooler out of it. Its just over 70 qts but I built it specifically to hold half gallon milk jugs, so it will hold 28. Milk jugs out, meat in the bottom, one layer of milk jugs back in on top and the rest can go in the other coolers.
I designed it so that the foamboard will come out of the toolbox but I'm not going to try that until I get back from Colorado, just in case it fights me and gets broke.
CTELK83
Active member
Nice!
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