Help the newbies series #2: Budget Coolers

[lamrith]

Next up in the help the newbies series of threads is coolers!

A good cooler is important. If you can not chill your harvested meat and keep it cold until you get to a processor or home, then you just waste meat and why bother bring it back to camp. Same can be said of the food you bring to eat in camp, it has to stay cold so food does not spoil.

Of course there are Yeti, Rtic and other high end brands, but for many new hunters everything has to be on a budget. Lets face it hunting is NOT cheap, and at least starting out, the $/# of meat is no savings at all. Clothing, Pack, weapon, camp gear, etc, etc the initial buy in is quite steep. SO to get rolling many of us look at used or budget (Bang for the $) starter gear, and $250-400 for a single cooler is just not gonna happen.

What budget coolers have some of you used with reasonable success/performance? Everything I am seeing recommends 120quart size.

I recall from Boating with family that the Igloo marine coolers were decent with regards to durability of the shell. The plastic hinges and latches get brittle from UV exposure and break, but Igloo offers replacements for those. I want to say my dad still has one that is 20yrs old and the body is still solid. I do not know much about how well they stay cold though, they are rated at 5 and 7days @90* whatever that means. They look to have two versions now.
Classic ($75prime) 5days@90*f:
https://www.amazon.com/Igloo-Polar-Cool ... B004QILD6W
Super tough (stainless hinges and latch hardware, $149prime) 7days@90*f:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJJAWJ4/re ... B00DU4JJSC

There is always Coleman as well, no personal experience. ($86.01prime) This one rated at 6days@90*f
https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Quart-Xtreme®-Marine-Cooler/dp/B00J0RZQJ4

I tend to think having latches is better for a camp cooler to keep out the critters (or keep them in depending on situation..?

[Indian Summer]

I'd have to have money to light on fire before I spent what they want for Yetis and the other Mercedes Benz class coolers. You are on the right track. One thing I would recommend is invest a bit more to get one big cooler instead of a couple 48 quart ones. The bigger ones are just built better. The 48s are ideal for a 49 pound check on luggage if you fly but if you drive go with one in the 120 quart range. I have one Igloo and one Coleman that are that big. On Lake Erie we call them fish coolers. They keep things colder than the small ones and a big advantage for elk hunters is that with a little bit of cutting a hind and front will fit in each one.

But there are other really simple and free things you can do to help keep things cold or frozen. The biggest advantage of the high dollar ones is they actually go the extra mile with insulation. So simply insulate your cooler by packing items around them that do just that. Take sleeping bags out of the bags and wrap them around the sides. Sit your tent or duffle bags on top. You'll be surprised at the difference. Night and day.

I started doing that after a trip back from Wyoming one year. I had two coolers with skinned quarters in them. So did my partner. We both put dry ice in them with unfrozen quarters. The coolers were all tight side to side. One of the 4 coolers had a 10 by 12 canvas wall tent in the bag on top on the way back. That was the only difference. When we got back the quarters in the one with the tent on top were frozen and there was still dry ice left over. The other three had nice cold quarters but all of the ice was gone and nothing was frozen even slightly.

In camp keep your coolers organized. Label one fridge and one freezer. Never open the freezer one until you need to. When you pull something out to thaw put it into the fridge cooler to get some use out of it as it thaws for the day. Of course never let them sit in direct sunlight but instead keep them in the shade and next to a stream is ideal.

One more thing: I did this when I was outfitting and had a lot of food that had to keep all week long. No trips to the convenience store for ice up there. I would put the cooler into the stream in a place that never sees the sun. It has to be at a spot where there is a bit of a waterfall, at least one foot high. Nothing too big is necessary. Put plastic over them so no water can get to the seam around the lid. Then put anything... tarp or better yet a canvas mantie if you have packing gear, at the top of the falls weighted with a few rocks and drape it over top of the cooler. Fabric works best because it serves as a wet insulator. Let the water run over the top and there you have it.. a refrigerator. Really makes ice last longer and keep items like veggies and stuff perfect. Just be careful going in and out of it because you don't want any surface water in coolers.

[husky390]

Coleman extreme marine works pretty good, same with the Coleman marine coolers.
JJOverkill has a sweet setup using an old chest freezer. Those can be bought pretty cheap on Craigslist


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[Lefty]

In the past Ive taken a big cheapo igloo 90 qt cooler full of ice. Water frozen in plastic containers for different types from 5 gallon water jugs to 1 qt military canteens. Works real well on deer and antelope. Just fill the chest cavity with ice and sew up the belly First town buy more ice.
A lot can be said for a chest freezer . I use to haul a 7 cubic foot cheat freezer on some of my traplines far from home. I did always have a place to plug it in.

[T.B.]

For our refrigerated camp food-lunch meat,eggs,bacon etc. I put a smaller Coleman extreme inside of a large Coleman extreme. All of the perishables are stored in the smaller cooler ( lid removed) . A few pounds of dry ice with some block ice is put in the large cooler and surrounds the smaller. This method will keep our food for bout 10 days on the mountain. It also keeps the food out of the melting ice and dry

[Ryan Conkle]

I forget the actual quart size but I have a very large igloo brand cooler, that I believe cost me around $100. My hunting partner, which also has the same cooler, and I have brought elk home in each of them the last 2 years' and they have worked great. We put dry ice in with the meat before leaving the butcher in Idaho and we also tape off the seams' of the coolers' at that time. We have a 30-31 hour drive home and each time all of the meat has been frozen solid upon arrival at home, with no issues' at all.

[Tigger]

Between my dad and I, we have had 4 Igloo coolers. You couldn't give me another one. The hinges and latches break very easily and they don't hold ice very well compared to the others we have. We have a couple Yetis (thanks to Cabelas points!), and Engel (won it), and a couple Colemans. One thing to do with any cooler is pre-chill it with a sacrificial bag of ice. A day before you will be leaving, put in the ice. Then when you fill it with food, drain the water and the cooler will start off cold. You can also put it in a freezer if you have a big enough freezer.

I really like the high end coolers, but even they cannot handle opening and closing. Always minimize opening a cooler.

RTIC is half the price of Yeti and if I would buy one today, that would be it.

[saddlesore]

Good info from Indian Summer. Remember to insulate under the cooler as well. In the bed of a pickup or trailer, you get lot of heat up from the road.
I am only 5 hours from my home, and I us two 100 qt Igloos. Replacement hinges and locks are available from Bass Pro. The problem with them is with a front and rear quarter, there isn't much room for ice. Unless a person is deboning, you really need three of them to hold all the quarters, back straps and neck..

You sure don't want to bring warm meat into camp and just throw it in the cooler. That will use a bunch of ice quick. It's best to hang the meat over night at least.

I do get to meet a lot of non residents at trail heads and it seems the ones that have been doing it for awhile and have long drives, all make a box out of OSB or plywood and line it with foam board. Some with 2",some go all the way with 4'. I have seen some that have made them so they break down easily and stack and some use them to pack gear in on the way to Colorado.

I have also seen some 7 cu ft freezers and guys bring a small generator.

[lamrith]

I ended up grabbing the Igloo Marine 120qt, it bounced around price wise and was under $70, but I got it for $73. The replaceable hinges and latches were a selling point for me, and the coleman did not have any latching system.

Cool thing is I just found out my 36qt Igloo will fit inside it, so I can double stack them to keep food really cold thru the week by using the 36qt as a freezer that stays inside the 120qt and shut until I pull something to thaw.

[Aggiejon]

My plan has been to bring an old chest freezer that I have. Get it cold, put pre-packaged frozen meals in it and some ice, then refill it with elk and ice for the drive home. I have 3 yeti coolers. One 35, a 45, and a 125. Like most, I wouldn't pay full price. Got both the 35 and 45 in a deal for the price of a 35. And the 125 was thanks to a gift card from a group that gave it to me when I left my previous career. I wasn't in the market for a fancy pair of boots, so I decided I'd get more use out of a big yeti. I love them all. I got tired of breaking hinges, losing lids, cases disintegrating.

[bald9eagle]

I just bought a 152qt Igloo from Academy. It was around $80.

[CurlyTail]

I like the 150 size for Elk quarters. The cheaper the better for me. I just cant leave a 500 dollar cooler sitting in camp tempting the yahoos that drive by to steal it. The Marine coolers seem slightly better . Igloo sells replacement parts.

We use two 150 coolers , and one small standard sized cooler to transport an elk to the processor.

[Lefty]

Many of the new pickups have inverterter , or an inverterter can be purchased for$39 and up and plug in a little freezer.
Another thing is store your meat at a higher colder elevation The past 4 Friday nights , two nights I was in frost another was 36 degrees. While I trapped years back I would spread hides out in the evening, then roll them up and place in the freezer in the AM

[wunder6]

Not that its that cheap but I just picked up a 100 quart cooler from Cabelas. Got 4 cases of beer and 40 pounds of ice it it right now to brake it in.

[lilshootergirl]

If you brake your hinge on your cooler, use the broken one as a templet. Put it on a piece of leather trace it, even where the holes are, it will out last plastic ten fold.

[Brendan]

I have a Yeti Tundra 160. Got a smoking deal on it, and it was partially a gift, but it was still expensive. With that said, I can fill it up with ice in Boston, Drive to Montana, hunt for two weeks, drive home, and still have Ice. The problem with it is that at that size - pack it full of a boned out bull elk and there's no room left for ice. It's also heavy as all hell so it stays in the back of my truck. I bring two smaller Coleman Extreme coolers with me to store dry goods on the way out, and if I get an Elk I can split it up to make sure it cools down adequately.

Currently one of my coleman's is already full to the lid with all of my food for my two weeks in Wyoming and ready to be loaded into the truck.

[six]

Found one of these on craigslist for $150. Best cooler I have owned to date. I made up 3, 4 gallon blocks of ice before we left this year. Placed the blocks in the cooler, that I had pre cooled, on Wednesday night. Put meat in the cooler 8 days later and the ice blocks were still at 75%. Had plenty of room to spare after putting a cow in the cooler.

cooler.jpg (52.65 KiB) Viewed 10608 times

[lamrith]

Found one of these on craigslist for $150. Best cooler I have owned to date. I made up 3, 4 gallon blocks of ice before we left this year. Placed the blocks in the cooler, that I had pre cooled, on Wednesday night. Put meat in the cooler 8 days later and the ice blocks were still at 75%. Had plenty of room to spare after putting a cow in the cooler.

cooler.jpg

That is a monster cooler!

I ended up with one Igloo Marine cooler. Wife saw it and wanted another 120qt cooler, then stumbled on a sale on a Coleman so have one of each to try out this year. Crossing fingers we fill them both!