2 week hunt -

[deserttacoma84]

Archery bull hunt is just around the corner and my brother and I have the entire 2 weeks off of work. This will be our first 2 week long hunt that we dont plan to come home except maybe once to do laundry and replentish our supplies. Does anyone have any good tips or pointers on keeping food cold and ice frozen without having to make multiple trips to town for ice? We will be staying in a tent trailer with a small fridge so most of our stuff will be in ice chests. I would like to know everyones input so we can make the best of our hunt. Good luck to everyone who has a tag this next month!

[firstcoueswas80]

Lots and lots and lots and lots of ice....

 

Keep coolers in the shade during the day.

 

My dad and I drape an old sleeping bag over the coolers.

[youngbuck]

On real long hunts, I normally use my "junk coolers" for drinks and food. I keep blocks and fill my Yetis to the brim with crushed ice. I keep those in the shade and only get into them when I refill my other coolers. The ice keeps a lot longer if the cooler is 100% full. The sleeping bag trick helps. I also heard about using wet towels on coolers. The evaporation would help too. Bring your coolers inside the house a couple days before you use them. the night before you pack them up throw a bag of ice in them to chill them off. Drain all that and load them up as full as you can get them. Nothing melts ice faster than throwing it into a hot/warm cooler. The good ice chests are even worse when it comes to this.

[mason a]

Excel ice cream in phnx sells dry ice for about .40 cents a pound ( excel ice cream 602-258-9793), works great , If you wrap it up in an old sleeping bag and dont keep opening it, Make sure that the ice chest is full ,sometimes I take individual sheets of newspaper and ball them up to take up extra space in the ice chest . You dont want any empty spaces in the ice chest . Also remember anything in that ice chest will be frozen solid, Dry ice is -109 degree.Anything in that ice chest will need some extra time to defrost,or you can transfer stuff over to the regular ice chest a couple days before you are ready to use it and it acts as ice for your regular ice chest.

Also keep in mind as it sublimates(turns into a gas),it needs somewhere to go otherwise you will have a bomb, so dont duct tape the lid super tight, just close the lid and wrap a sleeping bag around it.

Using this method on annual fishing trips to Mexico we get 7 days in 100 degree temps and usually have about 20 % of the dry ice left

Also pre freeze anything going into the ice chest with the dry ice. One more thing we do, is freeze gallon milk jugs as ice blocks , They seem to last quite a while and you can drink them when they melt. Also dont fill the gallon jugs to the top or they will crack when they freeze.

Hope this helps.

[Arizona Griz]

All good points. I have been in NM for the last 10 days in 95-100 degrees with 5 Yeti coolers. The ice all melted within 3-4 days even covered up with quilts. Next time I am going to try the dry ice method.

[ThomC]

Canned food ie. beanie weenies. Eat right out of the can, no clean up, no water wasted.

[Shawn]

I freeze gallon jugs of water and freeze gatorade. Gatorade stays frozen longer. I put as much ice as they will hold the night before and in the morning on the way out drain water and top them off. Keep them in shade at all times. I am going on a 10 day hunt for coues next week and I hope to only have to make 1 trip for ice. 14 days on an elk hunt I am jealous. Wish I could get a tag again! Good luck on your hunt.

[.270]

use everything these guys listed. and maybe invest in some good ice chests. i don't mean a $700 yeti either. coleman and the other guys make some pretty good ones that aren't stupid priced. what casey said about making sure they are in the shade is an excellent tip. just cuz they're in the shade tho, they can still get hot. keep em in the shade and where the air moves a little. i usually take an extra ice chest with nothing but ice blocks or frozen jugs. frozen jugs are great. when they thaw, you can drink it. and dry ice is good stuff. and lotsa canned food. good advice guys. have fun. Lark.

[Coues79]

If you go the Dry Ice route, depending on how much you have, be careful with it if you plan to keep it inside overnight. Open up some windows or vents. It can be a deadly gas once sublimation occurs from its frozen state... also try to keep it in as big of blocks as you can... it'll last longer.

[bojangles]

daily trips to taco bell. After a while of that you just quit eatin and hunt harder.

[.270]

if you go the canned bean way, you'll need to open some windows too. Lark.

[Ernesto C]

Hehe Lark you funny..... oh yea and don't light up a cigarrete.

 

You can't go wrong with dry ice, it works.

[Redman]

take cases of water bottles and freeze them (at least two full days in the freezer), look for the "thicker" plastic bottles (they will cost more but will stay frozen longer that is why Gatorade stays frozen longer) intermix these with the food. I hate using ice as it melts and becomes a big mess. Frozen water 16 oz bottles and gallon jugs sweat a little when they thaw but not like ice, plus they can be drank as they thaw.

 

Keep one ice chest for food and one ice chest for drinks. If space allows fill another with frozen bottles to intermix as the week goes on. Keep some frozen at home so when you come home you can switch the out.

 

As you know the most important thing is to keep the ice chests in the shade....

[Pine Donkey]

Freeze everything you can freeze, water and gatoraide, meats, etc. Mix in dry ice. Since you have a small fridge, try and open the ice chest only once a day, in the early morning. Get everything you need for the day and move it to the small fridge. Keep the coolers shaded, and put them up on rocks or wood so air can move under them, and protect them from the heat of the ground.

[.270]

h e l l, if a guys uses all these tricks he'll have a hard time keeping everything from freezing up. lotsa info here. Lark.