MuleyMadness Hunting Forums

If there aren't any places to hang an Antelope in your hunt area, what have you found to be the best way to keep them cool and not spoil??

Get the skin off as soon as possible and try to get them open to allow as much air circulation to the carcass as you can get. Mesh bags are great for antelope as they keep flys out while allowing for maximum air circulation. Lastly, keep it dry. Hot and dry is much better for meat than hot and damp. Other things that can help on a hot day are draining all blood and cutting away any bloodshot tissue. I've killed a few of them in California August heat and lost very little meat.--------SS

Over on 24hour campfire, in the big game hunting forum, you'll see a thread about DIY antelope hunts. And you'll see some pictures of a home made cooler big enough to put a couple of antelope in. That's about the best way to go about it. I haven't gotten around to building mine yet, but I want to.

What I do right now is put my antelope in the back of the truck on a pallet so air can circulate all the way around it. I also put two bags of ice inside the chest cavity. It works.

last year on my wifes hunt we caped out the head and then put the meat and the head in 100 quart coolers that we had packed with block and crushed ice. We were able to keep the ice in the coolers for 3 days while she was hunting. If you cool the meat down fast it is quite tasty!

cwp wrote:last year on my wifes hunt we caped out the head and then put the meat and the head in 100 quart coolers that we had packed with block and crushed ice. We were able to keep the ice in the coolers for 3 days while she was hunting. If you cool the meat down fast it is quite tasty!

One thing I might add is to use frozen two liter bottles. It keeps stuff dry, its free. and you can use the water that melts to wash up and stuff. Plus they are very durable and dont leak or get holes in them like milk jugs.