Cow Bison, How Much Freezer/Cooler Space Do I Need?

[Heat]

Need some help guys on estimating what I might need to be prepared for when I kill a cow bison. My tag is for a mature cow bison so I guess that animal might weigh somewhere between 800-1200 pounds alive. I figure maybe similar to a very large bull elk or a beef steer.

 

I currently have 2 100 quart ice chests and that has been enough for a cow elk or small bull. I know for sure I am going to need either a few more big ice chests or a large chest freezer.

If I go the chest freezer route, what size would I need if I was putting boned out meat in it that was not cut and packaged yet? Figure I will be using game bags and some sort of method to keep them separated somewhat. Would a 10 cubic foot freezer do it or should I step it up to something like a 15 cubic foot freezer? I little extra room is fine but I don't want something twice as big as what I will need.

Any thoughts from those of you guys who deal with large quantities of frozen meat or who might have messed with a cow bison before?

[tomgobbler]

10 will be plenty enough , ROUGHLY 60% will be hanging weight and 60% of that will be wrapped meet depending on how fat, how much trim you take off, debone etc.... for easy math 1000 lb animal hanging will be 600, take home 360 lbs.... i'de expect from a bison the yield would be a little less then the 60%.....

[muledeerarea33?]

I killed a bull on a ranch in northern NM. Had to quarter (6th it) and used the truck bed as an ice chest. Hide on bottom, ice, meat, ice, cape on top. Stopped for ice a few times but was cold until Tucson. Pry spent 80 bucks on ice but no cooler cost. After butchering it all fit in a half chest freezer (not sure the size) and my fridge freezer. But I gave 3 milk crates away to friends.

[lancetkenyon]

If you are heading from Yuma to House Rock/12A, and you swing by Phoenix, you can borrow my two 160 qt. ice chests.

[longshooter]

Feel bad for the poor bastard that has to pack him out. That's a lot of meat and probably a pretty heavy cape too

[muledeerarea33?]

I got dirty looks and a bunch of middle fingers in Santa Fe and Albuquerque but I enjoyed it.

[wildwoody]

heck ya, getting 4 bulls in December, figuring 3 trucks

[yotebuster]

A cow buffalo has way less meat then a bull. We butchered one for a neighbor when I was a kid that I would be surprised if it had 15% meat on it. She weighed 700 pounds if I remmebr right and I would be surprised if she had 125-150# of meat. I big bull elk will have much more meat then a cow bison.

[Dave King]

On my hunt I took two 150qt and two 100qt coolers. My cow was mature but not huge and I was able to get the bone-in quarters in the 150s (was a tight fit) the hide in one of the 100s and deboned meat in the other 100. Of course if you debone the quarters you won't need as many coolers.

 

The comparison to a large bull elk size wise is pretty accurate but buffs are built differently and are quite a bit stockier. They fill a cooler fast.

 

Good luck on your hunt. Bison are awesome creatures.

 

-Dave King

[Heat]

Thanks for all the responses. I have a pretty good feel now for what is going to be required.

[Red Sparky]

I got dirty looks and a bunch of middle fingers in Santa Fe and Albuquerque but I enjoyed it.

I swear I saw this truck going through Albuquerque. I was trying to give a big thumbs up out the window, I think the driver thinks I was a tree hugging bunny lover giving the middle finger to him. He sped up and since I was in my Hyundai I couldn't catch up.

[billrquimby]

I shot a big cow bison with an original 1830s muzzleoader near Steamboat Springs many years ago and had a butcher cut, wrap, freeze and hold the meat for me until I returned a couple of months later.

 

In the meantime, I built my own ice chest, using three sheets of 3/4-inch particle board and fitting 2-inch-thick foam building insulation on all sides and top and bottom inside, and painting the exterior white.

 

It was heavy and it took two men to load the empty box in my truck, but it was cheap and I figured the particle board's denseness would provide additional insulation.

 

Before loading the meat in Colorado, I placed a large plastic tarp inside the chest to make an envelope, which I duct taped to seal it after adding a 3-4 inch layer of dry ice.

 

The chest was 4x4x2 feet, or 32 cubic feet, and the frozen packages filled it to about six to eight inches below the top, which means I had about 24 cubic feet of meat. I then placed a sheet of foam on top of the envelope, and nailed the lid of my homemade ice chest closed.

 

This was in June or July, and it took us 2 1/2 days to drive to Tucson because my wife and I stopped in Santa Fe and Albuquerque to shop. Even so, every package of meat was rock hard when we got home.

 

My son-in-law and I used my hastily built contraption to haul deer and elk meat for years before it eventually fell apart and he built a better one to replace it.

 

Four years ago, three of us hauled the meat from 15 deer (the Texas limit for three hunters) from the Hill Country to Tucson in his box. He used plywood and not particle board, and it not only was lighter than mine but it also worked just as well.

 

Bill Quimby

[.270]

Was the muzzleloader new? 2 1/2 days from steamboat to Tucson has gotta be a record, for a conestoga. . Lark

[billrquimby]

Was the muzzleloader new? 2 1/2 days from steamboat to Tucson has gotta be a record, for a conestoga. . Lark

 

Hi Lark:

 

It was a 45-caliber percussion rifle built in Edinburgh, Scotland, by a guy named Alexander Henry. It shot a very long, paper-patched, 500-grain lead bullet at about 1,800 fps. My friend Lynton Mackenzie, an antique firearms engraver and collector, loaned it to me. Good ol' Alex died before I started hunting, so it was used. As for our record run from Steamboat to Tucson, I'd expect nothing less. Our conestoga was powered by a whole bunch of horses.

 

Bill Quimby