Do garbage bags and meat mix

[Clint Tyler]

Just wondering if It is bad on the meat if you put it in a plastic garbage bag then in you pack when packing out an animal. Trying to keep pack and gear blood free. This would mainly be during early season August/September any other ideas or tips welcome.

[royinidaho]

The most important thing is quickly get it cooled.

Plastic bags aid in maintaining the warmer temperature and may enhance spoilage.

The plastic bag works well if you can get the meat into it and sink it in the creek to cool down.

I've heard of people soaking the whole animal in the creek after field dressing.


BTW, what's wrong with blood stains on things. That's what memories are made of.

[phorwath]

I've been using garbage bags for more than 25 years. If there's something wrong with it, I haven't been told as of yet. Yes, I've heard rumors that chemicals from the plastic could permeate the meat, but for the short time the meat is in the bags, I'll take my chances. I figure it's better than the alternative of dirty meat and dirty clothes, backpacks, and tents. I like to keep the blood off my pack and clothes because I don't want to draw bears in while I sleep in the middle of the night. I'm not afraid of the dark - I'm afraid of what's in the dark that I can't see.

[Buffalobob]

figure it's better than the alternative of dirty meat and dirty clothes, backpacks, and tents. I like to keep the blood off my pack and clothes because I don't want to draw bears in while I sleep in the middle of the night. I'm not afraid of the dark - I'm afraid of what's in the dark that I can't see.

I agree 100%, no reason to be lazy and dirty and get meat dirty. Bloody clothes, packs, boots are a real problem at night. At night, I am not interested in anything that is called fair chase. I am interested in winning only and at night I might lose. I don't like losing when my life is on the line.

What I do when far from home is bone out all meat using a 1 mil drop cloth on the spot. This gets the meat into smaller portions and it begins to cool. I then put it into an assortment of quart, gallon and jumbo ziplock bags. The new jumbo sized ziploc bags will hold a boned elk ham. I then line the backpack with a 3 mil garbage bag. So by the time the meat goes into the backpack it is in at least two layers of plastic bags and sometimes three. Even so, there will be leaks and drips but it is not massive amounts of blood like using cloth game bags. I do not hang animals and when it is cut up like this everything has to be put on ice as soon as possible. I treat a dead wild animal the same way I treat a package of chicken from the grocery store.

Skinning and boning out the meat at the site of the kill gets the load down to less than 50% and that is worth the extra time to me at my age. Last year I got all of the meat and the head of an antelope out in one trip like this, even carrying the 18 pound 240 Wby (and all of my trash such as the drop cloth). That was a very painful mile back to the truck, but it got the job done. In the end, I paid $70 to donate the meat to charity, but the meat was clean and well taken care of.

One thing I learned from Jimm is to have plastic gloves available. They keep your hands warm when it is cold and you can just throw them away (but not in the woods) later. I buy the expensive kitchen gloves at Safeway when they are on sale for half price. I also learned the difference between storage bags and freezer bags.

[Clint Tyler]

Thank you guys that helps alot now i just need to kill somthing this year so i can try it out.

[NRA_Guns_Winnner]

Clint, You might try Zip-lock. Before I knew better I used a smell good (you know like flowers trash bag), well mom was not happy. She told me the turtle was no good. FYI I wouldn't buy the cheap thin bags. Jarrod

[kcebcj]

I agree with what phorwath says about the garbage bags. Started backpacking in the 60”s and have used garbage bags (3 mil) as a backpack liner and still do. Had some cotton meat sacks made years ago that just fit my pack and if you have time to lay the boned meat out to cool and drain they worked pretty good especially in the California coast range where the temps are in the 90’s during hunting season. The pack would get blood stained eventually and would have to be washed but the meat stayed cooler. If there is a down side other than holding heat to using garbage bags to my health or otherwise I don’t know what that is. If staying clean is the top priority then the plastic bags are the way to go.