# outdoor walk-in cooler



## tigerdog (Jan 24, 2008)

Has anyone built (or reasonably purchased) a walk-in cooler for hanging their game? I've thought about building a small building, maybe 6'x6' or 8'x8', but haven't researched what to use for a cooler yet. I had heard about someone who used a refrigeration unit off of a refrigerated semi trailer. If anyone has any advice, I'd like be happy to hear your ideas. Thanks.


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## bearhunter (Jan 30, 2009)

call Aagaard Sectional Cooler. in Hawley minn. (Dilworth). minn. he may be able to help.


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## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

I did it a while back. Had one that I could have put 10 deer in and it was expensive to do... If you can find an old unit off a truck, that is preferable. FWIW - I do not gut my deer... I skin and quarter it and put the pieces in a cooler of ice with the plug out. Also fillet the loins and pull the tenderloins. This will allow the meat to drain all the blood out of it. Depending on where you shoot the animal, it may take a day or three for the water to run out clear. Keep adding ice until you get the meat bled out.

It will make the BEST tasting venison you have ever put in your mouth... this coming from someone who used to hang EVERY deer I ever shot for 7-21 days.

Venison could benefit from hanging if it was run up a chute and shocked, then cut and allowed to bleed out until death (like livestock). 
Take it from someone who has done this; if you shoot a domestic heifer or hog, and do not allow the meat to bleed out in ice, it will taste "wild" too...


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