Deer Cooler

pugw

Hi, just wondering has anyone any advice on acquiring a drinks cooler for hanging deer? Been on the look out for a coke fridge or the like for a while but to no avail! Would a domestic larder fridge like this be big enough for fallow?
http://www.donedeal.ie/kitchenappliances-for-sale/larder-fridge/5356106

Also any advice on how to put in a rail at the top of them! Can this be done with rivets/screws?

Thanks

PL05

Hi, that looks like a run of the mill fridge, not good enough. A coke fridge would be ok for small,ish carcass etc. you cant have carcass touching sides of fridge. I know lads that use coke fridges and no problems with small deer in it.

One shot on kill

That one might just be a bit small high wise. If it were me I'd hang on for a come fridge or similar.

I'm not sure if putting revits in the fridge would damage the seal but you could cover it with tec7 if you had to revit it.

PL05

A DOUBLE DOOR retail type fridge would be perfect, high and wide, plenty of space around carcass.

PL05

You can make up a rack system to sit in bigger fridge also. hence no rivits etc.

garv123

PL05 wrote: »

Hi, that looks like a run of the mill fridge, not good enough. A coke fridge would be ok for small,ish carcass etc. you cant have carcass touching sides of fridge. I know lads that use coke fridges and no problems with small deer in it.

A single coke fridge will fit a fallow buck without touching the sides easily with no issues. So not just good for small deer.

One shot on kill

PL05 wrote: »

Hi, that looks like a run of the mill fridge, not good enough. A coke fridge would be ok for small,ish carcass etc. you cant have carcass touching sides of fridge. I know lads that use coke fridges and no problems with small deer in it.

Why are they not suppose to touch the side of the fridge.

noeleire

One shot on kill wrote: »

Why are they not suppose to touch the side of the fridge.

If they are touching the sides the air cant circulate around the deer so it will go of quicker in the area that is touching the sides a build up of bactiara ..

pugw

Thanks for replies lad's, what kind of money would you pay for a coke fridge and where would you source one? Thanks

PL05

garv123 wrote: »

A single coke fridge will fit a fallow buck without touching the sides easily with no issues. So not just good for small deer.

Must be a juvenile fallow buck your talking about fitting in a standard coke fridge, theres no way a fully grown buck would fit in there without touching sides. might be that the fallow i get are descent ones.

garv123

No not at all.. U must have a special small fridge.
Cut off the parts of the legs that arent needed at the and the head and theres loads of room to hang a fully grown fallow in them.

PL05

pugw wrote: »

Thanks for replies lad's, what kind of money would you pay for a coke fridge and where would you source one? Thanks

Not sure where you,d get one, maybe on done deal, would probably set you back a couple of hundred, but try go a bit more and get a bigger one. as i said before you can use a rack in bigger one, then you won,t have to drill the **** out it and risk damaging it. good luck.

PL05

garv123 wrote: »

No not at all.. U must have a special small fridge.
Cut off the parts of the legs that arent needed at the and the head and theres loads of room to hang a fully grown fallow in them.

sorry for doubting you, but i,ve seen sika stags in them with legs cut down and head removed and theres not much room left in there.

underthetumb

garv123 wrote: »

No not at all.. U must have a special small fridge.
Cut off the parts of the legs that arent needed at the and the head and theres loads of room to hang a fully grown fallow in them.

+1 I can confirm that

thelurcher

PL05 wrote: »

A DOUBLE DOOR retail type fridge would be perfect, high and wide, plenty of space around carcass.

Be aware that these can be fairly loud and vibey - I put one in a wooden shed and it seemed to amplify the noise. Neighbours would have gone mad so had to turn it off.
According to the friend of a friend that serviced it he said with all these fridges you're better off leaving it run 24/7 as they're less likely to leak then.

J.R.

Interesting reading here re Coco Cola not selling their fridges

http://reviews.ebay.ie/Buyer-of-Coca-Cola-Drinks-Fridges-Beware?ugid=10000000004643755

One shot on kill

That's a bit mad.

Wouldn't stop me from picking one up al the same. Theyed hary find it in the shed. No coca cola employees holiday in there.

meathstevie

If you do some rough initial butchering on a fresh carcass ( legs, shoulders, saddle ) and get rid of the lower limbs and make a rack that can be slotted inside the fridge you can hang a right bit of meat in a large household fridge.

It may fall short a bit on initial cooling capability but if you can do a clean skinning and initial butchering job ( avoid contamination with fecal matter is a big one, if it happens hose down with plenty of cold water ) that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Another option is butcher the warm carcass ( leave it hang as cool as possible for a few hours wrapped in a clean cotton sheet to let it stiffen up at least a little bit to make butchering easier ) and straight for the freezer with works ok with younger animals

pugw

Right lads, cooler got, its the same size as a coke one roughly! Any tis on putting a rail/rack into the top of it?? would I just but a bar into it and seal with silicon or whats the deal? Thanks

PL05

pugw wrote: »

Right lads, cooler got, its the same size as a coke one roughly! Any tis on putting a rail/rack into the top of it?? would I just but a bar into it and seal with silicon or whats the deal? Thanks

inside fridge at sides front and back there should be rails that run from top to bottom that support shelves, these can be used to support some sort of rack that you.ll have to make up. if your fridge does,nt have them then you could get someone thats handy with a welder to make up a rack, the same shape as inside fridge that will sit in there. if you,re planning to run fridge to check how its running, try to fill it as much as you can cause a fridge will work harder to cool when empty. foam blocks would do this nicely. good luck and hope you get a deer to put in it.