Moose season has started here and the warm weather we have had the past few seasons has caused moose hunters to be creative.

Day time temperatures are in the mid teens C. and dip close to zero at night. But, sometimes, the days are warmer and so are the nights. The spoiling of moose quarters is a real possibility.

Flies are also a problem.

I have begun seeing hunters towing trailers with small cold rooms on them. They are hooked up to air conditioners run with a Colbot or rigged to a light bulb that fools the air conditioner into staying on.

when I was part of a fishing camp, we had a snow house. It was nothing more than a deep hole (7-8 feet) lined with old mattresses and styrofoam. It was filled with snow at the end of winter when the snow was nice and granular. A roof and side walls keeps everything clean.

We had snow all the way to August and even September some years. There's something about icing your beer cooler with snow in August that makes beer that much better.

I recently say photos of an ice hut someone made. It's the same idea but the guy cut lake ice and fills his hole with it. He also has a rail system to slide his moose quarters on. He shot a large cow moose on the second day. Daytime highs were close to 20 C. Using a couple of fans and uncovering his ice, he was able to lower the temperature of his ice hut between 1 and 3 C. depending on the time of day.

His moose cooled nicely and 5 days later he brought it to the butcher. Traveling after sun set helped keep things cool.

Being prepared can pay off nicely.

A while back we talked about the ice house packed with snow. That would be nice.

The other week I watched part of a U-tube video, I watched long enough to understand what he was doing. He took a small, single axle U Haul trailer and made it into a cooler. Using a small AC unit. With styrofoam sheets to insulate, that would come in handy.

I see a lot of our local carpenters that have small work trailers. If they are working on a big job, they can haul all of their tools, park it on the job site. Knowing that everything will be there ready tomorrow.

But for a family or group of friends, that hunt together year after year, it'd be worth spending some money. Building a cold storage unit, just for the warm seasons.

Years ago I sold groceries wholesale, the warehouse that I was dealing with had a small fleet of trucks. Long story short, I bought one of their older trucks with a refrigerated bed, cheap. I bought it more or less for the bed. Sold the truck and frame for what I paid. I still have the insulated 18-foot bed. I use it for storage.

I'm not sure how far back in the boonies the moose hunters are camped? But honestly, that would be a good seasonal business for a local store to start, to offer cold storage. If the flies are flying, that would easily be worth $25 per day. Per moose.

I figure it'd cost $5 per day to keep my 18' box cold, 35*, per day? 10 moose, $250 per day.

Can't they just kill the moose and bring it out? Sure would be tragic to lose a whole moose. I guess I'm lucky. All the deer we kill are close to home. We only let them hang long enough to filet the carcass and get the meat soaking in cold water. The next day it goes in the freezer.

Many moose are shot FAR from any cold storage. They have to get it out to the truck and then get out to the asphalt. Also, the hunters are often on holidays. Once they are out ... holidays are over. So they want to stay a bit.

My partner is friends with a butcher. Yesterday he told me that he was aware of 7 moose that had been wasted due to tainting. That is much higher than normal.

One was lost because the hunters had placed the moose quarters fur side up in the trailer in order to minimize dust from the dirt roads. Another group had stayed 5 days in the bush with the quarters hung up. Flies got to it.

There seems to be a steep learning curve to adapting to warmer falls. Plus ... some people are stupid. They say that they have always done it that way so that's the way they are going to do it.

There are several cold storage units and butchers in town. Very few people cut up their own moose. Having a butch stored, butchered and wrapped is around $300.00. The hunters help with the wrapping.

A moose can be shot 15 minutes from town or it could be 6 hours of rough travel.

Getting a moose out can be an all day affair. Buddy with the ice house had his die in a lake. Luckily he had a canoe stashed at that lake. He didn't have to go get one. He was able to tow the moose with the canoe, butcher it in the water, and haul the quarters on his ATV to the ice house.

His camp is about 3 hours from town.

I think you nailed it when you said: Some people stupid.

I'm sure there are some hard feelings going on around those camps too.

Honestly, you'd think there would be a discussion every evening around the campfire, and somebody is going to say: Look boys, what we're doing ain't working.

Even if they are back 6 hours from town, they'd better take tomorrow off from hunting, and get it worked up. $300 for cutting up a moose, that seems more than fair to me.

But when that animal hits the ground, you're working against the clock. I'd guess the first 12, 24 hours would be most important. If you can get it chilled to start with, the meat will retain the cold, within reason. If the flies are buzzing around, you'd better do something.

Years ago I shot a deer with my black powder gun, and as well as I remember, it was nice that morning and then got warm. Where I shot the deer there is a spring fed stream, at the base of the ridge. I dragged it off to the stream, the first deep hole I found, I swished it around a little bit and put a big rock on it's shoulder. It was pretty much under water. I left it there for half a day. Kind of messy skinning it, but it was chilled nicely.

But for the guys that hunt like this year after year, a little money invested in cooler of some sort, would be money well spent.

Tie it up in a stream? Yes, that's what I would do down south with beaver. If I had more than I could skin, and the weather was hot enough to spoil them, I would tie a cord around on front foot and tie them off to a tree or bush and let them float in the stream. Sometime I tie several in a row to one rope. It looked like a stringer of fish, but it was a stringer of beaver.

My buddy was at the butchers today when a moose was brought in. The guy had close to 4 hours of dirt road to travel. He had placed the quarters in a trailer - uncovered.

The butcher refused to take the carcass because of all the dirt ...

BTW: His truck bed, with cap on top, was empty. But that road dust probably would have filtered in anyways. Just not in the same quantity.

Fresh meat on an open trailer for 4 hours, on a dirt road, that's a perfect example of Stupid.

It seems that some of these guys were just in over their heads. Unprepared to the max. A tarp, big sheet of plastic or big bags and duct tape should have been on their list.

If you get down to it, you can't trust the weather, they should have had a backup plan. Even at 6 hours from town, there should be a "camp rule", if one of us kills a moose, the man that shot it and someone else is going to take it to cold storage tomorrow.

We've talked about using water to cool the carcass. Cold water will sap the heat. I know these guys camping don't have have access to running water, but a 20 minute soak in a stream or lake would make a difference. Block ice would help. Here local, dealing with deer or bear, it's always nice to rinse off the carcass, and hose it down good.

I also like to soak meat in salt water and ice. Rinse it the first time, add a half cup of salt and cover it with ice. But I'm dealing with deer, small critter compared to a moose.

But I'll bet there are some hard feelings going around these moose camps.

I bet there are hard feeling, too.

The butchers get an earful. Some guys think they are being scammed. The butchers just give them directions to the landfill. Others say they will try another butcher.

It sounds like my $300 price tag for butchering a moose is outdated.

A local guy now charges $750.

I spoke to a young fellow I know today. He shot a 50 incher with his bow. He got 532 pounds of meat. The butchering cost $920. He gave the guy $1000.

Realize not everyone has the same skill set, but my family has always butchered our own meat. If I had to pay money like that to get a critter processed, I'd think twice about killing it.

Here at work yesterday, I weighed a dozen chicken eggs: 1.63 pounds, foam carton and all. Eggs are over $2/pound.

Musher's friend has $2 a pound in his moose. Plus his other expenses.

The way I've got this figured, 500 pounds of meat, would nearly fill a 55-gallon drum. That's over 7 cubic feet. Once that meat is wrapped, it's going to take up a good chunk of the freezer.

Talking to a friend the other day, until a few years ago he beside a gravel/dirt road, it's paved now. I mentioned the man hauling his moose on an open trailer for 4 hours, on a dirt road. I can imagine what it looked like.

We've been really really dry here, I've had 1/2-inch of rain, it's been 6 or 7, maybe 8 weeks? Leaves have been falling for 2 months, and I've had frost 4 or 5 times so far.

But talking about butchering prices, a local man took his deer to a shop. As well as I remember, they charged him around $135. But he just delivered the deer, and went back a week or so later and picked it up. That was cut, wrapped and frozen, plus he had jerky made. It was made into like a summer sausage, sort of like a beef stick and all.

So, that meat had been seasoned, ground, baked and put out in individual wrappers. I can see where that would be expensive.

The man I was talking to, he knows a man that took 2 deer to a different "custom slaughter shop", his total was almost $600, total for both. I can't see that for a deer.

But I'll tell you this real fast. Years ago, I butchered an Angus steer on the farm, it would have been 1,200 pounds or a little better? Home butchering is a lot different than hunting, I mean I could sit here at the house and check the 5-day forecast, and choose the day. I had help lined up, and everything ready, when the weather was good we went to work. I had a tractor with a front bucket, running water, a shed with meat hooks.

Here in town, I have a meat saw, grinder, meat cuber and all. I let it hang, 4 or 5 days, honestly it worked out good. Thinking about it now, I'm pretty sure Mom came over and helped wrap and label. Everyone left with some good cuts of beef, and other than my time, I didn't spend much.