Most of us would rather hunt hard all day, come back to camp, sit around a roaring fire, tell stories, have a cocktail, and leave the real work until the hunt is over.
If the weather is cold enough, that’s exactly what we’d rather do.
Hang the deer. Let the temperature do the work. Get back after it the next morning.
But sometimes Mother Nature has her own ideas.
Maybe the nights are cold enough, but by late morning the temperature is climbing. Maybe you’re hunting farther south. Maybe November in the Upper Midwest suddenly feels more like September.
When that happens, you adapt. You don’t stop hunting. You just change how you take care of the meat.
When November Feels More Like September
A normal Upper Midwest deer season might give you 20-degree nights and 50-degree days. When that happens, you can often let the weather work for you.
But give us 45-degree nights, 65-degree afternoons, bright sunshine and bugs coming back out, and the plan changes fast.
The hide comes off. The deer gets quartered. The ice and coolers come out.
And instead of sitting in the stand all day wondering whether your venison is getting too warm, you take care of it and get back to hunting.
This is the Midwest a few years ago on November 6. Looks more like September 6.
That’s when hanging a deer all day stops being automatic and you start thinking about getting that meat quartered and cooled down.
Have a Plan Before You Need One
Weather apps aren’t perfect, but they’ll usually tell you enough to know whether you’d better have extra ice, coolers, knives and a clean place ready.
Plan for the worst. Hope for the best. Then go hunt.
When I was a kid, deer season was just cold. You hung the deer, eventually threw it in the back of the pickup, and brought it home.
Some years are different now. The tradition hasn’t changed. Sometimes the way we take care of the meat has to.
Work hard. Hunt hard. Have fun hard. Keep repeating.
Sometimes Two Deer Hit the Ground in Half an Hour
Sometimes it isn’t one deer.
We’ve had two deer down within half an hour.
That’s when having a system ready really matters.
My setup starts with ice already in the bottom of the cooler.
Then I put an Allinliner over the ice and seal the adhesive edges of the liner to the inside walls of the cooler so it stays where I want it.
That’s an important part of the product. It isn’t just a loose bag sitting in a cooler.
Then the venison goes directly into the liner over the ice.
If I’ve got more meat to cool, I’ll add another liner, another layer of ice and another layer of venison. Sometimes even a third layer.
Ice. Liner. Venison. Another liner. More ice. More venison.
That layering ability is a big part of why I created Allinliner in the first place. When you suddenly have a pile of meat that needs to get cold, versatility matters.
Let the Cooler Do Its Job
One of the things I like about putting the liner over the ice is that the cold is still right underneath the meat while the liner helps create a barrier between the venison and dirty meltwater, blood, hair and whatever else is collecting in the bottom of the cooler.
The cooler does what a cooler is supposed to do.
The liner helps contain the mess.
The Same Idea Works for Elk, Moose and Bear
The same basic problem can show up with elk, moose and bear too.
With bigger animals, the logistics get bigger fast.
More meat. More cooling. More moving. More processing.
If the weather is warmer than expected, having a flexible cooler setup becomes even more useful.
Take care of the meat, keep things organized, and get back to enjoying the hunt.
Gordy’s Trick: Make Yourself a Work Surface
Sometimes you just need a clean place to lay down meat while you’re working.
An Allinliner can be laid flat across a butcher block table or another suitable work surface, and the adhesive can help hold it in place.
Now you’ve got a disposable work surface for deer, elk, moose or bear while you’re trimming, quartering or moving meat around.
When you’re finished, pick it up and get rid of it.
The Cooler Becomes Part of Processing Day Too
The liner isn’t done working when the deer gets home.
When we process venison, the cooler becomes part of the work area.
We buy our own beef fat and grind venison for sausage and burger.
I’ll put a liner inside the cooler and grind the coarse batch right into it. Then we can use that same liner again for the fine grind.
Seasoning and spices stay with the batch instead of ending up all over the cooler.
And if you’ve ever processed a deer, you know it’s a lot of work.
Trim it. Grind it. Season it. Mix it. Grind it again. Package it. Clean everything.
By the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is scrub another cooler.
Pull the liner out, throw it away, and that job is basically off the list.
Gordy’s Trick for Holding a Batch for Later
Sometimes I don’t want to process everything immediately.
Maybe we’ve got more than one deer. Maybe I’m using different processors. Maybe I just want to spread the work out.
One trick I personally use is turning the liner inside out so the adhesive is on the inside.
I put the venison in, fold the liner around it, use the adhesive to help hold everything together, and tape it closed.
I don’t necessarily have to use both adhesive strips right away, so I can overlap the liner as I wrap the meat.
That’s simply how I’ve used it when I want to keep a batch together until I’m ready for the next step.
Front Shoulders? We Already Know Where Those Are Going
Everybody cuts a deer a little differently.
For me:
Front shoulders? Sausage. 😂
Steaks? I like them from the hindquarters.
And the chops?
Never, ever, ever do anything with the chops but eat them as chops.
Best part of the deer. At least that’s my rule.
Finding a Good Processor
I don’t think there’s any big secret here.
Word-of-mouth.
Talk to hunters you trust. If they keep going back to the same processor year after year, that tells you something.
And here’s another foolproof method:
If somebody hands you some venison sausage, jerky or snack sticks and it’s really freaking good, ask who made it. 😂
Processing Day Is Part of Deer Camp Too
After deer season ends, everybody starts drifting back into normal life.
Work. Family. Everything else.
Processing day gives everybody another excuse to get together.
Cut meat. Grind sausage. Cook some of what you harvested. Tell stories. Have some fun.
It’s almost like getting one more day of deer camp.
And the older you get, the more you realize:
You never really know which deer hunt is going to be the last one.
You Can’t Measure the Fun by Inches on a Rack
Everybody wants to shoot a big buck. I get it.
But I’ve always believed in preserving the old way of deer hunting too.
A good deer camp isn’t just antlers.
It’s a roaring bonfire. Good friends. Family. A cocktail.
Stories about the kids on their first hunts. Stories about the old man. Stories about great friends who used to sit around the same fire and aren’t there anymore.
You can’t measure the fun by inches on a rack.
My First Deer
I had just turned 12.
My dad was already hunting up north with the older group, so I drew into a special hunt closer to home.
My brother helped me set my stand the night before.
I think I was sitting there about eight minutes when a small deer came through.
I won’t tell you how many times I had to shoot.
But I got it. 😂
Later, a six-pointer and an eight-pointer came through, and I pushed them toward another hunter a few hundred yards away.
I heard one shot.
Then I saw him climbing down and walking toward me.
I thought: Oh no. I did something wrong.
He gets up to me and says: “Oh my God, you’re just a kid.”
Then he thanked me for pushing that eight-pointer his way.
He looked at my deer and said: “Yeah, you’re young. That’s not much consolation, but at least you got one.”
That was my first deer hunt.
I’ve been hooked ever since.
The Dumbest Deer That Ever Lived
Years later, I was walking back toward camp and saw a buck bedded in a CRP field.
The closer I got, the stranger it looked.
Turned out somebody had likely wounded it the night before and never recovered it.
By the time I reached it, the deer was dead.
My brother asked what I thought when I first saw it.
I told him:
“I thought I got lucky and found the dumbest deer that ever lived.” 😂
Deer Camp Supper
Find whoever makes the best chili or sloppy joes.
Have them make a big batch before the trip. Freeze it solid.
Whoever gets back to camp first gets the bonfire going, builds up the coals and hangs the pot over the fire.
By the time everyone gets back, takes care of deer, hangs gear and finishes whatever else needs doing, supper is hot.
That’s deer camp.
Every Camp Needs One Ridiculous Tradition
Ours involves blackberry Merlot.
I’d gone through a drought without shooting a nice buck.
Before one season, I saw a giant cheap jug of blackberry Merlot at the liquor store.
I bought it.
That year I finally shot a buck.
We toasted with the Merlot.
Now somebody brings a bottle every year.
At this point, I’m not sure we’d hunt without it. 😂
Some Things Should Stay Forever
My regular stand is about 300 yards from where my dad used to hunt.
His stand eventually got too old to safely use, so we took the ladder down.
But the stand stayed.
It’s a memorial now.
Every year, we walk past it and say hi to him.
Someday, when I’m dead and gone, I hope my stand stays there too.
I hope somebody walks past it or sits nearby and thinks about me.
Not because of the buck I shot.
Because they remember the fun we had.
The deer matter. The memories matter more.
Taking a Kid Hunting?
First rule:
Bring lots of snacks. 😂
Don’t make them sit all day if they’re miserable.
Keep them warm. Keep them comfortable. Make it fun.
And don’t be afraid to let them fail.
Let them miss. Let a deer bust them. Let them make mistakes.
Sometimes they’ll learn more from failure than success.
And teach them the most important rule:
What happens at deer camp stays at deer camp. 😂😂😂
Your Turn
Here’s the question I want to hear other hunters answer:
Warm November day, deer on the ground, and you still want to hunt the rest of the day — what’s your move? Hang it, quarter it, cooler it, or something else?
Drop your answer in the comments.
There’s always something to learn from another deer camp.
Why Allinliner?
Allinliner is a small American company.
Our liners are Made in USA.
And the guy behind the product hunts and fishes too.
Allinliner came from doing the same things you’ve been reading about: dirty coolers, fish, deer, ice, processing meat, trying to make cleanup easier, and trying to make one product do more than one job.
Allinliner is food-grade, BPA-free, disposable and self-adhesive.
If you’re not sure which size fits your cooler, use our Find My Liner calculator.
Ready to shop? See Liner 09 for 60–95 Qt coolers or Liner 15 for 100–150 Qt coolers.
And if you’ve got some oddball cooler or setup we never thought of, jump into the website chat.
Ask Gordy.
There are no stupid questions.
Take Care of the Meat. Take Care of the Memories.
Work hard.
Hunt hard.
Have fun hard.
Keep repeating.
And whenever you get the chance, take a kid hunting.
Keep them warm. Bring the snacks. Let them screw up. Laugh about it later.
The deer won’t always cooperate.
Mother Nature definitely won’t.
But years from now, they probably won’t remember the temperature or how many inches were on the rack.
They’ll remember who was sitting beside them.
Saving coolers. Saving relationships. One liner at a time.
American Made With Pride.
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