Crawfish Help

[eman]

I need to pick up 3 or 4 sacks of crawfish on a thursday morning ,transport them 500 + miles and keep them alive till i boil friday afternoon / night.
what's the best way to do this ??? Ideas???
Will be transporting in PU bed.
Thanks. for the :help:

[Dink]

Keep towels on them, and keep them towels wet! It'll keep them cool enough to stay alive

[DUCKGOGETTER]

The best thing i can think of is what we used to do. Wet the truck bed with cold water, and then take a burlap tarp and soak it then lay it on the bed then place the sacks on it spaced out the best way you can. Then take another burlap tarp and soak it down and place it on top of them. Now this was only driving 100 miles or so, but make sure to wet the sacks as often as you can. I hope this helps

[Salty]

Bob, I hauled 90 lbs. to Gray, GA in a 260 qt. Igloo.

[Red Devil]

Put em in a big enough ice chest still in the sack of course, put in an unopened bag or two of ice. Leave the drain open. Works for me.

[wtretrievers]

500 miles is a long way! You can use the burlap like mentioned but they will dry out fairly quick with the wind, unless you can figure a way to keep the wind off them. Got a bed cover? Or maybe build a plywood box with a lid?
Don't forget to bring plenty of water or make frequent stops to water.

[eman]

So the big thing is keep them semi cool and keep them wet?
I will have all my cooking gear and camping gear in the truck too.
The bugs are for cajun Night at the smoking meat forums gathering in fla.
Wife and i will be doing big pot of red beans w/ sausage and andoullie and a big pot of greens w/ corn bread along w/ the crawfish fri night. (100 folks)
Got a SMF member flying in from Cape Town south Africa for the gathering this year

[Red Devil]

So the big thing is keep them semi cool and keep them wet?
I will have all my cooking gear and camping gear in the truck too.
The bugs are for cajun Night at the smoking meat forums gathering in fla.
Wife and i will be doing big pot of red beans w/ sausage and andoullie and a big pot of greens w/ corn bread along w/ the crawfish fri night. (100 folks)
Got a SMF member flying in from Cape Town south Africa for the gathering this year
Sounds like a good ole time.

[DUCKGOGETTER]

so the big thing is keep them semi cool and keep them wet?
I will have all my cooking gear and camping gear in the truck too.
The bugs are for cajun night at the smoking meat forums gathering in fla.
Wife and i will be doing big pot of red beans w/ sausage and andoullie and a big pot of greens w/ corn bread along w/ the crawfish fri night. (100 folks)
got a smf member flying in from cape town south africa for the gathering this year


man that sounds like alot of fun

[eman]

thinking about laying tha sacks in the bed up against the cab, covering w/ wet burlap or towels , then lay a few bags of ice on top the towels. This should keep them cool / wet
longer than just wetting them . we will be making frequent stops as the wife now has degenerative Arthritus in her hip and lower back.

[Salty]

Damp and cool is all you need, Bob. It took about 8 hours to get to UGA and they were just fine. 90 lbs. was about 2 1/2 sacks if I recall. I had to take 'em out the sacks, tho.

[eman]

we have the same thing on a smaller scale here in La. in the fall
This years SELA gathering is Oct 4,5,6,7, outside Franklinton La on one of our members farms. It is open to any member of smoking Meat forums and is a family function.
We have a few camper spots and plenty of room for tent camping.
There is no charge to attend this event but donations to off set the cost of the food are accepted. BYOB and if you want to bring a dish or something to throw on the smoker you can.
We will also have the smokehouse going all weekend and If you want bacon or sausage smoked you can bring it or i am working on price per lb for whole cured bellies , Andoullie ,pork sausage , canadian bacon and buck board bacon.
There is no cost to Join SMF(some of us are members there) and i know there's no one on SC that will not learn something from the site.

[Big Flounder]

I have transported them 3 hours before in ice chest with bags of ice. Prop them up so the water will drain. I stopped half way and rotated the sacks. Very few were dead.

[jdm4x43732]

I would try to get some block ice to put under the burlap also. Would take longer to melt keeping them wetter a little longer than cubed ice. Main thing that will get them is wind drying them out as stated above as well as sun.

[DUCKGOGETTER]

No we would stop often and check on them and stop and put water on the burlap

[southern151]

Put em in a big enough ice chest still in the sack of course, put in an unopened bag or two of ice. Leave the drain open. Works for me.
^^This^^^. I've hauled 4 sacks over 750 miles/12+ hrs and had less than a pound of total dead loss. Call me and I'll give a little more description.

[swamp snorkler]

Try to get some from a local fisherman that morning, if they been out the water a while they will die faster.


Lifelong fan of the Super Bowl 44 Champions New Orleans Saints!!!!!

[Asterisk-Rich]

Brought 18,000#'s to sandiego before in a refrigerated truck. 33 hrs...just keep the cool and you will be fine.

[Garfish]

Let us know how they came out Bob.
Got some good input if I ever need to get some from the east side of the water and bring em back here.

[Dink]

Don't put them in the pot with ice, ya gotta have a drain

[Raymond]

Buy some blankets from goodwill, wrap sacks after covering with bags of ice perforated so water just leaks out, buy more ice and wet again every stop for gas. Discard blankets after use they will b done.

[meathauler]

I would do the burlap and Ice/water deal. Also I would put a chesp tarp to keep wind off of them also.

[DannyI]

The best thing any seafood house will tell you, keep them cool. Put in ice chest with ice bags on top with drains open. Will work!


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[H2OFwlKlr]

Put em in a big enough ice chest still in the sack of course, put in an unopened bag or two of ice. Leave the drain open. Works for me.


This is the only way to do it, keeps them cool, the wind stays off of them (which is very important), and keep the drains open so they do not drown. Yes, crawfish will drown if they cannot move in water.

Leave them in the ice chest with ice until you are ready to cook them. Rinse and cook, another temperature increase for too long, and more will die.

Just laying them in the bed with burlap for that long, even keeping wet and ice on them, the bed of your truck will get too hot.

Good luck, sounds like a great time!