Hunting & Heritage  |  11/16/2016

Rooster Review: Yeti Tundra 45


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A Rooster Road Trip mapping exercise before our departure gave me a circular route from Minnesota south to Oklahoma, then back north through Kansas and southwest Nebraska before angling east from Valentine, Nebraska toward home in the Twin Cities. In total, the second leg of the Rooster Road Trip is slated to cover 1,909 miles through seven states with 29 hours behind the windshield over seven days.
 
All along the way, we’ve been collecting some of the tastiest wild meats the Great Plains has to offer. I’ve got big plans for that meat. New recipes are rolling around in my brain . . . roasted quail and pears with a honey glaze . . . grilled pheasant, cherry, and mozzarella flatbread . . . blackened quail with Brussels sprouts and candied pecans. Each year during the holidays, my wife, Meredith, and I invite thirty of our closest family and friends over for a wild game party we’ve dubbed “Pheasant Feast.”  This year will mark the 14th such event and I’m particularly excited about being able to add Oklahoma quail to this year’s menu. The key to any wild game dish, however, is getting that meat home fresh.
 
I take great care with my game meats to make sure nothing is spoiled in preparation for this large gathering. That can be a challenge during a week-long hunting road trip checking in and out of freezerless motels. In the old days, the pre-Yeti age of coolers, I’d have added a bag of ice each morning and evening as we drained the water that had melted in between. Gas up the truck and buy a new bag of ice was the routine until YETI® splashed onto the scene in 2005. Yeti’s slogan is “Built for the Wild,” but it very well could be “Built for the Rooster Road Trip.”  The ice I added on Saturday to cool off our Oklahoma opening morning quail are still ice cubes keeping our quail meat cold inside the Yeti 45 today.
 
A YETI Tundra® 45 will set you back $349.99, however the old adage of “you get what you pay for” rings true for Yeti’s products. They are the best coolers on the market, period. And when my family and friends gather for Pheasant Feast 14 at my home, they can rest assured every morsel of meat was packed in a YETI. That peace of mind is worth the price of the best cooler on the market. That peace of mind is worth buying a Yeti Tundra 45 for your next Rooster Road Trip.
 
 

YETI Tundra Specs:

  • Holds 26 cans with recommended 2:1 ice-to-contents ratio
  • FATWALL™ design provides extra-thick walls that hold up to two inches of insulation for unmatched ice retention
  • Rotomolded construction makes it armored to the core and virtually indestructible
  • PERMAFROST™ Insulation is commercial-grade polyurethane foam pressure-injected in the walls and lid to make sure your ice stays ice
  • Pair the YETI Tundra with YETI Ice to maximize ice retention and keep your contents colder for longer
 
- Bob St.Pierre, Rooster Road Trip 2016
 
 
Follow Rooster Road Trip 2016
Facebook – Daily contests, highlight videos and photo galleries / www.facebook.org/pheasantsforever
Rooster Road Trip 2016 – Blog posts and reports / www.pheasantsforever.org/Rooster-Road-Trip.aspx
Twitter – Real time updates / www.twitter.com/pheasants4ever
Instagram – Feature photos from the field / www.instagram.com/pheasants_forever
 
 
Bob St.Pierre is Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever’s Vice President of Marketing. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobStPierre and listen to Bob and Billy Hildebrand every Saturday morning on FAN Outdoors radio on KFAN FM100.3.