My husband, his boss, and his bosses wife are going on an antelope hunt to MT in August. They are flying to the destination. Although they know how to check in their bows - my husband wants to know if you can fly with a cooler of meat. I know most of the time prices go by weight - so would it be better to ship meat and hide home? Have any of you flown to an out of state hunt and were successful? What did you do? Thanks in advance!
Getting a lot harder to fly with meat since most airlines open packages if there are questionable masses inside and meat tends to be that. One of the many reasons that I bite the bullet and drive everywhere I hunt. (Except when I went to New Zealand last spring and I couldn't bring meat home anyways!)
It varies by airline. I left my elk meat with my dad in Alberta last fall because United would not carry it. It will be a hassle and cost more but ground shipping on ice will be a more sure way to go.
I would ship the meat and anything else. Last thing I would want is to arrive back home in WI, while the meat from my hunt was taking a vacation in HI.
They thought about driving but it was 31 hours - though, that may be something to consider coming home (renting a car).
Shipping would be better and probably close to renting a car in price. Freeze it and pack with dry ice.Flying on a airline you don't have control of the meat and it could sit in a hot tar matt for hours and it lets face it they don't handle anything with care.
My brothers friend brought meat home on a carry on cooler last fall and it worked well. Call the airline and ask what the dimensions are for a carry on package and ask if meat is ok. Than go to Walmart and buy the coolers. I recently shipped overnight 66 lbs of venison and dry ice from Minnesota to Portland and it was $330 dollars. Guy in Portland wasn't concerned about the price. USPS was much cheaper than FEDEX or UPS.
I fly southwest regularly and have brought back frozen game birds, turkey, pheasant, etc, in a cooler in checked luggage from several hunts. I pack it so they can open the lid and check it if they choose. My plan with venison is to do the same. you might talk with the airline to see what the requirement is and then compare that to shipping it.
Was on a successful pig hunt in Texas, left the meat at processor there, made what we wanted, and had it shipped to PA later. (Flash froze) Then it's all vacume sealed and ready for freezer when gets to u, and u not paying for bones !
Miss pony. Arn't we jumping the bowstring a bit. They haven't even left yet and already we have antelope in the freezer.
Most of our clients either drive or ship the meat back. Flash freezing is virtually impossible to find out here. On an antelope you're going to get about 30-40lbs of meat on most bucks. The average price last year that our processor charged to ship (which comes directly from FedEx) was between $4-6$/lb. That is frozen solid and packed in wax lined boxes. You're going to end up paying $50+ to get it back on a plane, they may hassle you about dry ice, etc. and if the box gets lost or delayed... it's all for nothing. As for capes, I HIGHLY recommend leaving the heads with a local taxidermist for a multitude of different reasons. First of all, antelope hides slip at the drop of a hat, literally... they're EXTREMELY fragile. So unless you plan on caping, fleshing and salting it before you leave, it's a really bad idea. Secondly, antelope aren't whitetails and mounting them is a whole lot different. There is a difference between taxidermists that do several hundred per year and a dozen per year. Just my thoughts but I've seen it go bad too many times to not bring up the real issues at hand. Good luck!
Thanks, dub! If he is sucessful, I think he will leave it there. No need to risk ruining it. Not jumping any bowstring (though, it is an 80% success rate) - just trying to prepare. Since I'm not going, trying to have everything lined up. He'd spend $1,000+ to get whatever home, I like to be a bit more economical. Thanks everyone!
I vote leave a day or so earlier and drive. With three people going those are easy shifts. No worry about losing gear (gun or bow, clothes, etc). Plus less worry of getting meat home. If all 3 fill tags that could be $600 in shipping fees at Dub's estimated rate. Might as well spend it on fuel and get to see the country too. I am biased, I enjoy road trips. Heck even when I worked as an Engineer at US Airways and flew for free I still liked driving on hunts. -Mike
Unfortunately their job does not allow them to drive there. They cannot get any more days off prior to. They *may* be able to drive home - we'll find out what's going on this weekend when they sit down to order plane tickets.
Rules vary by airlines if it's allowed print the sheet off and carry it with you not all employees know the rules. I fly every year with meat on delta and southwest and have also used Alaska Airlines, it must be contained in a leak proof container. I am usally able to freeze it and I use two soft sided coolers which can be filled to 50lbs each without paying oversized fees. Capes well fleshed will be fine for the flight home depending on layover lenght. I use a trash compactor bag and put it inside a dry bag. I've split the antlers and boxed them up and shipped them before but antelope skull should fit in the cooler bag. Flesh it well and wash all blood off and bag it up in trash bag place in soft cooler. I zip tie my cooler zippers after I check them and leave a couple spares in cooler in case someone one wants to look in it later they can just clip the zip tie off and replace when done. My hunting partner uses a Walmart tote with a hole drilled on each side for his meat and places zip ties in holes to keep the lid on. He also leaves spare zip ties on top incase it's opened. Hard coolers subtract total amount you can take home. Alaska Airlines is the most hunter friendly I've flown but they are pretty limited where they fly. Just some thoughts Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Also if you use taxidermist enough your going to have drama much easier to deal with in person than over the phone. I try to always bring my trophy home to be mounted by my guy who I trust and know exactly what kinda work he does. To each there own but I always seem to be charged less at home too Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
