My How To: Flying Cross Country with Elk Meat

[woods89]

Nice write up, op. You did it cheaper than I!
I hunted a 3rd season bull tag in northern CO last year. Cold weather means a bit more gear so I shipped a tub of gear to my buddy who lives close to where we hunt preseason. I flew out with my rifle case and a big duffel as checked bags, and my backpack as my carry on. I picked up a Turo rental ( a little VW Tiguan) at the airport for transportation. I was fortunate to kill my bull early in the season and with it being mid November we got quarters chilled, but not frozen pretty easily.
I shipped a tub of gear back home, and went and bought 2 70 qt coolers from Walmart. The day before I left I boned everything but the shanks out and filled both coolers to 95 lbs each. On the way home I checked my rifle case and duffel as my 2 free bags (Southwest) and paid overweight/oversize fees on the two coolers. I paid $225 total fees at the counter (I think the lady knocked some fees off for me)
Because of CWD regs, I had to get the skull cleaned before bringing it into MO, so it stayed in CO to be cleaned up by beetles. My hunting partner was traveling through my area this summer so I helped him with fuel costs and he dropped it off at my house.
The flying/driving decision is highly situational. If you have someone to split the drive with driving probably pencils out better. However, I hate that solo 16 hour drive. I'm also self employed, so when I'm not working no money is being made, and I don't have paid time off, so the time savings are attractive. I will gladly do it again if the situation calls for it, or if not I'll drive.
A couple things I might point out,

- I bought 70 qt coolers, and had room to spare at 95 lbs apiece. Next time I'll use 55 qt coolers, and I believe I will only have to pay overweight fees, as the 55qt Coleman coolers I looked at were within airline dimensions.

-I duct tape the coolers shut pretty generously. I also sharpie my name and phone # on the side.

- I flew STL-DEN which is non stop. I would go to quite some lengths to keep from having to connect somewhere, as I think the chances of issues could be higher if connecting.

 

[7Bartman]

Here's some tips if you need to get the antlers home. I had no problems on Southwest, although I was admittedly nervous.

 

[longbow51]

Given the recent problems outlined with delays on other threads, glad you got it home safely!

 

[Btassin]

Not sure about other airlines, but Delta does two checked bags free with First Class. They also have ways to get extra baggage allowances by having one of their co-branded credit cards or by having 'status' with them.

Alaska Airlines is pretty reasonable with the extra baggage.

 

[Btassin]

It sounds like you got the meat home via airline about as cheap as possible.

I got my bear home from Alaska for a similar amount a couple years ago. I purchased 3 collapsible coolers off Amazon that I used to replace the foam padding in my rifle case on the flight there. No extra bag fees on the way. On the return flight, I had about 50 pounds in each cooler. I carried one cooler as my carry on, checked my pack with one cooler inside, checked the 3rd cooler (as my 2nd bag), and my rifle case (with dirty clothes as padding) was my extra bag. I took my hide to a taxidermist in Alaska, he shipped it to Moyle, Moyle shipped it to me.

I still think for most hunts, driving a decent mpg rig out/back is the cheapest option. That's not always possible or practical though.

Driving does have its advantages. Last time I drove with meat it was not difficult to pick up a chest freezer and a small generator allowed me to keep everything frozen, running the gen periodically while traveling.

 

[GrzegorzK]

Thank you for sharing all of that, you have help me with many questions I had.

 

[kiwi hunter]

Awesome, well done.

 

[JAG]

For you guys that fly on tight budgets, do you know any providers better than Turo (or the OP's Avis deal) for renting off-road vehicles?