Shipping meat home

[glass eye]

So last season I drove up to the Brooks Range but didn’t punch my tag.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the drive I told myself I wouldn’t drive up again because it put 10,450 miles on my truck.

However I have been struck again with the desire to do another float trip but on a different river.

Just “weighing” my options on maybe flying up but I’m concerned about hundreds of pounds of meat.

What did it cost you to fly your moose meat home ?

 

[BuzzH]

I've had fish shipped home VIA a known shipper with Alaska Airlines was just over $1 a pound IIRC.

I usually just bring it back as checked bags, but last year the processor was running behind so had to ship some. Wayyyy cheaper than fedex.

 

[cgasner1]

I think last time I did it was 70 ish cents a pound was great showed up a few days after I did froze solid and the guy loaded it in my truck with a forklift

 

[mthillrunner]

Last fall via a known shipper through Alaska Airlines it was about .90 cents/lb

 

[seeth07]

I've always gone the carry on/checked baggage route for all 3 of my trips to AK and the main headache is just the effort required to lug them around to get them checked and then from baggage pickup to your vehicle. Getting the meat frozen prior to flying has never been a problem as we always give ourselves 1-2 days back in town before leaving to take care of that and every hotel we have stayed in town has had a freezer for us to use.

I posted a photo of my wife and I on the dock loaded up with a bunch of crab and two bears. A full moose would likely amount to a similar load. I'll see if I can find the thread where I posted that photo for you.

 

[seeth07]

Here it is:

Picking days to hunt

Flying used to scare me for hunting and now that I've done it 3 times going to Alaska, I'm way less scared. However, my experience each time has been with Alaska airlines and if there is one airline that knows a thing or two about flying hunters, I'd like to think its them. The people we deal...

www.hunttalk.com

Will you be solo?

 

[glass eye]

Here it is:

Picking days to hunt

Flying used to scare me for hunting and now that I've done it 3 times going to Alaska, I'm way less scared. However, my experience each time has been with Alaska airlines and if there is one airline that knows a thing or two about flying hunters, I'd like to think its them. The people we deal...

www.hunttalk.com

Will you be solo?

I’m sure I can convince my wife to go but she’s already saying “Alaska again” That said if I say I’m going with or without her she’ll come with me.
My biggest hurdle is my Labrador. I could leave her with my daughter but I would rather have her with me.
I’m scared to death of flying her in a cargo compartment.
I’m leaning more towards driving again.
I want to float the Chandalar with this inflatable boat.

 

[Trial153]

I fly meat home as checked bags.
I bring icemule XL cooler bags in a duffle. Any transporter i use has a frezzers, the meat gets frozen/chilled. pack it the cooler bags and check them in.
Hardest part is lugging them around…rent a cart!

 

[Jofes]

Off topic but,
Would you fly up to the lake then float down?

 

[Gellar]

The last moose hunt we just flew the meat in checked baggage. We just bought cheap new coolers at Wally World in Anchorage when we got back in town, froze all the meat and packed the coolers.

If I had the time, I’d drive just for the adventure. You have done that before so you are familiar.

Would taking the ferry from Washington to Valdez save you any mileage on your truck? I don’t think it would save much for time.

 

[bucdoego]

As I recall from a FT video, Randy was touting Marcus having found a good answer/process for when he hunts Alaska. I also just learned of: Wild Game Trophy Shipping [https://www.wildgametrophyshipping.com/]. They ship trophy mounts as well as meat, etc.

 

[glass eye]

Off topic but,
Would you fly up to the lake then float down?

Scheduled flight to Arctic Village and float down to the Yukon River to the bridge on Dalton Highway.
Would be careful of where to hunt as it flows between National Wildlife Refuges and Native Lands.

 

[seeth07]

Scheduled flight to Arctic Village and float down to the Yukon River to the bridge on Dalton Highway.
Would be careful of where to hunt as it flows between National Wildlife Refuges and Native Lands.

holy crap, that is a very ambitious float!

 

[mdhunter61]

Scheduled flight to Arctic Village and float down to the Yukon River to the bridge on Dalton Highway.
Would be careful of where to hunt as it flows between National Wildlife Refuges and Native Lands.

Might be a good idea to check with some who have floated that area. I haven't floated the Yukon, but have read several accounts of strong winds on the Yukon that made floating downstream quite a chore. Can't remember what stretch of the Yukon it was.

 

[glass eye]

Might be a good idea to check with some who have floated that area. I haven't floated the Yukon, but have read several accounts of strong winds on the Yukon that made floating downstream quite a chore. Can't remember what stretch of the Yukon it was.

Driving to Alaska won’t have any time constraints. We’d make it floating to the bridge eventually.
If we fly we’d be on a schedule and more stressful.

 

[PRO MO]

alaska trophy express is what i'm going to use for caribou, i think. for moose, they're $1050, including meat antlers and cape. you'd just have to arrange pickup with them on their lower 48 route.

 

[Dhosera]

I done all 3 in the past.

Alaska Trophy Express - New Owner aint near as good as the original guy. Now they give you a pickup date and its either you make it there or don't to get your meat on the truck. For example meat pickup date in Fairbanks was 12 days after we were out of the bush. Owner says tough, call the guys that'll store it for you listed on his website and when I did both guys wouldn't do it. Technically one guy would, but only if you paid him for a full processing job @ an inflated rate + storage and an "expedited processing" charge. The other guy, the taxidermy or fur one listed on his website, said naw I'm too busy to mess with that & hung up. I think his place burned down or something so Karma got him in the end anyhow.

Alaska Air Cargo - Shipped our Antlers, Salted Capes & gear from Anchorage to Chicago pretty cheap. I wouldn't trust meat. Air cargo can and will get bumped because they only ship cargo when they have extra weight on flights and you're putting alotta trust in someone on a dock to make sure they keep your meat frozen while it gets bumped, 1/2 shipped on different flights days later than you thought. Again not really an issue for Gear/Antlers, but I wouldn't trust meat.

Checked Baggage. I default to this one now almost every time. Buy cheap coolers @ Fred Meyer, pack 49lbs in there, freeze it solid and pay the checked baggage fees. Alaksa Air isn't too bad. Delta gets pricey. Just did this last week with 49lbs of Halibut, Sockeye & KANG.

 

[Jofes]

The other guy, the taxidermy or fur one listed on his website, said naw I'm too busy to mess with that & hung up. I think his place burned down or something so Karma got him in the end anyhow.

Let me get this right, someone was busy running a successful business, chose not to provide you services as it was an inconvenience, (he owes you nothing) and you're glad his business burns down...

 

[Dhosera]

Nowhere did I say I was glad bud. I simply stated some facts that the karma bug appeared to have bit back after contact was made with a business that advertised a certain service on their website and responded rudely and abruptly hanging up on a customer.

Just trying to save the OP from wasting his time.

May I suggest you move along before you insert some more words into my post and hurt your feelings further?

 

[SOT9]

What has been said about flying back the ice chests as luggage. Also some airlines have a weight limit per ice chest and charge a fee after that even for the free ones so don't exceed that limit.