Transporting elk antlers and meat -- lower 48

[Will_m]

For those that have experience:

What have you found the best way to get meat and antlers back from a hunt that you have flown to? Take an extra day to go into town and box it up UPS? Can you ship antlers without splitting them?

Surely someone has some experience with this.

 

[N2TRKYS]

The cheapest route is to cancel your returning flight and rent a one way vehicle home.

 

[cnelk]

Flying to/from a hunt destination sure has its obstacles. A lot of research must be done to be sure all goes smoothly. Add meat to the equation and it can get complicated quick.

1- Research your airline baggage policy - from weights, costs and shipping perishable items [meat]

2- Consider shipping your gear to a nearby town Post Office. Address it to yourself, General Delivery. They will hold it for 30 days. You will need your identification to get it. In that gear, have a roll of duct tape, permanent marker, heavy duty trash bags and some pre-made address labels to your home address.

3- Consider adding a day on the end of your travel plans. Nothing worse than trying to scramble shipping gear/meat and getting to your flight.

4- Consider buying a One-way ticket to your destination, and using rewards/air miles for the return trip. This is WAY less expensive than changing your flight if needed at the end of your trip.

5- If you are successful and need to ship meat, go buy a couple coolers. Place the meat in the trash bags, add some dry-ice [see airline policy] tape up the coolers, and ship as luggage. Don’t worry about the weight too much, just pay the extra fees, as its probably cheaper to pay for two 75lb coolers than three 49lb coolers.

6- Carry-On luggage has no weight restrictions. Load that bag up! Just be sure to have the meat in plastic bags.

7- Shipping your gear back home: Just put all your gear back in the shipping boxes you sent it in, tape them up,put your pre-made labels on the boxes, stop by the Post Office and ship. They will probably arrive the day after you get home.

Its been my experience to not rush anything at the end of your trip. Take that extra day, or two, keep things in perspective and it will work out just fine.

 

[Xforce41]

I've done it 2 different ways, made Tupper ware coolers lined with insulation, and flew the meat home to pennsylvania from idaho. Cost me $300 in excess baggage fees. Then had rack shipped home UPS. that alone cost $467.00. (And it was a small 5x5)
Second was this past Sept from colorado, I looked into a wildlife transport company.
(Professional wildlife transport) was the name. They were awesome to deal with.
All the meat from a bigger bodied 6x6 and the 280inch rack cost somewhere around 550.00. Other than driving next time I go, that in my opinion is the best option.
I have the phone number if you want to pm me. But I believe they're on facebook.
I even let him park his trailer at my house so he could drop things of in other states. Awesome people to work with.

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[tommymo]

Does anyone know if meat needs to be frozen in order to check in as luggage?

 

[Xforce41]

Does anyone know if meat needs to be frozen in order to check in as luggage?

Yes, needs to be frozen solid. They will ask to open and inspect it.

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[Xforce41]

Hers a pic of the makeshift coolers I made. They fit within southwest Airlines measurements, and each had 75lbs of deboned elk meat. I zip tied the lids on, then duct taped the ever living snot out of them. (Southwest made me open one) but supplied zip ties and tape to reseal it.
Meat was still frozen when it got to Philadelphia airport from Boise Idaho.

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[tommymo]

Yes, needs to be frozen solid. They will ask to open and inspect it.

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So this has been my dilemma on continuing to fly out on hunts. Do you really get more days out because you saved on driving? It seems to me that you have to have at least 2 days reserved to get the animal to a butcher, have it frozen, ship your gear, and buy coolers so you can bring the meat home. Worst of all what do you do for the last 2 days? You pretty much either stop hunting and hang out, maybe scout for the following year or continue to hunt another day and if you put something down you figure out how to drive home, for me thats a 32 hour drive might now work out so well LOL.

 

[Xforce41]

So this has been my dilemma on continuing to fly out on hunts. Do you really get more days out because you saved on driving? It seems to me that you have to have at least 2 days reserved to get the animal to a butcher, have it frozen, ship your gear, and buy coolers so you can bring the meat home. Worst of all what do you do for the last 2 days? You pretty much either stop hunting and hang out, maybe scout for the following year or continue to hunt another day and if you put something down you figure out how to drive home, for me thats a 32 hour drive might now work out so well LOL.

That's the same battle I have with myself when I decide to go west. After 2 successful back to back years, I definitely think I will drive from now on. This past year I was gonna cancel my return flight and extend my rental vehicle. Until they told me they wanted almost $3,200 to extend the rental. That's no bull $#!&.
The up side to dealing with a transport company would be that you could probably drop the meat and horns at a processor, then set up a pick up time and have the processor handle the transfer?
I had the luxury of having friends in idaho, and Colorado where I hunted, so I had access to their amenities.
Where are you located?

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[tommymo]

That's the same battle I have with myself when I decide to go west. After 2 successful back to back years, I definitely think I will drive from now on. This past year I was gonna cancel my return flight and extend my rental vehicle. Until they told me they wanted almost $3,200 to extend the rental. That's no bull $#!&.
The up side to dealing with a transport company would be that you could probably drop the meat and horns at a processor, then set up a pick up time and have the processor handle the transfer?
I had the luxury of having friends in idaho, and Colorado where I hunted, so I had access to their amenities.
Where are you located?

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Located in good old NJ

 

[Will_m]

300 for the whole elk, without antlers, seems like a pretty good deal to me. At least considering the alternative. Is that the whole elk?

 

[Xforce41]

Located in good old NJ

Nice. I'm good ole Pennsylvania.
Bucks County.
The transport company said they're always making runs to the east coast.

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