Airline travel horror stories

[DuckDogDr]

Anyone have any horror stories associated with transportation of your sheep hunting gear and trophies back?

 

[wyosteve]

Not sheep gear, but a black bear hunt in Alberta with United. Too long of a story, but suffice it to say, I have not flown United since 1999! I'll drive before giving them another penny!..

 

[Joseph2186]

I havent been on a sheep hunt yet but I lost a hide from a Alberta black bear I shot from the ground with my bow that was 320 lbs. Even though it was frozen solid and the other bigger bear thank GOD made it safely. The other cooler didnt make the flight I was on. Needless to say by the time I got it home it was stinking and hair was pulling out in clumps. All my taxidermist could save was a 2x3 section of the rump.

 

[bates]

I’ve flown Alaska Air 2x back with sheep meat. Get the fish/meat boxes that they sell in most stores fill with up to 50lbs of meat

it’s been very easy for me

if going to Canada they there are a few more steps but I’ve flown meat back pretty easily

I typically don’t bring back the horns and hide

I have an exporter or outfitter ship it to my taxidermist

 

[mdoolin]

I don't have any horror stories but have done two alaska sheep hunts now and have learned a few tricks.

1. On our hunt this fall I purchased air tags to place inside our checked bags and would highly recommend doing. If was nice being able to check if our bags made it when we landed in AK and that our meat and bags made it home when we returned.
2. Trophy and Meat shipping:
   • First time around we bought a storage tote and bubble wrap from home depot for the head and cape(both frozen), we insulated it with our sleeping bags and checked it. The meat we carried in our carry on bags.
   • This year my wife's ram was too wide to fit in a tote so we double wrapped the skull with trash bags and some bubble wrap and I carried it on in my backpack. TSA looked at it but said it was OK and I didn't have any issues. I would highly recommend doing it this way. For the meat(and cape) we froze it again and this time bought a 100qt cooler and checked it. The cooler was like 90 lbs but with it being our 3rd checked bag it was $100 with Alaska air regardless of if it was 50 or 100 lbs
3. Plan a few extra days on the back end of your hunt to allow your meat and everything to freeze. This year we killed at the very end of a 10 day hunt and had to push our return flights back some to allow time for everything to freeze.

 

[Zbowman1]

I did my first sheep hunt this year. I got some super cheep tickets through Delta. All my baggage made it both ways but I checked 4 bags on my way home and they stuck me with a 620$ baggage fee. I ended up paying 190$ for round trip tickets to Fairbanks and payed 860$ in baggage fees


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[buzzy]

Recently went to Canada thru Vancouver. Even though I had 3 hour layovers both times there were problems thanks to Air Canada. Both bags on the way up were left behind and showed up at my hotel thank god before I flew out to the bush. On the way home my gun wasn’t moving according to the Apple air tags I got.

We started to board and I found a gate manager and said my gun isn’t getting loaded. He looked it up and yep, cleared customs 2 hrs ago according to the system but still sitting. They made some phone calls and after another inquiry 10 minutes later it appeared I was leaving without my rifle. The gate manager found me in my seat right before we departed and he said it got loaded. I just wish I asked the question on the way up but learned from that experience.

First time using those air tags and they are worth the money. You just need to find an agent to help you out when you think a bag isn’t moving.