Shipping meat home

[camolife84]

If I'm lucky enough to get an animal how much is the cost to ship the meat home from Colorado I live in PA and am looking at flying to CO and hunting. Have a non hunting friend in Denver so will ship my gear prior to flying to them and pick it up when I arrive by plane. Was looking at trying to compare cost of driving and flying and want to add shipping costs of meat and antlers so when I'm successful I can have a full budget comparing. If anyone has experience shipping meat I'd like to hear your experience.

 

[Runningwater]

Get a credit card with the airline you plan to use. That usually gets you a free checked bag and a second for 25-35. Getting that first 80-95 pounds of meat will be the cheapest bunch. If you have a friend going with you and you book his flight he usually gets the same deal. Since there is a very high chance you both don't fill your tag - then you can get most of a boned out elk home on the plane for $50-70.

If you leave it with your buddy and have it processed first - just have them cut for steaks, roasts, stew meat. No use shipping beef or hog trim used to make burger or sausage-you can do that at home. Obviously jerky is pretty attractive to ship as well.

Or some sort of split the baby - you take all you can on the flight as above, and maybe you friend in Denver would enjoy/appreciate some of the bounty.

 

[Runningwater]

The above in predicated on you having the opportunity to get the meat frozen or near frozen before the flight.....

But that's generally our approach bringing fish back from MX and fish/game back from AK.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

You can bring fish back from Mexico?

Never knew. Love hammering skipjacks down there, be fun to bring the bloody things (pun intended) home.

 

[Elk97]

Checked with a processor in Bozeman, MT last fall and it would have been about $3/lb to WA.

 

[Runningwater]

You can bring fish back from Mexico?

Never knew. Love hammering skipjacks down there, be fun to bring the bloody things (pun intended) home.

Yes! Nice to enjoy some tuna, wahoo and Dorado at home on the grill!

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Nothing like mahi for dinner.

 

[SaHunter]

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.

 

[TradAg02]

I see PA plates in Colorado every year. See if you can find someone who is driving and offer them some gas money to pick up your ice chests at your buddy’s.

I generally drive, but shot my first bull on a trip I had linked up with a business trip. I cancelled my return flight and told the rental car company they would be getting their jeep back in Texas rather than Colorado. After all of the effort that went into my first elk I wasn’t going to chance leaving it with some random processor, then crossing my fingers that the shipping company would get it to me prior to spoiling.






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[Colthutton]

I always just freeze it and put it in 1 of my checked bags. Easy as pie

 

[Dougfir]

Like others, I just use the coolers as checked bags on the plane. I fly Southwest, so my gear is free and if I have coolers for the ride home, they're 75 bucks each. Shipping is really expensive (probably 600-1000 bucks). I try to pick up the meat from the processor that day, put it in coolers and put dry ice in with the meat. Don't seal until you get to the airport, as they'll want to look in. After that, I wrap the heck out of them with duct tape and find that the meat stays good for at least 24 hours, even in cheapo coolers.

 

[LaGriz]

Like Doug fir suggested,
Ship your gear to the friend in an Igloo Marine or similar quality ice chest. (No pricey Yeti to get stolen)
Take as much processed & frozen meat as you can get in the cooler(s) all frozen hard if possible. Then ship you non-perishable gear home in a reinforced box. I don't think they will allow dry ice in the coolers. Not sure about this but seem to remember something about it displacing oxygen or something along those lines.

You can wrap each individual package of meat with newspaper to keep it insulated. The newspaper will absorb any leakage too. Tightly pack goose down or insulated clothing in the package leaving no void. A processed hind quarter came home with me on a plane from Idaho to Louisiana back n 1997. As I recall 66 lbs. of meat all in freezer paper and wrapped as described above, packed in a Styrofoam lined box. Still frozen hard when I got it home 16-17 hours later. 10 days of dry aging later, the remaining 172 lbs. was shipped by the processor. UPS 2nd Day Air at a cost near $200. My 100# made it still frozen (in another Styrofoam lined cardboard box), while my brother's 72# was starting to thaw. He never lost any meat. This particular 6X5 bull was the best eating elk I have ever had hands down! The processer in Challis, Idaho did an outstanding job with the aging, cutting up, and navigating these complex logistics!

LaGriz