To fly or drive

[johnvan74]

Archery elk hunting in ID in September... from Wisconsin. Going by my self with a guide... Do I ship my bow to my uncle who works for guide and lives 45 minutes from where I'm hunting and where I'd be flying into any way or do I drive (23 hours)? Has anyone shipped a processed elk?

 

[stonewall]

i haven't flown elk meat, but I've looked into it. best bet i think is pay the overage charge on southwest and bring back large coolers.

I've flown for pronghorn (much easier obviously) and was able to freeze meat at a friends place before travelling

 

[johnvan74]

I was suggesting getting it shipped like on a truck? Get it processed and have my uncle pack it and ship it to me.

 

[stonewall]

there are services that do that, but I found them pricey. Fedex is an option, but without a discounted business account that's pricey too. cheapest is the overage on southwest:
from southwest website:

Overweight Checked Bag1 Military traveling on active duty or permanent change of station orders3 Large Media Camera Equipment

$75 per bag weighing more than 50 pounds up to 100 pounds $0 per bag $0 per item

bone it out and bring in each cooler at 95#. take the rest in your carry on. if bring antlers, I'd ask airline. or have a local taxi split skull plate and ship it
and fedex bow and clothes back ground shipping

 

[Indian Summer]

Drive. For about 10 good reasons. Saving time is the one and only reason to fly. The 20 pains in the butt it creates aren’t worth that.

 

[7Bartman]

I discuss some of the issues here:

 

[sneaky]

It's way more hassle than it should be to try and fly and take meat back. Buying coolers, paying overage fees, splitting skull plates and shipping antlers. I wouldn't fly if I actually planned on being successful, or unless I was donating the meat locally. Too much aggravation. Flying only saves you time, it doesn't save you anything else.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[txhunter581]

As cheap as it is to fly you can buy a round trip ticket and if successful rent an auto one way to drive home. Prob pick up and drop off at the airports you fly from.

You would have to do a search somewhere like Kayak.com to see if you can find any reasonable rates. I checked from Idaho falls to San Antonio and it ran around $300 for a SUV allowing 2 day’s to drive. Might be able to rent a pickup?

 

[FlyGuy]

Definitely fly.

If you are hunting with a guide then you know EXACTLY how many days you are hunting, so planning the flight shouldn’t be an issue (that’s my biggest problem with flying for DIY hunts, as I might decide to extend my trip by a few days but have no signal to push back a flight, it can be managed but it’s a bit of a pain).

You also have family there so you may not have to even rent a car if they will pick you up. That’s perfect.

Don’t buy coolers, use insulated shipping boxes and some dry ice from a grocery. Then, ship all your gear home by UPS/FedEx and take your meat with you as carry on and checked luggage in those boxes. This will be significantly cheaper than trying to overnight meat across the country.





You can’t cheat the mountain

 

[ChrisAU]

Fly out, drive back if successful IMO. If you had buddies going then I think the drive out is a big part of the overall trip. Solo guided? Put my ass on an airplane lol.

 

[FLAK]

Guided = Flying.
DIY = Driving (carry more stuff/more comfy).

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

Driving is way, way, more enjoyable. The drive is half the adventure.

 

[Scooter90254]

Fly then drive if successful.

I still can’t understand how you guys fly meat home. Believer me I want to fly. Let’s say you have 200lbs of meat. That’s at least 3 overweight bags. That’s if you ship your gear home. Then what do you do with skull and antlers.

 

[Catahoula]

If it were me hunting out of state I’d be driving.

 

[stonewall]

Fly then drive if successful.

I still can’t understand how you guys fly meat home. Believer me I want to fly. Let’s say you have 200lbs of meat. That’s at least 3 overweight bags. That’s if you ship your gear home. Then what do you do with skull and antlers.

on one my pronghorn trips the shuttle driver noticed I was wearing boots. Camo backpack (I fly with tenzing 5000 bc it’s my backup pack and I know it fits in overhead) and I had a small cooler. He correctly assumed I was hunting. He told me one time he had a guy come through with 2 big coolers and a big set of elk antlers.
200# of meat is two oversized bags = $150
One set of elk antlers (odd shaped luggage) = probably $75
Carry on any extra meat over weight limit
FedEx ground pack and clothes and bow. If southwest I’m guessing that stuff would your two free bags. But I’d verify with airline first

If I remember correctly, the catch on flying the meat was that it had to be frozen. So you’d have to line up someone local to freeze it for you and such that it can be fit into coolers or boxes

so a last minute elk would have to be processed locally and then shipped.

 

[Chordeiles]

We always drive, on Montana DIY hunts.
About 32 hours, straight through, with at least three people per vehicle.
If I was doing a guided solo hunt, I’d definitely fly out and drive back ( if successful).

 

[justin84]

I drive every year from WI. Flew once and it was just too much of a hassle for me.

 

[stump06]

In your situation if your uncle could accommodate you some (letting you ship some stuff to him) id fly out and drive back if successful. Fly back if not
When we go to CO usually 2 will drive and 2 fly out later just because of scheduling then we all drive back together. If one needs to leave earlier than the rest, they can book a flight. This is a DIY hunt tho

 

[Spence14]

For the “fly then drive if successful” recommendation, Hotwire will allow you to book a one way rental ahead of time and have free cancellations in the event you’re not successful.

 

[turley]

Driving is way, way, more enjoyable. The drive is half the adventure.

Couldn't agree more......and you get to see some remarkable landscape you may have not seen previously.