rclouse79
WKR
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2019
- Messages
- 1,913
I would drive and plan on bringing any meat back with you.
I always drive because it is most often the most cost effective, gives me flexibility and allows me to take all the gear I need to be adaptable to the hunt. Seems simple for me based on my personal experience with trips west over the last 30 years from as far east as PA. I always drive, sleep in the truck when I get tired, hunt and drive home when done. I did a quick search and from Kalispell to Phoenix is under 19 hours. For me that’s a day trip. No need for hotel/motel and I surely don’t like to leave my rig at any hotel between home and my hunting destination. Last year I did a trip from my home in Missouri to Hunt sheep in NV then elk in Az, then home to Missouri for 10 days. Then back to Western Nevada to continue my sheep hunt, then home again. Sure it was almost 10k miles but I had everything I needed for a successful hunt. Never slept in a hotel.
For meat, I recommend you buy a $200 freezer and run a generator a few hours a day to keep any meat or meals you have frozen. If successful I process my meat and vac seal in camp while sipping bourbon and celebrating success. The year before last I traveled to Wyoming to hunt elk, killed a bull then went to MT to also hunt elk. Meat in the freezer stayed frozen with a 4-6 hour generator run every day for the 7 days I hunted in MT. I save money by eating home made meals vac sealed and frozen, sleeping in the truck while traveling and processing my own meat. If you took those savings it will equal the cost of an elk tag for the next year. Plus I have flexibility to leave when I want. What do you do if you have a return flight scheduled 10 days out and kill a bull on day one or you have to leave early for a family emergency?
Just how I think I guess.
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Seems sound advice. How big of freezer are you talking here for $200 ? Re self processing the meat. That's my plan. My parents live about 30 minutes from the hunt area (trailhead)...so we'll be staging from there, and heading out on 3-6 day backpack hunting missions from there.
Drive...You aren't missing out on 3-4 days of hunting. Night is 10ish + hours. Means 1/2 of your driving you can't hunt anyways. Leave after work you'll even gain a couple hours driving in the light. Leave Friday around 4pm you'd be there late afternoon. enough to set up camp, do some scouting, start hiking in etc.
Just bring coolers full of ice...when you kill something debone it and get it on ice. Chances are you won't kill something for a few days so you don't have to worry about keeping meat for 14days anyways. Or, pay a little bit for freezer space at a meat shop.
Not sure why guys make everything more difficult.
+1 on being mindful that the airlines may lose your luggage. I flew back from New Zealand years ago, trip there and back went well until I arrived in Phoenix and they lost my case with my Bow and Optics in it. it was a real hassle to get back a day later.Option 1 (drive): you are in control of the meat.
Option 3: (fly): the airline is in control. I just returned from a three day fishing trip with my daughter and son in-law. My rods never made it to the destination and I am now home and the rods are nowhere to be found. I would not trust meat to an airline (although I've trusted frozen salmon and halibut from Alaska to an airline and it went fine)
Why can’t you have coolers with you when flying?I really like your analysis. Well thought out. Here is my $.02.
I like being in control of my schedule and will drive in most cases. When you fly there are a lot of things out of your control. Flights canceled or changed, lost luggage, etc. Plus, you don't have control over the vehicle that you get when you rent. We did a bear hunt in ID a few years back and got a Jeep with street tires on it. All we needed was to get to a trail head and we got stuck in a small snowdrift. It caused a big delay.
Also, when you fly, you don't get to have coolers with you, which should be a consideration. You could purchase some of those Styrofoam ones, but they aren't that great. If the weather gets warm, then you run the risk of meat spoilage if you don't have available coolers.
For hotels, have you considered picking a hotel credit card? I play the points game and almost never pay for hotels when traveling. I've seen IHG offer a card with +100k points if you spend $3k in 3 months. I usually pay it off immediately and hold the points. That could be a $400 savings.
If you drive, then you can leave early if you tag out too!
Personally, I like to drive because I like podcasts and Copenhagen.
You certainly can, but I doubt it would be cost effective for 1 elk and 2 deer. I have a larger soft sided Yeti cooler that I have flown with. In fact, you can carry it on! If done right, I think you could fit a deboned mule antelope in there, minus the antlers. You would definably want to freeze the meat before hand.Why can’t you have coolers with you when flying?