Flying Home w Mule Deer

[jordanblnknshp]

I know there are several post about this subject but everyone's situation is different. I don't need any "just drive" suggestions as I already have experience driving with horns and meat. I'm looking for ideas from someone who has flown home with a mule deer before. Going to AZ to rifle mule deer hunt, will have a buddy coming with me to film/assist with any packing etc. Chose to fly due to limited PTO from work plus I had enough points to purchase both of our flights at zero cost. Rented a 4X4 truck from Turo for $400 for the week with 1200 free miles. All in all this would be cheaper and less time consuming than a 20 hour drive in my truck. Will be flying Southwest so we each get two checked bags and one carry on (3 bags each). The plan is to packing our hunting gear into our frame packs and carry on duffle's. Rifle will be my second carry on. This leaves us with one open checked bag, with the hope we can get a deboned mule deer to work for our checked bag. My concern is if we will have enough room for the meat, horns + the possibility of a cape (only if it's a wall hanger).

Would love to see some photos of some set ups of those who have flown home with a mule deer. How big of a cooler would we need? How did you get the horns home?

Situation:

Rifle Mule Deer Hunt
2 persons (1 hunter + buddy)
Destination Airport: Phoenix
Origin Airport: St. Louis
Airline: Southwest (4 free checked bags + 2 free carry on's)
1st checked bag: Rifle
2nd checked bag: frame pack
3rd checked bag: Frame pack
4th checked bag: Open

1st carry on: Duffle
2nd Carry on: Duffle

Lets hear your thoughts?

 

[ProStaffSteve]

Aint no way you're flying with an entire deer head & body. You can "bring home meat" But it needs to be frozen solid in styrofoam, respectfully, if you shoot one rent a car & drive that bitch on home.

 

[Dawg In Montana]

If you bring it home on the plane it is likely to have oversized fees or any extra baggage fee. I’ve taken deboned meat home in a soft sided cooler with the meat cut into chunks to make packing more dense, but I’m not sure how you will get a skull and antlers back.

Or pack the meat, leave the trophy with a taxidermist there and have the head shipped home, which can be expensive ($500+). I know you don’t want to hear this but it is much easier to drive, and likely cost the same when some of these extra costs are taken into account.

 

[jordanblnknshp]

Aint no way you're flying with an entire deer head & body. You can "bring home meat" But it needs to be frozen solid in styrofoam, respectfully, if you shoot one rent a car & drive that bitch on home.

I would obviously debone and freeze the meat prior to packing it. Also no I would not try to fly "the whole head home" I would skull cap the horns. Sorry I thought this was implied.

 

[jordanblnknshp]

If you bring it home on the plane it is likely to have oversized fees or any extra baggage fee. I’ve taken deboned meat home in a soft sided cooler with the meat cut into chunks to make packing more dense, but I’m not sure how you will get a skull and antlers back.

Or pack the meat, leave the trophy with a taxidermist there and have the head shipped home, which can be expensive ($500+). I know you don’t want to hear this but it is much easier to drive, and likely cost the same when some of these extra costs are taken into account.

I figure I have a free checked bag that I can pack 50lbs of deboned meat. Plus any extra room in our carry on duffles which are water proof. Any extra bags will cost $125 each. So even if we need two extra bags it would be $250 which is cheaper than shipping.

I am not ruling out dropping off a deer at a local taxidermist if I shoot a big one. Pick up/shipping becomes a future me problem. But it's more likely I just have the deboned meat + a skull cap.

 

[steelheadmike]

It's doable but a PITA. Try to fly out with as much gear as you can into a softside cooler and ship the rest to AZ, if you have a place that will accept it. Unless you want to pay a bunch of excess baggage charges, I would plan on shipping home as much of your gear as you can along with the antlers. Get the meat frozen and use the soft side cooler for the flight back.

The other alternative is if you are successful, go buy a couple soft-side coolers at WalMart to fly the meat home. Ship your gear/antlers.

 

[stv117]

I've flown with meat, here's some things to keep in mind:

- If frozen, or close, you won't need dry ice, it will stay frozen. Mine was ALMOST frozen and in wax shipping boxes, even with a several hour layover in Chicago where I could see it on the luggage trailer, in the sun, it was still VERY cold when I got it home

- Airlines will limit to 50lbs and 2 checked bags. If you exceed 50, they charge, if you exceed 2, they charge. If you BOTH exceed 50 and it's a 3rd+ bag, they charge both fees, do the math out, figure out how you want to do it.

- You can ship your clothes back and save some luggage, they don' tneed overnight shipping and it's pretty cheap. I did this with clothes, boots and even the skull plate (cut in half)

- I doubt you can get an deer into 2 coolers, both at 50lbs, you are talking more like 200 lbs of meat and the weight of the cooler counts.

 

[willfrye027]

Easy to do. If you get the meat super cool, and your flights are relatively short, it’s not a problem. Usually I’ll just wrap the boned out meat in several game bags, and then wrap it with sleeping bag/puffys/ and into my hunting pack then into a larger duffel.

Flying across the country or multiple layovers, then you want to make sure things are well insulated. Personally I would not freeze your meat gets too messy and not necessary.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

- I doubt you can get an deer into 2 coolers, both at 50lbs, you are talking more like 200 lbs of meat and the weight of the cooler counts.

you smoking crack ? 200lbs of meat from a mule deer? That Deer would have to weigh damn near 600 to net 200lbs of meat

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I fly with meat every year, from St. Louis to Seattle. Highly recommend freezing the meat and hide. Meat, horns and hide of a decent sized mule deer will be well over 100 lbs. I have a soft sided cooler that weighs in at around 4 lbs. It will hold about 43-45 lbs so it stays under the 50 lb limit. If it's not a record booker, split the horns and pack them in your checked bag. I've been doing this for near 30 years now. And superduece is correct, no way you're getting 200 lbs of meat off a mule deer. 100 would be a monster.

 

[jordanblnknshp]

I fly with meat every year, from St. Louis to Seattle. Highly recommend freezing the meat and hide. Meat, horns and hide of a decent sized mule deer will be well over 100 lbs. I have a soft sided cooler that weighs in at around 4 lbs. It will hold about 43-45 lbs so it stays under the 50 lb limit. If it's not a record booker, split the horns and pack them in your checked bag. I've been doing this for near 30 years now. And superduece is correct, no way you're getting 200 lbs of meat off a mule deer. 100 would be a monster.

Thank you. I don't have a soft cooler but have a 70L dry duffle bag I plan on using. I heard of splitting the horns and I should be able to fit them in one of our frame packs.

Again we have an extra checked bag so the first 50lb is free. Any other extra bags would be $125. So if we need extra room a cheap cooler or duffle can be purchased to fill the another 50lbs. Brining home the cape is only a concern if I shoot a wall hanger. I figure even if we both have to use an extra bag at $125 charge, we are in at $250 which is probably less than what it would cost to ship gear anyway.

 

[j_volt]

I can’t help myself…flying sucks.

 

[jordanblnknshp]

It's doable but a PITA. Try to fly out with as much gear as you can into a softside cooler and ship the rest to AZ, if you have a place that will accept it. Unless you want to pay a bunch of excess baggage charges, I would plan on shipping home as much of your gear as you can along with the antlers. Get the meat frozen and use the soft side cooler for the flight back.

The other alternative is if you are successful, go buy a couple soft-side coolers at WalMart to fly the meat home. Ship your gear/antlers.

I'm not sure why I would need to ship anything to AZ? We will be able to get all of our gear in our frame packs as a checked bags + our two free carry ons. We will actually have an extra checked bag extra we will not use for the flight back. The issue is if we will be able to get a deboned mule deer into one checked bag. If not we will likely have to purchase an extra cooler to fly back with + pay the $125 southwest charges for an extra bag.

May have to ship the antlers if unable to fit into a bag.

 

[Hwcopley]

I fly Delta most years with meat and horns. I just buy $25 Walmart hard sided cooler and stuff it full. I’ll freeze the meat if I have time. I cut up a cheap garden hose and duct tape to the tips of the antlers, wrap the head in trash bags and bubble wrap. If I can, I’ll put the head in my large duffle, but if it won’t fit, they’ll tag it separate. Never had an issue other than the over weight fee on the cooler. I don’t think they charge me for the head when it’s tagged separate .

 

[jordanblnknshp]

I can’t help myself…flying sucks.

Am I the crazy one for wanting to fly for 2hours instead of driving for 20+? lol
I've done it many times (use to live in Colorado and drive back to Illinois a couple times a year) and I definitely prefer flying but I might change my mind after this experience trying to get a deer home!

 

[jordanblnknshp]

I fly Delta most years with meat and horns. I just buy $25 Walmart hard sided cooler and stuff it full. I’ll freeze the meat if I have time. I cut up a cheap garden hose and duct tape to the tips of the antlers, wrap the head in trash bags and bubble wrap. If I can, I’ll put the head in my large duffle, but if it won’t fit, they’ll tag it separate. Never had an issue other than the over weight fee on the cooler. I don’t think they charge me for the head when it’s tagged separate .

How many coolers has it taken you to haul a mule deer? One or two and what size?

 

[oldbay]

Am I the crazy one for wanting to fly for 2hours instead of driving for 20+? lol
I've done it many times (use to live in Colorado and drive back to Illinois a couple times a year) and I definitely prefer flying but I might change my mind after this experience trying to get a deer home!

No i dont think youre crazy. you have a 4x4 vehicle rented when you get there. you can sit back and relax to and from your destination. Im sure that will be nice to be rested leading up to and able to rest on the way back. The shipping or luggage headache/nightmare will be overshadowed by the awesome deer you're repeatedly reminded of every time you hit a problem.

 

[GreenNDark Timber]

Am I the crazy one for wanting to fly for 2hours instead of driving for 20+? lol
I've done it many times (use to live in Colorado and drive back to Illinois a couple times a year) and I definitely prefer flying but I might change my mind after this experience trying to get a deer home!

No, you're not crazy. You're saving 2 full days of hunting time and it's really not that difficult. It just takes some simple planning. For the meat just go to a Walmart in AZ after you've killed and buy 2 light, cheap coolers (coleman, igloo, etc) that fall under the total allowable dimensions without being classified as oversized and make sure you keep them both under 50lbs. The coolers will weight 6-10 lbs empty leaving you 40-44 lbs of meat each. Find a place to freeze the meat and duct tape the coolers closed when checking them in. If you're lucky, the hardest part will be the head / antlers. Either pack them up carefully and check them or find a taxidermist and have him ship them later (which will cost significantly more).

Guys do this all the time from Alaska with Moose....doing it from AZ with a deer really isn't a big deal.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

How many coolers has it taken you to haul a mule deer? One or two and what size?

A decent sized mulie (boned, wrapped and frozen) will fit in two 48 qt coolers. In my experience, it turns out to be about a pound per quart.

 

[Jimmy]

Can you just hold the skull cap and antlers on your lap for the flight?