Flying vs. driving

[N2TRKYS]

Can you explain how y’all handled the meat through the trip home? Just got it real cold before the flight with ice to where it’s stay cool till y’all got home? Curious Incase this happens to me one day


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Yes. We just put ice on the meat.

 

[sasquatch]

Yes. We just put ice on the meat.

Flew with the ice also or dumped it out before checking it?


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[7Bartman]

I can certainly speak to many of the aspects of flying. I fly out to Idaho every year from MD. I couldn't even fathom spending the time driving out there. My wife is pretty cool, but I get one week out there and that's it. I always use points and fly with Southwest so it doesn't cost me anything. I fly out with my bowcase and framepack for free as checked baggage and I take a carry-on suitcase and my daypack on the plane.
I've been fortunate enough to kill elk the last 2 years. I have a unique situation in that I have a buddy on the ground that'll take whatever meat I cannot bring I can leave with him. He also has a 12ft chest freezer that I can freeze my elk meat in before taking on the plane. The last 2 years I've went to Wal-mart and bought two cheap coolers ~ $15 and froze 50lbs of meat in it the night before the plane ride. Each cooler costs $75 as excess baggage. This year I put too much meat in the cooler so I had to pay an extra $75 in addition to the 75$ for each cooler ($225 total).
The first year it worked perfect, this year I ran into trouble in that the chest freezer didn't seal overnight and my meat wasn't totally frozen. The SW gate agent gave me a hard time and wouldn't let me check the cooler(s) b/c there was blood at the bottom (my fault). Fortunately, a supervisor came out and gave me some extra trashbags to put around the semi-frozen chunks of meat in the cooler that we then duct-taped shut (my tape). They did make me throw out the 6lbs of dry-ice in each cooler, however the meat was still plenty cold and still semi-frozen when I arrived home in MD from Boise (2-hour layover in DEN). I've also placed about another 10-20lbs of meat in my carry-on (remember there are no weight restrictions for carry-on).
I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty stressful situation this year as I wasn't getting on that plane without my elk meat. In the future I might take the meat to a processor and have them ship it to me in MD. This will likely cost me a bit more ~$500, but it is probably worth the piece of mind. That being said, I still wouldn't drive as I have more money than time and it is still relatively cheap to get the meat back to MD.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Flew with the ice also or dumped it out before checking it?


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Sorry. Yes, we dumped the ice before checking in.

 

[trickytross]

getting the meat home is my main concern. Maximizing my time afield is the primary goal. I have researched some of the shipping with meat.... what did that run you if you don't mind my asking?

 

[trickytross]

I've always left the meat with a processor and had it frozen
and shipped by UPS 2nd day in a cooler on wheels.
Same with a Gemsbok I had mounted, left it at the Taxi.
He mounted it, crated it up and shipped it to the house.

Do you remember your cost?

 

[trickytross]

I started flying b/c I can get in MUCH more hunting time. When you are forced to minimize your gear for flying you start to see just how much crap you don't need that gets loaded into a p/u truck. The rental car cost can get expensive, but totally worth it for me and much easier if splitting between 1-2 others.

Meat logistics can be challenging, but I was able to get my Moose to a local processor, cut up and frozen; then used a local FedEx shop to package it into 49lb Styrofoam lined boxes. They shipped my gear to my house and the three of us checked the meat boxes with the airline as luggage. Worked like a charm!

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What was the cost looking like for that?

 

[trickytross]

Thanks everyone for your responses! We do really enjoy the road trip, however, time in the woods is more important to us due to our work schedules.

 

[Sako76]

I've done both and they both suck! In 2016 I flew and United charged me $150 for each box of elk meat I bought home (2) for a total of $300 and they told me they didn't have to accept the extra baggage. You can't bring as much stuff when flying and you have to rent a truck. When driving, going out isn't bad, coming home sucks, driving when you are tired. I've pretty much decided to drive from here on out. Good luck!