Getting Meat Home

[Zvandeventer]

A friend and myself did our first Elk hunt last year. We where successful in filling one of our Colorado OTC archery tags. Long story short we where pushed for time, and ended up leaving the meat with a processor and getting him to ship the meat back to North Carolina so we wouldn't miss our flight home. The processing fee was fair and what I would have expected, however the shipping charge was not cheap to say the least. We are planning to go back and I am looking for other ideas someone has used. We have drove to North Dakota for 14 years now at a 26 hour drive. I know how I feel when we arrive(whooped). We would like to still fly if possible to increase the time we spend on the mountain, and not be drained after the drive. We flew out on a Thursday night last season and returned 2 Sundays latter. Some of the ideas we have thought about where ship coolers out or buy coolers there. Fly out and drive home, pack coolers with meat and dry ice ship on a freight truck??? Just looking for any ideas, and appreciate the help from anyone who as done this more then the one time we have. I carried all the back strap and tender loins with me through TSA in a bag cooler stuck in my carry one. The quarters and all other meat was left with the processor.

 

[bguitierez]

A friend and myself did our first Elk hunt last year. We where successful in filling one of our Colorado OTC archery tags. Long story short we where pushed for time, and ended up leaving the meat with a processor and getting him to ship the meat back to North Carolina so we wouldn't miss our flight home. The processing fee was fair and what I would have expected, however the shipping charge was not cheap to say the least. We are planning to go back and I am looking for other ideas someone has used. We have drove to North Dakota for 14 years now at a 26 hour drive. I know how I feel when we arrive(whooped). We would like to still fly if possible to increase the time we spend on the mountain, and not be drained after the drive. We flew out on a Thursday night last season and returned 2 Sundays latter. Some of the ideas we have thought about where ship coolers out or buy coolers there. Fly out and drive home, pack coolers with meat and dry ice ship on a freight truck??? Just looking for any ideas, and appreciate the help from anyone who as done this more then the one time we have. I carried all the back strap and tender loins with me through TSA in a bag cooler stuck in my carry one. The quarters and all other meat was left with the processor.

Cool story, and valid question. Wish I could help, bit me and my buddy will be in similar shoes this fall...that is if we are successful haha. Great luck to you though.

Sent from my SM-N920R4 using Tapatalk

 

[LWC]

How much was the shipping of the meat last year?

 

[elkyinzer]

If you can look around and find a processor (it would likely be one in immediate Denver area) that can ship via airline cargo rather than carrier (UPS, fedex) it will generally be a lot cheaper. You pick it up at the nearest decent size airport. I went that route and cutting + shipping ran about $600 from Boise and I was pretty happy with it. That's just the meat. It was a decent bull in my eyes and the Euro done and shipped was almost that much on top. A lesser bull I probably would just leave the antlers with a friend.

Another option I've considered and will probably do next time is fly out, and if successful buy some cheap coolers and drive home. Cost probably evens out by the time you factor in gas + a wasted airline ticket, but I'm a control freak and like to cut up my own meat and that would allow me to do so.

You'd think with the whole concept of uberlyft and the whole "sharing" economy there's room for someone to come up with a neat solution to this as an alternative to getting screwed by shipping companies, wouldn't you?

 

[PMcGee]

I'd check to see what the excess baggage fees are? I froze my meat in Alaska and flew it home on the plane with me. Alaska air was pretty cheap. Other carriers are more expensive but you're probably only looking at around 200lbs of meat on an average bull. It would probably be cheaper to fly it home then eat the cost of your plane ticket and renting a car to drive home. We drove to Colorado every time I went out so we didn't have to worry. This year I'm flying to Idaho so I've been looking into this as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Zvandeventer]

A little over $600.00 to ship. That wasn't counting the $300.00 dollar processing fee.

 

[MallardSX2]

Take an extra day off of work on both ends of your trip and drive.

Its the only way.

 

[LWC]

Take an extra day off of work on both ends of your trip and drive.

Its the only way.

yep, and if you figure in your time off work and fuel to and from...$600 for shipping may be cheaper

 

[LWC]

But you get to take the airline ticket out of the equation....so unless you have a pretty good job, driving is probably cheaper than flying and then paying $600 to ship the meat. Especially if you can split fuel with a partner.

 

[bz_711]

Take an extra day off of work on both ends of your trip and drive.

Its the only way.

Agreed...being the control freak I am...driving is only way...getting meat home is big part of the reason to drive, but so is knowing I can bring along absolutely everything I may need that week, I trust my car more than some rental (or even airlines for that matter), and I've honestly grown to love long grueling road trips (especially when its for elk camp).
Factor in 1-4 guys and travel cost drop dramatically pretty quick.

Plus the highlight of my trip this past year was all the dang hunters pulling up next to me on the Interstate giving thumbs up and taking pics of my bull strapped to luggage rack on my suburban

Good luck either way...seeing those costs when flying is making me realize a moose hunt someday could get outrageous in price quickly if shipping home meat...guess I need start looking at driving to closest Canada province...

 

[PMcGee]

Agreed...being the control freak I am...driving is only way...getting meat home is big part of the reason to drive, but so is knowing I can bring along absolutely everything I may need that week, I trust my car more than some rental (or even airlines for that matter), and I've honestly grown to love long grueling road trips (especially when its for elk camp).
Factor in 1-4 guys and travel cost drop dramatically pretty quick.

Plus the highlight of my trip this past year was all the dang hunters pulling up next to me on the Interstate giving thumbs up and taking pics of my bull strapped to luggage rack on my suburban

Good luck either way...seeing those costs when flying is making me realize a moose hunt someday could get outrageous in price quickly if shipping home meat...guess I need start looking at driving to closest Canada province...

I flew my moose meat and rack home from Alaska for $525.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[bz_711]

I flew my moose meat and rack home from Alaska for $525.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That sounds reasonable actually...what year was that? My other concern with Moose is just handling/processing the shear volume...I've done my elk my myself and that is a decent sized chore, especially when you arrive home worn down from a week in the mountains...

Thanks for the info!

 

[PMcGee]

That sounds reasonable actually...what year was that? My other concern with Moose is just handling/processing the shear volume...I've done my elk my myself and that is a decent sized chore, especially when you arrive home worn down from a week in the mountains...

Thanks for the info!

It was last September. It's definitely a lot of meat to deal with. It took me 4 nights after work to get everything cleaned up and packaged.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[PMcGee]

A little over $600.00 to ship. That wasn't counting the $300.00 dollar processing fee.

How many lbs of meat?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Rs3003]

I’ve read on another post that you check your coolers in at airport as checked luggage and take a soft sided cooler as carry on also filled with meat. You have to be cautious of the checked weight. They you shipp your gear back. The gear you can ship cheaper because the rush delivery is not needed.

 

[Zvandeventer]

PMcGee it was a little over 105lb of meat was shipped. I carried the back straps with me in a bag cooler as my carry on.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

PMcGee it was a little over 105lb of meat was shipped. I carried the back straps with me in a bag cooler as my carry on.

Cow?

 

[tsloniger]

Being from Pennsylvania and elk hunting out west for the past 14 years this thread really catches my interest. Last year was the first time that I drove out and back to Idaho. We did it with 4 guys in a Dodge Ram diesel towing a 16’ enclosed trailer and it was about 38 hours with fuel and dinner stops, would have been great for bringing meat back but we got skunked.

I usually hunt with a couple of buddies that live in Washington so I have the option of leaving a good portion of the meat with them. A couple years ago my son and I both shot cows in archery season and it was $900.00 processed and shipped home fed ex. We are flying again this year and my plan is to ship all of my gear and cloths home ups ground and take 200 pound of frozen meat in our 4 check bags and as much as we can in our 2 carry on bags.

I bubble wrapped a decent 4 point a couple years ago and it was plenty cheap enough to just check it as an extra bag.

I think it is way cheaper to pay for extra 50# bags vs driving but if I was hunting Colorado instead of Idaho I would drive every year. A lot less restrictions on what you can bring with you driving.

 

[Tony Trietch]

I must be a control freak. I can't imagine being 26 hours from home for a hunt and not having my truck and all my gear with me, including the coolers and freezers to get all the meat back.
It takes a few more days to drive both ways but it pays off in more ways than just less hassle getting meat back.

 

[PMcGee]

I must be a control freak. I can't imagine being 26 hours from home for a hunt and not having my truck and all my gear with me, including the coolers and freezers to get all the meat back.
It takes a few more days to drive both ways but it pays off in more ways than just less hassle getting meat back.

I agree.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro