Help me plan my logistics of game shipping on AZ January Deer Hunt

[hflier]

In January I am going to AZ unit 24B deer and possibly Javelina hunting. I will be solo and I reside in Tulsa Oklahoma. I am not looking forward to driving about 34 hours round trip (assuming no issues). So I am thinking of flying into PHX and renting a car to get to the trailhead. The issue is if I am successful. Handling the meat on the flight home? I am also not sure if I would just do a European Mount or a shoulder mount. I know I am getting ahead of myself here, but I have to have a plan and I am not experienced in this area as I usually drive my truck. The logistics of success seem somewhat difficult.

Probably flying Southwest airlines.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

Ron

 

[AZ Vince]

Have it processed in AZ and have it shipped frozen by UPS 2 Day Air to you in Oklahoma.

 

[dieNqvrs]

Take necessary items as checked bags on trip out to AZ.

Look at the airline checked baggage policy and what extra and overweight pieces are for the return to help guide decisions. Sometime they aren't too bad and other times they are way high!

Travel out with 2 bags and a gun and a full carryon. Go home with 3 coolers/fish boxes full of meat you buy in AZ and a gun and ship the other 2 originals back to yourself via UPS/fed/mail. If a lot Cheaper?

I don't trust mailing/shipping meat. Always check it on the plane and have it with you. Your bags can be slower, but meat if not handled correctly will be ruined.

You can have 2.5Kg or 5Lbs of dry ice per DOT hazmat regs in each cooler but that much would prob be overkill .

Debone everything out when putting into coolers.

A skull and or cape and antlers will fit in a cooler, no biggie.

Buy whatever fuel you need in AZ and leave it there on the return.

A little more uncertainties that way but I do it quite a bit and it works out. I'm doing the same thing for elk in Colorado in a few weeks.

Good luck

 

[colonel00]

If meat only, you can plan a buffer day and find somewhere with a freezer to freeze the meat. Then just bring home in totes or insulated fish boxes if you can find them in AZ and you prefer that. Basically it's the same issues that most people have to deal with when transporting game and fish from Alaska.

If you get a buck, you will probably want to find a local taxidermist that you like. However, if you cape the head, cap and split the antlers and freeze the skull and hide with your meat, you should be able to get it all home. But it has to be all frozen and the antlers will probably need to be split and packaged according the airline acceptable specs.

Honestly though, by the time you figure in the extra day to freeze stuff and all the work and money to get stuff ready much less any extra baggage fees, the drive really isn't that bad of an option. Hell, we just drove from KC to Canada two weeks ago and have driven up to Wyoming in the past. dotman is here in KC too and he is driving up to Montana in the next couple of weeks. The drives are long but you can take everything you want and you don't have to worry about airline regulations and baggage fees and all that.

 

[IChaseCoues]

Funny... the last javelina I shot went in a 50 qt cooler.....whole (gutted) with lunch and a six pack! It was a full grown critter too.

Southwest gives two bags free so one firearm and the other gear with a loaded carry on and personal item.

The above posts are good advise. It depends on the deer. If you kill a Coues and a Javelina the meat capes and horns will fit in two 50 qt coolers at less than 50 pounds each.

 

[colonel00]

One other thing, you might post a thread looking for folks in AZ to see if anyone can lend a hand. This thread might be enough to get someone's attention but if not, post up another one looking for folks maybe close to where you are hunting. They might have an inside lead on a meat locker you could use to cool meat or whatever.

If you do fly, stop by a moving company or somewhere before you leave and get some boxes. I believe Southwest charges $75 for the 3rd bag on but you can mail any non-essential gear home for probably much less than that. We do this when leaving Alaska all the time. Clothes, tent, packs, anything we can get into boxes usually gets mailed.

Also, if you get the meat frozen, you should be able to check it in a "Rubbermaid" tote as opposed to having to buy coolers when out there. However, I would fly out with one cooler and just load it with gear you can mail home later. On our usual AK trips, my cooler will hold a Cabela's 8-man dome tent and some other gear and still come in under 50lbs.

 

[MattB]

I believe every coues I have killed has made the trip home in my backpack in the overhead bin. You need to make sure the meat is cool and wrapped in a manner that won't allow leaks, but other than that it is the best way I have found to get the meat home. A deer and a javie may make that unworkable, but you will only get ~15# of meat from a pig.

As stated above, Southwest is very flexible and reasonable for checking extra bags.

 

[fire652]

I live in Ohio and go to arizona every year or two. Do not ship meat. I repeat do not ship meat (my last bill was 575 from ups) never again. I now go out with a 100 qt cooler thAt I put all my gear in and a bow case. My optics and other essentials go in my back pack that I carry on. If I am lucky I send my bow case home ups and

 

[fire652]

Check in the cooler and my duffle bag I originally brought out in cooler.

 

[Nick Muche]

Freeze it, (or don't) and take it in your luggage, pretty easy... Buy a tote or a cooler there if need be.

Rack can go in your luggage as well.

That's how I brought home deer meat from AZ when I went.

 

[elkyinzer]

When I shipped my elk home from Idaho last month, I went to a butcher in Boise and he shipped it frozen via Delta airlines cargo for around $200 and I picked it up from the airport the next day. I got a quote from FedEx that was in excess of $1,000 granted that was out in the boonies. Just something else to consider if you are talking to meat processors.

 

[boom]

I watch a man check one of those high dollar Engel cooler bags with a couse. Looked simple.

I'm driving from CA.

The head, maybe line up a taxi guy there?

 

[realunlucky]

I've used catering insulated duffel bags and flown many trips with them full of meat as checked luggage. Cheaper than a soft sided cooler but basically the same thing just not as durable

 

[hflier]

Thanks for all the input guys!

 

[Where's Bruce?]

yeah...freeze it in AZ and take it on the plane, let a local taxi do the work. If you tag out early drive to Vegas and let Werner Family Taxidermy do it and go play.

 

[boom]

I'm leaving for Texas in a few. My strategy is to freeze meat and check it on as luggage. Costco sells some soft insulated bags.