question about flying and interstate tagging/meat care

[bojangles808]

I have a noob question. in a couple of months I'm flying to california, then driving down to AZ for the archery mule deer hunt. If I were to get lucky and tag out, what is the procedure for transporting the meat and horns all the way back home? my thought was bone out the meat (keeping evidence of sex) and tag the skull cap with the horns. then drive back to california to my friend who i will be hunting withs house, butcher and freeze all the meat there, buy a cheap cooler and check it on the plane to come back home. Question is when is it legal to remove evidence of sex and butcher? do i keep my tag in my cooler until i get home or on the horns? im a little confused but never really seen anyone talk about it. horns id probably just do a skull cap unless it was something i wanted to mount then id get the cape tanned and bring the skull cap with me on the plane and have my guy out here do the mount. not really sure and would appreciate some clarification from guys that have flown into hunts

 

[muddydogs]

I would look at California and your home state game regulations to see what they say about transporting game in there state as its all state by state rules and with the communist state of California being involved I would expect some stupid laws.

 

[Netherman]

I'm interested in this topic as well. My thought is that once you've processed the meat it becomes food rather than an animal. Flying with packaged meat should be no different than if I had given my brother some venison to take home.

I think the antlers would need a tag until they are brought to a keepsake state. I don't see many mounts with tags still on them. What happens if you move across states and are bringing your mounts?

These are just my thoughts on how it should work. Hopefully someone knows the truth.

Nick

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[Felix40]

I dont know the laws regarding meat but I would bascially follow your plans. Tag it according to AZ rules then butcher at your buddy's and freeze for the flight with tag attached to antlers. The one thing I know for sure is that the antlers need some kind of padding like bubble wrap on the tips and need to be totally clean for the flight. I read that in tsa rules before my alaska trip. I wrapped mine up and put them in my checked bag but they still took my stuff apart and left my sleeping bag hanging out of my bag for the flight. When i picked my bag up in baggage claim it was a real mess with undone buckles and stuff flopping everywhere. So if you put your antlers in a checked bag just try to make it easy for those clowns to inspect them without unpacking your bag. My guess is that wont be an issue since mule deer racks are so much bigger than a blacktail.

 

[bojangles808]

I dont know the laws regarding meat but I would bascially follow your plans. Tag it according to AZ rules then butcher at your buddy's and freeze for the flight with tag attached to antlers. The one thing I know for sure is that the antlers need some kind of padding like bubble wrap on the tips and need to be totally clean for the flight. I read that in tsa rules before my alaska trip. I wrapped mine up and put them in my checked bag but they still took my stuff apart and left my sleeping bag hanging out of my bag for the flight. When i picked my bag up in baggage claim it was a real mess with undone buckles and stuff flopping everywhere. So if you put your antlers in a checked bag just try to make it easy for those clowns to inspect them without unpacking your bag. My guess is that wont be an issue since mule deer racks are so much bigger than a blacktail.

i was going to bring a golf travel bag to carry my exo pack and extra gear on the plane and if i catch split the skull cap in the middle so the horns fold up nicely in the travel golf bag. i think the taxidermist should be able to glue back together if i did a shoulder mount.