Shipping meat from Alaska to lower 48

[PMcGee]

Wanted to re-hash this thread about handling meat and antlers. 2 of my buddies and I are heading up to AK for caribou this August flying out of Tok. My question on coming home with the meat is:
Do you guys just plan on buying your Action Packers/Totes up in Fairbanks? That sort of makes me a little nervous; I guess I'm looking for some reassurance that there's plenty of options for purchasing these things up there. What's the experience with sourcing these items?

Thanks

I bought totes in Tok last year. We met a guy before we went in who had a freezer we could use. I put boned out meat in each one up to 99lbs and froze them. I flew them all back to PA for $75 a piece on Alaska Air.


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[patricksievert]

The toughest part is getting your meat processed and frozen before you leave.

Any suggestions on the frozen part? I'll be processing my 'bou (assuming I take one) at home, but I'm worried about being able to get one frozen before I fly out. I'm currently planning on a day between flying out of the bush and flying home, but that doesn't leave much time to get a caribou frozen. I'm using Brooks Range Aviation for the bush flight.

 

[KJH]

I bought totes in Tok last year. We met a guy before we went in who had a freezer we could use. I put boned out meat in each one up to 99lbs and froze them. I flew them all back to PA for $75 a piece on Alaska Air.


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This works.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Any suggestions on the frozen part? I'll be processing my 'bou (assuming I take one) at home, but I'm worried about being able to get one frozen before I fly out. I'm currently planning on a day between flying out of the bush and flying home, but that doesn't leave much time to get a caribou frozen. I'm using Brooks Range Aviation for the bush flight.

If you're going to process it yourself, it's not imperative the meat is frozen hard before flying with it. If it is partially frozen or cold, and if you will be getting it home in short time (under 24 hours) you should have no spoilage issues. It's basically the same concept as keeping meat cool in the field. Just be sure it's packed so no leakage of blood or fluids can occur. Your best bet is to kill one early enough to get it out of the field a couple days early. Have someone box up the meat chunks and freeze things. Pick it up when you leave for the airport.

 

[VernAK]

Once again......I'll put in a plug for polarbearcooler.com.......the 48 size has worked very well for me even for bringing summer
tuna home from Baja [2 days].......the 48 will meet the 50 pound baggage limit when full of frozen fish/meat. If meat is not frozen,
line cooler with plastic bag just to be sure.

Every fall they have a 2 for 1 sale and I order two shipped to my friend's place in SD where I hope to fill with pheasants and local
beef steak. Order your color with your monogram so you can spot em easily on the luggage carousel.

I have a dozen of these and baggage handlers have not been able to damage them yet.

 

[randall3951]

I have a question for those that have hunted out of Bethel. We have connecting flights on Alaskan Airlines from Chicago to Bethel. Can we fly are meat from Bethel to Anchorage as checked baggage or do we have to use Air cargo to get it to Anchorage?

 

[Nick Muche]

You can check it from Bethel without any worries. I've done that twice on Alaska Airlines from BET to ANC.

 

[robie]

I've read through lots of this and bringing the meat back seems to make sense and easy to do with Alaska Airlines in the extra checked bag fee options.

I've got a question on antlers. Everything I've read says it can not have an odor and must be free of raw meat and blood. This is achievable if I just cut the horns from the skull and remove any brain matter and I'm assuming I would have to split it down the middle to meet the size requirements.

If I want to do a shoulder mount or wrap the cap in leather this makes sense. What if I want to do a euro mount?

Other than boiling and cleaning it in AK before I fly what options do I have to remove meat/blood/odor?

If I don't want to split a euro mount I'm assuming my best option is to become and known shipper, which doesn't seem very difficult.

AK Airlines Big Game

 

[Kevin Dill]

Shipping an intact skull and antlers home essentially means a large box or crate to contain and protect things. I simply don’t know any other way to get an unsplit euro home. The only other thing I once pondered was removing the antlers from the skull at the pedicles, then ship/fly the skull and antlers home separately. The skull could go in a waterproof dry bag inside a duffel.

 

[robie]

Shipping an intact skull and antlers home essentially means a large box or crate to contain and protect things. I simply don’t know any other way to get an unsplit euro home. The only other thing I once pondered was removing the antlers from the skull at the pedicles, then ship/fly the skull and antlers home separately. The skull could go in a waterproof dry bag inside a duffel.

The large box seems like it is doable if I become a Known Shipper.

But what about the meat and the smell? No matter what I'm supposed to get rid of that right?

 

[PMcGee]

I cut the skull plate out of mine and shipped it home without splitting the rack. We had two racks bundled together and wrapped them with cardboard and bubble wrap. It cost $75 for the bundle. That was checked baggage on Alaska air.

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[Kevin Dill]

The large box seems like it is doable if I become a Known Shipper.

But what about the meat and the smell? No matter what I'm supposed to get rid of that right?

The basic requirements come down to the airlines (and most shippers) requiring that any animal parts (including skulls, antlers, hides and meat) be free of blood, fluids, leakage or smell. How you accomplish it is up to you. Some meat on the skull won't hurt, but a decaying odor will get it tossed aside. If I was doing it I would get that skull skinned and picked as clean as possible in the field. Work on it some every day you're out there. Get the brain matter out. Do what you can with the sinuses because a fresh skull is still very heavy with retained membranes and moisture. Keep it out in the sun all day.

For shipping prep: Cover the raw skull with borax and baking soda. I would use shrink wrap (like you can buy at an office store) and put a large amount of it all around the skull....bulk it out and cushion it. Follow that with a heavy plastic bag taped and zip-tied to help contain any small leaks or odor. Put some extra borax and/or baking soda in the bag. Secure it well in the box by whatever means necessary and then ship it.

 

[robie]

I cut the skull plate out of mine and shipped it home without splitting the rack. We had two racks bundled together and wrapped them with cardboard and bubble wrap. It cost $75 for the bundle. That was checked baggage on Alaska air.

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Thank you for the pictures. I would have thought I would need to be a known shipper to ship something that large.

Seems like you got a steal of a deal getting two moose home for $75.

- - - Updated - - -

The basic requirements come down to the airlines (and most shippers) requiring that any animal parts (including skulls, antlers, hides and meat) be free of blood, fluids, leakage or smell. How you accomplish it is up to you. Some meat on the skull won't hurt, but a decaying odor will get it tossed aside. If I was doing it I would get that skull skinned and picked as clean as possible in the field. Work on it some every day you're out there. Get the brain matter out. Do what you can with the sinuses because a fresh skull is still very heavy with retained membranes and moisture. Keep it out in the sun all day.

For shipping prep: Cover the raw skull with borax and baking soda. I would use shrink wrap (like you can buy at an office store) and put a large amount of it all around the skull....bulk it out and cushion it. Follow that with a heavy plastic bag taped and zip-tied to help contain any small leaks or odor. Put some extra borax and/or baking soda in the bag. Secure it well in the box by whatever means necessary and then ship it.

Thanks Kevin. I will bring some of my tools to get the brain and sinus out of each skull.

We potentially have a buddy letting us stay with him when we get done. I may just buy him a boiling kit and a small pressure washer and do the euros up there and then just cover them in borax, wrap them and put them on the plane.

 

[Murphy]

Fly Alaska airlines. They know how to deal with meat and antlers. Excess baggage fees are much cheaper than any other shipping choice. Make sure antlers are wrapped in plastic and you will be good to go. Flown moose and caribou back to Michigan multiple times without an issue.

 

[robie]

Fly Alaska airlines. They know how to deal with meat and antlers. Excess baggage fees are much cheaper than any other shipping choice. Make sure antlers are wrapped in plastic and you will be good to go. Flown moose and caribou back to Michigan multiple times without an issue.

Thank you.

Any chance you have pictures of your caribou all wrapped up to put on the plane?

 

[Murphy]

Sorry this was last picture I took of it before flying out of theBush. We just buy saran wrap from fred meyer.Fold pieces of card board over all the points and tape with duct tape. Then wrap the crap out of the whole thing so it's completely covered with multiple layers of saran wrap and you will be good. My caribou antlers were actually about 4 inches combined height and width too large according to the Alaska airlines website but the folks at the counter pushed them through.

 

[AKHunter22]

Hello. I own AK Trophy Expediters LLC in Anchorage, AK and can handle all of that for you and make it easy as possible for you. My company specializes in Meat pickup and shipping and packing of your antlers. I would be willing to answer all of your questions. I also attached a blog I wrote to help you out.

 

[AKHunter22]

If you are putting antlers on a plane make sure you cover all of the tips. The cheapest way I found was Foam pipe covering at Lowes. its a dollar for 6ft.

 

[robie]

Hello. I own AK Trophy Expediters LLC in Anchorage, AK and can handle all of that for you and make it easy as possible for you. My company specializes in Meat pickup and shipping and packing of your antlers. I would be willing to answer all of your questions. I also attached a blog I wrote to help you out.

Thank you for posting. Some great info in your blog post.

 

[AKHunter22]

Thank you for posting. Some great info in your blog post.

Just trying to make everyone's life a lot less stressful when it comes to hunting Alaska. I have more fun on hunting trips when I don't have to worry about stuff and can just take it all in and relax.