Flying to/from a hunt destination sure has its obstacles. A lot of research must be done to be sure all goes smoothly. Add meat to the equation and it can get complicated quick.
1- Research your airline baggage policy - from weights, costs and shipping perishable items [meat]
2- Consider shipping your gear to a nearby town Post Office. Address it to yourself, General Delivery. They will hold it for 30 days. You will need your identification to get it. In that gear, have a roll of duct tape, permanent marker, heavy duty trash bags and some pre-made address labels to your home address.
3- Consider adding a day on the end of your travel plans. Nothing worse than trying to scramble shipping gear/meat and getting to your flight.
4- Consider buying a One-way ticket to your destination, and using rewards/air miles for the return trip. This is WAY less expensive than changing your flight if needed at the end of your trip.
5- If you are successful and need to ship meat, go buy a couple coolers. Place the meat in the trash bags, add some dry-ice [see airline policy] tape up the coolers, and ship as luggage. Don’t worry about the weight too much, just pay the extra fees, as its probably cheaper to pay for two 75lb coolers than three 49lb coolers.
6- Carry-On luggage has no weight restrictions. Load that bag up! Just be sure to have the meat in plastic bags.
7- Shipping your gear back home: Just put all your gear back in the shipping boxes you sent it in, tape them up,put your pre-made labels on the boxes, stop by the Post Office and ship. They will probably arrive the day after you get home.
Its been my experience to not rush anything at the end of your trip. Take that extra day, or two, keep things in perspective and it will work out just fine.
