Shipping antlers and meat home (flights)

[ljsommer]

For those of you who have done destination hunts where you've flown somewhere (Alaska, EU, South America, etc) how much should someone be budgeting to transport a big rack (red stag, moose) and meat? It's gotta be a fortune, just trying to get some real world spend examples.

Thanks!

[Pathfinder101]

Flew home from Alaska with 2 caribou in 2016.  If you are talking about the Anchorage airport, they are all rigged up for you.  They have a freezer and charge a nominal fee for you to store your meat there until your flight.  We bought wax freezer boxes at Cabelas, took both caribou to a city park and butchered them on picnic tables.  Drove the boxes with meat and capes to the airport and paid to store them in the freezer.  Then we looked into shipping the racks home.  The prices were mind-blowing (Like $700-$1200  ), so we got two bicycle shipping boxes from a bike shop in Anchorage and some Gorilla Tape.  We sawed the skull plates in half, mated the two bike boxes together, nested the racks (along with a couple of sheds), and Gorilla-taped the crap out of everything.
We showed up at the Alaska Airlines ticket counter the next day with 5 boxes of frozen meat and capes, two rifle cases, two large gear bags and this gigantic "antler box".  When I walked up to the counter I said to the lady "Sorry ma'am....I'm going to be your worst customer today..."
She barely looked up.  "Nope." she said "We do this all the time.  Is it a moose or a caribou?"
 
I think my "excess baggage fees" were about $300 total after everything was loaded.

[ljsommer]

Holy good lord, that story had my jaw on the floor. That's amazing! Well done!

[BULLBLASTER]

I brought home a box of 50lb of meat from New Zealand that was $250 as a checked bag. And another large box of antlers and skulls and capes that after taxidermy (salting and cleaning for import), crating and shipping was $600-800 I believe.

[Stein]

It depends on the airline, how many bags you have and any status you may have.  Assuming no status and Alaska, they have gotten less generous over the years. 

First checked bag $30
Second $40
All others $100 each

Those bags must be 50 pounds or less and 62" linear.  Overweight bags are another $100 each on top of that.

Antlers count in that total, they must be shrink wrapped and meet the maximum size limits.  Rifle/bow counts as one as well.  So, you are pretty much checking two bags at least just to get there - minimum of $70 one way and my guess for a minimum on the way back for a rack and one cooler would be another $270 for a deer or antelope.  Add $100-200 for an elk.

So, for a deer I would plan on $340 and $540 for an elk.  If you bring a ton of junk or pack empty coolers outbound you are going to pay more.  The most effective way would be to have the animal processed and frozen and use the foam/cardboard meet packing boxes.

If you have their credit card or status, you can get several free bags.  If you are flying with other people, you can also divide up the checked bags to get at the cheaper fees for the first two bags or use their free bags.

It sure isn't the way it used to be.  We flew out of Anchorage several times and would roll the rental rig up to the sky cap stand, hand the guy two hundred dollar bills and all four of us would each check 2-3 bags of gear along with 4 boxes of meat and sometimes a couple of rod tubes.  28 checked bags and rods for $50 each seemed like a good deal and they would often get us great seats or upgrades while they were checking us in.  Of course, the airline got tired of the guys out front making the money they could be making and that came to a halt.

[Pathfinder101]

Based on Stein's post I should add that I do have an Alaska Card, so the first couple of checked bags were free.

[carpsniperg2]

I fly southwest and first 2 are free.
My gun case counts as one and I just pack a carry on most times and a back pack for all other gear.

What I do is get a few rubber made tubs that are under 80” like 30 gallon size.
Then load them with meat horns skulls etc. you can put 90 pounds of weight in them andbe under 100 with the weight of the tub. First one takes up my next free slot plus 75 for over weight. Then my next one is 75 additional bag and 75 over weight to bring back 180 pounds of meat/heads etc.

So 225.00 to fly it all back with me. I do this every year in Texas.

If I shoot something with antlers or horns that won’t fit. I hit a furniture store and find a box pack it good and bring it home or ship it in some cases depending on size and weight.

[northwesthunter84]

I have had no problems with Alaska coming back from Illinois.  I split the meat load between duffle bags, check my gun and ship my cloths USPS. Everything that I have to have goes in my gun case, carryon bag or on me.  Right around $200 total both years.

[Parasite]

Some places such as Africa, you can't ship meat back. Only heads and capes.

[ljsommer]

Some places such as Africa, you can't ship meat back. Only heads and capes.

Oh that's fascinating, I didn't know that! Thanks for the info everyone.