Getting meat home when traveling?

[myway]

So a buddy and I will be headed on our first elk hunt in a couple weeks flying into Utah. My question is what is the best way to get meat home in the event we get something? We are scheduling a quick call with the outfitter but would like to hear what others have done as well. We have discussed having it shipped, buying coolers and checking them which sounds like a *** whip. I do not want to put the cart before the horse but would like to be prepared. So any input would be appreciated.
Thanks
Brad

[critter69]

I take it you will be driving. If you are traveling with a trailer (we take our utvs ) I have a full size chest freezer on the front. Freeze a bunch of bags of ice and food for the trip down. We do have the convince of elec. to plug in to once we get there. Or a generator. Then as we get animals we quarter them ( bone them out if we have to.) And freeze right away. We have never had them even come close to thawing out from Texas to Colorado. But we stay over night at a hotel and if we needed we could plug in again there. But this has worked great for us for many years. And a full size freezer is cheap compared to our yetis.

[flywise]

I take it you will be driving. If you are traveling with a trailer (we take our utvs ) I have a full size chest freezer on the front. Freeze a bunch of bags of ice and food for the trip down. We do have the convince of elec. to plug in to once we get there. Or a generator. Then as we get animals we quarter them ( bone them out if we have to.) And freeze right away. We have never had them even come close to thawing out from Texas to Colorado. But we stay over night at a hotel and if we needed we could plug in again there. But this has worked great for us for many years. And a full size freezer is cheap compared to our yetis.

He said flying

[randal]

I take it you will be driving. If you are traveling with a trailer (we take our utvs ) I have a full size chest freezer on the front. Freeze a bunch of bags of ice and food for the trip down. We do have the convince of elec. to plug in to once we get there. Or a generator. Then as we get animals we quarter them ( bone them out if we have to.) And freeze right away. We have never had them even come close to thawing out from Texas to Colorado. But we stay over night at a hotel and if we needed we could plug in again there. But this has worked great for us for many years. And a full size freezer is cheap compared to our yetis.

Did you completely read the first sentence?

[myway]

My bad on the thread title. I should have said when flying. Utah was just going to be to far to drive.

[S-3 Ranch]

I froze and air freighted my meat home from Alaska, it was very easy

[myway]

I froze and air freighted my meat home from Alaska, it was very easy

Overnighted? Anything special I need to know?

[Kdog]

I brought home 90lbs of moose meat from Canada as extra checked baggage. It was a 40lb duffel bag and a 50lb duffel bag. The meat was just in plastic bags but I got it frozen solid the night before in the Hotel's walk in freezer. Meat was good when I got home, did not have any problem flying though (took like 6-7 hours from when the meat came out of the hotel freezer to when I got home.) If I were to do it again I might put it in a soft side cooler inside the duffel bag.

Also, if you check it as extra bags it might even be cheaper to upgrade to 1st class, because I think your first 2 bags are free when you do this. Good luck on your hunt, I would definitely bring elk meat home, it is good stuff.

[Bowhuntamistad]

I've flown meat from Texas to Nevada with no problems. Frozen solid upon departure and up until the next day.

[Redbeard31]

I got screwed bringing a moose back from Newfoundland. The outfitter promised they would freeze the meat and ship it to the states in a reefer truck in a month, delivering to UPS cold storage locations. They screwed up and sealed the hot meat in an insulated box and stuck it in the freezer. It rotted before it could freeze. The shipper called me and told me it was not shippable, and the outfitter (aka slimeball) would not make it good. I was not a happy camper.

So, moral of the story...take charge of the meat yourself if you can. Freeze the select parts and take them with you on the plane. I guarantee you no one cares about that meat as much as you do. It is expensive to ship, but so is the trip.

You may have to use a reefer truck ship the antlers as well, unless you have some taxidermy done up there.

[texasdeerhunter]

When we fished in Alaska, we froze all the meat, then bought wax lined card board boxes. We filled the boxes with the fish, then just checked it on the flight just the same as you would a regular checked bag. We landed in Houston and drove home after over 12 hours of total travel time. Meat was still almost all frozen when we got home