Hunt Talk Radio - Look for it on your favorite Podcast platform

A question for traveling hunters........

snite66

New member
Joined
Sep 6, 2001
Messages
298
Location
central Illinois
I have never traveled this far for a hunt before. Have always driven. I was looking at airfare and it seems real reasonable.

My question is: when you fly how do you transport your meat, and if lucky enough trophy, back home??

I figured some of you would have done this before.

Thanks,
 
Snite,

When I travel (IN an airplane) to hunt I generally have a duffle bag, hard case and a cooler. My cooler is old as the hills. It is a Coleman which is made of steel (when did they make steel coolers last?). I always take a roll of duct tape with me and even though the cooler is latched I still tape all the way around.

I won't be taking the cooler with me on this sheep hunt since I don't plan on bringing any meat back. Anybody that wants the meat, can have it


As far as the head and cape go: Everytime I have ever had a head & cape to bring back the outfitter has always supplied a box of some sort to put the head and cape in and I simply checked the box in as luggage. If I have the taxidermy work done near to where I have hunted then the taxidermist has always built a box out of wood and secured the mount inside and it was shipped UPS.

While pheasant hunting in South Dakota in 1991 I killed a really nice **** bird that had 29" tail feathers. There is a taxidermist there that mounts over 200 pheasants a year. After looking over his showroom I decided on a flying mount. About 3 months later this box constructed of masonite and 2X2's arrived via UPS. It was screwed together and he mounted the pheasant on a small peice of wood about 6" in diameter and about 1 1/2" thick. There were 3 screws that went through the side of the masonite and into the back side of that peice of wood. It held the mount very secure and it arrived in great condition. It now hangs on my living room wall.

I was hoping that "Moosie" or "Tom" would of posted names of some local (in Texas) taxidermists. I would prefer to have the taxidermy work done there and shipped back to me finished. If not I would "hope" that the ranch has boxes that can be used to bring the head and cape back as luggage.

Don
 
Thanks for the info Shakey
.

How many items will the airlines let you check? Seems to me every time I have flown, they only let me check two bags and one carry-on. I am planning to bring a rifle and bow along, so that would be my two items checked. If I brought a cooler and then got lucky enough for a trophy that would add two more items. Do they charge extra for more luggage? and if so how much?

The only way I would bother with a cape is if the animal made the record books, they are the only ones I will mount, otherwise I do a skull mount (european style). I can do those myself. I doubt that I will have to worry about the cape.

Thanks again for the information it will help a lot in making my decision on weather to fly or not. :cool:


P.S. Coleman still makes metal coolers, I saw one at the Bass Pro in St.Louis.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-06-2001 11:30: Message edited by: snite66 ]</font>
 
There is a local taxidermist, who did our mounts last year. It took him six months, but he did a pretty good job. You can go look at Moosie's post under Trophy Room to see his mounts. I've always gone ahead and had the mounts done locally to the hunt rather than try to bring them home if I was flying. The taxidermist is Piccalleo, but I don't recall the name of his shop (if it's not Piccalleo's Taxidermy.)
For the meat, I've always brought either a Cabella's "Alaskan" soft-sided cooler or a large hard cooler. Pack it with the meat (wrapped) and dry ice if available. Wrap it up well with duct tape and check it as baggage.
 
Glen and I are bringing lots of coolers for packing meat. Anyone who needs to can pack thier meat and send it to my freezer. We can arrange for FED X over night if necessary. Otherwise, you can come and get some anytime you need it.

I will be taking my mounts to Trails End Taxidermy in Gilbert AZ. If anyone wants me to check, I will see if Greg will do thiers and ship it UPS. Let me know.

:cool:
 
If packing the meat in a cooler for transportation on the airplane, be sure to check with the airlines first. They allhave regulations on how much dry ice you can check in. As for the horns, we transported two caribou racks from Kuujjuaq, Que to Indianapolis double wrapped in heavy plastic with no problems. They were checked with our luggage. We did pay extra though...

My advice would be to check with your airline well in advance of your trip and let them know exactly what you're intending to do. Also, it may not be a bad idea to call back a few days alter and talk to someone else... just to be sure you're getting accurate information.
 
Yeti GOBOX Collection

Forum statistics

Threads
110,816
Messages
1,935,405
Members
34,888
Latest member
Jack the bear
Back
Top