Air Travel Ideas for Getting Meat from KS to SoCal

[courtks92]

I’m currently looking for some advice on how to travel with venison via airplane. I searched previous threads on this topic but still have questions.

Background: my husband and I are traveling from San Diego (Navy orders) back to Kansas to visit family and hunt whitetail. We are flying via Southwest Airlines and get 2 free checked bags each (up to 50 lbs), a carry on, and a personal item.

I have heard of many people flying with a hard sided cooler(i.e. Yeti, Orion, Cabela’s, etc.) or using a couple of soft sided coolers. We currently have a 100 qt Cabela’s cooler that we purchased to move our meat with us to California but it weighs 47 lbs.

I’ve considered traveling without any coolers at all in case we come up empty handed and, if we are successful, picking up something to fly the meat home.

Things I am looking for advice on:
- hard versus soft cooler and why
- bring from home or buy there
- fees to expect if flying a hard cooler and weight limits
- forms needed for interstate meat transport
- any other wisdom from air travel with wild game, hunting equipment, firearms, etc.

Thank you in advance for all of your advice!

 

[npaden]

I bought some 48 quart coolers from Fred Myer in Anchorage for $25 each to ship my bison meat home. They weighed 7 pounds each when empty.

Meat was still frozen when I got home from a little over a 12 hour flight and a 2 hour delay with my bags somehow making the flight from Dallas after mine.

I was over the limit anyway so I wasn’t watching weight but one weighed 59 pounds and the other weighed 76 pounds. You could put some bubble wrap or something in there to fill space if you are wanting to stick to the 50 pound limit for the free bags.

Duct taped them shut and everything traveled very well. Getting the meat frozen before you pack it up to ship home is important though.

Did lose a couple handles off of them but I figure I might change them out for rope handles anyway.



I had my hide in one cooler and it weighed 50.0 pounds on the dot.

It was very easy, I had my tag with me but no one asked about it.

Don't stress about it. Go hunt and have fun and ship some meat home.

 

[Hunting Wife]

When we went to Alaska, it turned out to be way easier than it seemed to fly all that stuff back.

Those heavy coolers are not good options for flying meat, and are overkill for most normal flights IMO. Typically anything over 50 lbs is going to incur extra fees (depends on the carrier) and a lot of those coolers are pushing that limit empty. Fees can be anywhere from $50-100 per. For something the size of whitetails, if you have the ability to freeze them before the flight, it can be as simple as throwing frozen meat in a large dry bag with your coats/clothes for insulation or picking up a couple of Rubbermaid totes. We’ve done both. Two days in transit and everything stayed frozen just fine.

Some of the locals in Alaska had stacks of empty Rubbermaids taped together as one “checked bag” on the way in, then separated them to ship meat on the way out.

I don’t recall any special forms, but the airlines might have requirements for labeling bags that contain game. You’ll also need to make sure you are in compliance with CWD transport laws.

 

[Jorge400]

Never had an issue with traveling within the states with game meat. As alluded to above, Yeti type hard sided coolers are overkill and you are sacrificing weight that could otherwise be used for meat. If the meat is fully frozen it will stay so on most flights. I have even gone so far as wrapping pheasant up in my coat and stuffing it into my duffel (I likely won't do that again as my bag did not make it on a connecting flight causing panic that all in my duffel would be ruined but it showed up on the next flight an hour later).

I've weighed a number of options on past hunts. Shipping clothes and gear home via UPS and using baggage allowances for meat, paying the extra baggage fees ($70-$75 per overweight bag, $150 for a 3rd bag), shipping frozen meat home (I've yet to find an economical way to do this) or simply driving meat and trophies home (just got home Friday).

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I’m currently looking for some advice on how to travel with venison via airplane. I searched previous threads on this topic but still have questions.

Background: my husband and I are traveling from San Diego (Navy orders) back to Kansas to visit family and hunt whitetail. We are flying via Southwest Airlines and get 2 free checked bags each (up to 50 lbs), a carry on, and a personal item.

I have heard of many people flying with a hard sided cooler(i.e. Yeti, Orion, Cabela’s, etc.) or using a couple of soft sided coolers. We currently have a 100 qt Cabela’s cooler that we purchased to move our meat with us to California but it weighs 47 lbs.

I’ve considered traveling without any coolers at all in case we come up empty handed and, if we are successful, picking up something to fly the meat home.

Things I am looking for advice on:
- hard versus soft cooler and why
- bring from home or buy there
- fees to expect if flying a hard cooler and weight limits
- forms needed for interstate meat transport
- any other wisdom from air travel with wild game, hunting equipment, firearms, etc.

Thank you in advance for all of your advice!

Sounds like a fun trip, I would recommend dry bags and duffles over coolers.

A boned out whitetail is probably going to be around ~40lbs of meat. Freeze the meat solid and then put it in your dry bags and carry it on the plane. You should be able to fit it in your standard rolling suitcase. The nice thing about this is the meat is in your control the entire time.
For the heads skin them, remove the bottom jaw, and remove as much meat as possible (or skull cap), cleaning them completely via boiling or sous idewrap the skull tightly with 80 or so layers of plastic wrap, enough so it’s hard to tell what’s under the wrap. Put the skulls in a rubber maid tote. If you are doing shoulder mts freeze the capes and out them in trash bags. You should be able to fit two racks and 2 capes in one large Rubbermaid. Duck tape it shut and check that.
Flying with rifles is pretty easy, make sure there is a lock in every “lock” hole on the case, use regular locks not TSA, put your ammo in an original manufacturer ammo box and put in your case with your rifle.
California is the only state that makes you declare meat while entering the state. I don’t think you will have to deal with this flying, and that it would be more applicable if driving across the state border. That said get the form online fill it out and have it in your possession while flying. Kansas has CWD so cleaning your skulls there before flying is going to be best practice.
I have a yeti and have flown with it, but it’s heavy on its own and unnecessary. A yeti hopper will only fit about 20lbs of meat.

A blob of frozen meat in a dry bag in your carryon will stay rock solid for 24hrs easily.

 

[courtks92]

Update for everyone that was able to help me come up with ideas:

1. We were able to harvest a nice, fat buck and get him self processed prior to flying home.

2. Husband ended up wanting a new, smaller cooler from Cabelas which we used for transporting our meat home.

3. We learned that with Southwest all active duty military gets free overweight checked baggage which was a life saver.

4. We also learned that we are allowed to transport ammunition into California via our checked baggage as we are not technically residents of the state (per taxation and other exemption rules).

This was my husband’s first deer hunt and, as everything was able to go smoothly, I think he will continue to open up to more travel hunts. Thank you all for your advice and wisdom - I told him every response we received and tried to best inform him on our options.

 

[LCH]

Congrats to you both on the successful hunt!

 

[Tiredofthebickering]

Congrats! Thanks for the update.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Update for everyone that was able to help me come up with ideas:

1. We were able to harvest a nice, fat buck and get him self processed prior to flying home.

2. Husband ended up wanting a new, smaller cooler from Cabelas which we used for transporting our meat home.

3. We learned that with Southwest all active duty military gets free overweight checked baggage which was a life saver.

4. We also learned that we are allowed to transport ammunition into California via our checked baggage as we are not technically residents of the state (per taxation and other exemption rules).

This was my husband’s first deer hunt and, as everything was able to go smoothly, I think he will continue to open up to more travel hunts. Thank you all for your advice and wisdom - I told him every response we received and tried to best inform him on our options.
View attachment 123629

HECK YEA!

Also thank you for taking the time to do a follow up and share how your hunt and travel went.

 

[SFC B]

 

[WyoDoug]

I traveled from Wyoming to Arkansas and Texas to shoot wild pigs. You can do the same thing I did, with 3-4 50 qt coolers with dry ice. Be sure to cover dry ice with newspaper. I also recommend contacting airlines and getting TSA approved locks for the coolers as I have received coolers that were popped open when I simply taped or banded them shut. 1-2 pounds of dry ice per cooler is all I use. You have to label the cooler for CO2 before airlines will accept it. There is a fee but about the same as or less than shipping it.

 

[SFC B]

If it is of reasonable size I have carried frozen solid meat wrapped up in my carry on several times. In fact, whenever I go home to Indy I bring between 10 and 20 pounds of frozen meat from Claus' butcher shop back in my carry on. Usually have to explain it in security but never any issues.

 

[Gary]

Meat does NOT have to be frozen to fly. Neither does it need dry ice packed with it. In 1991, I flew 600 lbs of moose meat from AK to PA, in waxed meat boxes (no coolers). Each box was around 70 lbs (this was before the 50 lb limit) The meat arrived in Phila with me and the next day I took it to a local butcher for processing. Probably the best game meat I've ever eaten (with the exception of a few Sitka blacktails). The meat was unfrozen or even refrigerated, for that matter. I did leave the opened boxes out for 2 nights (low temps in the low 40's, high 30's) so the meat would be well cooled, prior to leaving AK.
Flying with meat is not something you need to lose sleep over. Take appropriate precautions and go.

 

[WyoDoug]

You are typically only on the plane a couple hours for most trips then an hour or so from getting off the plane to getting home generally, lest for me. I use a little bit of dry ice mainly to be on the safe side. As Gary says, you do not have to freeze it. That is just my personal preference. You are likely safe just keeping it cold in a good cooler. I go to further extremes because I have personally experienced food poisoning four different times related to game meat. All four related to eating someone elses game meat.