Flying with meat

[_Rhino_]

I've been doing some digging on how to fly with meat.

Has anyone checked frozen meat (vac sealed), wrapped in a thermal blanket, stuffed in a duffle bag? How did it work? Seems like a light weight option. Could see myself easily getting 80 lbs of meat in a large duffel.

 

[mdhunter]

I always buy coolers and fly the deboned meat on ice. Obviously the weight needs to be under the allowed amount on your airplane. I also use duck tape to seal the cooler. My meat always makes it home and cold (although its not cheap)!

 

[Trial153]

I've been doing some digging on how to fly with meat.

Has anyone checked frozen meat (vac sealed), wrapped in a thermal blanket, stuffed in a duffle bag? How did it work? Seems like a light weight option. Could see myself easily getting 80 lbs of meat in a large duffel.

I have Done it several times, both vac sealed and just wrapped as well without any issue. That said I now use cooler bags for added security. Icemule xl and xxl are my go to.
I have also frozen whole boned out quarters. Make sure place it in heavy trash bags. Also if it in smaller packages secure it in a solid way so they aren’t banging around.

 

[publichunter1]

Use the search function and you should find plenty of info already on this topic. Yes you can check frozen meat. I stuff mine in cooler, fill the spaces with clothes and then tape it shut.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Checked bag
Anchorage to Denver multiple times
Denver to Boston multiple times.

 

[glass eye]

I always take an extra dry bag with me for the meat and hides. I place the frozen sealed meat in a clean game bag, then that goes inside my sleeping bag, and finally inside an XL dry bag.

Ps. I have brought home frozen game like this from as far away as New Zealand.

 

[seeth07]

I always take an extra dry bag with me for the meat and hides. I place the frozen sealed meat in a clean game bag, then that goes inside my sleeping bag, and finally inside an XL dry bag.

Ps. I have brought home frozen game like this from as far away as New Zealand.

We use the sleeping bag trick too. Depending on the expected length of flight determines what we do for ice or no ice or if we get it frozen at a local cooler before going.

I also love just using a cooler bag as already mentioned and having it as my carry on. If we can get it to fit just in the carry on bags (a deer you can certainly do between two people), that is nice knowing you don't have to worry about plane delays affecting the time spent away from your bag.

 

[Nick_CO]

This past October I brought home 45 lbs of Mahi-Mahi that I caught in Mexico. About 20 lbs was a carry-on in a soft sided cooler that I stuffed into an overhead bin, and another 25 lbs or so was checked in another soft sided cooler that we crammed into my wife's large suitcase. It had to go from Ixtapa to Phoenix, and then Phoenix to Durango. We even had an overnight layover in Phoenix and the soft coolers sat in the air conditioned hotel for 12 hours. It was all still frozen when we got home. No problems. As long as it's frozen and stays frozen I think it's all good.

 

[Dougfirtree]

This is one of the primary reasons I fly Southwest. Each additional checked bag is only $75. I put frozen meat in a cooler, along with the allowable amount of dry ice, then I wrap the heck out of it with duct tape. Pro tip: Don't wrap with tape until after the airline agent looks inside. In my experience, they do want to look.

 

[MTLabrador]

View attachment 214786View attachment 214788
Checked bag
Anchorage to Denver multiple times
Denver to Boston multiple times.

Man you ruined some TSA guy’s day when they realized that those were not bricks or cocaine or heroin.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Man you ruined some TSA guy’s day when they realized that those were not bricks or cocaine or heroin.

 

[Redman]

Only done it with antelope. Freeze it pack on my carry on the rest wrapped in a contractor bag in my duffle bag checked. As much of my hunting gear I shipped UPS home to save on baggage charges. The duffle with the heads were also in the checked bags. When I got them out there was a red TSA card in there letting me know they went through it. Wish I could have seen the TSA workers face when two antelope were staring back hat him

 

[MTLabrador]

I saved that gif for future use.

 

[seeth07]

Man you ruined some TSA guy’s day when they realized that those were not bricks or cocaine or heroin.

Another pro tip: if you are flying with canning salt for planned use on capes or hides, make sure to fly with it in your carry on and have it out and ready to be tested....unless of course you enjoy long drawn out procedures in airports

 

[.270Rem]

I brought a boned out, cut, and wrapped mule deer in a soft cooler as a carry on bag and replayed that tactic with 30 lbs of elk a few years later. You get some good second looks as it goes through the machine. Dry ice in a cooler for a checked bag may work, but verify that's ok with the chosen airline ahead of time.

Over a long travel day of over 10 hours I found the meat did alright and remained pretty solid.

 

[Ducks]

I flew with meat on Delta 1 time and the cooler had to weigh under 80lbs. Mine was froze in a cheap lightweight cooler for 24 hrs and was froze solid when we got home

 

[GoGriz]

If you go to ace hardware or Walmart they have these cheap red and white coolers, I think they are 48 qts. Stuffed with cut and wrapped meat they come in at around 48 lbs. If you load one up with frozen meat, spend all day flying, the meat will still be frozen solid when you land (and you can pack them full of food and gear when you fly in). It’s worked for me for years and the coolers are like $25 apiece.

 

[Dakotakid]

I delivered two 48 lb coolers to my brother in Seattle.
Like said above cheap coolers, I threw in a couple frozen ice packs and used gaffers tape to tape it up.
Gaffers tape leaves less glue and less of a mess.
Took the gaffers roll through with me because they asked if I had extra tape, I said I did, and then they decided not to open coolers at tsa.

My brother had his deer and mine processed to summer sausage. Two coolers were about a third of the meat.

He is looking into Alaska Air shipping nut it takes several months to get approved, apparently.

 

[IK-NWhunter]

Looking into this for a trip this September as well. Potentially flying meat and antlers from a bull elk and mule deer from Idaho to Anchorage. The best I can come up with is flying my yeti 250 down empty via Alaska air cargo, buying a couple smaller coolers in ID to make sure I can fit both animals, then flying everything back using air cargo. Sounds like I'm fairly limited on outbound cargo airport options, especially with antlers. Was told elk antlers won't fit on the planes Alaska flys in/out of Boise, so I've got to go to Denver. Denver isn't hazmat certified, only Boise. So dry ice is out of the question for Denver. What a headache!

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Looking into this for a trip this September as well. Potentially flying meat and antlers from a bull elk and mule deer from Idaho to Anchorage. The best I can come up with is flying my yeti 250 down empty via Alaska air cargo, buying a couple smaller coolers in ID to make sure I can fit both animals, then flying everything back using air cargo. Sounds like I'm fairly limited on outbound cargo airport options, especially with antlers. Was told elk antlers won't fit on the planes Alaska flys in/out of Boise, so I've got to go to Denver. Denver isn't hazmat certified, only Boise. So dry ice is out of the question for Denver. What a headache!

I'm going from Anchorage to Boston.
My plan is to split the antler and then wrap them. Carry-on as much meat as possible and then put the rest frozen in some cheap coolers. Coolers this time since I have a connection in Seattle.

I'm not sure if air cargo is worth the hassle. Personally I'd book the direct flight from Salt Lake to Anchorage and then just check everything. Dry ice is usually overkill for nonstop IMHO.