Fly to hunt quest?

[northwesthunter]

Hey guys I am flying to N Mexico for an archery elk hunt so trying to prepare with minimum luggage and have never gone this route before so open for pointers. I am definitely concerned about my bow and gear not showing up on the other end for starters is it smarter to ship it ahead or risk it? Also I was thinking of taking a large cooler with me and filling it with my pack , clothes ,arrows and misc then wouldn't have to buy one if we have meat to bring home. Meat I plan to either have cut and wrapped at meat shop and frozen or bone it and freeze it and cut it up at home. We are moteling it as we can't camp where we hunt( Valles Caldera) so that simplifies it some. Obviously want to do whatever is most affordable but don't want to risk messing up the hunt of a lifetime. Flying home horns I have been told to wrap the skull plate in cardboard and shrink wrap and put pipe insulation on tines but leave it so the handlers see what it is so they are more carefull with them?? Good ideas or bad. Thanks nwhunter

 

[Dean Parisian]

Keep your bags to 50 pounds......or you will pay thru your pisscutter.......the airlines love to "feed" on hunters who don't plan ahead.


Dean Parisian
Chippewa Partners
http://chippewapartners.blogspot.com/

 

[rost495]

Since I don't care about the record books, which are basically a dang joke for those with the most money, I always cut my skull plate in half, it can travel much smaller that way. I use water hose instead of pipe insulation and tape on wiht wide electrical tape.
Set to go that way.

I do the same on coolers too! But last time I flew from AK with 2 full coolers of 100 pounds, it was cheap enough to pay extra to the airlines for the extra meat vs extra bags or having meat fed exed home. But these days I'd check in advance.

Jeff

 

[gl7mm]

It depends on your airline - talk to a manager and find out their policies. I fly a low cost charter to Nevada or Alaska and they are very easy to work with. Most airlines vary