Flying out for a hunt... transporting meat/fans?

[gobblegobblegobble]

My son and I are flying to south Texas this coming Friday for a Rio hunt. We've never done this before, we've always hunted within an hour or so of the house.

You guys who do this... how do you transport your kill home? We're flying Southwest so we have 2 checked bags each (plenty of baggage). I'm planning on either taking a cooler with me as checked baggage or buying one there, and bringing the meat home that way. Any tips, besides taping it shut? I'm thinking dry ice would be overkill since we'll be home in 6 hours or so. I suppose I should take a bunch of gallon ziploc bags to package the meat...

The bigger question in my mind is fans... how do you transport them so that they aren't ruined by the time you get home?

Any other tips about this (or anything else regarding fly-in hunts) that I should know?

[pullit]

I bring the meat and fan (collapsed) as a carry on. Get the meat good and cold and use a soft sided cooler. Once thru the security gate, go to an eating place and ask for a cup of ice. I carry an empty zip lock bag with me and put the ice in that, then put it in the cooler. Meat is always cold when I get home.
The fan will fit in a backpack. I put the meaty end in a baggy and am very careful not to bend the backpack.

[pullit]

Oh and good luck to both of you

[Southern Sportsman]

If I was flying, I wold plan a cookout while I was there and invite everybody I made friends with and eat what we killed and give away whst we didnt eat. I would put the fans in a box (shirt box size and shape) and put them in the suitcase.

[gobblegobblegobble]

Four birds... just my son and I at camp, with one other guy who can get 2 birds as well. We're gonna be bringing it back. Besides, we like turkey meat.

I like the soft sided cooler idea. Much easier than checking a separate cooler.

[soiltester]

I've frozen the breasts in gallon zip locks and fan in plastic bag with meaty end wrapped extra and wrapped all in insulated shipping foil that I received frozen fish in from Kodiak Island, and packed it in my suitcase with no problem. Drove from Albany to Dallas 2 1/2 hrs. and flew to Charlotte and then to home another 1 1/2 hrs.

Heard if you want to have fun .. carry it on and go through the security scanner

Now if they would've lost my luggage

[pullit]

I did get a funny look at the OK City airport but they were cool about it when I told them what is was. The airport in Billings MT never even said a word....
Fl airport did not care as they were knee deep in spring break kids....
Guy at Dallas said "kill them all"

[GLS]

We flew them out breasts filleted, frozen in a cooler. We had a pile of them and sorted when we got home. Then we realized the bozo froze the breasts, two to a plastic bag, rather than individually. Gil

[Shiloh]

Freeze it in freezer bags and place in luggage like some have said above. Easiest and cheapest. I even flew a whole frozen gobbler home from New York to Ms because I wanted to mount him.

[gut_pile]

Soft sided cooler as a carry on. Done it several times with no issues.

[misfire]

Southwest is a great airline. Last year we just used a hard case cooler and shipped three whole birds home to be mounted. The year before we ate the meat on the trip, but took fans and legs and put in our boots in the suitcase

[Matt / PA]

To protect the fan, collapse it down, smooth out the tips and then take 2 hunks of stiff cardboard ,sandwich the whole thing together and tape them together tightly.
Then you can stand them up in a packpack or lay flat in the top of a carry on horizontal bag.

[Grumpy]

Good luck and have fun and be careful

[LeadSlinger]

I can't offer any advice other than what Grumpy said. I hope you all fill your tags, have fun and hunt safe.

[Fatmo]

Freeze the meat, put borax on the tails/cape and put in good quality cooler. Check cooler in or carry on if cooler is small enough.. No Problem!

[firedup]

A softside cooler works great to bring the meat home. Freeze the meat first and you don't have to worry at all. It will probably still be hard when ya get home. And you can either stash the softside in your checked bags somewhere or use it as a "purse" carry on. Done that several times. A lady's purse is USUALLY NOT considered carry on so..... As for the fans, legs, ect the best trick I have learned is to wrap something around the raw parts and maybe sandwich in a couple sheets of cardboard then STASH THEM IN YOUR GUN CASE! A good hard case keeps em nice and flat and protected. Good luck!