Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Airlines and backpacking gear

What are you fellas doing with airline travel and gear? Suitcase full and roll or what? Easiest way I'd guess would be in the pack, but I don't trust that it'll all get there and no way to lock it.

I've sent most of my goods ahead so far as glass and all goes. Rest is tent, bag, tarp, trekking poles, etc.

Next go I think is going to be a big ass Anvil case, but anyway....


Thoughts?

I'd be taking my sleeping bag, pad, tent sans the poles/stakes in my carry on, if you can fit it. Between your personal item and carry on, you can fit most of your crap.

If youre not sure which type of plane you'll be flying on (and they do change) and you bring a big-ass carry on like a full pack, you risk it not fitting in the overhead space and needing to be checked. So I bring a good sized day pack to put stuff in that I don't want checked like camera, binos, etc. I put my backpack and bulky stuff in a hard-sided cooler for protection and check it. Use strapping tape to make sure it won't come open. And throw a large duffel in so you can use the cooler to ship frozen meat and the duffel to hold your gear if you need to.

I have several very large cordura-but-not-really-heavy duffle bags. I can fit a 7000ci pack and all my gear in it and come in under 50 lbs. I don't bother locking anything except gun cases anymore - if they want it, a TSA lock won't stop 'em.

A separate rifle case, optics, and change of street clothes in my carry on, and I'm good to go, though I may need to stop and buy extra food, a stove or fuel when I hit the ground.

If you need to ship meat on the way home, stop at WalMart and buy a Rubbermaid tote (I think it's the 18 gallon one that holds 50lbs of meat) or a cheap cooler, and a roll of duct tape.

Same here when flying to a destination. No issues so far. I use zip ties to secure the closure on the over-bag. Stuff like cameras and optics go in my carry on. Guns in locked hard cases. Have taken pistols or rifles with out any issues.

I've checked a big duffle with my loaded pack inside, along with misc. items. Then a rifle case with pistol, ammo,trekking poles, knives, etc. Food and stove fuel, matches or butane lighters are bought upon arrival.

Last year I shipped a lot of the camping gear, along with my pack to Rock Chuck's house, and had a rolling cooler and the rifle case as checked luggage. The cooler can be emptied and filled with meat on the trip home, and its outbound contents added to the shipped package with camping gear, homeward bound. Unfortunately, the cooler came home last year packed with gear, not meat. (Be aware of size restrictions with the cooler. Also, it has to have a vent hole for dry ice if used, and you're limited to I think 10 pounds of dry ice. Also the 50 pound limit applies.)

Read their regulations as to what is and is not allowed. Most have sections specific to backpacking and hunting equipment as does TSA. I've had no issues with TSA, they've always been courteous and probably jump at the chance to inspect that case and say, "Cool, I got to look at a REAL gun today!" (Yes, I'm being facetious here.) And by the way, get your own locks for the gun case.

This isn't ideal but the best I've worked out yet.

I have a carry-on with toiletries, electronics, etc.

And by the way, I don't think shipping to Rock Chuck's house is a viable option for most people.

Point is, ship gear to a buddies house or some pickup point, ship back home at the end of the trip.

I put most stuff in a large rolling duffle bag. I put my boots and some valuables (range finder, binos) in my backpack and carry that on. Have done that for years and it works great.

That's what I'm planning to do. Surprised at the amount of crap that'll stuff in the thing...

I pack my backpack like I'm ready to put it on my back, then put that inside a big duffle bag. I lock the zippers together but I don't know why because as already mentioned, if someone wants to steal something, a TSA lock is not going to stop them.

I carry a 2-gun case that has enough room to carry all of my expensive stuff in addition to one rifle and ammo.

Sometimes if it's going to be a long trip, I mail a cooler full of freeze-dried and dehydrated food and other consumable stuff. Or I may just buy a cheap cooler to carry meat home.

My carry-on contains only a change of clothes and travel items.

KC

I found that shipping ahead is very nearly the same as paying for carry-on. If you can bear not having something in your possession until the last minute that maybe a great solution. Check out where you will land as well, I did not loose anything but found out the hard way that some air ports don't put everything on the luggage carousel. We flew into Fayetteville Ark a few years ago and all the oversized luggage,(golf, gun cases, car seats, etc ) are dumped out into a kiosk over in the corner hidden by some plants and stuff, not on the luggage carousel. I was starting to sweat when all the luggage was picked up and line was empty and no archery case. While looking around for someone to give me an explanation, I stumbled on my case and some unclaimed golf bags. If you are going to check through a large item you may want to see what type security there is to keep someone from walking off with it before you arrive or try to sit up front to get to the conveyer before luggage starts flowing to claim your gear. Good luck and have a great time!

Packed all my gear in my pack and checked it in. Shared camping gear went in a separate duffle bag. Binos, rangefinder, camera, etc. went with me on the plane.

I'm finding the 62" linear deal is a challenge, but compressed the schit out of everything and it looks to be a go.

Where ya headed?

Top secret. Can't take the risk of posting then someone chime in about how its impossible and stupid to do what we're trying do where we're trying do it. Bad juju...It'll either be epic, a goat phuqq, or an epic goat phuqq..


Lets just say trying to make chicken salad outta chicken schit

Dude, that's never going to work, and its stupid to even try.

Good luck with the goats.

If he finds goat schitt, does he have to make salad out of it?