Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ice Chest of Frozen Venison as Checked Baggage

Anybody done this lately? That is, used an ice chest full of wrapped and frozen meat as checked baggage on a domestic flight. Son flew home from Lake Tahoe, CA for Christmas and had a little time to hunt. I'm still recovering from colon cancer surgery (partial colectomy) and a couple of unexpected complications and chose to stay home. So he headed up to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a couple of days to himself on some land we just leased this year. Rules of engagement were brown is down, given time restraints. So day 1 and first day it's been hunted in 3 years he had a couple of racked bucks streak by the pop-up for some unknown reason followed by a spike that didn't run quite fast enough. A few hours later a pretty decent 8 pt, from what he said, showed up in range. Red Pad 7x57 strikes again. Now he'll be headed home in the morning and bringing work with him. When the butchering is done and the meat wrapped the plan is to send as much as possible home with him later in the week in a basic size ice chest duct taped shut.

Any experiences and/or advice on this done is appreciated. I know it can be done just never done it. Thanks guys.
MC

i've brought frozen fish and live lobsters back from Massachusetts just hope you have no long delays. the lobsters i brought back in carry on.

Shootem,

Not in a cooler, but I brought home several boxes of elk meat in insulated boxes with dry ice a while back.

Worked great, although the airline charged $50 a box.

I’ve brought elk meat home like that only thing I did different is put the meat in a bag and seal it before going in the cooler most airlines want it in a leakproof bag or container.

I've done it a couple of times, you'll probably have to pay an overweight bag fee, check with the airline.

I just flew to Philadelphia with two large insulated boxes (49 pounds each) of frozen moose meat. Sarah, who had stayed with us while she finished college, drew a cow tag and filled it before moving back to PA to be near family. I had to be back there to help with my Dad last month so I took the two boxes for her. They made it just fine from Alaska to Pennsylvania. My wife and I were allowed two bags each without charge so we each took one box as checked baggage.

48 quart cooler will fit 50lbs of meat. If you go over by one ounce, take it up to a 72 quart and make it worth the excess bagage.

Yes I’ve done it a lot with fish and deer.

Don’t use ice, freeze the meat solid and pack tightly in the cooler. Have it labeled per airline rules and any tags or licenses that might apply. Checked bags are usually subject to weight limits so check on that also. I’ve used Alaska Airlines exclusively and they have a walk in freezer in Seattle which made it easy when I got delayed by several flights headed back to Seattle (not the airlines fault). The best advice is to look online for airline specific rules and follow them, also print out copies relevant to your situation just in case you get an idiot at the counter. Some airlines do this regularly (Alaska Air) and are pros at making it simple and easy but I know that not all airlines are created equal so best to be prepared.

Congratulations to you and your son and I wish you a full and speedy recovery so that you’ll get to accompany him afield next time. 👍

Thanks yall. Sounds very doable. Even paying extra weight is still cheaper and safer than trying to ship UPS or USPS. A little delay and you can have some very expensive rot. BTDT. And a 48 qt duct taped with the handles reinforced should be semi-gorilla proof. Merry Christmas all.

I do it every year. I fly back 2 boxes of frozen salmon from AK. Fred Meyer, Walmart, Sportsman Warehouse have the boxes for sale there. They have about 2" of styrofoam insulation inside a cardboard box. We freeze the salmon rock hard. Pack the salmon into the box & weigh it. I stop @ 48lbs. It flys as luggage for $25. You should see the Kenai airport in July----lots of salmon & halibut boxes.

Just FYI; check with the airlines before using dry ice. If it is allowed, it is limited to quantity used, and must be declared and labeled.

Probly won't worry with ice of any sort if we get the meat frozen and that should happen. Planning to cut and wrap 12/24 and he's flying out 12/27 at 7PM. It's about a 6 hour flight IIRC and there's a freezer waiting for it there. Double garbage bagged and inside a cooler should be good long as the luggage apes don't go Olympic Event with it.

Dont tape it closed. TSA is going to open it for inspection anyway and then tape it closed with labeled tpe tht says inspected. At least thats wht they do in Jackson Hole and Baltimore. Most airline allow 5lb of dry ice. Must be declared and in a VENTED container. Don't want no c02 bombs.

I work for skywest airlines in Jackson Hole.

Good point. Tape of their choice in sufficient quantity to avoid autodump.

Lake Tahoe at Christmas time is beautiful.

if you tape it, leave the roll of tape attached to the cooler with a note for them to please retape it. encase they open it to check it.

Even if it is not frozen it would travel fine for a day. Nothing is going to rot in a day. The meat will just get more tender.

Bigger mass, all insulation on the outside, will stay frozen hard for 24 hours plus.

Freeze it, if it leaks "juice" you will have different problems.

I've flown from Juneau to Memphis twice with frozen fish. It was vac packed and frozen. Stayed frozen in waxed cardboard boxes in the summer no problem. Under 50 pounds it is handled as checked baggage.

Every year, but we have coolers with bolted on better latches etc.. TSA locks or zip ties. Extras inside. Coolers go up with frozen food in em to AK, come back the same way.

Never had an issue, and stuff to TX in the Sept heat usually, will stay frozen for easily 36-48 hours. Normal igloos, not the heavy fancy ones...I'd bet it would be fine for 3 plus days. We missed luggage once, and it was a day late getting it here, a bit thawed but all just fine.