Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Getting meat back to the lower 48

Our Caribou trip is rapidly approaching (less than a month!), and I am wondering how most here from the lower 48 get their meat back home from AK (this is provided, of course, we are fortunate enough to get an animal). Carry it back on the plane? Mail it? Other? As far as the antlers, someone here gave a suggestion for sending them back home through the mail, which I intend to do (again, if we get a caribou). Thanks in advance for replies...

Northerner

To mail antlers you will need to cut the skull plate... last time I did one I bored a large hole up through the inside of the skull plate and bedded a waxed piece of allthread in epoxy. Then I removed the allthread and cut the antler off rather than splitting the skull. When reassembled a little bit of epoxy replaced the bone removed by the saw and the cast epoxy threads makes everything line up correctly.

Flying home with your meat is usually easiest, though not real cheap these days. Some airlines allow first class to check extra bags for free... if you have to pay extra for bags it might make sense to go first class for a bit extra?

I would UPS back my clothes. Then have the meat deboned & frozen. Then put in fish boxes from WallyWorld. Make sure each one weighs less than 50 lbs & check as your luggage. I do this with salmon & halibut just about every year.

Alaska airlines is great about meat, fish and antlers so if you're flying with them I'd pack my coolers with filled or frozen meat at 50 pounds per cooler and check it in. Getting your meat home is the cheapest "big thing" you'll face on an out of state hunt.

Have fun and I look forward to your report.

I have a friend who's hunted moose in AK the last couple of years, shooting a 63" 2yrs ago, and a 53" last year. Both times he's 'contracted' with a guy that runs a 53' refrigerated semi up the ALCAN from the the lower 48,and back, with the specific purpose of hauling meat, capes, and antlers back for hunters. IIRC, he makes stops in Tok, Fairbanks and Anchorage, and runs as far east as Ohio on the return leg. Not sure of all the details or cost, but a 'reservation is required." I wish I knew the name of the outfit so I could pass it along.

Like Art said, checking extra bags is easiest. I have enough miles on United that I get three free ones. A cooler makes a good piece of checked luggage, pack your gear in one along with àn empty duffel for the trip up. Put 50 lbs of frozen meat in, and clothes to fill up the space, and put the rest of your gear in the duffel for the trip home.

The question is have you identified a means of hard freezing the meat before you get on the plane? The waxed fish boxes taped to the hilt are the ideal way of shipping back fish or meat in 50# increments.

Yup, ice chests weigh too much and with 40+ pounds of mass the meat will stay frozen for a couple full days.

http://alaskameatexpress.com/ $750 for the entire animal which includes, hide/cape, uncut rack, and meat seems pretty reasonable to me.

We run the coolers since we fly to TX. All I can say is in a 5 day cooler, that weighs a few pounds, the top layer of meat has started to thaw a bit by the time we get home. I'd think a box would be dripping by then.

Last time I flew AK with meat, they said once you are over, its up to 100 then, so pay a slight overage and put 100 pounds in a 70 quart cooler and fly on.

Antlers I cut in half, ratchet strap and use a freezer or stove box to wrap in cardboard...

If I have to ship home, its clothes... but we just leave our clothes there now for years alreday so there is not much to pack back and forth generally.

I brought a large box of salmon home from anchorage last August. It was in a box like pictured above. After
removal from freezer in Alaska to my house was about seven hours. There was a little softness on the top layer of fish, but not enough to be a concern.

Those are not the right boxes. The ones I use have a 2" thick Styrofoam box inside the cardboard box. Freeze the meat/ fish rock hard. Then into the Styrofoam & tape the Styrofoam lid. Then tape the cardboard lid close. It lasts from ANC to the lower 48 with not problem. Boxes are about $15/20 all over Soldotna.

There is one processor there that will pack, freeze, weigh & store your fish/meat till your ready to go.

If the meat is frozen solid, then I recommend Rubbermaid Roughneck totes. I think we primarily use the 18 gallon size, and easily get 60-75#s in one; something like $10 apiece in various Anchorage stores. I typically drill a few holes around the top and use zip-ties to secure the lid. Pretty normal for us to travel to the L48 (normally Charlotte/Atlanta/Orlando) with 150 pounds of meat/fish and I've never had a problem with thawing. They're lightweight, durable, waterproof and inexpensive. If you must, you can line it with newspaper for insulation, but marked as frozen with Alaska airlines has worked just fine. I've transported frozen meat/fish this way on dozens of trips to the L48 and undoubtedly will do it again the next trip to see friends/family.

This is what I was told too. It was cheaper to check one overweight 100lb bag than it was to check 2 50lb bags.

AA regular fare allows 2 checked bags/boxes up to 50 lbs for $25 each. That's per person. Third checked item is $75.

I agree with the waxed box or tote method. Or just go to Fred Meyer, they'll sort you out

Depends entirely on the cooler. There are plenty of inexpensive lightweight Igloos and Colemans to pick from. Not the best coolers, but plenty good enough for shipping meat.

For my 2015 Alaskan moose hunt, I brought back 75#'s of the best cuts of meat, 25#'s salted cape and I believe it was 40#'s of moose rack. IIRC it cost me another $200 at the Delta ticket desk in ANC. I did this based on the recommendations of my long time guide. He said after many years of logistics with multiple transporters, it was easier and safer to put it on the plane with you. The costs are about the same he said and you have no worries about the whereabouts of the frozen meat, etc. from another shipper.
When I arrived back in MSP, it was all sitting at the oversize check-in office near the luggage carousel.
Good luck.

So what happened to the rest of the moose meat?

we dont ship to conus , or comus as some of the boobs on here type it. , lol. The airline you leave on is your best option.

my guess is either the outfitter donated it to a local village or if they were like us, we shipped it back to our hometowns and chewed on it through the winter, with the correct transferal of possession paperwork.

And the rest of the cape?

Hey Sitka I send this to you in pm but you are over your limit. Anyhow you headed into your moos hunting area you were in last year?

Small moose?

Yup, the same place... going in just before the season starts...

Why save a cape from a small moose? Cut properly a moose cape is a huge chunk of very thick hide.

Good luck might wander in there around the 15th or so maybe sooner all depends how crossing the delta river pans out. I drew a any bull permit for 20A. We have the boat to haul wheelers across the few braids that are not crossable on a wheeler. Just need to put the plan together..

And a strip of duct tape around the seam adds to the insulation value measurably.

That's a joke son!

The remainder of the meat was separated into 7 game bags and distributed to folks on his call list. The entire cape was brought home - from the shoulders to the tip on the nose.
Anything else?

Ordinary bull moose cape, salted, dried, and most salt shaken off, will weigh a hell of a lot more than 25 pounds. Lots of capes are ruined by cutting short... front of shoulders is too short. Rear of shoulders is a yard back.

I generically said "shoulders" not front of shoulders. My definition of "cape" is a suitable amount of hide to create a full shoulder mount. Anything else?

If cut behind the shoulders, as is required by virtually all taxidermists, a cape weighs a hell of a lot more than 25 pounds...

dried salted it might not hit 25. LOL. I don't recall.

4 inches behind the front leg for me as a minimum but WTF would I know...

My buddy shot a bull moose (Sitka ) knows the country. Anyhow it was over 50 he said he was getting a shoulder mount. First time I rolled the guts out of moose. Got dark we got him opened to cool. Went in next morning to start the job. Good lord talk about work lol. We hauled I swear 100lbs of hide lol. I'm sure it was less than that but it was a two man operation lifting that thing.

My initial comment was to illustrate what I did in '15 with a my cape, meat and antlers. It was meant to be one option to the OP's questions. It was not intended to debate the finer points of proper caping and lawful meat handling. The lesson learned here is that remaining silent is a better course of action. I see why so many on the Alaksan Outdoor site have adapted the same policy.

I took 6 inches behind the front leg. Ringed my moose(over 50-squeaky) and cut the head off at the first joint with a knife.

Thought just getting that head/hide combo onto the 6 wheeler all by myself a few years ago around 1am would kill me. Evidently it did not.

This after thinking I could lift a complete hind in the bed myself too... my age is making me soft.. had to drag both hinds in while standing on the 6 wheeler.

Aint much on a moose small or light.

The guy who trucks stuff ..is peterbuilt 379 ....he's on the fire now and then.

Comparing aod and 24hr is never a good plan... aod allows posters to say anything, even ridiculosly false stuff that may cause others issues. Getting real help is far more important IMO. Which may explain why aod is a ghost town these days. Only the clueless remain.

Your have a fine answer for the disposition of meat... but if you are maintaining the cape only weighed 25# you are very wrong.