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Has anyone hunted Maui for Axis deer? Need information about shipping meat back to Montana. MTG

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Okie John

I hunted Molokai for axis. Right next door.

I didn’t bring the meat home though plenty of folks have. Hawaii is a big fisherman destination and lots of folks bring their fish back to CONUS. I couldn’t imagine the outfitter and/or airport don’t have a system for keeping meat coolers or wax boxes frozen until ready to be loaded into the cargo hold. Have you asked your outfitter, assuming you’re using one?

Hunted it when I was stationed there with the USN. But we ate everything there. Hunted lots of hogs and goats on Oahu and hunted Mouflon on Lanai. Never hunted on Maui.

It can't be too hard, freeze it and drop in a cooler with some dry ice to ship home assuming you have access to a freezer in Maui. I hear Maui has too many deer right now, but land access to them might be the biggest challenge. I usually go to west Maui for a winter break but I'm going to try Kona this year to checkout the diving.

Yes. Bone em out, freeze in the freezer, throw in yeti coolers,soft bags. Works great

Bought this last trip as I didn’t take one over with me.



Usually take 1 or 2 of these. Island axis are smaller than a yearling Blacktail buck. Love huntin the island’s. Pretty amazing actually

No ice/dry ice btw.


[bleep] almost 20 years ago now

Got ‘er done. MTG

Nothing to do with transporting, but weren't they trying to kill off all the goats on one of the islands a few years back?

Last time I noted that airlines won’t allow dry ice. Best to check before trying to use it.

A google search found this:

It sound's like the FAA allows minimal amounts but the airline can reduce that to nothing. To vent it, you'd have to drill holes in the cooler. Got a $500 Yeti that needs vent holes?

A few years back we helped thin out a few goats and hogs on the big island very close to where the lava is flowing now. A friend of mine that lives in Hilo got permission for us to hunt the Parker ranch. We stayed in the old cowboy quarters, it was a blast.

Freeze it solid and bring it home in a cooler or fish box as checked luggage. I send customers back to Hawaii all the time from AK with frozen seafood in fish boxes and it's always fine. A yeti cooler would keep it frozen for days.

Hunted Maui about 7 years ago, asked the front desk at the hotel and told him I was going hunting and needed a freezer to store the meat in, he said to not to bring in dirty or bloody packages and he would take care of it. We butchered them in the field and put the meat into ziplocks and hide into a trash bag and the hotel let me store them in their walk-in freezer for the remainder of the trip in some cheap plastic ice chests with the lids off and the meat was frozen solid a few days later when we left. Duck taped the lids shut at the airport and flew home. You can bring your own rifle but it’s a paper work hassle in Hawaii so if you’re going with a guide I’d recommend just borrowing his when you get there.

Surprised they let you hunt without having ponytail and beard.

My Yeti Hopper 30 goes with me on all personal trips, regardless if hunting or not. I carry it on most times but do check it from time to time depending on the flight and weight. When bringing meat back, make sure it is frozen solid, packed well on gel packs, with no extra room. If you have much airspace, stuff towels in it. It will handle about 24 hours but the meat will be tempered so freeze immediately.

A hard cooler would be even better but can’t carry it on.

MTG'er,
Glad to hear you got'er done! Hope it was a good hunt!...I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the meat. If there's any lingering questions, I know a bit about flying with meat in Hawaii.

I think the rules were similar 15 years ago, and you didn't have to drill holes in your cooler, BUT the cooler couldn't be completely sealed up with tape because it had to allow gas (CO2 from the dry ice) to escape. Basically, as I recall, we had to tape it tight enough so the lid wouldn't fly open and spill the contents, but loose enough so it could burp off CO2 (or more likely a very slow, low flow CO2 leak), if it needed to. I think we had to leave the cooler unlatched, but taped enough to allow the lid to barely open enough for a little gas to escape.

Here's what FAA says on their website (see link below which has a link to the actual regulation):

"Packages must NOT be air tight and must allow the release of carbon dioxide gas."

FAA webpage about dry ice

I slung bags for the airlines in my younger days. Dry Ice was strictly prohibited in the pit (that was made clear during our training). Not sure now whether it was a United specific rule, or an FAA Rule...but looks like things have changed in the 30 or 40 years since.