How to Fly Home with Wild Game

I have been fortunate to travel all over the US and the world hunting. Many of those trips I opt to fly as sometimes that is the only option. Other times flying allows more days in the field and less days traveling. While driving is generally the best option when planning to bring gear in, and meat out, it is not always feasible. Over the years I have developed a pretty solid and cost effective method for bringing meat back home. It involves a few special items and a little pre-planning.

My favorite method for traveling home with meat involves a quick butchering and freezing of the meat then flying back with it. To accomplish this I bring some specialized items on the trip with me.

• A good butcher knife like my MKC Flathead Filet or their boning butcher
• A Knife sharpener
• A small vacuum sealer and bags
• Sharpie
• Garbage bags (unscented)
• Some paper towels
• Paper grocery bag (2)
• A YETI soft sided cooler
• A YETI Ice pack

You will also want to plan on having some kind of lodging the day before your flight that has a freezer. I have done some butchering in vacation rentals, condos, motels, camp grounds, and even one time a golf course parking lot. 

The goal is to get the meat into manageable pieces, vacuum seal, and freeze, then check or carry on in the soft sided cooler.

Getting There

When I am headed to the hunt I will either use my Yeti backpack cooler as a carry-on, or I will pack my clothes in it and place it in my Yeti Panga as a checked bag. For other hunts where the meat will be more than the single backflip cooler, I will pack a larger Yeti Hopper or two into my luggage for flying home with. I will also often take a single Yeti ice in my luggage incase my meat does not have time to freeze fully. The Yeti Ice can be put in a freezer earlier and is cold enough to help assist keeping partially frozen meat good for the journey home.

Butchering

Now lets look at the break down. I like to do a faster butcher process where I separate the major  muscle groups and seal them whole or in larger pieces, I cube all my grind and trim to a size that will fit in the grinder at home, on smaller animals I like to leave the neck, and blade roast intact for slow cooking, I will often do the shanks boneless in with the neck for slow cooking. For larger animals I cut the front  shoulders for grind.

I will separate out the larger primal cuts and seal them, I will keep bags going for grind and then freeze to make burger or sausage later.

I like to vacuum seal the meat as it travels better and keeps air out and blood in. 

I will often get or bring some paper grocery bags to dual as a cutting board and help with clean up, a large garbage bag for silver skin and trash or to lay down when cutting to keep things clean (make sure it is not scented). I also find having some paper towels for clean up is handy.

I have done this butchering in many different places over the years using the vehicles plugs to run the vacuum sealer, or doing it in some type of lodging. Often a rental house or similar is the easiest but you can make due.

When putting meat in the fridge before butchering I will often bone it out in the field. Put into game bags, place game bags into a large contractor bag and use a baking sheet or pan in fridge to catch anything that may leak out. I am always cautious of keeping the rental fridge clean and blood free.

Freezing

Once vacuum sealed, place the meat in the freezer. Single layers are the best if possible. Try to make any grind packages as thin as you can, you are better having more smaller packs than fewer large packages as it helps with fitting in the cooler and freezes faster.

No freezer? No problem. 

I have run into the problem where I may not have a large enough freezer or lodging with a freezer. When that happens I buy dry ice to freeze the meat. I will place the dry ice* above the meat and then let it freeze the contents below.

*Caution*

A very important note, under no circumstances seal the cooler bag with dry ice! Make sure to leave it open slightly with something in the seal to keep it open on the top as it can be very dangerous if the off gas from the dry ice builds pressure. Also don’t fly with the dry ice in the cooler bag as there is no way to ensure venting during transit.

Transit

For flying home I will then place the meat into the cooler bag and check it as an additional bag. In my years of doing this, my meat has always arrived still frozen. It is actually a lot cheaper than shipping and more reliable than shipping for getting it back in a timely manner. You can also ask for them to label the bag as frozen or perishable on many airlines and depending on where you are flying to, they will place it in cold storage if delayed or on a long layover. Alaska airlines actually does a great job of this when flying through their hubs.

When flying for a hunt the logistics of getting everything back can often be the hardest part. Bringing some extra items to butcher before you leave lets you get the meat back in good condition and often saves some money in the long run.

Of course there are always other options, like finding a local butcher that will freeze and ship for you, but for most hunts bringing it back with you is a great move.