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Meat and trophy shipping options
Posted by Michael Strahan on Mar 30 2006
Fish Doc,
Here are a few options for you:
1. Have it all handled by local processors. Take the meat to Indian Valley Meats or Alaska Sausage (both in Anchorage). They'll cut, wrap, freeze and ship to wherever it needs to go. Take your trophies to Knight's Taxidermy. They'll prep your trophies and ship them directly to your taxidermist or wherever else they need to go.
2. Air Cargo. This is risky because of the lag time in transit, but might be doable depending on where it's going. Put the meat in fish boxes (wetlock boxes) and make sure the freight carrier knows it's perishable. I've heard of meat sitting outside on the flight line for several days before the customer picked it up. The forgot to tell the carrier that it was perishable (people ship all sorts of stuff in those boxes and not all of it is perishable). It rotted in the back yard of Northern Air Cargo. Most cargo outfits can fly your stuff as far as their route system goes, then can hand it off to a trucking company from there. This may be your cheapest option, but it also takes longest. Point to consider: by the time you get your meat out of the field, it will probably need to be processed right away; you may be only two or three days from spoilage.
3. Baggage. This is often the worst option because of weight restrictions. You could check your meat in and mail or freight your gear home. But you only get two pieces of checked luggage. Everything that goes excess baggage (high costs here) travels on a standby basis, and is sometimes bumped for weight and balance purposes. So no guarantees that your excess baggage will arrive on schedule. Additionally, many airlines will not accept antlers as checked luggage; they have to go cargo, where you will pay a cubic rate rather than by the pound in most cases. The antlers will be packed in a large cardboard box and shipped that way. Plan on around $150 (if I remember correctly). You're better off with the taxidermist option I mentioned (#2 above).
Some folks use the postal service, but I wouln't recommend it. Expensive, restrictive, and takes more time.
No matter how you approach this, it's going to be expensive. This is often the big surprise waiting for you at the end of a hunt; one of the things most often overlooked by hunters. Congrats on doing your homework first!
Good Hunting-
-Mike
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