Shipping fresh/frozen meat

Mountain Beaver · 01-29-2009, 01:25 PM

My son (Fishinmachine) is working in Jacksonville, TX for a couple of weeks. He has a chance to kill a pig and wants to have sausage made out of it and shipped back to Corvallis. I've checked with FedEx and UPS and it's looks pretty spendy. Over $4. a pound and he is guessing around 100 pounds of meat. I think it would be cheaper to put a suit on the pig and buy it a plane ticket. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks. MB.

Teeb · 01-29-2009, 01:31 PM

Never done it either. One place to inquire might the airlines in your area. I have no idea of the rules or the costs .... but it might be worth a phone call or a little surfing on their web sites.

chukarchaser · 01-29-2009, 01:33 PM

I can't speak for all the airlines but I recently harvested two whitetails back in Wisconsin in November. I boned them out, froze the meat, put in a rubbermaid container and duct taped the lid shut. Checked each container as an item of checked baggage.... meat was still mostly frozen when I got it back to Portland. I think I paid $15 per container.

CC

Mountain Beaver · 01-29-2009, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chukarchaser

I can't speak for all the airlines but I recently harvested two whitetails back in Wisconsin in November. I boned them out, froze the meat, put in a rubbermaid container and duct taped the lid shut. Checked each container as an item of checked baggage.... meat was still mostly frozen when I got it back to Portland. I think I paid $15 per container.

CC

Sounds like a plan. I'll check with the airlines. Thanks. MB.

JimmyL · 01-29-2009, 03:41 PM

Have him fly home with the meat and ship his clothes/luggage home. Separate the frozen meat into two 50-lb coolers and check those as baggage.

I just did this on Tuesday, 1/27, with some whitetail meat cross-country; it was still frozen when I put it in the freezer at home.

I have done this multiple times over the last 15 years with no problems; once, the airline even lost the bag for a couple of days and had the forethought to put the cooler in a walk-in freezer until it was located (luggage tags ripped off by baggage machinery). Here is a tip: Make sure the gate agent sticks the luggage sticker to the side of the cooler rather than attaching to the one of the handles; also, put your contact information inside the cooler as well in case the information on the outside of the cooler is lost/damaged.

Diver Killer · 01-29-2009, 05:06 PM

Looks like you'll get the same advice from most everybody.....check it in as baggage. I've brought salmon back from Alaska that way....works great. insulate it well....in a good cooler....and you won't have any problem.

fishinmachine · 01-29-2009, 05:17 PM

Thanks for the advice. We have been working out the details over some brews and steaks in the parking lot of the Best Western we are staying at. I didn't get to kill the pig this time, it was caught in a trap by a co-worker and we sent it off to be turned into pig sausage. I'm not sure I will get the time to go kill one this trip. East Texas is nice this time of year, only 27 for a low and 56 for a high. Better than July for sure.
Later,
fishin'