Am going on a buffalo hunt to SD and would like to bring home /ship back some meat. Any advise on how to go about this or which carrier to use. Thanks.

A

One option, have the meat frozen and put it in a cooler or a secure frozen food shipping box not exceeding 50 pounds per box (check your airline for specific weight) fly home with it as checked baggage.
Done it several times coming home from Alaska with Halibut, crab, shrimp and Salmon.

I did it once via boxes nicely packed, hard frozen, and with some dry ice.
I think it was like 17 boxes and about $800 to ship 2 day ground (in October several years ago)
It made it great.. worked out to be $1 per pound give or take.
It depends largely on the meat cutter/packer
I've found many don't seem to be experienced with this (I.e. One time some Antelope meat cost me way too much to ship like this)
I also checked last year in SD like you and wasn't too thrilled with a couple of folks answers.
I would find one that preps Buffalo meat commercially in the area for shipment to distributors/restaurants...

pay for a hunt for me too, i'll drive out and bring it back

I shot a big cow buffalo last October in Wyoming. I had the meat processed and frozen. Brought it back in 3 big coolers with dry ice. It was still froze solid after 2 days on the road. I've brought back hogs killed in south Georgia and Fla. in the same 120 quart igloo cheapo coolers.
Just keep ice on them and drain the water.

My advice is to be very careful! One year I took the train to New Mexico for a cow elk hunt. Bringing the meat back was not an option because Amtrak only allows 50 lbs. of baggage per passenger. The hunt was successful and the processing plant, who always did a great job, assured me that 'everything would be taken care of.' I was told that the meat would be shipped out "in a few weeks" when there were enough loads from other hunters to make the 400 mile round trip to the Denver airport worthwhile.

The plan was to have the processing plant ship the meat via Delta air freight to Milwaukee. A friend would then pick it up at the airport and store it until I came down for a visit.

This is what happened: Almost 3 months later I get a call out of the blue on a Friday afternoon informing me that the meat had been delivered to Denver. I tried to call my friend and tell him the meat is on the way but he was on a job and didn't have his phone with him. It was 4:30 when I finally got in touch with him. My buddy rushes down to the Delta air freight terminal and found out it closed at 5:00. He could see the package on the shelf but the office was closed until Monday. Luckily, someone - possibly a security guard - opened the door and gave him the package. The meat was shipped in a simple uninsulated double box so it definitely wouldn't have made it through the weekend without thawing.

All's well that ends well but this was too close for comfort. At the time (2008) the shipping cost was a very reasonable $135 for 188 lbs. total but I don't think I'd go on a hunt if I couldn't bring the meat back with me.

Just make sure ALL of your "ducks are in a row" in advance if you are going to ship meat.

Ive shot a number of deer elk moose and bison. I always drive and I have a freezer I bought at Sears for about $200 bucks on sale, it holds about 600 lbs..I take a 100 ft. extension cord in case I have to stop at night..Always frozen when I get to my processor...

One thing Ive found is to always bone out wild game meat, it taste better and it weighs less and takes up less space..Even better if I have it processed that way and packaged then I just unload my freezer in the shop and go to eating.

I just can't handle airports anymore and I dont' mind driving, see lots of pretty country.

I've known a few folks that drive to the hunt with a chest freezer in the back of their pickup and a generator. Every few hours they gas the generator and keep the meat fresh and cold and/or frozen until the get home.
Cal

I brought Moose and Caribou meat back to Texas from Newfoundland, and Musk Ox and Caribou from Nunavut, and several elk from Colorado, but in all cases I was driving home with the meat after the hunt.

My suggestion would be tocheck into seeing how much meat you will get from the animal you shoot and see what the shipping costs will be per 50 pound box.

If you are driving, you can carry the meat unfrozen in ice chests and simply keep it iced down. Depending on what size animal you shoot.

I am not sure what the dress out is, maybe 50% but not sure on that, but your probably going to be looking at 600 to 800 pounds of meat.

Inexpensive coolers and dry ice work well for us on trips back from Montana. Dry ice is fairly easy to use. It is available widely available in fairly convenient places like supermarkets, etc. We found this DRY ICE LOCATOR worked great.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I brought Moose and Caribou meat back to Texas from Newfoundland, and Musk Ox and Caribou from Nunavut, and several elk from Colorado, but in all cases I was driving home with the meat after the hunt.

My suggestion would be tocheck into seeing how much meat you will get from the animal you shoot and see what the shipping costs will be per 50 pound box.

If you are driving, you can carry the meat unfrozen in ice chests and simply keep it iced down. Depending on what size animal you shoot.

I am not sure what the dress out is, maybe 50% but not sure on that, but your probably going to be looking at 600 to 800 pounds of meat.

You are exactly right...I killed a mature bull..850 pounds of meat in 17 50# boxes (a cow would be less obviously)
For me it was simply not feasible to drive fro Florida. NY to SD? I think he was thinking of flying in his post it seemed to me

If flying. as bad as it sounds, figure out the best cuts of meat, steaks and such and only take those.

Otherwise the option would be UPS. I have shipped hog/javelina meat to clients via USPS, it is costly, and I have never tried to ship that much meat at one time.

Hope he can get something figured out, that is a lot of great tasting meat.

Thanks all for your input

Just remember, you can't have ice in cooler in checked bags. You can have 5lbs of dry ice. Also, dry ice will actually freeze meat in some cases.

I believe it is only 2 lbs of dry ice now

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Ive shot a number of deer elk moose and bison. I always drive and I have a freezer I bought at Sears for about $200 bucks on sale, it holds about 600 lbs..I take a 100 ft. extension cord in case I have to stop at night..Always frozen when I get to my processor...

One thing Ive found is to always bone out wild game meat, it taste better and it weighs less and takes up less space..Even better if I have it processed that way and packaged then I just unload my freezer in the shop and go to eating.

I just can't handle airports anymore and I dont' mind driving, see lots of pretty country.

I'm with him, airports and airlines are tedious. When I lived in Connecticut, two of us would drive to Wyoming or Montana and do a little sight-seeing along the way. We had coolers and they would evaporate about a pound or two of dry ice a day on the way back. Dry ice was not hard to come by, all of the Smith's Food Kings in Wyoming and Utah have it. The whole story doesn't need published here, but one year we discovered that the airplane people really dislike hauling dry ice.

Be careful with dry ice!

Everybody knows that dry ice must be handled carefully to avoid frostbite but there's another hazard that I learned about the hard way. I shot a nice antelope in Wyoming which was quartered and frozen for the trip home. The weather was warm so I bought some dry ice to keep the meat frozen overnight.

My truck developed a mechanical issue 2 days before the hunt so I rented a car (VW Jetta) for the trip. It worked out great, all the gear for the 3 day hunt fit in the trunk and the cooler fit nicely in the back seat. As a bonus, the car got twice the mileage of my truck. The guide provided transportation during the hunt.

The next morning, shortly after starting out, all of a sudden I couldn't breathe, got dizzy and saw stars. It didn't take long to figure out that the almost new, well-sealed car had filled with CO2 from the melting dry ice overnight but for a few moments I was scared sh!tless. Opening the windows cleared out the CO2, which is totally odorless and tasteless.

If you are traveling in a car or SUV and have dry ice in your cooler be sure to crack a window open to air the vehicle out after sitting overnight. I never had a problem with dry ice in the truck because the cooler was in the bed and not in the passenger compartment.

If you drive or fly and transport the meat yourself. it is best if you can chill it to almost frozen. I have had meat shipped from TX to OR. It can be shipped over night if it is chilled, or you can find companies that ship it refrigerated.None are cheap. Also, I have found hotels that would let me put boxes or coolers in their walk in coolers. If you do that, be sure to open coolers while in the walk in over night. Also, some times you have to drive a bit to pick up meat to save a bit on time or fees. My experience includes 3 moose,part of a musk ox, 1 large cow eland, 1 scimitar oryx and 2 nilgai

Freeze it, put it in a good cooler with some dry ice and ship it UPS ground. I've done it 6 times with elk from WY to south Florida without a problem. This time of year is even better due to the cold temperatures.

How did you package the cooler(s) you sent by UPS ground? Inside a bigger box, duct tape, etc?

I duct taped it closed, but did not put it in a cardboard box. I think the box would be helpful. I have it shipped on a Monday so it gets to me without sitting in a warehouse over the weekend. Shipped from WY on Monday arrives S FL on Friday. Always try to fill the cooler as full as possible. Figure about 3/4-1 lb of meat per quart(cooler size}. UPS max, I believe, is 100lb. A 70qt. cooler, with meat and dry ice weighs about 80-85lbs. and cost about $1.00 per/lb for my route. UPS "Stores" charge a premium, so I set up an account and do the shipping labels myself. You can still drop them off at a UPS Store.

My cost for processing/packaging/freezing, cooler(s) purchase, and shipping for 2 elk was $3.25/lb total. I consider it a good, and tasty, investment.