The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting American Big Game Hunting Meat from Alaska - is it doable?Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Meat from Alaska - is it doable? | Login/Join |
| one of us |
A friend and I are looking into moose hunting in Alaska - a drop hunt, and the idea is getting pushed up due to potential state legislation that would require all moose hunting to be guided. To beat that potential unfortunate event, we would have to go this fall. There are still some possibilities out on the Kenai pennisula somewhere, but that has forced us to start investigating the means of transporting 1-2 moose worth of boned meat back to the lower 48. Surprisingly, I'm told this just isn't done. 'Give the meat to locals and walk home with your bones,' is the official answer from folks like the Cabela's outfitter brokers. That is not a terribly pleasant answer, so I'm wondering if there are any other alternatives at a reasonable cost. I don't hunt to feed other people. I hunt for me, and I darn well intend to dine on what I kill - if anything more than time itself.
Brent | ||
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| <Juneau> |
How do you plan on getting from your home to Alaska and back? Are you driving or flying? | ||
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| one of us |
quote: Sorry about that - flying. If I was driving, I think I could pull it off. But flying is another issue. We've been told the only option is as extra checked baggage and that's just not doable in any reasonable sense. Brent | |||
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| one of us |
Is there any reason you can't ship it overnight like they do salmon?? | |||
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| one of us |
A question for you. How are you getting into the interior? If you are flown in you may have serious problems packing out all the meat in one trip. If you get a decent moose you are looking at 250+ pounds of boned out meat. Double that if you and friend each get one. Yes, I realize the problem with flying and yes we would fly in. Of course, my buddy will not manage to kill a moose, I'll do all the shooting, and of course, he would tell you just the opposite. But whether we get one or two or even none, we best be prepared for the most we can handle. Then it becomes out problem. Right now, we are not even close to prepared for dealing with meat coming out of Anchorage. I assume we work with the outfitters to get meat out of the woods. That is required by law as I understand it. Not that it matters. If we kill it we pack it one way or the other. The fact that there is such a casual disregard to dealing with meat all the way to the dinner table when discussing Alaska hunting bothers me a bunch. Obviously, this isn't such an issue for Alaskans most of the time I suppose, but for me, it's an issue. Brent | |||
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| <500 AHR> |
Brent, Make sure your outfitter isn't considering the meat as part of the deal. Assuming that there are no issues getting the meat back to Anchorage, I would recommend you find a way to freeze it prior to packaging for shipment. As far as shipping it home, I have used FedEx in the past to overnight it home. You could contact them to see if they have the appropriate shipping containers and such. I haven't done it myself in a long time so things may have changed, as far as, what FedEx provides for containers. The last meat; however, was last year after killing bison and I used FedEx. The fee was approximately $1 per pound. I would bet that it is more like $2 to $3 per pound air shipped from Alaska. Anyway, contact FedEx and see what they say. Todd E | ||
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one of us |
I thought you're not supposed to do meat......   | |||
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| one of us |
Brent do you need an address to send the moose meat? you can send it to my address.... | |||
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| one of us |
Also check out UPS they have 3or 4 flights a night out of anchorage. Air freight for perishables isnt as bad as you would think. Usually it is a flat rate upot 50 lbs then increases every 50 lb increment from there. There are cargo freezers at the airport. Best thing if you have a day or so is to get it processed there before shipping unless you want to cut and wrap it all yourself. We have done this a couple of times. The law is that you do have to salvage the meat first then the hide and antlers. Like Todd said make sure of the details of bringing everything out of the bush with your outfitter. Oh yeah check out the Great Alaska Bush Club while in anchorage. Cant imagine what just triggered that bit of my mind! Had to fix some of my lousy typing. ------------------ Happiness is a warm gun [This message has been edited by Mike Smith (edited 04-09-2002).] | |||
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| one of us |
Another option for part of the meat is to take it as checked baggage. Mail all the stuff you bring to Alaska back home to yourself. ------------------ | |||
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| one of us |
Brent, Would you be so kind as to comment on what you've found about the Alaska/non-resident/guide requirement? I haven't really been concentrating on that issue and would like any sort of update you could provide. Thanks, Reed | |||
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| one of us |
quote:
Brent ------------------ | |||
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one of us |
I think your area does not Allow boning in the field.I don't like to bone as the meat is easier to handle.Otherwise you are handling big globs. Not to be condescending but my meat handling goes like this: 1 Keep it cool 2 keep it dry 3 Keep it clean Then back at town I'll bone the meat and pack in rubbermaids.69 lbs each box. Have the meat froze solid in Anc. Send all gear (except rifle) home UPS Bring the meat as baggage. That works for me. Jeff ------------------ | |||
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| <Pygmy> |
I've always brought meat back as checked baggage and never had a problem.... My last trip we mailed our gear back parcel post , which was cheaper than paying the extra baggage fees for it and also saved the effort of hauling it around the airport.. I can't imagine anyone saying it just isn't DONE...... | ||
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| one of us |
There was legislation going through our legislature this year to require all non-resident moose hunters to have a guide, it never made it out of committee. There was a regulation put in last year by the Board of Game to have a draw system for Units 19A/19B. 225 permits for 19B and 50 permits for 19A. That was dropped this spring when the Board adopted another option, no non-residents may hunt within 2 miles of certain rivers. Haven't seen the whole text of what was done, and don't know when it goes into affect. New regulation book won't be out until June sometime. ------------------ | |||
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| one of us |
Thanks Allen Brent | |||
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| one of us |
My recomendation is give the meat away to any local thats wants it. I did a moose hunt with a friend a couple of years ago and we both shot bulls. Our contract with the guide since it was a drop hunt was he would be responsible to bring the meat and racks out of the bush to his fly in town which was Aniak. We killed the two moose on a thursday and was picked up 2 days later. We had a total of roughly 1300 lbs of meat. We gave one moose away to the local person and the second went out of Aniak 4 days later via Northern Air Cargo to Anchorage along with our antlers. The meat was picked up from Anchorage airport on the Wednesday (6 days after it was shot) and brought to a local processor who initially tried to refuse the meat due to its condition. I live in Illinois and there was no way in hell that the meat could have arrived here in an edible condition. First of all bull moose have a very strong smell in the fall, it comes from repeated baths in urine wallows, and believe me you can smell them a 100 yards away when they are alive, imagine the odor several days dead.. Now, the odds are it will be raining and or snowing when you kill them so it is inevitable that no matter how careful you are the urine smell will get on the meat since these animals are so large you have to cut them into small peaces so you can pack out the meat to where the plane can pick it up. Now we got lucky since both moose were killed in their tracks roughly 1/2 mile from the water. Now catch 21, Alaska has a wanton waste of meat violation which is a $5,000.00 fine if I recall. Which means if the meat stinks so bad either from spoilage or other odors that no one wants it you are responsible for taking it home or face the fine. To take the meat home to Illinois, it would be $70 per 70 lbs for each of two flights, or roughly $2.00 per pound from Alaska to Illinois. 600 lbs of moose meat will cost you roughly $1200, and no guarantte it will be edible. Unless you are willing to wait around for several days to have the meat froze you would be forced to pay someone to do that for you which would add to the cost. Now in our case, the plane we flew from Aniak to Anchorage was full so no meat or antlers came with us. IT went out on the next scheduled air cargo plane which picked up on the following tuesday. Since the other fellow had stuff to do in Alaska he waited around until the following Wednesday when the meat arrived in Achorage, I went home the day after we got back from the hunt. These things you have to plan for, the scheduled flights to the bush towns are fairly booked up especially in the fall so your bags aren't even guaranteed. When we left Aniak my partner and I had 4 checked bags and one gun case, my 2 bags showed up in Anchorage with me(I took my rifle apart and put it into one of the my 2 bags), my buddy didn't see one of his bags or his gun case until 2 days latter. As far as deboning, be careful not all areas in Alaska permit deboning in the field, some require for the meat to be on the bone. Also your guide is required to certify that the proper amount of meat was taken from the bush and you are subject to inspection in the bush since the guides don't want problems they will advise the wardens were you are, They can and will inspect carcases to insure that all edible meat was removed especially the neck rib and brisket areas, we did not get checked only because their was an airplane crash with casuality while we were hunting and the wardens were preoccupied with that. I don't know how someone came up with a figure of 250 pounds for an adult mosse but that is almost the weight of one hind quarter, the antlers can weight in excess of 60 pounds alone. Also, Alaska air would not take antlers on their planes in 2000. like I said ask questions now and until the day you come home, surprizes are not fun. [This message has been edited by raamw (edited 04-11-2002).] | |||
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