I have just booked a moose hunt out of Deer Lake, Newfoundland. Since I live in Houston, it looks like Air Canada is the only game in town to get to Deer Lake.

The good news is that I can get there with United frequent flyer miles. The bad news is baggage charges for travels with guns. From reading the AC baggage regs, it looks like a $50 charge for each segment each way (two stops) for $300 total.

Antlers and meat are even worse. I hear that refrigerated truck is the way to ship meat - I guess the antlers (plan for the best) will have to travel with the meat. I hope to DHL a bag of clothes home and at least bring the backstraps and tenderloins back on the plane.

Anyone have any experience to share or suggestions?

Have you looked at Westjet. They have service to Deer Lake from May 10 to Oct 31 out of Calgary. Houston to Calgary is serviced by almost all the US airlines with mutiple daily flights. Westjet is a much more hunter friendly, cheaper and Westjet offers a better traveling experience. I personally avoid Air Canada at all costs.

I flew into Deer Lake from Baltimore last October on Air Canada. I was not charged the $50 fee for either leg of the inbound flight. When leaving Deer Lake on the return I was charged one $50 fee that covered both legs of the return flight. It might be worth a call or email to AC for more detail.

Deer Lake is a very small place and my outfitter said that mail is very slow. Shipping gear might take quite a while to arrive.

I can't help with meat shipment since caribou were in rut and the venison was inedible. I was told that the local processor would freeze and ship but price was not discussed.

Westjet only. Houston- Calgary. Calgary-Deer Lake. Trust me, it will be worth the few extra miles. West jet actually gives a hoot about customer service. air canada is a bloated institution run by liberal leftovers from the trudeau times.
On the flip side Newfoundland is a great place, set your watch to neutral. Mark

I definately agree with these guys on west jet. If you have an airline company that you like that flys to Toronto you can also fly there and hop on West Jet, which if time and flyer miles are of a concern will save you a bit. Enjoy yourself in nfld, I was there last fall for Targa and it was amazing how friendly everyone that I talked to was, also if you can make sure to get screeched in.

Thanks for all the help. Westjet is a new one for me and I will check it out.

I was there a few years ago and all of the meat, antlers, etc. were all shipped by refrigerated semi to the CLOSEST cold storage facility near you.
All of our meat was inedible since the caribou were in rut, but all of the antlers and capes were shipped this way.
Took a couple months if i remember right. Sounded like they wait until there is enough cargo for a container and then ship it out.
Might depend on the outfitter, but this is the way ours went.
If you're in Houston, i don't think it would be an issue. I know some guys that went that wound up drving 6-8 hrs. one way to go get there meat.