Anyone know of any issues concerning putting a raw bears skin and skull in checked baggage. This a domestic flight.

Thanks

BH63

I've brought skulls and antlers from Canada with no problems, declared them to customs people at point of entry and they handled it. Have to be very clean, though.

I brought a bear skin and skull back a couple years ago from Saskatchewan.

Your hunting license is your CITES permit.

I froze everything and put it in a cooler and taped the cooler shut with duct tape at the airport in case they wanted to look at it. In the US, I went through the Ag line at customs. MSP has lots of hunters, and they ran it through X-ray, but didn’t open it up.

You can find the relevant info on the Canadian government sites as well as the USCBP one.

The big issue is if it drips ANY blood, the airlines will throw it out immediately.

International, no idea on that. But domestic should be very simple. On checked baggage you would just want to make sure you are within the weight guidelines. I had to scramble to get mine under weight once and even though I made it out of King Salmon, the lady in Anchorage wouldn't budge. Had Knight's taxidermy ship it to me and it came out cheaper, in the end, doing it that way.

On both of my Alaska hunts, I brought back the meaty bloody bear skull in my carry-on. just wrapped it all up in a couple of large trash bags and that was it. TSA did pull me aside when they scanned my backpack going through security, I guess it was just too out of the ordinary to let me go without having me pull it out. The supervisor came over and said "all good" and that was it.

If possible I would recommend NOT freezing a skull. I learned the hard way when a few of my bear's teeth became very brittle.

Thanks.

BH63

About 4 years ago I brought back a frozen bear hide, skull and a back strap from British Columbia. Had no real problems. I never even had the bag physically searched when I declared it. Pretty sure it just went through the x-ray machine. The hide was frozen and placed in a black garbage bag and with the meat in a freezer bag. Then the items were packed in a Sea 2 Summit 65L bag, which was placed in a military duffle. Wife and I are heading out next week to hunt bears at Skinner Creek Hunts.

^
Thanks for the info and Good Luck!

I leave in a couple of days for Maine as well.

BH63

quote:

Originally posted by bobby7321:
International, no idea on that. But domestic should be very simple. On checked baggage you would just want to make sure you are within the weight guidelines. I had to scramble to get mine under weight once and even though I made it out of King Salmon, the lady in Anchorage wouldn't budge. Had Knight's taxidermy ship it to me and it came out cheaper, in the end, doing it that way.

On both of my Alaska hunts, I brought back the meaty bloody bear skull in my carry-on. just wrapped it all up in a couple of large trash bags and that was it. TSA did pull me aside when they scanned my backpack going through security, I guess it was just too out of the ordinary to let me go without having me pull it out. The supervisor came over and said "all good" and that was it.

If possible I would recommend NOT freezing a skull. I learned the hard way when a few of my bear's teeth became very brittle.

I was flagged in AK (Dillingham IIRC) with carry on frozen fish - they said airline will not allow anything on the plane that might melt, bleed, etc. as carry-on.

Not sure if you were lucky Bobby or I was unlucky, but i would check. I did carry back an cape and skull from Mongolia without issue back 99, but that was pre TSA.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:

quote:

Originally posted by bobby7321:
International, no idea on that. But domestic should be very simple. On checked baggage you would just want to make sure you are within the weight guidelines. I had to scramble to get mine under weight once and even though I made it out of King Salmon, the lady in Anchorage wouldn't budge. Had Knight's taxidermy ship it to me and it came out cheaper, in the end, doing it that way.

On both of my Alaska hunts, I brought back the meaty bloody bear skull in my carry-on. just wrapped it all up in a couple of large trash bags and that was it. TSA did pull me aside when they scanned my backpack going through security, I guess it was just too out of the ordinary to let me go without having me pull it out. The supervisor came over and said "all good" and that was it.

If possible I would recommend NOT freezing a skull. I learned the hard way when a few of my bear's teeth became very brittle.

I was flagged in AK (Dillingham IIRC) with carry on frozen fish - they said airline will not allow anything on the plane that might melt, bleed, etc. as carry-on.

Not sure if you were lucky Bobby or I was unlucky, but i would check. I did carry back an cape and skull from Mongolia without issue back 99, but that was pre TSA.

On what airline was that? If you fly Alaska Airlines they only require that you use their waxed boxes marked with the contents.

Flew back to San Diego from Canada with 2 skulls and skins without problem

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:

quote:

Originally posted by bobby7321:
International, no idea on that. But domestic should be very simple. On checked baggage you would just want to make sure you are within the weight guidelines. I had to scramble to get mine under weight once and even though I made it out of King Salmon, the lady in Anchorage wouldn't budge. Had Knight's taxidermy ship it to me and it came out cheaper, in the end, doing it that way.

On both of my Alaska hunts, I brought back the meaty bloody bear skull in my carry-on. just wrapped it all up in a couple of large trash bags and that was it. TSA did pull me aside when they scanned my backpack going through security, I guess it was just too out of the ordinary to let me go without having me pull it out. The supervisor came over and said "all good" and that was it.

If possible I would recommend NOT freezing a skull. I learned the hard way when a few of my bear's teeth became very brittle.

I was flagged in AK (Dillingham IIRC) with carry on frozen fish - they said airline will not allow anything on the plane that might melt, bleed, etc. as carry-on.

Not sure if you were lucky Bobby or I was unlucky, but i would check. I did carry back an cape and skull from Mongolia without issue back 99, but that was pre TSA.

On what airline was that? If you fly Alaska Airlines they only require that you use their waxed boxes marked with the contents.

True, but I was talking about carry on. They made me buy the waxed boxes and check the fish.

Brought back a duffel bag full of horse tails from the Yukon. No Problemo. They were destined to be turned into tail extensions for show horses. Thinking it depends on the air line, I'm sure this particular one gets deals with situations like that all the time.

Grizz

Just returned home from British Columbia. Hunted with AR member Doug at Skinner Creek Hunts. Brought back one bear hide and skull and had no problems. Customs just asked to see the paperwork in Vancouver.

Glad it worked out. No bear for me this year. We had a replacement guide and none of his hunters even saw a bear.

I will go somewhere different next time.

BH63

quote:

Originally posted by BuffHunter63:
Glad it worked out. No bear for me this year. We had a replacement guide and none of his hunters even saw a bear.

I will go somewhere different next time.

BH63

Sorry to hear. Only my wife connected, but we were into bears 5 out of 6 days. I’m going to try and have the report posted by the end of the week.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
I brought a bear skin and skull back a couple years ago from Saskatchewan.

Your hunting license is your CITES permit.

I froze everything and put it in a cooler and taped the cooler shut with duct tape at the airport in case they wanted to look at it. In the US, I went through the Ag line at customs. MSP has lots of hunters, and they ran it through X-ray, but didn’t open it up.

You can find the relevant info on the Canadian government sites as well as the USCBP one.

The big issue is if it drips ANY blood, the airlines will throw it out immediately.

a CITES permit is different than an hunting license. you need a CITES permit to export from Canada a black bear skull or any part. ...

my bad us citizen are exempt ...


I am an American hunting in Canada. Do I need a CITES permit to bring my black bear trophy back across the border to the united states (us)?

A Canadian CITES export permit is not required for a United States (U.S.) hunter to transport their black bear in a fresh, frozen or salted condition back to the U.S. at the conclusion of their hunt. The black bear must be part of the hunter's accompanying baggage and must only be hides, hides with attached paws and claws, the skull or meat. A Canadian CITES export permit would be required for the bear organs or bones.

Permits are required for taxidermy mounts or black bears that are in any condition other than fresh, frozen or salted. CITES export permits are still required for all black bear exports to countries other than the United States. In some countries, importation of black bears is restricted, so you should confirm with the other country whether they have requirements that must be met for this type of import.


https://www.canada.ca/en/envir...questions.html#_02_2