transporting meat from a hunting trip?

so I am heading to Texas in a few weeks for a family vacation and I am getting the opportunity to go on a pig hunting trip for a day!! what is the easiest way to get meat back to Minnesota? we will be flying down but my parents have a car down there and will be driving home in 6 weeks ( so they could transport some). any help on packaging methods, shipping methods etc would be a big help!!

thanks guys and gals!!!

Frozen in a good cooler. Have fun

lol……thanks big g!

Cooler and dry ice. Depending on the situation, I like to get a chest freezer, freeze all the meat in it and throw in the back of the truck.

The killer in transportation is time. If they drive straight through, frozen meat in a quality cooler is no problem. If they drive part way, get a hotel room,…. that’s twice the time. I’ve packed unfrozen meat (wrapped for the freezer) between dry ice and drove the 18-20 hrs from CO or WY to WI and had the meat mostly frozen by the time I got back. The years I was able to freeze it prior to leaving, I never packed with dry ice – just packed in coolers and drove. I have never lost any meat to spoiling. However, if I were to stay over along the way, plenty of dry ice would be packed in layers – Ice – meat – ice- meat…

ya im thinking that bringing it back in the car will be the way to go rather than deal with the plane etc….. maybe this will push me over the edge and get a “nice” cooler now, and should be a easier sell to the wife!!

My boss was just down there Hogging…. you have a silencer on your weapon ?

no… still not sure what I will be using. I would love to go with bow or large cal, revolver but even if its rifle im still so excited!!! its my forst hog hunt so . I will be intouch of the ranch owner this week to get details of what he wants me to bring so….. we will see

I would think that while flying down, the best thing to do would be to take a large, marine-grade cooler as a checked bag and throw all your other gear inside it, with the obvious exception of your weapon if you’re taking one.

Coming back, I’d think the way to go would be as mentioned, freeze the meat, get dry ice, and tell the driver not to lollygag on the way home.

I would be very interested in hearing where you went, outfitter used, etc. Good luck!

Grouse

thanks man, I will get all the info I can. im pretty sure its a private ranch. I know its an hour north of Austin, and as far as I know its a friend of my uncle who lives down there. but when I return I will get back on here and update the thread.. by the way that’s not a bad idea to get a cooler down there either !!!