Mossy,

That totally sucks about your rifle being tampered with. I would never have gone for that bs.

As for bringing meat back home. What I do is I pack a flexible/collapsable cooler. They cost about $20 and have a plastic liner to prevent leaking. I freeze the meat solid so that it acts as it's own ice. I pack the cooler and bring it back as a carry on. I once brought a cooler that had over 70 lbs of meat in it. The trick is to muster your strength when you pass the ticket counter so they don't clue into the fact that you have an extremely heavy bag as a carry on. I have done this many times, usually twice a year.

Good Luck

Tom