In Sept 2004 I flew from ID to NH after a successfull bowhunt for elk. Here's how I did it:

- pack as much clothes in your bow case as possible. I have a double SKB bow case and can put almost all my clothes in that. Then used a carry on for the rest, for the carry on I used my hunting backpack. That leaves you 1 checked backage slot for the ride home for free.

- Butcher/freeze in 50 lb boxes. When I did this it ended up being 4 50lb boxes of frozed, well almost, meat. and 1 smaller box with about 25 lbs of meat. I left some with the outfitter which left me with about 10 pounds to put into my carry on, wrapped in a sweat shirt, it made it through fine.

- Now my "50" lb boxes were slightly over, so I did some reorganization at the check in counter (no line so the agent actually helped me). I got it down to having 2 boxes that were overweight and 1 weight ok, plus my two checked for free (bow case and 1 box of meat). It was $80/box for extra and another $50 on top of that for the overweight ones. So the 3 "extra" ran me $310. On the way to the airport I stopped at a FedEx and boxed up the rack (no cape or skull, just the split rack) and alot of clothes/boots and shipped that for same week delivery, I think that was around $90.

- One hunter in camp took his frozed meat, cape and rack and overnighted it from ID to MA, cost him almost $900, but in his mind the peace of mind knowing it was home and in the freezer was worth it.

I am going again in 2007 and will probably not try and stay under the 50 lb limit and go with 2-3 coolers that will run around 90lbs, they give you up to 100 lbs. Hopefully that will be 2 "extra" at $130/box and the left over as "free" check in. So for $260.

You can also ship home the bow and clothes, ups, fed ex, usmail etc. to free up some space on the plane.

You can also look into shipping it as cargo. There was one guy in camp who goes around the US and Canada hunting and got his Cargo shipping license for this exact reason. Not sure on the costs/availability, but might be worth looking at, it would probably go on a different plane and you would have to pick it up in a different part of the airport, but worth a call.

Also, ask the outfitter (if you are using one).

Driving is a good option, but adds about 1 week to the trip, so vacation time might be an issue.

--Bob