Splitting the skull, or cutting one horn off, would've made my shipping cheaper too, I'm sure. I didn't want my antlers to be detached! Did you have a way to freeze your meat before the flight? I'd be concerned about flyig with fresh thawed meat!! And also, depending on how far a guy has to ship anything will have a bearing on the cost to do so!
Actaully, when my antlers arrived here, just a couple of weeks ago, I about dirtyed my shorts when the Yellow Freight driver handed me a bill for $1052!! I had to do some calling, but it was corrected. There was a typo that had mis-classified my frieght!!
We brought home fresh frozen fish as check-in backage from our trip. Our luggage was capped at 50#'s, or pay extra! Each airline is a little different on those things!
One other thing, we caped my moose and sold the cape to a taxidermist in Anchorage. That was an easy $200!