Hunting out of state.

[raywa]

I'm going on my first out of state turkey hunting trip. I was wanting to know how other people got their turkeys home when flying. If I get a nice merriam I'm wanting to get it mounted.

[Fdept56]

Plenty of taxidermists in Chadron.

[GobbleNut]

My first suggestion is to take the time to learn to cape your turkeys for mounting.  It isn't difficult and it makes your conundrum about flying with a bird much, much simpler.  First thing first though, whatever you are planning on doing, you've got to keep the bird or cape as cold as possible (preferably frozen) from the time you kill it until your flight.  Not doing so may result in the cape spoiling,...in which case you are screwed. 

I have flown with caped birds both in my carry-on and in checked baggage.  Note: you will get some very strange looks from the folks at the airport when you run a carry-on with a turkey through the x-ray machine.   

If you just don't have the confidence to cape your bird for flying, the best thing to do is to freeze the entire bird (or otherwise keep it as cold as possible) and put it in your checked baggage or carry-on.  Obviously, you would have to have room for it in your existing baggage or have an additional bag with you to put your gobbler in.  For a whole bird, I would probably go the checked-baggage route in that the carcass will stay much colder that way (temps in the cargo hold at 35,000 ft. are pretty cold from what I hear...  )

[eggshell]

I usually check a 32 qt cooler with one of my bags stuffed in it. Then if I want to bring a bird home I wrap it in a cloth or towels put it in a plastic bag and add Ice (dry ice if you can get it). Airlines restrict how much dry ice you can use. I Also put a copy of my tags in a zip lock and put on top of the bird. Write all your contact info on the lid with premanent ink and tape it shut well. That means you'll have one extra bag to check coming home, but you've already spent a wad on the hunt, so what is a few dollars more. Like Gobblenut said it's best if you can cape it or at least freeze it whole, then you won't need ice.

[raywa]

Thanks for the information.

[bbcoach]

I've been to SD and KS via Air.  Here's what several of us did.  If you have several guys going, get together and buy 1 or 2 rolling coolers with handles from Wally World (rolling coolers get you through the airport easier).  Freeze everything solid and pack it securely inside the coolers.  Wrap feathers tightly bunched and add any meat for the return trip home.  Secure the lids with duct tape, split the cost and they should stay frozen on your return trip.  My Merriam from SD came home this way.