bow luggage
General Topic
flying with my bow would like to carry bow with my clothes. used to have a badlands terraglide no longer have it and it seems like its no longer made. any brands you like?
SKB double bow case. It holds bow, arrows, quiver, safety harness, rain gear, hunting clothes, cold weather layers and a bit more.
Legend. Lots of storage. Works good for me.
Curious as to why they would stop making it (Badlands Terra Glide). I purchased one -10 years ago and wanted to buy a new black one. I never heard a bad thing about them, just wonder why they discontinued.
Cabelas XL Ripcord works fine for me. Wheeled and very large capacity.
Sitka Nomad looks good, but it is oversized. No problems or overcharges for it when flying?
Terra was technically oversize as well, when maxed out.
Nomad has exterior straps (normally in pockets on the bag) that can compress it down enough in depth to meet the linear (they need to call it "combined", linear technically refers to a straight line ...) measurement...... I did and measured it squashed down already, it passed. (64"? I forget)
If they are gonna pull that on me at the check in they'll just have to wait and deal with me "rearranging" the contents of my bags. At that point I'd have lost any and all good will towards the airline personnel anyway.....
Nomads aren't all that easy to find either. Could be demand for such things from companies that don't sell exclusively to traveling bowhunters has a hard time meeting production costs?
I recently bought a Legend Everest 40 that is very similar to the Sitka Nomad. It safely carried my bow and gear round trip without any damage. The Legend sell for about $250. It seems to be purposely built for airline travel with compound bows.
Sitka Nomad never garnered even a glance when loading onto the conveyor belt during check in. One airport had funky belt layout so had to toss it into the oversized area, but wasn't charged for it. As long as under 50 pounds it's designed to meet size requirements.
Update on my Legend 40. It works fine. However, the Southwest lady measured it and said it was 67” total (weighed 45#). This would cost me an additional $75 but she was going to let me go free this time.
Another guy followed a few minutes later and he had his bow in a hard case. He also was carrying a handgun in the case. This guaranteed that the case would be searched in front of him. Then he locked it up after inspection so TSA couldn’t inspect it again.
I’m thinking that these are the two best ways to travel. His stuff is safer from inspection. My Legend allows me to carry more gear but may be inspected without me present and also may incur extra airline fees.
SW is kind at $75... I think AK is about the same oversize...... American at last glance was $200 or more for oversize. Makes me feel "lucky" a couple years ago when they "only" charged me $150. And this is all one way, as they changed their policy mid-trip. Was not an issue flying out. "Oh, archery gear.... that's covered, thank you....."
$200 each way is $400 if my math is hanging in there with my shoes on..... if I recall the round trip ticket Maui to Phoenix was $650.
American can drink jet A-1 and die for all I care......
Just flew to Zim from CO and my Nomad had zero issues. Safari starts tomorrow!
just flew to and from BC with SKB double and no issues.
I did get a call from baggage transfer in Minneapolis saying the case was "red hot" and did I have anything in there that would be a problem. I was very worried that they has set it up against something that was hot on the first leg of the flight in cargo, but upon arrival home the case and both bows were fine. I do mark the case as archery equipment on the outside.
Woodguy65: They are doing an upgrade and it should be available shortly.
Just got back from a trip to Nunivak Island that took 3 different airlines (Delta, Alaska, and Raven) with 2 Sitka Nomads. No issues with oversized. I did get hit with over weight charges on the way home.
Hey thanks Charlie! I reached out to them as well, they said new design should be ready by beginning of 2019.
SKB double case. Take two bows and a little clothes or one bow and much more clothes.
I've been using a combination of SKB double and a Cabela's wheeled duffel. I took all of the padding out of the SKB and use a soft case that drops inside pretty well now. It will hold my bow and all of my clothes which allows me to just grab the soft case for the bush flight. In the wheeled duffel, same thing, soft case with my clothes loaded. The duffel also lets me get the bulky items like tents, sleeping bags and a soft sided cooler inside.
I've been looking at the Legends and they are very nice, but not sure if they are any upgrade from my SKB and soft case combo I have been using.
