I'll say one thing, you have to realize the issue with time. This stuff takes a lot of time so if you plan on bringing back your trophy/meat, it can chop an entire day off of the end of your hunt if you haven't filled your tag because you have to stop hunting before you otherwise would due to not having time to get the meat out of the woods and ready in time before your flight.
Time doesn't matter if you fill early, but when you fill on the last day like I did, the shit is hitting the fan as far as time/flights/logistics. Getting on a plane with unfrozen meat is a problem because it leaks. Antlers need to be properly protected - you can't just show up to the airport with a dead elk head, obviously.
Best to drop everything off and have it shipped, IMO, unless you're driving.
Also, you're not going to end up with 400 lbs of meat. I got 220 lbs off of my 2-3 year old Roosevelt, which is similar in quantity to the three 4-5 year old Rocky Mountain elk I've killed. They're bigger, but they're not that much bigger and 6+ year old (mature) Roosevelts are extremely rare in Oregon.
That's two solid long days of driving each way and flying is one day each way. Those extra two days are enough for the logistics and you don't have to spend 4 days driving, which sucks.
Just have a plan for where you're dropping off your meat and trophy if you kill an animal beforehand. Lots of meat cutters and taxidermists are used to shipping. There's also the option of flying back to OR to pick up your meat/antlers once they're both ready and then driving back home and that can be done in a long weekend.
The advantage of doing that is that hunting is not a sure thing and if you don't kill something, you'll be glad you flew instead of driving your empty vehicle back.
Also, western OR has very steep hills that are very conducive to the gleeful activity of getting air under all 4 tires of the vehicle that you're driving and it's better to do that with a rental car than your own truck. I found multiple spots on my trip.
I guess you could also take some of the meat home as additional baggage if you fly. But I know you’ll be pay a good deal there with 5-6-7 bags.
Me? I would choose to drive it, in a heartbeat. Nothing causes me more stress than being stuck in an airport with 5000 other people I don't know. Plus, if the weather is good it's an easy drive.
No GPS needed. Take I-80 all the way across til you hit US 30 at Little America in Wyoming, take US 30 towards Cokeville, then stop at the Ranch Hand in Montpelier for an awesome breakfast. Hit I-15N at McCammon and run to Pocatello, then I-86 west to until it becomes I-84, and follow that all the way to Portland. It's two good days of driving, but you'll see some beautiful country on the way.
Get the meat into a freezer for a day before you head back, then pack with plenty of ice and it'll stay frozen all the way home.
But then, that's just me. I hate flying and hate airports even worse.
If you factor in gas, hotels, meals for the days driving and hopefully no other issues with your car you may break even with the costs of shipping meat and antlers home.
You can always donate some of meat if you want too.
You can also donate some meat - IMO giving someone who really needs it is much better than paying the premium to ship a 3rd bag home that is overweight. I feel it is greedy to bring it all home if you are not going to use it all. Look up FHFH
When I flew back from Alaska with my caribou the cheapest option was to freeze the meat and put it in waxed boxes and bring on as extra luggage. Get as close to 100 pounds per box as you can. My meat was still frozen after flying from Fairbanks to Philly and driving home 3 hrs. It took well into the following day before I could begin to seperate the meat to get it cut up.
Just do a search for “Bowsite getting meat home” on Google and you’ll find this topic talked about 1000 times.
Figure you have two bags of gear - a duffle, a bow/rifle case and a carry on going there. Then you need at least 3 more bags of meat, cape etc. going home.
If you have a good business account, it only costs a few hundred dollars to ship the meat on 2 day.
You can have your hotel freeze the meat for you if needed. I’ve done it. Ask them. You can even freeze the cape and put it in your carry on. It’s about 50lbs which is their limit. Pack the cape in a garbage bag and freeze it.
I’ve seen these threads come up a lot and no one seems to have tried it this way. There has to be other guys that have done this….
I’ve driven from CT to MT and back - it sucks. And it takes 3-4 days off your hunt. Fly and ship the meat.
Since they are now charging exponentially more for each bag, consider just bringing home 2 50# boxes of meat and donating the rest.
That said, lately, I'm inclined to drive if at all possible. I've driven from New Mexico to Manitoba twice in 2 years. I drove to Michigan for the Comptons event last year. Flying just sucks now days. If you have the time, drive.
