Transporting meat from Alaska?

[Guy Miner]

How tough is it to transport moose or caribou meat, from Alaska, to the lower 48? Particularly to Washington State?

When I get salmon, I'll bring home 50 - 100 pounds of frozen fillets. In good cardboard boxes. I can store them overnight at SEATAC airport, in their freezer, fairly inexpensively, then head home with them in the morning via plane or car, either way. No real problem.

How about with HUNDREDS of pounds of moose meat???

Or is most of that left in Alaska, donated to villages and such?

Canadians, same question, particularly re Northern British Columbia or the Yukon...

Thanks, Guy

 

[Thebear_78]

My buddy who guides usually ends up with the lions share of his clients meat. They take a few boxes of prime cuts and leave the rest. Flying it out in 50 pound boxes is probably best way to do it.

You may be able to stack several boxes on a pallet and get with a forwarding freight service to send down on the ship. Back haul is usually fairly cheap and the can run refer units off ship power. Check with, Carlisle, PAF, AFF, ALASKA EXPRESS, they might be able to stow a pallet in with some southbound fish, get it to Tacoma that way


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[wisconsinteacher]

I have never hunted there but last summer bringing fish home was easy. I would guess meat would be the same. Have it flash frozen then put it in meat boxes to be shipped/checked as baggage for the flight home. We had a 2 hour ride from the airport to WI so we had coolers in the truck waiting for us when we got to MSP airport. First thing we did when we got home was put the boxes in the freezer and went to bed.

 

[DrMike]

I don't know that shipping meat from Canada is difficult, but it does appear that many (perhaps even most) clients leave the meat to be distributed to native villages here in BC. I suspect that is a matter of convenience, however. I know of some who do elect to ship their meat back.

 

[lefty315]

Guy, road trip!!!

 

[Anonymous]

A small chest freezer in the bed of the truck or a trailer with a generator. Run the gen for a few hours a day to keep it frozen/cold...no issues.

Easy as pie. Washington State is a 2-3 day drive through some awesome territory and likely cheaper than shipping+ flying.

A lot of guided clients give the meat to locals...with DIY guys it's a little more unusual. You should really take the meat- some of the finest you'll eat.

 

[Guy Miner]

I've had moose and "reindeer" meat. LOVED it!

The "reindeer" was in Norway when I was over there as a USMC liaison officer with the Norwegians. They served up reindeer steaks for breakfast one morning and everybody looked at me like they were expecting the American to get all green in the face or something...

Nope! I smelled VENISON. Good venison. Cracked them up when I said it tasted like deer, only better!

We had some awesome conversations about hunting after that, but I couldn't afford to go back and hunt with them. Sadly.

Heck yeah, I could tow a little trailer behind my Jeep, with a generator and a freezer...

Guy

 

[DrMike]

Heck yeah, I could tow a little trailer behind my Jeep, with a generator and a freezer...

Guy

Seen that many times as people head back for the States with a freezer full of meat. I'm sure it works fine, Guy. Before 9-11, my wife used to travel with various cuts of meat for family in Kansas.

 

[Anonymous]

Heck yeah, I could tow a little trailer behind my Jeep, with a generator and a freezer...

Guy

Guy- you wouldn't even need a very big freezer...particularly if you knew a guy who lived at the end of the ALCAN who'd help you butcher and trim it up into neat little packages so they'd stack better.

 

[6mm Remington]

And you could pitch in with a guy locally down here in the states and buy a used chest freezer and split the gas both ways. :wink: Be a heck of a trip and a lot of fun. Then just sell the freezer when you got back home!

 

[Guy Miner]

hmmmmm

 

[IdahoCTD]

We took a chest freezer and a generator caribou hunting in Chicken, AK once. We shot a couple in the first few days and came out (30 miles one way on ATV's) to dump them in the freezer. We left the generator running until it ran out of gas and 3 days later the meat was still really cold. So we did the same thing before we drove home but we had 4 guys to help split the driving so we drove straight home. I think it was about 38 hours. I've made that drive 4 times and it seems to get longer every time.

 

[diverdown]

Back in 1999 I took a nice Maine Moose (825lbs on the hoof). I purchased a used chest freezer in Maine and along with the generator/trailer I had brought with me from Florida I had no problem during the 2 1/2 day trip home.

 

[muleman]

Hunt northern B.C. = half the drive. The moose will be a little smaller but a good one will still go 50". That's a little easier to fit in the house too . If you don't mind a little smaller rack the hunt price is about half what an Alaskan hunt is.

Scott

 

[Guy Miner]

Good call.

 

[DrMike]

Scott and Guy,

By the time you are past Fort Saint John (75 km north of me), you are hunting the same variety of moose that is found in Alaska and the Yukon. If you're looking for those sixty inch spreads, they are not that far north. To be sure, some fine hunting here in BC.

 

[6mm Remington]

Heck I think a big old Shiras moose would be plenty big. One of those brutes would just blow a guy away!!

 

[Oldtrader3]

Don't send it by rail. I did that from Anticosti Island once. They guaranteed 5 day refrigerated delivery and it took 6 weeks unrefrigerated. The meat was rotted.

 

[bbearhntr]

And you could pitch in with a guy locally down here in the states and buy a used chest freezer and split the gas both ways. :wink: Be a heck of a trip and a lot of fun. Then just sell the freezer when you got back home!

I have a freezer and a generator can I hitch a ride?
Sounds like an awesome time!

 

[salmonchaser]

Kinda depends where your coming from into anchorage. I've seen guys loading quarters on Northern air cargo out in king salmon. Back haul in Sept can be pretty cheap. I've also seen guys breaking down quarters and stuffing the meat into fish boxes to get them on NAC. Cut and wrap in anchorage can be had for a buck or so a pound. Frozen shipping home is going to cost 2.00 a pound on Alaska Air. I've never checked with the barge companies, they're still shipping frozen fish then, that could be a great idea.
What I hear self guided guys complaining about is the extra flight time. You can probably stuff a moose in a 206, maybe a 185, but nothing else. Either way it's 500 bucks an hour. With a beaver you can get the moose and maybe one of the hunters, still an extra trip. Some drop camp operators build this cost in, I think most guides do as well, but a guy better ask the question if your flying with an air taxi service. So getting your bull to Seattle from the Alaska peninsula.
One hour flight time. 500.00
NAC. Is in a good mood, .30 lb back haul x 1,000. $300 (king salmon to Anchorage)
Cut and wrap 1/lb. $1,000.00
AIR freight 2/lb $2,000.00
Guess a guy wants to shoot a little one