Airline travel with archery gear

[Oldforester]

Hey ya'll! Well I got drawn for a Kansas Public land deer hunt this fall and I've decided to fly and meet my buddy to save my self 19 hours of driving one way. I'm looking into how I'm going to pack my bow and I'm trying to get away with just one checked bag. I'm hoping to come up with a way I can put my bow into something along with all my clothes, arrows, release, saddle, 4 LW sticks, broadheads, etc. Then I can put everything else into my backpack and my carry on. Ie. rangefinder, binos etc. I've been on all sorts of different forums and I feel like my heads gonna explode with all the information overload! Some guys use hard cases (SKB or pelican mostly). Some guys just pack their bows and all their clothes in a big wheeled duffle bag like the big ones from Cabelas. One guy even said he uses a rolling motocross gear bag. I know I can get the aforementioned stuff into one of the SKB I series double bow cases but they're like $300! Sitka has a soft duffle (Sitka Nomad) designed for the traveling bowhunter but it's $399! The better half has already voiced her, shall we say, "displeasure" over the price of the tag/license ($550) and the plane ticket. So a $300-$400 bow case is not in the budget. Oh and did I mention I'm new to saddle hunting (mantis/predator isn't even here yet) so you all know how much I've spent on that already this year! Anyway, I've come to trust most of the stuff I've learned on this forum and I was just wondering if any of ya'll had any experience and insight into this. Thanks for your time!
Woody

 

[weekender21]

With that much gear you're gonna be well over 50 pounds and flirting with 70. With two bags it's easy. I have a double bow SKB case and can get a good amount of hunting gear (broadheads, allen wrenches, arrow spinner, etc.) in the bottom area. Then I place my bow with hunting clothes on top. I can usually get my bow case to 45-50 pounds pretty easy.

In my other check bag I have an arrow tube, boots, pack, and additional equipment. I fly with this set up 5-10 times a year.

I'm typically traveling with two 49-50 pound check bags and two carry-ons.

 

[Mammal]

I’m new and don’t normally have much to offer, here, but, in this CASE, I do have some experience. I travel via the airlines with my bow at least annually. Here are my thoughts:

1. Pay to play. Don’t risk your bow to save a few bucks. Those tag fees and travel costs will go to waste if you can’t hunt because the baggage monkey jacked up your gear. A good bow is pretty durable, but why risk it? A good case will pay for itself in the long run. That’s what I’ve told myself, anyway. I have an SKB double bow case, and, while I won’t recommend SKB at their price point, I will say that I’ve saved plenty on airline baggage fees over the years. I can usually fit a medium-sized bag’s worth of clothes and gear in it with a single bow and 8-10 arrows.

2. Be savvy. I picked up a Plano All-Weather from ****’s for $50 because it had a broken latch. I knew Plano would send me a replacement for free. Saved me about $100. BOLO for similar deals.

3. Lay down the law. Remember, you’re the man (I assume) in the relationship, and your lady needs to understand a few things. One of those things is that you need a good bow case, and you don’t need to explain yourself to anyone.

4. Repurpose and recover. When #3 goes terribly wrong, know that your new new bow case will protect several dozen roses or a few weeks worth of clothes.

Good luck on your hunt!

-Mammal

 

[Weldabeast]

I have never traveled with a bow so zero personal experience...... Would it maybe cheaper to contact an archery shop close to where your going and just mail your bow to them? At least you'd be a the right place if something were happen during shipping. 3-4 hundred just for a case sounds crazy.

 

[Oldforester]

Thanks guys for the responses. Mammal, I definitely think #3 would be a disaster! All joking aside, she actually hasn’t given me too hard of a time. We’ve just got daughter #2 starting college in the fall so things are gonna be a lot tighter. And I agree about trying to protect my stuff. I definitely don’t want to show up in Kansas and have to spend a couple days fixing my bow or worse yet tuning and trying to get used to a new bow. Kinda defeats the purpose of flying. Weekender I think you’re probably right about the weight. If I was flying Southwest I would definitely just split it up into 2 bags because they still allow 2 free checked bags. But I’m flying AA out there, Delta back and their checked bag fees are ridiculous. If I take the sticks out of the equation I think I can make the weight. But kinda have to have them soooo... I’m probably just gonna go with the SKB. My buddy told me just this morning he knows a guy who has the double SKB case and he’d let me dry run everything in it before I buy one. That’ll help me make a more informed decision at least. Unfortunately I can’t use his because he’s traveling to Illinois that same week. And Weldabeast I’m definitely going to check into shipping the bow, arrows and sticks. The guy I’m hunting with lives out there so I could just ship it to him. But that’s where that information overload I talked about comes in. Read some horror stories about shipping bows too, believe it or not. I’m really not trying to be a tight ass cause I know one has to pay to play so to speak. Just trying to go the most economical but practical way. Anyhow, thanks again for y’all’s help and I’ll be sure to let y’all know which way I go!
Woody

 

[Red Beard]

3. Lay down the law. Remember, you’re the man (I assume) in the relationship, and your lady needs to understand a few things. One of those things is that you need a good bow case, and you don’t need to explain yourself to anyone.

4. Repurpose and recover. When #3 goes terribly wrong, know that your new new bow case will protect several dozen roses or a few weeks worth of clothes.

Hilarious!

+1 on the SKB double bow case. Can't beat it.

 

[Pse]

I travel over from the uk ,I've always used a skb double case and just pack my hunting clothing around the bow for added protection. If it's something that you're going to be doing again I'd buy a decent case , luggage handlers aren't noted for finesse !

 

[weekender21]

I’ve had the SKB double bow since 2006. It’s flown thousands of miles. They just replaced the latches this year no questions asked.

I think this is it:

https://www.cabelas.com/product/SKB...1Snr_S5Y_f-0loL3GTyYbRoC12Dw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SILhunter]

A friend of mine hunted out west for antelope, he shipped his bow and all the clothes he could get in the case UPS the week before he went. If you have a friend out there you could ship it to his house and know its already there, if you can do without it that long?

 

[Oldforester]

Thanks weekender! Yeah SILhunter that’s one of the drawbacks to shipping. I really want to be shooting every day right up to the trip! But I’ll be muzzleloader hunting those same days here in Virginia so I won’t NEED it.

 

[Oldforester]

Thanks PSE!

 

[Oldforester]

First off thank you all for the reply’s! I have decided to go with the SKB double bow case and a rolling duffle. I found the SKB on Amazon for $234. Was able to get the case, a hard arrow holder and the TSA locks for $279 shipped. All that’s $20 cheaper than I’d previously seen just the case. LL Bean has their extra large rolling duffle on sale too for $167 and free shipping so I got one of those too. I’m just gonna bite the bullet and pay the extra bag fee. A little more than I wanted to spend but ,hey, we’re saddle hunters! We LOVE spending money on stuff! LOL! Thanks again Y’all
Woody

 

[Pse]

I think you've made a good choice. On a side note they seem a real good company to deal with , I lost my keys and emailed skb asking about buying replacements they sent me 2 keys free . I know it's only a few dollars worth but I was surprised how helpful they were