Flying vs. driving to Hunt out West from the East any experiences appreciated

I drive 90% of the time.I usually go with one other person and we switch drivers every 4 hours for fill up/bathroom break.Just way more comfortable to drive and have more then u need at camp
When I've flown,I've never had any problems with my rifles.And bringing meat and antlers is easy as well.It is VERY expensive to fly all gear and then meat back home

my thoughts:

if the draw back to the drive is eating up vacation time:
con one more friend into joining the trip, 2 of you drive out the other 2 fly out, the 2 that drove out fly home the 2 that flew out drive home. then you can pack whatever you want and not worry about it.

tim629 said:

my thoughts:

if the draw back to the drive is eating up vacation time:
con one more friend into joining the trip, 2 of you drive out the other 2 fly out, the 2 that drove out fly home the 2 that flew out drive home. then you can pack whatever you want and not worry about it.

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I would say you might even draw straws... one guy drives out with all the gear the other guys fly and pay for his gas and let him shoot the first elk.

I like driving and seeing the country, and consider that a big part of the experience. Used to drive straight thru, but won't do that anymore. We always drive during daylight and as my buddy says, find a bar with a motel in it to overnight at.
Also like the ability to haul plenty of gear and bring home large coolers of meat, antlers, etc.

Festus said:

Another note...Once you go elk, whitetails won't be near as important and you will make time for the drive every year. Fact.

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I agree I still go here in Missouri but it's not what it once was. One aspect of driving as a history lover is all the historical markers you see and not to mention the different country you can see along with the animals that inhabit it. Can't get that from a plane. I always drive also kinda like to repay my dad for all the years of hauling me around. We went to Idaho last year 27 hours in 3 days for his sake. Eastern Wyoming is 16 hours no problem in a day. Good luck and have fun planning is half of the adventure.

I just booked flights for my AZ elk hunt, doing so for 2 guys was cheaper than the fuel alone to drive 26 hours and it means I can be gone for 7 days and spend 6.5 of them scouting or hunting. I can work until 3 pm and be in the hunting unit by midnight the same day 1600 miles away.

Luckily I can be at multiple major airports via Uber, train or getting dropped off in less than an hour and fly direct to a lot of destinations and to nearly anywhere in the lower 48 in 2 flights. This very much wasn't the case when I lived in Missouri and you were driving 2 hours to get to a mid sized airport that wasn't really a hub and often had limited direct service to all but a few destinations. Time is also very valuable to me as I only get 10 days of vacation a year, but I can manage they extra few hundred dollars to fly on a trip that likely ends up costing me a few thousand dollars.

Where you are going really matters. There aren't a lot of good ways to fly into Eastern Wyoming, Eastern Montana or Western Colorado where a lot of hunts on this forum take place. Once you start talking about the front range of Colorado, SW Wyoming (via SLC) or most of AZ flying starts to make a lot of sense because you have big airports within a few hours drive with many flights a day. The break even point on flying versus driving is going to be 6-8 hours driving per flight once you start scheduling 2 hour minimum layovers.

As mentioned its harder to fly with a muzzleloader than rifle or bow because you are buying components once you land. You basically need to ship site to store to a major outdoor retail change to guarantee you get what you are shooting in stock and you have to land with time to get there during business hours.

Its also worth noting that Denver, which is probably the most common hunting destination airport in the lower 48, has the highest rental car rates and fee's I have seen anywhere.

The sites along the way aren't of much use once you have driven the I-70,I-80 and I-90 corridors east to west half a dozen times each.

Cutting time off trips here and there consistently nets me one more out of state annually than I would get if I took my time. I look at all my trips because one is robbing time from another one. The end result of this is that over that past few seasons I am getting to hunt 5 states on 10 vacation days with at least 3 out west trips.

I drive every time, to me, its part of the whole experience. I enjoy seeing all of the things along the way. Either way, have fun planning the trip and good luck.

After having terrible experiences flying : Lost rifle twice, lost clothing bag , stolen elk and deer meat (empty coolers arrived at my home destination, someone's kid power puking down my pant leg, bald tires on rental rigs - therefore heart burn and arguments with rental car staff, watched my elk meat get dumped from a cooler onto the ground, clothing and rifle lost another time. My advise : DRIVE if you can !!!

I've never flown; have always been leary. What has it cost you guys to fly elk antlers and meat back home?

I drive unless it is to Alaska. I absolutely despise airlines and the TSA. Also, anytime I've flown it kills an entire day of the vacation each way, sometimes more.

I enjoy driving out West and it takes somewhere between 18-22 hours depending on where I go. I have found that if I go to bed about 8 pm and get up at 1:45 am to be on the road by 2 am it puts us in the last big town before the area we hunt at about 6 pm Mountain time. We switch out drivers every tank of gas for the most part but my Dad doesn't drive at night anymore so I handle that. The last trip we actually stayed in a hotel for a night once we arrived in Wyoming and then bought food and set camp the next day. We also stopped on the way back. If I go with my buddy we drive like maniacs all day and sleep in the truck. I talked to someone thats uncle used to do it this way and had to stop because he sat too long and threw a blood clot and ended up in the hospital for his trip. I try and get out every couple hours and walk around do jumping jacks to keep the blood moving. If you have friends to help driving is much easier and less hassle.

I prefer to fly. For​ me it adds a couple days hunt time instead of windshield time. Cuts down on the gear I would try to bring. The biggest hassle is getting gear and coolers from the baggage claim back to the vehicle on the return trip, but beats the hell out of driving across Kansas twice in two weeks. Doing it this way makes me less reliant on having someone to drive with and split gas with also.

I've not hunted "out west" but I'm usually a driving kind of guy within reason. If I can drive there within 2 days, I'm almost always driving. I live in PA and I have taken multiple 20hr +/- driving trips in the past several years. In fact I just returned home tonight after driving 17+hrs from Florida. I cannot imagine trying to fly with all my gear and my vehicle gets roughly 28mpg highway so my costs are reasonable.

Splitting gas money/ time behind the wheel with 1 or 2+ other guys makes driving work for me. That being said I'm not usually on a tight schedule when I take trips so it doesn't bother me to "waste" 1-2 days in transit. In my experience driving is almost always cheaper for me and I tend to side with cheap. I don't get fussy about wear and tear on my vehicles, IMO I bought them to be driven.

It all depends on what your priorities are. If money spent is less of a concern and time is a major concern then I would consider flying. If I have the vacation time(which I do), and I can save some money by driving, then I will usually drive.

Elk hunting we always drive because it is cheaper than shipping meat, and antlers back. Now with deer, and antelope we fly. We can fly, rent a truck, ship our gear (less guns or bows) and put the meat, capes, and antlers in carry on and checked baggage for less than driving. I prefer to fly but can't justify the cost with really big game.

Flatland Crusoe said:

I just booked flights for my AZ elk hunt, doing so for 2 guys was cheaper than the fuel alone to drive 26 hours and it means I can be gone for 7 days and spend 6.5 of them scouting or hunting. I can work until 3 pm and be in the hunting unit by midnight the same day 1600 miles away.

Luckily I can be at multiple major airports via Uber, train or getting dropped off in less than an hour and fly direct to a lot of destinations and to nearly anywhere in the lower 48 in 2 flights. This very much wasn't the case when I lived in Missouri and you were driving 2 hours to get to a mid sized airport that wasn't really a hub and often had limited direct service to all but a few destinations. Time is also very valuable to me as I only get 10 days of vacation a year, but I can manage they extra few hundred dollars to fly on a trip that likely ends up costing me a few thousand dollars.

Where you are going really matters. There aren't a lot of good ways to fly into Eastern Wyoming, Eastern Montana or Western Colorado where a lot of hunts on this forum take place. Once you start talking about the front range of Colorado, SW Wyoming (via SLC) or most of AZ flying starts to make a lot of sense because you have big airports within a few hours drive with many flights a day. The break even point on flying versus driving is going to be 6-8 hours driving per flight once you start scheduling 2 hour minimum layovers.

As mentioned its harder to fly with a muzzleloader than rifle or bow because you are buying components once you land. You basically need to ship site to store to a major outdoor retail change to guarantee you get what you are shooting in stock and you have to land with time to get there during business hours.

Its also worth noting that Denver, which is probably the most common hunting destination airport in the lower 48, has the highest rental car rates and fee's I have seen anywhere.

The sites along the way aren't of much use once you have driven the I-70,I-80 and I-90 corridors east to west half a dozen times each.

Cutting time off trips here and there consistently nets me one more out of state annually than I would get if I took my time. I look at all my trips because one is robbing time from another one. The end result of this is that over that past few seasons I am getting to hunt 5 states on 10 vacation days with at least 3 out west trips.

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Do you mind expanding on that last part? That is a lot of western trips and hunting on 10 vacation days. I think I'm doing it wrong.

Steiny said:

I like driving and seeing the country, and consider that a big part of the experience. Used to drive straight thru, but won't do that anymore. We always drive during daylight and as my buddy says, find a bar with a motel in it to overnight at.
Also like the ability to haul plenty of gear and bring home large coolers of meat, antlers, etc.

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^^^agreed, the drive is all apart of the hunt

I'll never forget my first trip out west, antelope in Nebraska, I was 12. My dad played the same shania twain CD on repeat. We were in NE i believe and it was all brown and rolling prairie, I've never seen it before in my life and then I remember looking out and seeing a graveyard. In that graveyard was one patch of grass was bright green and there was an old man out there with a watering can and his truck. He must go there every day and water that plot, 17yrs later and that image is clear as day in my brain.

LWC55 said:

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Do you mind expanding on that last part? That is a lot of western trips and hunting on 10 vacation days. I think I'm doing it wrong.

Click to expand...

2016 hunts

(5 vacation days)Colorado MZ Elk- Full week trip (5) from IL to Colorado driving solo. Left Friday after work, drove 6 hours to Missouri, Teal hunted Saturday morning with my dad then drove straight though to south central CO. Hunted Sunday-Friday Drove back Saturday to MO, teal hunted Sunday morning. 2 states.


(0 Vacation days) NW Nebraska deer with 1 partner. Left work at 3 pm friday drove straight thru to the trailhead at 4 am local. Shot my buck Saturday and drove home Sunday. I had 1-2 days to burn on this hunt but rolled them over

(2 days Vacation) SD ducks- Waited all season for a weather front for my 3 day permit to be worth the drive. Left work Wednesday After work, drove to Des Moines solo, drove to SD Thursday morning and scout/hunted half a day. Woke up to a blizzard Friday, didn't get out to hunt until midday but shot my limit of ducks by 3 pm and started driving home for a wedding in Chicago on Saturday.


Roll in some local hunts and that's 5 states in 7 vacation days.

2015

1) 0 vacation days- NE archery turkeys, drove out solo and hunted a 3 day weekend over Easter
2) 0 vacation day- NE shotgun turkey, drove from IL to NE on Friday night, hunted Saturday Sunday and got home very late Sunday night
3) (5 days vacation) Ontario Fishing for a week
4) (3 days vacation) Wyoming antelope- Left Tuesday after work, with 2 partners drove straight thru to WY, Scouted Wednesday, Hunted Thursday and Friday morning and was home Saturday morning at 5 am
5) (1 day vacation) NW NE deer- flew from Midway to Omaha after work on Friday, then drove thru the night to meet my hunting partner. Hunted Saturday and Sunday. Was successful Sunday afternoon and drove home Monday

*Also weekend hunts in IL, MO and WI. 9 days vacation, 5 states and a Canadian province.

For the last few years I have averaged 100-120 hours of driving to hunt during the fall and usually make it out about 20 days. I never let a trip slip by because I can't get someone to go with me. Half the time I'm hunting out of my Subaru, not even a truck. Its just a conscious decision to not let a day go by wasted especially knowing in a few years I'll have kids to take care of. I live in downtown Chicago, so the act of going on even a day trip hunting easily requires a few hours of driving, so why not roll a few days together and make it worth while. By not taking my time I usually manage enough time for another trip. As soon as we fill tags we head back east ASAP.

That is awesome FC. You are definitely getting the most from your days off!

I've driven to CO once and flown quite a few times. I have the advantage of family to pick me up at the airport. Driving takes time, but is really a much better option if bringing meat home. It won't take that much longer and will likely be cheaper. Shipping meat and antlers is quite expensive and I just don't see myself dragging 200+ pounds of elk meat plus antlers through an airport. In two long days you can be at the trailhead or back home. It takes at least one day to fly, and that assumes you can get from the trailhead to the airport and home in a day. Likely you'll be at a hotel for an evening first.