Flying to/from a bear hunt

I live in Ohio, but may have a little bit of time (and enough Brownie points with the wife) to head out for a last-minute OTC Hunt this spring. Problem is, the 20+ hour drive might be a dealbreaker since it would eat up so much time on either side of the hunt. I just so happen to also have some extra airline miles that are about to expire, so I’m considering flying. I know that it’s crazy expensive to fly back home with anflwrs, but what about a bear? Anyone ever done it? Thanks!

Last May I flew home from Alaska with black bear and lots of halibut. Had frozen meat as checked baggage and the frozen hide as carry on.

If you're hunting one of the rocky mountain states, almost any bear you kill will fit in a standard sized cooler boned out. You may have to pay the over 50 pound fee, but honestly with most Montana/Idaho bears you won't.

Drop the fresh hide off at a taxidermist near where you're hunting, and have them ship it to you after the flesh and tan it.

I did the same as Glass eye in Alaska, only my hide was fleshed/salted. That's another good way to go if you don't want to deal with an unknown taxidermist.

Mail your hunting gear home after the hunt - you don't care how long it takes for your dirty laundry to get home but you DO care about that meat. Use a big soft-sided Yeti/RTIC coolers as your carry on luggage when you go out and have two more stuffed in the bottom of your luggage (they roll up sorta small. Well small for a cooler anyway) to use on the return trip. Make sure the meat goes in the coolers frozen solid and it will be ok even if the airline loses them for a day or so. Don't screw around with ice packs just pack the cooler absolutely full of solid frozen meat and then ziptie the zipper closed or use a TSA lock to keep it closed. You'd be surprised how many pounds of meat that you can stuff in one of those. I have no suggestions for the hide as I have never had to travel with one. Let us knw what you end up using.
-Pilsner

Great - thanks for all the replies! This definitely seems doable. I can just imagine the looks you might get from the TSA when trying to carry-on a bear hide! I'll let you know if I'm able to do it.