Air travel, take bow with you, or mail in advance?

[larry]

which do you prefer?

[Orion]

I always take them with me, either take downs in my luggage or longbows in a PVC pipe, which I check as an extra bag.

[meathead]

I guess it depends where you are going but I like to ship my stuff. USPS priority insured usually gets most places in the country in just a couple days.

[Hermon]

If it was a once in a lifetime type of hunt I would probably do both to make sure I had a weapon.  Within North America I would probably just take it with me in my duffle.

[Bisch]

I take mine with me. I take two bows apart and put them in soft cases, and then pack them in my duffel suitcase. This system has worked great for multiple trips!

Bisch

[rjackson]

Take mine with me. Have had no issues yet.

Good luck
Randy

[Roy from Pa]

I shipped mine ahead of time the first trip, I was a nervous wreck till it got there.

Now I take the bow with me and pay the extra baggage fee if applicable.

Then I would be a nervous wreck with the airlines folks handling it...

Pack it well...

[Kevin Dill]

Always a takedown and always in my checked baggage. I think there's less risk overall vs putting my bow at risk with USPS. But maybe the bigger thing is that I shoot my actual hunting bow (in practice) right up to the day it gets packed for the trip. I might not get to shoot it for another 3 days while I'm traveling and getting to a remote camp. I don't want to add another 3 to ? days to the time I'm not shooting.

[Pat B]

I mailed my bows, arrows and other hunting stuff to Colorado twice. I sent them 2 weeks ahead of time and they were there when I got there. I don't trust the airlines to take care of it.

[76Aggie]

Take them with you.  One of the primary reasons I prefer three piece bows is they can pack small inside a suitcase or duffel.  I have had two hard cases heavily damaged and ultimately replaced by two different airlines over the years.  Their baggage handlers could break an anvil.

[Kevin Dill]

I'll add: I pack a Cari-bow Silver Fox riser, 2 sets of limbs, extra strings, stringer, wrench and limb bolts in a Safari Tuff TD Longbow Case. It's a snug fit but when everything is in there it's as stout and rigid as a 4"x4" piece of wood. I pack that loaded bow case in the middle of my big duffel and that's all I've ever done. From NWT, BC, Yukon, MTB, AK, SK and several other destinations, I've never had a bow lost or damaged in flight. I don't have a particular problem with USPS, but I know their parcel shipments can be interrupted by weather or other events. I'd much rather have my bow on the plane with me vs somewhere out there in the big wide world of USPS automated handling amid thousands of other packages.

[David McLendon]

On several occasions I have FEDEX'd arrows and sometimes a back up bow ahead in plenty of time to get a delivery confirmation. My main bow travels with me and I shoot it right up until departure. Like Kevin, I also pack my bow and extra limbs in a Safari-Tuff LB case.

[GCook]

I had a gun get routed wrong once and had to return to the airport later to get it.  I think that is a greater issue than damage but I could be wrong.

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[knobby]

I take it with me. I use a take-down shotgun case that fits inside my duffel for my bow and arrows and have never had a problem.