# United airlines comes through again.



## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Just got back from Alaska hunting Sitka blacktails. I took my son, the little woman and my two daughters. We had a great trip. When we got back to SLC they couldn't find my gun case anywhere. Finally, a nice lady said she'd found it. She said "I'm assuming it wasn't smashed with a big hole in the side when you checked it at Ketchikan". My heart sunk. It had my "baby", my 300 Weatherby Accumark and my .257 Vanguard that my son loves to use in it. They had destroyed a different rifle case I had taken up to Alaska this spring too. This a actually the gun case I bought with the money they gave me from the last one they destroyed.
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On my spring hunt a guy on my same flight had the barrel of his gun poking out of the end of his gun case. Un-freaking-believable.
I have a solid aluminum case for some of my longer specialty rifles but it wouldn't fit in the vehicle we rented so I had to take this one.
Next time I'm taking Southwest to Seattle, then Alaska Air from there.
Ggggrrrrrrrrr.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

They're a bunch of gorillas at Seattle. Connect at Portland, then take Alaskan Air.

How 'bout the deer hunt?


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

Geeze that really sucks! Hope the guns weren't damaged! Funny, was just thinking about you and your trip couple days ago... Was Alaska good to you?


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## Bowdacious (Sep 16, 2007)

Yeah, c'mon...let's see some pics.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

Da*n anti-hunting baggage handlers!!!!!

I have a SKB case, they have tried there best to damage it, but failed so far. Did they damage your guns or just the case?

Let's see some pcitures please!


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

My son and I were bound and determined to shoot nothing but nice four-points. The hastle and costs of bringing home a deer were more hastle than we wanted for a spike. If you get a form to have someone tranport your deer and a donation form, you can donate your deer to the needy. So that's what we did with the girls barely-visable spike bucks. We found some state troopers and they took care of everything for us.
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We took the rental car by ferry from the Ketchikan airport to the city. We got a motel that night because the ferry to Hollis on POW didn't leave until morning.
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The white ferry is the one we took to Hollis. On this ferry you drive your truck down into the bottom and go uptop to get some burgers or nap for the three hour trip.
Finally we got to Prince Of Wales and drove to Craig for groceries.
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Here's Lisa in the Craig store.
Finally, we got to the lake where our cabin was. We had to row .41 miles across to get to it.
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Here I am rowing across Control Lake, my son behind me and the girls are sitting in the bow taking pictures.

More to come. my boss said something about getting back to work. Sheeesh, bosses.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

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For $25 a night that's a pretty nice cabin.
We mostly drove the loop up to Coffman Cove and down to Thorne Bay and back looking for closed roads and clearcuts. We tried calling but it didn't work too well. The locals said they weren't coming in very well for some reason. Most had success walking and glassing the clearcuts. We saw alot of bucks and some really good ones but the big ones were gone fast and the little ones gave us all kinds of shots.
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Here's one of the roads we walked. You really have to be quick when you see a deer feeding along the side on this road.
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We bought some fresh oysters at Coffman Cove and brought them back to the cabin and cooked them on the stove. As soon as they pop open you pry them open and eat them. They were awesome.
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Here's a picture of Lisa's deer. I swear it has horns but the ear covers thier view. 
All in all it was a great trip and an awesome adventure for my kids. I didn't get a buck but that's OK, I saw plenty. There must be a million deer on that island. They were everywhere. There's a few things I'd do different like rent a car in Craig instead of Ketchikan, bring the right deer calls and rent a cabin I can drive to.


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## Bowdacious (Sep 16, 2007)

Hey, why are you trying to choke that dog?


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

Glad you had a good time. That sucks about your rifle case. Did the rifles themselves suffer any damage?


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Bowdacious said:


> Hey, why are you trying to choke that dog?


Ha, that's about true too. Even the big bucks were only twice that size.



lehi said:


> Glad you had a good time. That sucks about your rifle case. Did the rifles themselves suffer any damage?


Luckly no. My Vanguard did have a dent in the grip but that was it.


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## ctaft77 (Nov 16, 2010)

Mojo1 said:


> Da*n anti-hunting baggage handlers!!!!!
> 
> I have a SKB case, they have tried there best to damage it, but failed so far. Did they damage your guns or just the case?
> 
> Let's see some pcitures please!


United is definitely known for destroying people's luggage... I also have a SKB rifle case that has sustained quite a bit of abuse. Their cases are super strong.

check out the SKB 3i-5014 Double Rifle Case


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Mojo1 and ctaft77, thanks for passing that on. I'd never heard of a SKB case before. Pelican makes a case along the same lines but is more expensive. The SKB is made of PPC which is polypropylene mixed with nylon. Really tough stuff. (I use to work at a plastic injection molding place).
Here's the one I bought this spring for my longer guns.
http://www.cabelas.com/fryprod-0/produc ... .uts.shtml
I bet United could still dent the crap out of this one.

Here's Pelicans version of the SKB.
http://www.totaloutdoorsman.com/Pelican ... 14468.html


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

So United trashes gun cases. Good to know. Anyone have experience taking guns on Frontier Airlines? I'm making a trip in the next month or two, and usually fly with them, but I've never taken a gun. Any thoughts?


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## ctaft77 (Nov 16, 2010)

longbow, I think the SKB 3i-5014 would be equivalent to the Pelican 1750 instead of the 1720. However, the interior available for the SKB 5014-DR is not available for any of the Pelican cases.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

What the heck Longbow?!
They are lucky you didnt try and hit one of them over that crap!
Glad to hear that you guys got to go and spend some time together and enjoy Alaska. It looks like you guys had a great time and got to see some great scenery. 
Hopefully your optics arent jacked because of the poor handling of your rifles


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## Dannyboy (Oct 27, 2010)

Bowdacious wrote:Hey, why are you trying to choke that dog. Thats funny, i was thinking the same thing. -_O- -_O- -_O-


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

Looks like a good trip, longbow.
My blacktail outing was cut short by boat problems and a long ride back to whittier on 9.9 horses.


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## duckhunter1096 (Sep 25, 2007)

On the SKB note....I don't own any of their gun cases...but I'm a musician who swears by their cases. They are the best in the biz. Durable as can be.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I have the SKB 2SKB-5014, its an incredibly durable case. I got the 4 gun version and could not be more pleased. Its one heavy duty case! It has wheels on the end to help you move it once its loaded up. Theres no way anything short of driving over it will do any damage.

http://www.caseclub.com/skb-case-2skb-5014.htm

-DallanC


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Do they sell SKBs around here?


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## Ballistic Tip (Jul 25, 2010)

$25/night??? That's not bad at all! How'd you find that cabin? VRBO.com? That looks like a ton of fun!


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

longbow said:


> Do they sell SKBs around here?


I got mine listed above at Sportsmans Warehouse years ago. I'd assume they still have them... perhaps give them a call?

-DallanC


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Ballistic Tip said:


> $25/night??? That's not bad at all! How'd you find that cabin? VRBO.com? That looks like a ton of fun!


Off this website http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/cabins ... .shtml#pow
I've used these cabins all over the West. They're usually $45 a night until Sept 1st, then they're $25 a night. They make for a comfortable and cheap stay.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> So United trashes gun cases. Good to know. Anyone have experience taking guns on Frontier Airlines? I'm making a trip in the next month or two, and usually fly with them, but I've never taken a gun. Any thoughts?


Sorry for late replies guys, hadn't checked this thread again until now.

I used to fly Frontier a lot with my guns, never had a problem out of them. They have never given me any grief either like I would get checking them at Delta.

I have the same 4 gun that Dallanc mentioned, I really like that wheeled case. I got it at Sportsman's Warehouse in Riverdale, pretty sure it ran somewhere around $200 bones. Small price to pay when you compare to what you could be out with busted guns on a hunt. I look at it as an investment towards my piece of mind.

I have had Pelican cases before, I prefer the SKB over those.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

I like the idea of a case with wheels. I borrowed a friends case to take to Alaska a couple years ago. I had a frozen bear in a box, my suitcase, a dufflebag and my daypack. It made a nice dolly to cart all my stuff out of the airport to the curb.


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## Bucksnort (Nov 15, 2007)

How do you even do that to a gun case?? Seriously man!


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Bucksnort said:


> How do you even do that to a gun case?? Seriously man!


I honestly think it was on purpose. I mean really, I've watched these guys load and unload luggage and I would expect some scatches but nothing like this. They had to make a special effort to damage it that bad.


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## ctaft77 (Nov 16, 2010)

longbow said:


> Do they sell SKBs around here?


Not sure where you're located but try cabelas, basspro, sportsmans warehouse...


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

longbow said:


> Mojo1 and ctaft77, thanks for passing that on. I'd never heard of a SKB case before. Pelican makes a case along the same lines but is more expensive. The SKB is made of PPC which is polypropylene mixed with nylon. Really tough stuff. (I use to work at a plastic injection molding place).
> Here's the one I bought this spring for my longer guns.
> http://www.cabelas.com/fryprod-0/produc ... .uts.shtml
> I bet United could still dent the crap out of this one.
> ...


I've had a couple of SKB cases broken by the airlines. They are not as tough as I had originally anticipated. I've been happier with the Pelican and the starlight..


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## ctaft77 (Nov 16, 2010)

ctaft77 said:


> longbow said:
> 
> 
> > Do they sell SKBs around here?
> ...


or their direct site (if you don't mind paying for shipping) http://www.skbdirect.com


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