Other than going through the nightmare of transporting my AR VArmint with me on a plane, what are some other options available to me.
Can I ship it  to the outfitters address with myself as the recipient and mark it "Care of" whomever my contact is?

Quoted: Other than going through the nightmare of transporting my AR VArmint with me on a plane, what are some other options available to me. Can I ship it  to the outfitters address with myself as the recipient and mark it "Care of" whomever my contact is?

You can send it to yourself in care of the outfitter.  They should be familiar with the procedure due to the nature of their business.

I'm looking into a prarie dog hunt out west with my dad.

It's no big deal. Just check it as baggage. Tell the counter person that you are checking a firearm and they will call a tsa monkey to come and look at it. You then lock up the gun case and it gets loaded like the other checked baggage. Ammo goes in a seperate checked bag.

When you arrive at your destination go to the "special baggage claim" area. Your gun case will be waiting for you there. They hand carry it to that counter so tht it does not have to ride on the carosell.

It is that simple. The fun part is hearing the people in line behind you gasp when you tell the ticket agent that you want to check a rifle.