HuntingNet.com Forums - View Single Post - Got my buck back from the butcher shop today
Old 12-05-2021, 06:05 PM
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CalHunter
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Originally Posted by Oldtimr
Cal, He doesn't weight deer in as a matter of course. My buck was an archery deer so there was not a lot of damage to the meat. I weighed my meat when I got home on a good scale. At 30 percent of return of meat compared to live weight I figured the buck probably weighed about 160 lbs live weight . CI I use 30 percent as well as a gauge and I always tell the butcher not to keep any bloodshot meat. I knew the buck was heavy when I pulled him up from the creek where he died with my friend to gut him and them when I loaded him onto my ATV. When you handle as many deer on the round as I have in the field, you get a pretty good ballpark idea of what they weigh. Still, next time I kill a big one I will asked the butcher to weigh it, I am sure he would because he hangs mine for 6 days in the cooler after it is skinned and split down the backbone.
That's interesting about your butcher not weighing the deer. Mine weighs them when he loads them onto the hooks to go into the cooler. I don't know if that's a legal requirement here or he's just being careful. Either way, it gives me a rough idea of what my buck likely weighed when alive. I figure the hanging weight is maybe half of the live weight with head, guts, feet, etc.
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