A friend of mine has an elaborate boat winch, cable, and pulley system mounted to his garage wall for the sole purpose of wieghing deer. I bought a Moultrie 440 lb scale at Walmart for $20 this fall so I could weigh deer myself. The local registration stations don't typically have scales. The good news is that buying the scale didn't jinx me. The first deer I put on the scale pushed the needle to 258 lbs before field dressing. The only problem was that I hurt my back getting him weighed the first time and couldn't weigh him dressed. A winter project will be to put the winch, cable, pulley system in my garage so I can weigh them far more easily. I got 117 lbs of meat back from this buck and one shoulder was bad because it had a broadhead in it. A lot of deer don't weigh 117lbs on the hoof.

Every deer camp should have a scale to check the health of the heard and to use as a "de-liar" for the "optimistic" hunters in camp. You would be amazed how many 160 lb does and 200 lb bucks turn into 120 lb does and 150 lb bucks when they hit the scale.