Got my buck back from the butcher shop today
12-01-2021, 10:10 AM
#1
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,428
Got my buck back from the butcher shop today
54 lbs and a few ounces of dry venison, back straps and tender lions and ground meat. Nothing added to the meat. Pretty good return of boned meat. I wish I would have weighed him before he went to the butcher.
Last edited by Oldtimr; 12-01-2021 at 12:46 PM.
12-02-2021, 08:17 AM
#2
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,589
I usually get around 30 percent but I don't mess with any damaged meat and am pretty fussy about what goes into the grinder. A pro butcher can always get more weight than an amateur like me. Hopefully I can put my butchering skills to work this weekend. Our ML season opens and my goal is a 100 pound plus doe.
Last edited by Champlain Islander; 12-02-2021 at 08:19 AM.
12-02-2021, 11:27 AM
#4
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,428
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.
Last edited by Oldtimr; 12-02-2021 at 11:35 AM.
12-02-2021, 11:36 AM
#5
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,428
I usually get around 30 percent but I don't mess with any damaged meat and am pretty fussy about what goes into the grinder. A pro butcher can always get more weight than an amateur like me. Hopefully I can put my butchering skills to work this weekend. Our ML season opens and my goal is a 100 pound plus doe.
Go get em, good luck.
12-02-2021, 05:25 PM
#7
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,230
12-03-2021, 03:57 AM
#8
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,589
No I haven't but have used that company for quite a few years. I will try that type next time I order. I normally get hot breakfast, hot Italian, and the maple flavored. One really good sausage recipe I found is a Pennsylvania Dutch version. It has around 9 spices and has been popular among my family. You can find it by googling moyers venison sausage recipe. This order i am going to try the LEM jalapeņo summer sausage. My brother made some and it was pretty good.
Last edited by Champlain Islander; 12-03-2021 at 04:06 AM.
12-05-2021, 06:05 PM
#9
Super Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Northern California
Posts: 18,381
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.
12-05-2021, 06:40 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,743
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.
many butchers in say rifle season, are just too busy to do so, and its too much hassle to be placing deer on a scale
yrs ago,(late 1980's) I bought my own scale, upgraded it a few times to better models, and I used to track weights of deer I shot, mostly for useless data to have LOL
but at a few of my hunting camps, we used to have deer pools for the heaviest deer every yr, so scales got used there a bunch, but was all for fun,!
one thing I DO know, is , its amazing how many times, hunters CLAIM a deer is heavy and when on a scale, there is a BIG difference in there guess and reality!(really big differences on BEARs too over deer, far too many think all bears are HUGE when odds are its not even close to there guess)
which might be why so few own and use scales
rather be guessing and saying they got a BIG one than knowing for sure ! HAHA!