Shed33-Thank you for the info.

I hunt in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. I've weighed every buck that I've shot since 1991. It seems that the Ill. bucks are bigger than their Wis. neighbors and it is only a 30 - 60 mile difference between locations. The land and food source are practically the same. I've found that the 3 1/2 yo bucks weigh 175 - 205 lbs. The 4 1/2 and older weigh 180 - 220+lbs. My biggest dressed at 220 lbs. at 5 1/2 and my buddy's 5 1/2 was 226 lbs. I only weigh field dressed deer. They are much easier to drag that way!I also gun hunt NW Wis. in very hilly terrain ( Hillsboro area ). The deer there have a different body type again. Like you said, these deer have a shorter body with a big barrel chest, they are made for running the hills. If you want, I have a dozen bucks posted in my trophy gallery, take a look. The 220 lb. one is listed as such.
What I'm interested in is the percentage they lose from field dressing and what percent do they lose from rutting activities. Where I hunt I don't think they lose 25% from rutting like I've read. I think it is closer to 10% because the climate is mild and the food is abundant. What I've seen is when a buck is tending a doe and she feeds, he also feeds. Its not like the bucks have to travel miles to find a hot doe like they might in Canada. What do you think?

Here in Texas our deer are about half the size of the ones up north. The buck I got this year (a 4.5yr old)weighed right at 130 lbs. which is about typical for the deer here in central Texas. In south Texas, they grow a little larger, probably pressing 150-160.

I don't have access to scales before field dressing, but I did pick up a tape measure at WalMart that estimates live, dressed, and processed weight depending on measurement of body just behind front legs. Not sure how accurate, but it gives a good estimate.

-Rick C.

My best went 235 dressed, my dad shot one in the early 80's that a was a total hog. We put the scales on him, but we couldn't get him high enough to completely weigh him. Our scale went to 300 and it was maxed out with the deers head, neck, and the beginning of the shoulders were still on the ground!! That was field dressed too.We guessed he'd go 350-360. He also had a monster rack, grossed 174 as an 8 with stickers, however he had gotten blow worms in the end of his antlers, so both sides stopped at the g-4's, he also had a drop tine that broke off. I'd guess, by the size of the rest of his frame, that you could add another 8-10 inches to each side to finish out his main beams!

I weigh mine after field dressed. My largest is a 11 point 150 class buck weight 220.

In Lacrosse cty Wi. where I hunt,the average f.d. weight of the 3 1/2 yr olds we shoot is 170-190 and 4 1/2 yr olds 180-200.
In Charleston,SC area a 3 1/2 would go 135-150.

This small racked buck weighed in at 190lbs, while this doe was a tick over 158lbs. Both downed by myself this past fall.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/patrcurtis/detail?.dir=4d24&.dnm=aee5scd.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/patrcurtis/detail?.dir=4d24&.dnm=7a06scd.jpg&.src=ph


I believe the buck was 3½ and the doe was 2½. Such a small antlered buck, but this is Indiana after all. I have seen plenty of bucks 200+ field dressed though.

I don't have a butcher's scale to weigh them with, but I do use one of those measuring tapes that have the weights/field-dressed weights/estimated processed meat weight printed on the tape. It seems fairly accurate, because the processed weights are always close.

Over the past 3 years, my bucks have had estimated field-dressed weights ranging from 120 - 174.A couple of those deer have been pretty large, so I'd say that 175 is a high-end number for Southwestern PA. I've heard tales of 200 pounders, but my measuring tape has never met one yet.

I've onlytaken onedoe/year, and a good-sized doe around here field dressesbetween 100 - 120.

In total agreement for our state. As a matter of fact I was going to put the exact same numbers. By the way where from in Indiana r u? pm me.