the blur

I had a doe butchered up. Medium size doe. Deboned. It's close to 100% meat. It weighs exactly 25lb. Does that sound about right ?


And please don't tell me to butcher it myself. I live in a big city.

Topgun 3006

Without knowing what the hanging weight was within a few pounds when it was taken in there is no way we can say you did or didn't get the proper amount of meat back. What does living in a big city have to do with not being able to butcher the animal yourself? Hang the animal in a tree out where you hunt so you can skin and quarter it out there. Then take it home and process it in your kitchen because it doesn't take that much room to do a deer. An inexpensive grinder is all you need to do your burger and if you have a decent mixer in the kitchen a lot of times they have a grinder attachment you can buy. Doing it yourself is not as complicated or difficult as many people think and it can save you a lot of money over taking it to a processor.

alleyyooper

That is the price you pay for not doing your own butchering.

Also sounds like you didn't get a medium sized deer but a spring fawn. which would yield about 25 pounds of boned out meat.

Al

Valentine

don't realize that the meat take is always less than the original size of the deer. And they don't get to see the deer butchered to even see the difference.
Some only know the weight of the deer on dragout, guts and all. And you can't convince any of them that they didn't get shorted.

WV Hunter

IMO, its probably about right. You realistically only get probably 40% of what the deer weighs from a butcher. Some places don't spend the time getting out every bit, they don't have the time.

I've butchered hundreds of deer, and I can tell you from experience if you are getting 50% of the dressed weight you are doing good. Adult does in our area avg 80-90lbs dressed, we probably net about 40lbs of clean boned out meat if we get it all. Hide, head, bones, and blood weigh quite a bit. Smaller deer have almost no meat on the ribs, we don't fool with it.

kellyguinn

I lived in a city and butchered mine. Like was said above. Skin and quarter in the woods then place quarters in an ice chest and put ice in it. I like to leave the drain open so that the meat is not sitting in water for the trip home. Then research on You Tube how to butcher one. I find that I don't have as much game flavor that way as i trim all the fat and silver lining off and I know exactly how long the deer has been dead before I froze it. In all it takes me a couple hours. The only part that is a pain to me is the front legs and lower part of the legs. Those pretty much get ground up. Also don't forget about the neck roast. In my opinion that is the best meat on the deer. You normally dont get that from the processors, at least not around here.

flags

Sorry, I'm not going to honor this request. Living in a big city is no excuse for not butchering your own game. Bone the animal out in the field and put the meat in a cooler on ice. Leave it on ice for 3 or 4 days, checking the ice daily. Then butcher it up in the kitchen. Since it is already boned the pieces will be small enough to handle it properly.

Right now, at this very moment I have 2 does in the coolers. Got them earlier this week and am spending a few days at my Mother's house, which is in a pretty big city. Later today I will be butchering, grinding and vacuum packing those 2 deer.

As long as you have someone else butcher your deer you never know how it was handled or if you are even getting meat from your deer. Only by doing it yourself can you be sure.

alleyyooper

Go to this site and study the chest measurement chart to get a RUFF Idea of what your deer weighed on the hoof and once field dressed.

http://www.nesportsman.com/ri/hunt/d...ht_table.shtml

then figure the amount of usable meat at the 40% scale if you have it processed and feel grateful you got 40%.

Here our average 1 1/2 year old bucks run about 150 lbs. older does can get close to 180 190 Lbs. I figure average is 150lbs. and spring fawns by our fire arm deer season time run from 75 to 125 lbs depending on birth month. A few even in December in my area still have their spots.

Al

bpd1982

This should help you.
http://www.butcher-packer.com/index....roducts_id=331

rockport

It would make basically no difference to me where I lived as I very rarely bring a whole deer home intact. They come home quartered in a cooler and sit in the cooler on ice until I get time then I bring the cooler right in the kitchen and finish them right on the kitchen counter one quarter at a time.

I get more than 25lbs out of an average doe but my average doe could be very different than yours.