Average amount of meat after processing?
12-19-2003, 07:07 PM
#21
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 187
RE: Average amount of meat after processing?
I weigh most of my deer dressed and then weigh the meat from the processor. If I haven't hit the shoulders the percentage of meat to dressed weight is just over 50%. I got back 117 lbs of meat this year and it had a bad shoulder due to an old injury. That would have pushed the total over 120lbs. That buck weighed 258 lbs on the hoof so thats 46.5% meat weight to live weight. Assuming a 215 lb dressed weight the ratio to dressed weight is 55%. That percentage might be a little high because of the size of the deer. I do get a kick out of the fact that the meat from that deer is close to the average live wieght of most deer shot.
That goodness no one hit that buck with a car. That would have been one tangled mess of iron.
That goodness no one hit that buck with a car. That would have been one tangled mess of iron.
12-23-2003, 10:57 AM
#22
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Saskatoon SK Canada
Posts: 59
RE: Average amount of meat after processing?
LDB and I have debated this one for a while...I did talk to an outfitter here in Saskatchewan that weighs everything that comes in....according to him the guts on a big buck will be around 40-45 lbs. the most weighing 47 lbs. the biggest deer that he has weighed was 275 lbs. and was a PIG...talking with another outfitter that does the same in terms of weighing once weighed a elk-sized deer that came in a hair over 400 lbs. on the hoof....I am getting one of those deer scales for LDB so we can be a little more accurate in terms of live weight to meat yield...we bone out all our own meat...and the .33-.35 is what we think is pretty fair...
12-23-2003, 02:56 PM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,476
RE: Average amount of meat after processing?
Most deer, unless extra beefy (muscular) or real skinny, will yield about 45% of the live weight or 57% of the field dressed weight back to boneless edible venison. If you get alot more than that it isn't trimmed well....if you get alot less than that then you probably had bullet damaged meat or it was trimmed a little too well. Deer that are REALLY small actually wil yeild a higher percentage of meat back (up to 67% of field dressed weight), but even really big deer rarely give back more than 56% of the field dressed weight.
I'm basing that on years of butchering my own deer and comparing that to the yeild I've seen after watching others butcher deer. And I base my live weight/ dressed weight on chest girth measurement. I've only actually weighed a few deer. The chest girth method is pretty accurate.
I'm basing that on years of butchering my own deer and comparing that to the yeild I've seen after watching others butcher deer. And I base my live weight/ dressed weight on chest girth measurement. I've only actually weighed a few deer. The chest girth method is pretty accurate.
