# How much do you think he weighed?



## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

As some of you may have read, I shot a decent buck. I ended up with 100.5 pounds of meat. I estimated the weight of the live deer at 200 pounds. Maybe a little less. Do you fits think this is fairly accurate?


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Damn 100 pounds of meat...thats a lot.


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## SmallieKing (Apr 11, 2007)

I killed one last year that went 202.5# dressed and got approximately 85lbs back from him.


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## chris1162 (Mar 12, 2008)

SmallieKing said:


> I killed one last year that went 202.5# dressed and got approximately 85lbs back from him.


202lbs is a monster! Average buck I usually see weighs 140lbs dressed.


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

Damn. So mine was 200 easy. Thanks guys. I've never had this much meat from a deer before. I usually average 60 or so.


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## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

That's the one thing I like about my butcher. They weight it (hanging weight) right in front of me and write the weight on the business card they give me. I usually get back around 50% of the hanging weight except when I get jerky made.


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## Seaturd (Apr 14, 2004)

I shot a huge doe during an ice storm in Noble County that had to weigh 200 lbs. I got 105 lbs of meat back from the butcher. This was probably 25 years ago.


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## chris1162 (Mar 12, 2008)

Misdirection said:


> That's the one thing I like about my butcher. They weight it (hanging weight) right in front of me and write the weight on the business card they give me. I usually get back around 50% of the hanging weight except when I get jerky made.


Mine does the same thing.


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## paulboomer1 (May 7, 2008)

Seaturd said:


> I shot a huge doe during an ice storm in Noble County that had to weigh 200 lbs. I got 105 lbs of meat back from the butcher. This was probably 25 years ago.





idontknow316 said:


> As some of you may have read, I shot a decent buck. I ended up with 100.5 pounds of meat. I estimated the weight of the live deer at 200 pounds. Maybe a little less. Do you fits think this is fairly accurate?


I shot a buck that weighed 213lbs....I got 96lbs. of de-boned meat back from the butcher...yours should easily go over 200...


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

chris1162 said:


> Mine does the same thing.


Who dat is (ur butcher)?


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## chris1162 (Mar 12, 2008)

SMBHooker said:


> Who dat is (ur butcher)?


Dey go by schaefers deer processing and are located in trenton.


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

What’s the average price for processing? I have always done my own and just curious. Do you guys take it skinned or just dressed?


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

DLarrick said:


> What’s the average price for processing? I have always done my own and just curious. Do you guys take it skinned or just dressed?


It depends on the area, and what you're wanting. $60 - $120 I'd say for basic steak, Burger, etc. Maybe a little more if you have a bunch of sausage or meat sticks made. 

Most guys just drop them off field dressed.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

where I take mine here in Indiana they always weigh the deer while I'm watching. but I've never weighed the meat I got back. but I would also say you would be safe saying it weighed over 200 lbs.
sherman


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## SmallieKing (Apr 11, 2007)

Yeah my deer was shot at the end of November and was pretty ran down. I was shocked when the processor weighed him. My guy is 80$ a deer. Usually 70$ if it's a smaller one. That's burgers, steaks, and roasts.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

To get 100 lbs of meat off a whitetail, that deer had to be, to quote Donald Trump, "HYUUUUUGE!" It also points to the fact that you are dealing with an honest butcher! There's a local deer processor here that I like to deal with because of their slogan; "Bring in your deer, leave with your deer!"

They process deer one at a time. Some of the larger outfits go into production mode and God knows who's venison you wind up with! Plus, some shenanigans can go on and meat sometimes tends to disappear! 

Congrats on what had to be a heck of a whitetail!


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## Weekender#1 (Mar 25, 2006)

We have hung a gambrel and scale in my garage for several years. It is the official scale for our deer contest. People are out of their minds when they start estimating the weight of a dead deer, if they have not been using a scale. This year we have bucks that have weighed from 125 to 194 dressed.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Weekender#1 said:


> We have hung a gambrel and scale in my garage for several years. It is the official scale for our deer contest. People are out of their minds when they start estimating the weight of a dead deer, if they have not been using a scale. This year we have bucks that have weighed from 125 to 194 dressed.


I think they are more shocked at how much meat they get back from the butcher...some seem to expect close to 100 pounds of meat when in reality you're lucky to get 60-70.


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## Weekender#1 (Mar 25, 2006)

It is fun to watch a first time hunter go to get his deer from the butcher. They flip when they get only a milk crate of meat. I did to the first time. Like it weighed so much dragging it out of the woods. We now hang them and butcher the meat off the bones, clean it up and take it to the butcher as we need burger. Take like 4-5 1 gallon bags at a time. They weigh about 7-8 pounds each bag. Can have fresh jerky, venison sticks year around.


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## chris1162 (Mar 12, 2008)

Weekender#1 said:


> We have hung a gambrel and scale in my garage for several years. It is the official scale for our deer contest. People are out of their minds when they start estimating the weight of a dead deer, if they have not been using a scale. This year we have bucks that have weighed from 125 to 194 dressed.


Do you guys weigh does often? What are the average weight of them around you?


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## Fishballz (Aug 15, 2015)

I was told by a butcher you can multiply by 3 the meat you get back in pounds and that should equal very close to the live weight


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## Weekender#1 (Mar 25, 2006)

Yes we weigh all deer from yearlings to doe and buck. I keep the information on a excel spread sheet, I will take a page, which is one season and save as a PDF then post as a picture. You can look over the weights that we see. We are not a big hunting group so some years we had a low of 8 deer by the entire group to 23 deer. Not always the same amount of people or the same ground hunted but a general idea. Yearling weigh as low as 49 pounds to 60, 1 1/2 yr old doe around 100-110, buck 125-135, older buck bigger with the biggest over 6 years around 220. This is gutted with skin and head attached.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

If that is without bones, you are underestimating the weight by a good margin. My guess would be around 250.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

A 250 pound deer is a very big deer.


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

We weigh our deer on the hoof. A very big doe is 140 pounds. A very small yearling is 46 pounds. Most big does go 120 to 130. Mature bucks go 200-300 pounds. Some bucks just have a larger musculoskeletal system than others. Age usually does equate to increased body mass though.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Fishballz said:


> I was told by a butcher you can multiply by 3 the meat you get back in pounds and that should equal very close to the live weight


That's about right. If the butcher picks the carcass clean. Which most processors Ive ever seen dont take the time to mess with the neck all the way to the base of the skull, don't fool with the ribs...and in general, don't pick the bones as clean as someone butchering themselves. Especially during gun season.
Why, cause they're doing the 'production' thing and are usually way backed up. 

Total of meat is usually about 1/3 of the total weight of the complete deer.
And that's if the carcass is picked clean. If you have something(pork, beef etc) mixed with the grinds that will add a bit to the total weight we get back. And obviously, the amount of that added weight will depend on how much we have ground and the percentage of 'added' trim put in the grinds.

At any rate, getting a 100lbs. of meat back, depending on how much you had in grinds and the percentage of additional trimmings added to the grinds(if any), and if they picked the carcass clean including the neck and rib meat, I think it's easy to say that your deer went between 250-300lbs. before a knife was ever taken to it.
Really hard to narrow it down any closer then that. Just too many unknown variables.

But for sure, you shot a big, mature buck.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Ealy on when I started hunting Ohio deer(mid-70's! when "State-wide" kill was like 3500!), I took my deer to a start-up operation. I always got every bit of meat he could scrape off the deer, usually TWO and a half whiskey case cartons(they were usually good sized bucks!) After several years, he went "full production" with two other butchers, a new shop in back of his house, and a refrigerated semi trailer to stack them in! My last trip to his place, they brought out a less than full(one) carton!(This was a buck that dressed over 200!) Of course I asked to speak to the owner, who had become somewhat of a friend over the years. He mumbled something and when back into the cutting room, returned with a bag of one pound burgers and said those were overlooked!! That was my last trip to his or any other processors!


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I've been teaching my oldest boy how to process them. He's 12 and knows how to do it all, but is still limited to what he can do physically. Once he can hoist one up and pull the hide down, I'll never have to skin another. Haha


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

I don't have anything added to my meat. I really don't think that deer weighed 250, no way. I guess I'm not certain, but I thought 200 was a stretch lol.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

beaver said:


> I've been teaching my oldest boy how to process them. He's 12 and knows how to do it all, but is still limited to what he can do physically. Once he can hoist one up and pull the hide down, I'll never have to skin another. Haha


An interesting fact I have noted about skinning deer(most anyone who has taken several deer probably already know this) is that if skinned in a relatively short time before the carcass "cools" completely and everything starts to dry out, the process is not very hard, or tedious, to do at all. It will skin as easy as a squirrel if still (warm). Hang it up for a couple(or more, days and you nearly have to remove the hide by "whittling" away the skin from the carcass with a sharp knife literally inch by inch! 
Most of the people who do their own(even processors) I have known use a four wheeler, even a pick up to pull off the skin after tying off the head to a solid object, then making a series of "skin" cuts(google "deer skinning" to see those cut locations for this easy-off method). After these intermediate steps, the actual skin removal can take less than a minute, if not Seconds!, to do. If your 12 yr old can drive a four wheeler or similar vehicle, he can, quickly and easily, skin a deer(hot or cold)! Once you've tried this technique, you won't do it any other way.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I've seen the four wheelers technique. Usually by putting a golf ball or something similar under the hide and then tying the rope around it. 

I've got a skinning system set up on the same principal for coyotes. I have talked about trying to make it larger to tackle deer. Basically it's a field goal shaped piece of welded square tubing with two vise grips welded on to the "posts" and then a couple pieces of round stock welded to the vise grip jaws to give it a wider gripping area. That part is attached to the floor somehow. In my case via a removable plate that is bolted into the concrete so I can remove it if I want to pull a car over it to work on. Then a hoist or even a hand cranking boat winch is attached to the gambrel end. Clamp the vise grips to the hide once it's started off of the legs, then use the hoist or winch to pull the animal up. It's the same concept except you're pulling the animal up instead of pulling the hide down.


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