Actual Weight of Meat - Can we be honest?

[Deleted member 28227]

You're just now figuring out that hunters are full of chit most of the time?

I said once that if you want to hear some BS, ask a hunter, how far the shot was, how far they hiked, and how much their pack weighed, guess, I should have added, how much did the meat weigh

I mean given people’s understanding of how long 6 inches is I guess you can’t expect them to be able to judge 45lbs by feel

 

[BrentD]

There are a ton on amazon for <$10 and then for small game a kitchen scale is probably best, though I would guess you can just "borrow" a school one.

I have an electronic fish scale in my basement - goes maybe 50#.

My field equip scales max out at 300 grams. I wrastle smaller wildlife

Meanwhile, it occurs that there was one time that I did weigh out. It was cow elk. A bit smaller than the average cow elk according to my old grad student/WGF biologist type (ie, someone that would know). We boned it out and packed it into two packs. Those packs were hung on the scales at a locker when we got to town. My pack weighed something in the low 80s and his was in the mid 90s. We left the carcass mighty bare. But we did not take anything other meat. I don't know what the packs weighed, though I still have mine.

 

[BrentD]

You're just now figuring out that hunters are full of chit most of the time?

I said once that if you want to hear some BS, ask a hunter, how far the shot was, how far they hiked, and how much their pack weighed, guess, I should have added, how much did the meat weigh

Indeed. I probably stretched a few estimates myself, now and then.

One of my favorites since taking up competitive shooting is to listen to the reports of the wind speeds and variability. I can tell you that target shooters are ALWAYS overestimating wind by a factor of 2 - at least. It is surprising how hard a 10 mph wind feels, especially on the firing line just as they call the Ready.

 

[TheJason]

Hindquarters on my bull from this year were 76 and 74 pounds. Bone on each was 11 pounds. Front quarters were 40 pounds each, leg bones were 10. Backstraps were 22 pounds each. Neck meat was 21 pounds. All measured weights.

129
60
44
21

254 total

 

[Bowhuntrben]

I know you're looking for elk, but figured I might as well post our Utah Shiras Bull.



We took the rib meat and anything we could get off of it.


The burger weight is very accurate since I weighed it on a small scale pound by pound as I packaged it, along with the other small miscellaneous items. The big stuff is a bit less accurate since I weighed it by weighing myself while holding it then weighing myself without it and subtracting me. It should still be pretty accurate and looks about right when you compare the amount of freezer filled compared to the burger.

Tenderloins - 4 pounds (lost a little of one of these..the only mentionable loss of meat)
Chops - 23 pounds
Steaks - 110 pounds
Roasts - 52 pounds
Burger - 151 pounds
Liver - 8 pounds
Tongue - 2 pounds
Total - 350 pounds

In hindsight, we ground up stuff into burger which probably should've been left as roast....

That is completely boned out and packaged. I was expecting more, but I've never shot a moose before, so I don't know what is normal. Still plenty to keep us fed for a long while!

 

[Bigjay73]

Now that is how you clean a carcass

 

[rmyoung1]

The last bull elk I killed was your standard 2-1/2 year old raghorn in CO. The pack out was a nightmare through blowdown and bogs. I had my buddy to help and we made two trips with deboned meat. I was exhausted. Dropped it all in a bin on the butcher’s scale and it read “129 lbs”. I’ve never felt like a bigger wimp in my life

 

[Irrelevant]

Bone in?

elk was bone in, buck was deboned and ready for packaging.

 

[LuketheDog]

Co Elk - 2019

View attachment 117962

The bull had an arrow above his spine, this was several weeks after the end of archery season. Bull did not look dramatically smaller than previous bulls I've killed although that arrow is like a factor in his weight.


Hindquarters
40lbs and 40.8lbs.


Total meat weight
169.6

That's a great bull, but the first time you posted a pic I thought he looked a little bony in the hindquarters compared to the ones I've seen on the ground, and the weights you posted seem to confirm it. I'd guess he was either very stressed by the arrow wound or an old guy, how did his teeth look?

 

[LuketheDog]

The bull I arrowed last year was 237# on the butcher's hooks, including boned-out fronts and hinds, backstraps and tenderloins, a thorough job on neck meat removal, and 4 shanks.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

That's a great bull, but the first time you posted a pic I thought he looked a little bony in the hindquarters compared to the ones I've seen on the ground, and the weights you posted seem to confirm it. I'd guess he was either very stressed by the arrow wound or an old guy, how did his teeth look?

Decent teeth, but I think he was fighting a ton with all the broken tines and definitely a bit thin, maybe from the arrow.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

What a great thread. It always interested me what amount of meat you get off animals other than deer. I’m kind of surprised by the rag horns since they seem like they’d be more compared to a deer. When I eventually get an elk I plan to weigh everything. We’ve weighed several of our big whitetails over the years and it seems like you get around 110 pounds (plus or minus) of meat deboned, fat trimmed, and ready for packaging off a big buck. That is off a buck that weighs in the neighborhood of 210-220 pounds field dressed

 

[Gellar]

Three rabbit quarters (one too shot up to eat) plus saddle: 8.3 ounces in freezer bag. Book your llamas accordingly.

1 load or did you split that? What kind of pack are you running to support a load like that comfortably?

 

[rwc101]

1 load or did you split that? What kind of pack are you running to support a load like that comfortably?

Luckily I could back the truck right up to it.

 

[Dave N]

Luckily I could back the truck right up to it.

Hoping you didn't drive onto any wilderness area.

 

[rwc101]

Hoping you didn't drive onto any wilderness area.

No, I know my limits. I don't hunt such formidable game deep in wilderness without the appropriate number of sherpas, llamas, gunbearers etc.

 

[wyoboypt]

Sorry no pics but, this years bull (which was 4.5 I think) weighed 235 lbs. 1 hind quarter bone in, the other 3 quarters boned out and straps and loins. No neck meat. No meat between the ribs, only on top. That’s what the butcher weighed when I dropped it off.

 

[Don Fischer]

Took a scale into the field with him? All the stuff I read about that guy's pack into the field to hunt, how did he find room for a scale ? I have a few time's weighted an animal but not often. Every time I did it it was when I got home out in the barn. Figure the size of the animal and no more meat that come out of it and I wonder if they are even worth packing out, of course they are! First deer I weighted was a black tail and I do remember it. I got only 40# of meat off it when I was pretty sure there would be more. Amazed me! Weighted a few elk in the barn but don't recall weight's anymore. Do recall wondering where all those huge elk spoken of were though! I think maybe the way to weight a game animal is weight the packages that go into the freezer.

Still amaze's me all the stuff guy's carry hunting and the OP throws in a scale! Maybe he doesn't carry all the other stuff! When I hunted, not so much anymore, I carried my rifle and a knife. There were time's I wish I had had a book of match's though!

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Took a scale into the field with him?
Still amaze's me all the stuff guy's carry hunting and the OP throws in a scale! Maybe he doesn't carry all the other stuff! When I hunted, not so much anymore, I carried my rifle and a knife. There were time's I wish I had had a book of match's though!

To clarify, I did take 2 scales into the backcountry when we had llamas to make sure the loads were balanced. When I was solo deer hunting I left it in the car and weighed everything as it came out of my pack.
I think the one problem with weighing the packages meat is that some people cut a decent amount of fat into their burger so that changes things, also you aren’t accounting for silver skin and other things that are tossed.

 

[ida homer]

There are guys that are legit and then there are guys that think bull elk weigh 1,000 lbs.

Even 350 bulls do not weigh 1,000 lbs.