D
Deleted member 28227
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Don’t even get me started about bears...
Don’t even get me started about bears...
Walkathon
Well-known member
Heck, one guy I know went to Wyoming, shot a cow elk, and brought home 400 lbs of meat. Just ask him 
Addicting
Well-known member
Heck, one guy I know went to Wyoming, shot a cow elk, and brought home 400 lbs of meat. Just ask him
I’m guilty of that this year. I thought between the antelope and cow elk I was going to be bringing home 300 pounds of meat. Reality was 84lbs of elk burger, 40lbs of snack sticks, and whatever the tenderloin and backstrap weighed, maybe 35lbs. All that with 19lbs of antelope trim, a dozen or so packages of steak, and 2 bone in shoulder roasts.
I probably didn’t even break the 200 mark. However, if you would of helped me with unloading my stuffed full 155 quart Cooler you would swear it was 500lbs.
Raghorn 4x3
Hind/front quarter 81.3 (bone in)
Hind/front quarter 78.2 (bone in)
Loins/back strap 38
Heart no idea But made some yummy tacos
Neck and scraps 43
Total 202.5
3 point Mule deer buck, 80#s boneless dropped off weight at the butcher.
Antelope buck: 60 pounds boneless dropped off at butcher
Hind/front quarter 81.3 (bone in)
Hind/front quarter 78.2 (bone in)
Loins/back strap 38
Heart no idea But made some yummy tacos
Neck and scraps 43
Total 202.5
3 point Mule deer buck, 80#s boneless dropped off weight at the butcher.
Antelope buck: 60 pounds boneless dropped off at butcher
WapitiBob
Well-known member
We hung my 2008 NM bull from a tree and worked him up, filling two 120 qt coolers to the top with nothing but muscle. Drove to Prairie City OR and ol' man Huffman weighed the meat on the scales in the meat processor area of his market; 330 pounds. I haven't come close to that since.
ida homer
Well-known member
Hmmm.
With bears, I double what I think they are and add 50 pounds. Never weighed one but I think my method is pretty close.
D
Deleted member 28227
Guest
Yeah... exactly
WapitiBob
Well-known member
BrentD
Well-known member
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
WT doe neck, ribs, hocks, brisket, tender loins, back straps, all the legs, heart, liver, caul fat, and 2 scapula (the only bones) = 62.4 lbs. Meat yield was significantly less because she was super fat, so a lot of that was tallow that got trimmed off and tossed when processing.
westbranch
Well-known member
We had very close to 170 lbs of processed/packaged meat from this bull from 2018. No fat added, but includes the freezer paper and ground meat bags. We boned it out in the field, kept heart, brisket, neck meat. First elk I have processed, maybe missed 5-10 lbs of other trim from around the ribs and other spots if I had to put a number on it.
A decent sized doe from 2013 we ended up with 38 lbs of processed meat. Growing up we did our own processing but now I know we were leaving some good trim behind. My dad was not a fan of ground deer meat so we would feed some of the harder to get trim to the dog. Maybe 5 lbs missed? Hard to say.
npaden
Well-known member
The general consensus based on actual studies (University of Wyoming has done the most work in this area) is basically you end up with 1/3rd if the weight of the animal on the hoof (including guts, blood, etc.) in boneless meat.
This goes down on younger smaller animals and up on larger more mature animals but it is almost always in the 30 to 40 percent range.
Here in Texas I’ve been able to actually weigh a few animals (deer and pigs) before gutting them and those formulas were dead on for me.
Weighing a whole animal with an actual scale and guessing the weight based on heaving it around a bit are two drastically different things.
This goes down on younger smaller animals and up on larger more mature animals but it is almost always in the 30 to 40 percent range.
Here in Texas I’ve been able to actually weigh a few animals (deer and pigs) before gutting them and those formulas were dead on for me.
Weighing a whole animal with an actual scale and guessing the weight based on heaving it around a bit are two drastically different things.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I wish I had weights from the one deer I have taken. I processed it myself, but I didn't even weigh it. I wanted to, but it was my first large animal and I was a bit overwhelmed. I would estimate that I got 30-40# of meat and I am sure I was not terribly efficient at it. If I get one this season, I will do my best to get weights and share it with the class. This is a good topic.
D
Deleted member 28227
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Definitely and I'm aware of the 30% rule, problem is that data point is totally irrelevant. People are so bad at estimating live weight it makes the whole estimating meat yield look reasonable. To talk to hunters, every spring bear killed in MT this year weighed 400lbs live, when in reality I bet 80% were less than 140lbs, 10% were 150-175lbs, 5% were 175-200lbs, and 5% were above 200lbs.
What I think is way more practical and helpful is a picture of a 5x5 bull saying we packed out 185lbs of meat, a picture of a small 6x6 saying we packed out 190-200lbs of meat, and a picture of a huge monster 7pt bull saying we packed out 235-250lbs of meat. Same for moose, deer, pronghorn, bears, etc.
Also level of meat removal is important, a butcher might get 230lbs off an elk killed with a perfect shot, a veteran elk hunter might get 215lbs, a guy taking just the legal requirements 195, and someone taking that bozo advice from the "shot placement on an elk thread" and blasting a bull through both front shoulders with cheap ammo might only be getting 140-160lbs of meat.
The goal is to give new hunters representative animals and weights from people in the field doing their best butchering, rather than ratios that are impossible to estimate or number that stem from butcher quality processing.
npaden
Well-known member
I'm just saying that you should be able to back into a reasonable live weight based on the quoted boneless meat weight.
A small 6x6 bull elk with 200lbs of meat would be 600 pounds on the hoof. That sounds reasonable, maybe even a tiny bit light.
A guy stating that they got a 450lbs of meat off an elk would be a 1,350lb live elk. That is not believable unless it was the biggest bodied bull on Afognak Island.
Not to call anyone out but the 62lbs off a whitetail doe would equal a 186 live weight which seems pushing the envelope, but then if you factor in liver, heart, scapula etc. that normally wouldn't be included say that is 10 pounds. Take that off the 62 pounds gets you to to 52 lbs of boneless meat not counting organs and that gets you up to 156 live weight which seems much more reasonable.
Randy11's moose at 436 X 3 = 1,308 live weight which seems reasonable for a mature bull moose.
I just use the 1/3rd rule to check believeability of the quoted number.
That 436 was with bone-in quarters, which with a moose those bones are probably a fairly significant amount of weight.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Liver was 3.5 lbs, each scapula was about 1.25 lbs, and I'd guess there was 10 lbs of tallow, so 62 -3.5 -2.5 -10 = 46 lbs. of meat. Mature does in IA are 140-160 lbs off the hoof LINK, which x 0.30 yields 42-48 lbs of meat. This doe was a typical specimen for the area.
LuketheDog
Well-known member
My buddy's Shiras was 415# at the butcher, bone-in quarters, shanks, backstraps, one tenderloin, all neck meat...
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