ImBillT
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- Oct 29, 2018
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I have killed one(if 129lbs of boneless equals 400lbs live) My brother killed one bigger. Of the 12 mule deer I’ve killed, the second biggest yielded 104lbs. My wife’s 107lbs. My smallest yielded 89lbs and second smallest 98lbs. My biggest yielded 129lbs and my brothers 137lbs. As you can see, those two stood out substantially considering that the 12 other mule deer that I’ve process yielded between 89lbs and 107lbs of boneless meat, and the 89lbs was quite the outlier as well considering the second smallest was 98lbs. So out of 14 mule deer bucks that I’ve processed, 11 yielded between 98lbs and 107lbs. In fact, the first 12 yielded 107lbs or less, so if you had told me before my brother and I had killed the two heavy ones, that a mule deer buck could yield 129lbs plus, I would have been skeptical. I’m not sure that I’ll ever kill one that heavy again. That was my brother’s first ever deer hunt.Snopes has got nothing on you bro! Look at you go!
BTW, a boneless meat yield of 129 lbs. equates to a live weight of about 400 lbs. Where you killing 400 lb. deer? Inquiring minds want to know.
For comparison I got a little over 180lbs each from two cow elk and 264lbs from a bull. The whitetail doe from the photo in the post you quoted field dressed 64lbs. I didn’t weigh the meat, but probably 28-32lbs.
For clarity, I’m not weighing packaged meat. I’m weighing deboned meat before final trimming. There is fat, silver skin and tendon that gets removed, but was part of those weights. Weighing packaged meat would result in a slightly lower number. Also, I simply triple boneless meat for live weight estimation putting the two biggest bucks I’ve processed at 387lbs and 411lbs. An old man that hunts in the area where the two heaviest were killed told me that he killed one weighing 435lbs.
My brothers 137lbs and my 129lbs. Both had access to irrigated agriculture.
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