# How many pounds of meat will a deer yeild?



## Sub-Urban-Deer (Oct 29, 2007)

Hey gang, i just got my buck venison back from my butcher. nice heavy amount, i weighed the meat on a scale, and it clicked in at just over 50 pounds. how large was my deer?


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## Sub-Urban-Deer (Oct 29, 2007)

tttt


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## IGluIt4U (Sep 22, 2004)

About 150 if the meat was boned out.. that is live weight, on the hoof.. :wink:


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## archeryhunterME (Feb 12, 2006)

I would figure that deer to be around 110# field dressed, or around there


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## 5MilesBack (Feb 28, 2007)

IGluIt4U said:


> About 150 if the meat was boned out.. that is live weight, on the hoof.. :wink:


What he said. Boned out you normally get about 1/3 live weight.


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## Huntarcher (Jul 21, 2004)

I have checked alot of deer in the past and what I have found out is if a deer is hanging there with the insides removed but the hide and head are still on and say that the deer weighs at 150 lbs dressed then you will approx. will get 73-78 lbs of meat so if you say you got 50lbs. of meat then I am guessing that your deer weighed approx. 97-103 lbs. with insides removed.


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## Chupacabra (Jul 10, 2006)

*Same here*



5MilesBack said:


> What he said. Boned out you normally get about 1/3 live weight.


Yep.


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## Myk (Nov 19, 2003)

I searched for a picture of the deer and couldn't find one. I don't know how NY deer are, but judging by IL deer or if it's the one in your avitar I think a better question would be how much meat should you have got.

50lbs sounds small to me, as in small doe or fawn.


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## sweryap (Aug 16, 2006)

Myk said:


> 50lbs sounds small to me, as in small doe or fawn.


That would be a huge fawn, I have seen fawns that probably don't weigh much more than 50 lbs live weight the last few weeks. From deer cleaned myself in the past (I doubt I get as much as a pro. butcher) I would say that 50 lbs of meat was a deer between 130 and 150 lbs. I just shot a doe on sunday, dressed weight was 160 lbs at the local scale, and I got 65 lbs of meat when I was done.


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## NewBorn (Oct 16, 2007)

I would say that is small especialy if you had it gound into burger and sausage etc. because then you have to add for fill? I have had this problem in the past when having someone else process my deer for me. As it seems most places in my area don't do a deer at a time when it comes to scrapps they get tossed together then guestimated after that - their cut of what they want jmho


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## IGluIt4U (Sep 22, 2004)

5MilesBack said:


> What he said. Boned out you normally get about 1/3 live weight.


It's a very rough rule of thumb, the nutrition of the deer has a huge influence.. there is a chart somewhere, if I can find it again, that shows estimated weights based on the girth of the animal, which is a much more accurate method of guesstimation.. :wink:


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## goatranch (Sep 11, 2004)

I have heard that if you know the body weight...you can deduct 40-50 pounds for head, guts, hide and legs. that should be close.


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## IGluIt4U (Sep 22, 2004)

Found it..  :wink:

This is a pretty good method of estimating. The girth is measured before field dressing.


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## thh058 (Jul 21, 2004)

we butcher our deer oursevles (no bones). we always get about 35-40% of the dressed weight.


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## Myk (Nov 19, 2003)

sweryap said:


> That would be a huge fawn, I have seen fawns that probably don't weigh much more than 50 lbs live weight the last few weeks. From deer cleaned myself in the past (I doubt I get as much as a pro. butcher) I would say that 50 lbs of meat was a deer between 130 and 150 lbs. I just shot a doe on sunday, dressed weight was 160 lbs at the local scale, and I got 65 lbs of meat when I was done.


I've been given tiny fawns but most of them where I hunt are hard to tell apart from the does on the hoof and only come up with about 10lbs less meat.

I bet you get more than the pros. Understandably they are on the clock and can't take the time to get all the meat possible.
If this was a small buck 50lbs would seem reasonable from a butcher. But if this was the buck in the avatar I would figure more along the lines of 70-80lbs of meat depending on the body.

Your 65lbs for an adult doe is about what I get on average.


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## Twanger_HA (Apr 11, 2007)

I don't take the time to weight the meat and the field-dressed carcass all that often anymore, but kinda figure that roughly half of the field-dressed weight is lean meat.
For a deer 'on the hoof' about 1/3 is guts, 1/3 is bone and hide, and 1/3 is meat.


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## 5MilesBack (Feb 28, 2007)

IGluIt4U said:


> This is a pretty good method of estimating. The girth is measured before field dressing.


From my experience, 1/3 live weight has been pretty much right on the money for deboned meat. Butchering cattle has always been close to 65% of the live weight, for bone-in. Some of those numbers in the chart look a little high to me.


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## IGluIt4U (Sep 22, 2004)

5MilesBack said:


> From my experience, 1/3 live weight has been pretty much right on the money for deboned meat. Butchering cattle has always been close to 65% of the live weight, for bone-in. Some of those numbers in the chart look a little high to me.


Yea, there were few details with this chart, but it could reflect bone-in cuts, which aren't done much any more... :noidea:


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## Bobmuley (Jan 14, 2004)

When I grew up hunting blacktails we were lucky to get 35-40 pounds of meat.

Mulies usually around 75 pounds (+/-10), and elk anywhere from 120-250 lbs for bulls of varying age.


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## Bailey (Oct 8, 2007)

Most butchers will just estimate amount of meat per a deer processed. No matter if your deer weighed 200 lbs or 150 lbs you will still get back 50lbs of meat. Thats just the way a lot of processors do it.


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## LOST (Jun 22, 2007)

I bought the "white-tailed deer measuring tape" by Lawson Ind. at the end of the season last year from Wally world. Like the chart already posted, you use it to measure girth, then it gives you hoof weight, dressed weight and processed weight. Runs along the same lines as the chart above. The hoof weight was even pretty close when I tried it on my wife! LOL


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## IGluIt4U (Sep 22, 2004)

LOST said:


> I bought the "white-tailed deer measuring tape" by Lawson Ind. at the end of the season last year from Wally world. Like the chart already posted, you use it to measure girth, then it gives you hoof weight, dressed weight and processed weight. Runs along the same lines as the chart above. *The hoof weight was even pretty close when I tried it on my wife!* LOL


That's a pretty bold move.... :chortle: :behindsof

:cheers:


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## ccwilder3 (Sep 13, 2003)

148.009087 lbs as a rough estimate.


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## -bowfreak- (Oct 18, 2006)

If I got 50 pounds of meat out of a deer I butchered, I would say it would field dress about 150lbs. Based on the deer meat some of my buddies bring in to work, they have all of their deer butchered, I think if they got 50 pounds of meat it would be from a 60 pound deer........I can't choke that stuff down. I think some of these butchers grind the hooves and everything up!


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## CWG (Nov 20, 2003)

yeah, and dont forget to factor in added pork fat. 
I got back 60ish pounds from a doe last year, average sized for here, 150ish I'd guess.


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## Rothhar1 (Apr 1, 2007)

Depending on shot damage 1/4 to 1/3 meat only no bone you cant eat that !!!LOL 100# feild dressed deer 35 would be doing good!:shade:


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## 454CasullOhio (Jun 30, 2007)

50 lbs assuming that you didnt get a bunch of smoked stuff done which shrinks yield considerably would be about a small deer like 125 lbs.


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## 454CasullOhio (Jun 30, 2007)

Bailey said:


> Most butchers will just estimate amount of meat per a deer processed. No matter if your deer weighed 200 lbs or 150 lbs you will still get back 50lbs of meat. Thats just the way a lot of processors do it.


Go somewhere else in that case. You probably arent getting your own meat either!


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## LOST (Jun 22, 2007)

IGluIt4U said:


> That's a pretty bold move.... :chortle: :behindsof
> 
> :cheers:


She's a good sport about most things. We've been married long enough she knows there's no telling what I'll come up with.


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