How Much Meat Will Your Deer Yield

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer

Moderator
Staff member
If you have worked at processing facilities as much as I have collecting deer data, you have to just shake you head when I hear a guy tell the butcher all the cuts of meat he wants from the little button buck he just dropped off. Or when he gets mad when he picks up his meat and says "that's all I got?" I guess he forgot it only weighed 50 pounds head, hide and all, and the the 30-06 ruined most of the front shoulders.

Then I see this posted on another thread:

Quote:
Not sure of the live weight but the butcher gave me 140lbs of meat, so I'm guessing between 180-190lbs.



Do you really think the head, hide, bones, and guts only make up 25% of a deer's total weight? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

Was thier any sausage made? Maybe 50% pork added? I don't know, but something don't add up.

Here is a good article on a realistic estimate of how much meat you should expect to get back.

How Much Meat Will Your Deer Yield?
 
According to your chart a large mature buck would yield 72 lbs with out the waste factor. Not 140 lbs! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
Quote:
In most cases, hunters will likely see little difference in meat yields between the deer they shoot.


Interesting.
Thanks.
PC
 
A lot depends on how it was taken care of before it gets there, and where it was shot. It is not uncommon to see both front shoulder ruined by the bazooka some guy uses on his deer.

I have seen some deer that were literally shot to pieces. Some as many as 4 times. Then the yield goes way down.
 
The buck that I killed weighed 185 lbs field dressed. I got 50 pounds of hamburger, that had 5 lbs of bacon added to it. I shot it with a bow, so no damage to the edible parts. I thought that was a good bit of meat. That 50 lbs didn't include the steaks, roast, backstraps, inner tenderloin, all that is good stuff.
 
I've never heard of adding bacon to hamburger except bacon cheese burgurs. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 1% fat is pretty lean.

I usually add about 15% beef fat to my ground venison. It is enough to fry it up, but not enough to even drain any greese off. No problem making patties either.
 
The proccesor told me later that he should have got me get more bacon, there was more hamburger than he thought. It is actually pretty good that way. I had never had it that way before.
 
Plumbob,

So what do you figure the total take home was? Without the added pork fat etc your still only talking around 80 Lbs right. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif

Dave
 
meat cutter tells me.....field dressed = X

if you have no pork fat or suet added to make burger or sausage and have the cuts made with loins, roasts etc.

you will yield 50% of X
 
YellowHammer,

Ive used at least half a dozen butchers over the years and any processed meat was done with pork products. Sausage is done with 25% pork fat spice etc and burger with 15-20% ground up pig stuff. The fat is what imparts and enhances the flavor to otherwise non-prefered cuts.

Tonite I (Unrolled) a backstrap. Coated it with seasoning and maple syrup. I then laid strips of bacon on top and sliced the width of the bacon. Rolled it up and sliced in half one more time. Pin together with a couple tooth picks and you end up with perfect 1/4" pinwheels. Bake at 450 for about 15-20 minutes. Served with Boiled red potatoe's, Apple sauce and fresh pea's and ended with Death by Chocolate ice cream over apple fritters. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Try it, then ask yourself why your not adding pork products to your venison! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Dave
 
Around here, most deer processors use either 50-50 or 60-40 deer:pork for sausage whether it is pan or smoked. The burger has beef trimming added usually 10-20%.
 
You all are making me hungry!!!!!!

I am going to try the Plumbrich way next time sounds really good. Thanks for the ideas guys. No more crap fat for me.


Rus
 
Man o man, Yellowhammer, you seem to really enjoy picking fights. For everyone viewing this thread....that 140lbs of meat that our mod is claiming to be a lie came from my buck. Now that's not boneless cuts (except for four boneless roasts). Along with that monsterous pile of flesh and bone came 14 nice bags of stew meat, as my wife refuses ground meat. Stews make for nicer meals.

I can see 70-80 lbs of boneless meat on a decent sized buck, but boning out is not too common up here. Even my buck three years ago gave me 126lbs from the butcher and it wasn't as big as this years.

Now when I bring my deer to the butcher, the four quarters are put up on hooks and wheeled over to the scale. The cutter then makes sure that I see the weight (will have to take a pic next time). Now before someone starts talking about "waste", I cannot leave my deer quarters or I will lose my place in line. I watch the entire process and tell the cutter how I want certain cuts as he is doing it. I can tell you there is very little waste. Especially with a double lung shot just behind the shoulder.

Now if anyone wants to see pics of my buck, just go to www.archerytalk.com and go to the Outdoors forum and then the hunting sub-forum. There's a sticky thread for non-archery harvests. It's the first post.

Interesting story on that buck in the Bowhunting forum as well on AT. But I won't tell it here....might be called a liar again.
 
Yellowhammer,
I've butchered dozens of deer in the past 20 years (also, chickens goats, hogs and beef) and have a pretty good idea what to expect will be put in the freezer. All the animals I've processed have been boned out and my wife and I don't add any lard or fillers to the venison. We like it natural just fine. Even before I read the article my rule of thumb is 50% +/- from the field dressed weight. I weigh all the deer we put up before skinning and after wrapping. Case in point: a couple of weeks ago I bow shot a nice doe that dressed out at 115 lb. We packaged 55 or 57 lbs, I can't remember which. Just under 50%. That is about average on a double lung no meat damage deer. Ohio is a slug/pistol/muzzleloader state only. In gun season even those animals I've cut up for those who've butt or shoulder shot their game don't loose too much meat due to the slow projectiles used. Big fat slugs create a big hole but usually don't cause massive bloodshot conditions. Cutting out the wound channel to remove any lead residue is my practice and even then there isn't much over 3lbs of loss normally. (Foster style slugs that plow through rear hams look like metal donuts when removed)
Guys, if I can suggest this, don't expect a slew of different cuts from an average deer. The front legs, chest and neck meat are best used for burger and stew cuts. The backstraps (loins) are good to cut into medalions or butterfly steaks. The different muscle groups in the rear hams supply the bulk of the steaks and roasts. Depending on what your preference is they can be wrapped either way but there is a difference in them that determines which works better for steaks or roasts. There are two smaller muscles (that's what meat is) on the inside of the body cavity against the spine just infront of the pelvic area. These are what a friend who taught me the trade calls the butcher's cut due to certain processors knowing they are the most tender and don't seem to make it into the rack with the other packages. Others call them tenderloins. If you want you can cut the ribs for barbqueing, too. That's it, folks. Other than adding pork, lard, spices, or making it into sausage which hikes the price of processing it is pretty simple. Oh, yes, remove all the fat and hair you can first.
A large buck I bow shot 3 years ago field dressed at 220 lbs. We removed and wrapped a little over 110 lbs of meat from him. That is about what I got out of a good size cow elk, too. After I shot her my bwana estimated her to be about 550 lbs on the hoof. But elk have much larger heads, thicker hides and hair and offal so the waste factor appears to be much higher. These are my experiences hope they help.
 
Quote:
But I won't tell it here....might be called a liar again.




Ballistic-

I don't believe I called you a liar. However, if you did get back 140 pounds of meat (with nothing added), then you are mistaken in your estimate of the live weight of said deer.

The difference between live and field dressed weight is usally between 20-25%. If your live weight estimate were right, then your field dressed weight would be in the neighborhood of 140. The ideal return in meat would be 70 pounds.

Since the amount of meat you got back is twice that, it would make the field dressed weight twice that (280 pounds). If you then add 20-25% to get back to live weight, you are at 340 pounds live weight.
 
Yellowhammer, I'm really curious now. I just can't help but think that there is a flaw somewhere in that formula. When I think back to the bucks I have taken (and there's not a tremendous number of them), I've always received over 100lbs of meat from my butcher. This is meat still on the bone. And I don't believe I've ever shot a buck with a live weight over 220lbs. As I said before, this seasons deer gave me 140lbs of meat. I saw the scales with my own eyes and really wasn't surprised. And the shop is reputable, the most popular butcher on the river. My 2003 buck gave me 126lbs of meat and I don't think that deer was over 200lbs live weight. But according to your formula, my 2006 buck would weigh (live) 340lbs and my 2003 buck would weigh 315lbs. That's, in my opinion, pretty ridiculous and tells me that there has to be a flaw somewhere. That formula cannot be universal.
 
ballistic trep,
you said, "Now when I bring my deer to the butcher, the four quarters are put up on hooks and wheeled over to the scale. The cutter then makes sure that I see the weight"

Are you seeing the weight for the field dressed animal with hide, head and hooves before processing or just the quarters less the hide, head and hooves? Just trying to be sure we are all comparing apples to apples. When I think of field dressed that is removing the offal (intestines) from the animal only to prevent gas build up and spoiling of meat. Then when it is brought in from the field it is weighed with hide, head, hooves and usually lungs, heart and windpipe. From that weight the meat received is about 50% +/-. If you are just seeing the hams and quarters wieghed before cutting then that would be a different ratio altogether. I have read that Canadian deer are huge.
 
Quote:
and usually lungs, heart and windpipe



That is not "usual" for field dressed weight. Field dressed means all the vitals removed including heart, lungs and kidneys. Most times the windpipe is still there, since you would have to rip the hide all the way to the head to get it out.

I rarely see people that have "field dressed" their deer bring them in with the heart and lungs still intact.

Why would you leave the heart and lungs? I eat the heart so I can see leaving that, but the lungs?

Quote:
I've always received over 100lbs of meat from my butcher. This is meat still on the bone



If you are going to get your meat back still on the bone, what are you paying a butcher for? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 


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