Hook weight VS packaged weight

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45ACPKING

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I'm curious to see if anyone here who hunts a lot has ever done Hook weight of skinned and cleaned (shot meat) quarters to final package weight comparison.
My butcher suggested 30% loss (bones ect) if all care is taken from shot to butcher, maybe a tad more.
In my case I asked him about moose.
1 is 317pound in 4 skinned quarters
Other is 464 pound in 4 skinned quarters.
Together the hook weight is 781pound
So, any guesses how much it should ballpark to cut and wrapped? (Burger, roast, steak, ribs is how it's getting done)
What say you?
I'm gonna guess 500 lbs packaged
 
Don't be surprised if the actual weight is lower than you expect. Weight is lost by drying as the quarters hang and also if your butcher removes a lot of the fat and sinew as he cleans up the grinding meat you 'lol lose there as well. When I butcher my animals I prefer to have super lean a well trimmed cuts rather than going for total amount.

Even if you are 100 lbs under your estimate you'll have a pretty decent supply of moose in the freezer.
 
I bet 50% loss from hanging weight, netting you 390 pounds for the freezer, and that includes wrapping paper and packaging.............
 
I hear ya powdergun. Totally agree as well.
I only use the butcher if I have too and for past 20 years or so have butchered a pile of animals. Just never seen any discussion on this before. When butcher suggested 30 % being what they strive for but 35% loss being not unusual, I got curious. Anyone else done these comparisons? Does 30 to 35% loss sound about right? (Bones ect)
 
Butchers are fighting the clock, so they aren't going to take the same care as you are getting the best yield off the bone, close is close as far as they go, I know.....drank many a beer after hours watching the mad race for the finish line when lots of game was going through Russ' shot.
 
yodave said:
Butchers are fighting the clock, so they aren't going to take the same care as you are getting the best yield off the bone, close is close as far as they go, I know.....drank many a beer after hours watching the mad race for the finish line when lots of game was going through Russ' shot.
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Lots of truth in the above statement.......Time is money!!
 
Last year my moose was 399 pound on the hooks in quarters.
Nice clean thru the ribs kill, no real shocked meat save for ribs.
Hung in 0 to +5 in camp for 5 days then butcher for 10 days total. So 15 days from kill to my freezer. Weighed out at 274 lbs cut and wrapped. Just a smidge over 30% loss

Same butcher but a nice fat BC mulie
147 pound whole on the butchers hooks ( no head, skinned n gutted)
93 lbs cut and wrapped weight.
Which is just a hair over 35% loss
 
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We got 750lbs from the cutter (including added beef fat however) on this year's bull, cutting started the afternoon after it was shot. The hanging weight was mid to high 800s, we had him sharply trimmed and it depends if folks are keeping ribs, adding beef fat, or doing sausage but overall that's a much higher return rate than is being averaged here. Hanging time certainly seems to make a difference, personally I don't like to hang game.

Average yield on ranched Bison is about 55% of live weight, which is approaching the returns off hanging quarters in some instances here.
 
Ardent said:
We got 750lbs from the cutter (including added beef fat however) on this year's bull, cutting started the afternoon after it was shot. The hanging weight was mid to high 800s, we had him sharply trimmed and it depends if folks are keeping ribs, adding beef fat, or doing sausage but overall that's a much higher return rate than is being averaged here. Hanging time certainly seems to make a difference, personally I don't like to hang game.

Average yield on ranched Bison is about 55% of live weight, which is approaching the returns off hanging quarters in some instances here.
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I know there are no absolutes in these things with so many factors determining cut weight.
so are you saying 50% loss from skinned quarters is the norm or are you saying 30-35% from skinned quarters sounds reasonable?
to me and in my own experience I don't think I've ever thrown away 50% of hook weight but then again I've never really pondered this before.
the question I asked was sparked by a buddy asking me what my meat cost me all in from cost of the hunting trip to finished weight in my freezer.
I don't add other fat or meat to the ground at butchering and make my own sausage later.
 
40% meat in the freezer from Hanging weight...possibly less if you "Gang banged" it or shot running away.I did custom cutting for years, and most ROOKIES complained about the amount of meat they received...That's why I don't do it any more.
 
It's been a long time since I had an animal weighed in a shop since I bone everything out now. Have been weighing my boned out & trimmed deer since I've started sausaging everything (for accurate pork & spice ratio) and it takes a big deer to yield an average 40 lbs of usable meat.
 
fingers284 said:
It's been a long time since I had an animal weighed in a shop since I bone everything out now. Have been weighing my boned out & trimmed deer since I've started sausaging everything (for accurate pork & spice ratio) and it takes a big deer to yield an average 40 lbs of usable meat.
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X2

A WT doe of decent size is roughly 20-25lb's boned out and trimmed, I shot a hefty one a few weeks back and by the time she was in the deep freeze I bet I had 8lb's of fat off her back and belly alone in the pail...

If I could just find a damn calf moose I could weigh it for ya :p

Never try to add up hunting cost and divide it by the meat... You'll find it's cheaper to have a nice steak at the keg once a week all year round.
 
MY first time getting jerky made I was surprised when the butcher told me that most hams off of a deer yeild 10 pounds of meat. I bone every critter out now and you can get a pretty big critter into a fridge when the bones disappear.
 
hunter148 said:
We bone out our WT and have for years and figure 1/3 of the live weight is boned meat. Figures pretty close when compared on a scale
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That's what I have always been told by butchers as well.
My ground every year without the backstraps and tenderloins usually runs between 32 and 38 pounds of ground meat, depending on the size of the critter.

An average WT doe this year was 31.5 lbs of ground, the buck I shot on Saturday was a good sized one and he fetched 34lbs of ground.
Cat
 
Most of the weight loss would be bones, so it really depends on whether your boning out bits just for sausage etc, or just using the normal trim.

With cattle, we always figured on about 30% of live weight roughly to decide whether to ship cull cows and bulls or grind them.
 
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