How much meat (buck)

"still some steaks and ground beef left"
"100lb's of smoked ham and porterhouse steak"

How are you guys getting beef and ham from venison? :p

By f:P: ing the Q. I think the preferred word is sarcasm. There are too many variables in the OP's question. The best answer is 1/3 of full weight.

Depends on type of animal etc ...
 
I think Dutchie is pretty close at 1/3. Could be more on a big deer, could be less if you shoot the hell out of it
So a 200 lb deer you might get 65-70 lb boneless meat

We butcher our own and there is a huge pile of bones to dispose of.

And as noted by Bigfoot870 the skeleton weighs more than you might think, as does the hide and head
 
I will agree on the 1/3 rule. I butcher between 6-12 deer every year for the last 20 and you are not far off of 1/3 of the hanging weight when boned. You can expect up to 1/2 of that to be grinding meat but we do not tie roasts from the front end so a lot of that goes to grinding as hamburger/sausage is what most eat
 
In my experience there is quite a bit of meat that can really only be utilized if you have a good grinder. It has silver skin running through it and will plug any cheap grinder right away.

I suppose you could remove this yourself and bring it in for grinding/sausage.
 
My experience has been;
Live weight x 50% = trimmed hook weight
Hook weight x 50% = Trimmed eatable table meat ( no bones, fat, silver skin, or anything else I won't eat)
My dog Ruger eats all the trim.

1/3 field dressed weight would be pretty close for sure depending on Heart, liver wind pipe ect.
 
"still some steaks and ground beef left"
"100lb's of smoked ham and porterhouse steak"

How are you guys getting beef and ham from venison? :p


It's just a poke at a few of the buck story's on... Let me elaborate...



On a cold November day in 1926, Carl Lenander Jr. dropped a monstrous Minnesota buck with a single shot. Field-dressed, the deer weighed 402 pounds. The state Conservation Department calculated its live weight to be 511 pounds. No heavier whitetail deer has ever been recorded.

Quick math gives us...
511x.33=168.6lb's approx weight going into the freezer on this record setting white tail deer...


Now when someone says something funny like "it was a small to me deer, got 65lbs of meat just off the front shoulders"... I'm sorry but I just can't resist taking a poke at that... True or not that would of been a BIG deer to anybody.
 
My experience has been;
Live weight x 50% = trimmed hook weight
Hook weight x 50% = Trimmed eatable table meat ( no bones, fat, silver skin, or anything else I won't eat)
My dog Ruger eats all the trim.

1/3 field dressed weight would be pretty close for sure depending on Heart, liver wind pipe ect.

You get out of it, what you put in, in time. Butchering a deer without a lot of bloodshot takes some time, but really not that much considering what you get out. Getting the sinew and silver skin out increases your grinder meat. My dog just loves the trimmings, mixed with kibbles. Nothing goes to waste. Not quite like a commercial pig butcher where everything gets used except the squeal, but close.
 
I shot a huge Muley buck in the Shuswap area a number of years ago. On the hook, without entrails, head nor hide weighed 276 lbs.
In a three year period, myself and two other hunters shot 4 Muleys out of that area that dressed 200+

Meat in freezer was 144 lbs. so the 1/3 statement is probably close enough to go by.
Regards, Dave.
 
Depending on species (Mule Deer are bigger here than Whitetail) you get about 1/3 to half the hoof weight in meat. A lot will depend on what you are willing to eat. I generally only keep the quarters, backstraps and tenderloins which will be about 1/3 of the hoof weight. One of my buds likes the ribs, neck meat and organ meat (heart/liver and kidneys) so he gets more meat from the deer than me closer to half.
 
Below is the formula someone gave me years ago from Ask The Meatman Butcher. I have found it is very accurate and have only noticed a problem when the deer has been hit incorrectly and a lot of meat is damaged. There is a similar formula for bear that is also accurate.
Live Weight X 78% = Field Dress Weight X 75% = Hanging Weight X 75% = Edible Meat Weight
Here is an example of the formula:
100 Lbs. Live Weight X 78% = 78 Lbs. Field Dressed Weight X 75% = 58 Lbs. Hanging Weight X 75% = 43 Lbs. Edible Meat
We have taken deer from 99 to 295 pounds live weight and the formula has worked very closely at all stages.
Here's a table to estimate your deer's live weight. Measure the girth just behind the front legs.
Girth/Inches Live Weight(in pounds)
24 -55
25 -61
26 -66
27 -71
28 -77
29 -82
30 -90
31 -98
32 -102
33 -110
34 -118
35 -126
36 -135
37 -146
38 -157
39 -169
40 -182
41 -195
42 -210
43 -228
44 -244
45 -267
46 -290
47 -310
48 -340
 
Absolutely nothing better than fresh deer liver. Moose is passable if not milky from being in the rut, every other type of organ meat i pass on. When it comes to ribs, i leave the backstrap on and cut out the sternum end that is just bone, gristle, and dog meat. Pretty quick to make up a package....slow cooked...garlic, potatoes .....ummff. Most of the lesser cuts go to the grinder, after being really cleaned of silver skin and any tallowy fat. I like chops, so no roasts. When i hang a deer i take the lower leg meat right away, if it hangs its dried out and much harder to process. Deer stew or stir fry the second night....with the leg meat, since as i said i leave the back straps with the ribs.

Damn now i need to go hunting.
 
I once read to use the factor of .4 of gutted weight to give an approx idea of how much boned out meat could be expected form a white tailed deer. I think this is a far too generous number though...
 
I just took in 104 lbs of venison to the custom meat shop and got back well over 200 lbs of meat. I was told that everything doubles and the salami triples in the finished product. We got pepperettes with cheese, smokies with cheese, coarse kubasaw, breakfast sausages and salami. Man, those pepperettes are so awesome, they are almost all gone already! We should have got a triple batch of them.
 
Our buck hung out at 143lbs at the butcher (no head/skin/guts/half legs) and we just got 100lbs back so that's not too bad. We figure it was around 200lbs on the hoof.
 
I just took in 104 lbs of venison to the custom meat shop and got back well over 200 lbs of meat. I was told that everything doubles and the salami triples in the finished product. We got pepperettes with cheese, smokies with cheese, coarse kubasaw, breakfast sausages and salami. Man, those pepperettes are so awesome, they are almost all gone already! We should have got a triple batch of them.

Are they using all pork trim? I've had 2 salamis which were incredible; one was venison with beef trim, and the other was homemade with moose and bear. I love salami. Apparently, being fermented traditionally, it's not for the newbie home sausage maker though...
 
Are they using all pork trim? I've had 2 salamis which were incredible; one was venison with beef trim, and the other was homemade with moose and bear. I love salami. Apparently, being fermented traditionally, it's not for the newbie home sausage maker though...

I really don't know what they put in the salami, but it triples the weight. I know it's a pork mix that goes in the other products though, and the weight only doubles.
 
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