How much meat?

[Rich M]

Shot one in 2019 that the biologist said was 300#. Lost a shoulder and some of the backstrap. Didn't formally weight it but had over 75# of meat off that critter.

If I use the whitetail calculation of 33%, then probably had closer to 100# of meat. We get 1/3 of the body weight in meat off the WT deer around here.

 

[Newtosavage]

Shot one in 2019 that the biologist said was 300#. Lost a shoulder and some of the backstrap. Didn't formally weight it but had over 75# of meat off that critter.

If I use the whitetail calculation of 33%, then probably had closer to 100# of meat. We get 1/3 of the body weight in meat off the WT deer around here.

33% has been just about spot-on for me over the years . So, around here, 100# whitetail = roughly 33 lbs. of boneless meat. Usually within a lb. or two every time for me.

1/3 meat
1/3 guts
1/3 bones head and skin.

At least, that's what they say. Darned if it isn't really close.

That means my buck would have been somewhere around 225-230 lbs on the hoof. Looked a lot bigger to me so maybe I could have salvaged more meat. Probably so. But it was cold and dark and I was by myself and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ha, ha.

 

[Laramie]

103 was my biggest regarding clean meat in the freezer. Shot a huge whitetail doe one year that broke 80 pounds of clean deboned meat. Most bigger mule deer yield 70- to 90 pounds from my experience.

 

[Rich M]

33% has been just about spot-on for me over the years . So, around here, 100# whitetail = roughly 33 lbs. of boneless meat. Usually within a lb. or two every time for me.

1/3 meat
1/3 guts
1/3 bones head and skin.

At least, that's what they say. Darned if it isn't really close.

That means my buck would have been somewhere around 225-230 lbs on the hoof. Looked a lot bigger to me so maybe I could have salvaged more meat. Probably so. But it was cold and dark and I was by myself and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ha, ha.

225-230# is a nice sized deer - he just plain looks bigger than a 150# dressed buck. Musta been real nice hunting without worrying about someone popping up in your field of view. Incredible!

We use 1 qt ziplock bags and put about 18 oz of grind in each one (+/- a little) and count those as 1 pound. Also package cubed steaks in 8-12-16 oz amounts, using a scale. That's just how we do it. Try to keep it even and orderly. Even do half portions for the mother in law.

The FL buck I got this year might have hit 100# whole. LOL!

 

[Newtosavage]

225-230# is a nice sized deer - he just plain looks bigger than a 150# dressed buck. Musta been real nice hunting without worrying about someone popping up in your field of view. Incredible!

We use 1 qt ziplock bags and put about 18 oz of grind in each one (+/- a little) and count those as 1 pound. Also package cubed steaks in 8-12-16 oz amounts, using a scale. That's just how we do it. Try to keep it even and orderly. Even do half portions for the mother in law.

The FL buck I got this year might have hit 100# whole. LOL!

It was incredible, but kinda weird too. Just not something I've ever experienced before!

My wife likes most of ours ground into 1lb. packages. She cooks a lot with ground venison. So much so in fact that one time when our youngest daughter was about 8, we ran out of venison and my wife used ground beef. Our daughter pushed the plate back and said "what's wrong with this stuff, it tastes weird!" ha, ha. Loved that.

 

[Firestone]

My wife dosen't like mule deer unless it's turned into smokies or sausage. I have had a couple bucks where I bring the processor 90 lbs of clean cut up meat and have never brought less then 70. That doesn't include backstraps, tenderloins, and scrap.
-90 for processor
-10 for backstraps and tenderloins
-10-15 scrap meat depending how clean it is when I deboned it in the field.

 

[grfox92]

I was going to make this exact thread.

I just don't understand how anyone is getting this much meat off of a deer.

Biggest buck I ever shot was a 296lb whitetail and I wound up with 59lb of wrapped meat.

Are you guys grinding and eating fat and layered chunks of silver skin?

If it's layered in silver skin, think of the shanks for example I don't consider that edible and I don't eat it. I boil it and give it to my dogs.

Maybe I'm just way more finicky and particular when it comes to game meat. I'm going to weigh all my meat from my first muley I shot this year. Just finished processing it. It was a 2.5 year old 3x3 in NW WY. If there is 40lbs of meat wrapped I will be shocked.

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[Newtosavage]

I was going to make this exact thread.

I just don't understand how anyone is getting this much meat off of a deer.

Biggest buck I ever shot was a 296lb whitetail and I wound up with 59lb of wrapped meat.

Are you guys grinding and eating fat and layered chunks of silver skin?

If it's layered in silver skin, think of the shanks for example I don't consider that edible and I don't eat it. I boil it and give it to my dogs.

Maybe I'm just way more finicky and particular when it comes to game meat. I'm going to weigh all my meat from my first muley I shot this year. Just finished processing it. It was a 2.5 year old 3x3 in NW WY. If there is 40lbs of meat wrapped I will be shocked.

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I just weighed the meat in the game bags with and without bones. Wasn't worried about anything more than that. To me this is more a reference for new hunters on how much weight they can expect to pack than it is how many packages of wrapped meat they will end up with.

I started focusing on muleys when I started hunting solo, because I know I can get a muley out by myself in two trips. In the case of my latest (and largest) buck, I made three trips but only because it was so close to the truck. Had I done it in two trips, the first trip would have been 45 lbs. of bone-in hindquarters on my hunting pack, which weighs about 20 lbs. by itself. So about 60-65 lbs. on my back. The 2nd trip would have been with my meat packing frame (3 lbs.) and I'd take both shoulders, both backstraps, the tenderloins and neck meat, plus the head and antlers for a total of about 55 lbs on my back.

Any more than that and I'm looking for help. I'll worry about the packaged meat over a beer at home.

 

[Ike Carlson]

I've never shot a mule deer before, but we have pulled well over 100 lbs off some whitetails.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I was going to make this exact thread.

I just don't understand how anyone is getting this much meat off of a deer.

Biggest buck I ever shot was a 296lb whitetail and I wound up with 59lb of wrapped meat.

Are you guys grinding and eating fat and layered chunks of silver skin?

If it's layered in silver skin, think of the shanks for example I don't consider that edible and I don't eat it. I boil it and give it to my dogs.

Maybe I'm just way more finicky and particular when it comes to game meat. I'm going to weigh all my meat from my first muley I shot this year. Just finished processing it. It was a 2.5 year old 3x3 in NW WY. If there is 40lbs of meat wrapped I will be shocked.

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Throw those shanks in the grind, I promise you will never know the difference once it is all said and done. Trim the silver skin off of any steaks or roasts.

 

[Ike Carlson]

And don't shoot your deer all to pieces. I like head/neck shots. A neck shot will wreck some meat, but it's better than having lead in your food. I've seen xrays of shot deer and that bullet sends lead all over the place. I'm switching to solid copper just for that reason.

 

[diamond10x]

I/we average 90-100lbs of meat from mule deer bucks. I love to hunt mule deer, love big bodied bucks especially. I’ll put my tag on a big old fat belly sagging sway back buck no matter what’s on his head 95% of the time.

I also try to take the entire neck and ribs along with the other quarter pieces as we love neck and rib roasts in our house.

 

[Cowboy20x]

Throw those shanks and neck meat into the crock pot, braise it for 12 hours and all that silver skin melts away. Cooked like that and seasoned right, shanks make delicious tacos