How much meat yield from a deer?

[Hit-n-Miss]

Has anyone figured out what % of meat you should wind up with from a known live weight? How much is guts, hide, bones and ultimately meat? Say if you weighed a deer and it was 200# how much meat would you/should you get back from the processor? Taking into account a neck or head shot, with no meat damaged.

 

[Mako22]

I got about 40-45 pounds back from a 165 pound buck last year. On most Does (around 110 pounds) I'll get about 28-30 pounds.

 

[gadeerwoman]

Here's a conversion chart. Pretty accurate as a rule.
Field dressed = body cavity cleaned out (no heart, lungs, ect..)



Girth/Inches Live Weight
(in pounds) Field Dressed
(in pounds) Edible Meat
(in pounds)
24 55 38 28
25 61 43 27
26 66 49 30
27 71 53 31
28 77 59 34
29 82 64 36
30 90 70 39
31 98 74 42
32 102 80 45
33 110 87 50
34 118 91 54
35 126 99 57
36 135 104 61
37 146 115 66
38 157 126 71
39 169 135 74
40 182 144 80
41 195 156 88
42 210 170 94
43 228 182 103
44 244 198 110
45 267 214 120
46 290 233 130
47 310 251 139
48 340 272 153

 

[Boudreaux]

If I reading that correctly, a 195 live weight deer would yield 88lbs of meat.

I would believe this to be accurate. The best yield of meat I have ever gotten back was around 85lbs, and the butcher weighed the deer at around 195 lbs. It was a cold Dec morning and the butcher was 5 miles from the lease, so I did not field dress the deer.

 

[gadeerwoman]

You read it correctly. I've tested the chart a number of times and usually it will fall within a 5 lb range. Great way to check the live and dressed weight without a scale in the field is just to carry along a cloth tape measure and do the girth measurement and use the chart to convert the weight.
Most hunters do not realize how little meat there is in a large deer once you remove the hide, bones, and gristle.

 

[DaGris]

I shot a buck opening weekend. I did not save the front shoulders....I got 32 pounds of sausage and 20 pounds of cube steak....52 pounds

 

[Bones]

meat

I butcher my own and read somewhere where it is 39% of the gross weight of the deer. The last deer I butchered weighed 90lbs and I got about 33lbs of meat. My son killed one this last weekend that weighed 130lbs and I will again keep track of how much it yeilds, will let you know.

Bones

 

[gadeerwoman]

And when you get down to deciding live vs dressed weight the biologists even have a formula:
For fawns, does and yearling bucks, dressed weight is 75% of live weight.
For 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year-old bucks, dressed weight is 80% of live weight.
For mature bucks, dressed weight is 82% of live weight.
I always had a higher 'meat weight' when processing my own cause I cut every piece of edible meat off the bones. If it was something the dogs or cats could eat, it got cut off. And processors differ on how much they trim the meat. Some trim off all the silver and gristle, some don't. I always try to have some idea of about how much meat I should get back. If it's not within 10 lbs or so of my estimate, I'll question it, especially with a new processor.

 

[HighCotton]

Forget all the charts and stats

Depending on how good a job you or the processor does, you should get meat equal to 35 to 40% of the live weight. For example, a 120 lb doe would equal about 45 lbs of meat. Add to this any fat, etc. added for sausage or to ground deer.

HC

 

[potsticker]

gadeerwoman has got it right as usually. A live deer will make about 1/3rd of its live weight. If a deer live weight is 150lbs, it will make about 50lbs of processed meat. If a deer is field dressed it will get about 60% of the weight in processed meat. Simple, go shoot a bigger deer!

 

[Public Land Prowler]

I'd agree with the chart for deer...Also,Hogs usually yield only about 25% of body weight.

 

[medic1]

Yep. I always figure, and am usually pretty close, that I will get back 1/3 of the live weight in boneless meat.

 

[Hit-n-Miss]

Just got mine back he was 150# on the hoof. I got 46# of meat.

 

[Dead Eye Eddy]

Depending on how good a job you or the processor does, you should get meat equal to 35 to 40% of the live weight. For example, a 120 lb doe would equal about 45 lbs of meat. Add to this any fat, etc. added for sausage or to ground deer.

HC

Good point about adding fat to the meat. My butcher adds 50/50 trimmings at the rate of 4:1. In other words, 1 pound of trimmings (1/2 pound of pork/beef, 1/2 pound of fat) gets added to every 4 pounds of boneless venison. I get a larger percentage of meet back, but they are adding 25% more to the deboned venison before they grind it. I got 74 1-pound packs of slim jims back from my 140 pound 8-pt last year and 52 1-pound packs of sausage back from my 110 pound doe the year before.

 

[GonePhishn]

thanks for the great chart ! I have been wondering that myself, after we dropped a nice doe a few weekends ago...