Weight question..?

[Guest]

Help me out here folks. What do you figure is the % of weight difference between a clean dressed deer and a deer weighed in on the hoof?

I see a lot of deer on the forum being weighed or estimated on the hoof, which is contrary to everything I've been exposed to.

My somewhat uneducated guess is 20-25%.

Anyone else have a better guess?

Thanks much!

[Partikle]

Hi Carl,

I found this on the Ontario Whitetail page. (Ontario Bucks )

Large or small, a deer loses an average of 23 per cent of its body weight when field dressed, and about another 17- to 25 per cent when hide, head, and lower legs are removed. This butcher-ready weight is a higher percentage of whole body weight for larger animals. For instance, an 80-pound field-dressed fawn fully dresses (butcher ready) at 52 per cent; a 125-pound yearling at 57 per cent; and a field-dressed deer over 160 pounds at about 60 per cent.

Nick

[Woody Williams]

Field dressed weight is 78 or 79% of live weight.

From that weight you should yield 58% of boneless meat.

ie; a 158 lb deer will weigh 120 field dressed and yield 70 lbs of meat.

[GaryL]

Thanks fer that bit of information Woody Williams..I have been in a few disagreements with a few over that question...They seem to think the BUTCHER is ripping them off, I tell them nope and if ya don't believe me buther your next deer and see for your self...

[Newbi]

A butcher once told me that about 45-50% of live weight would be lost after field dressing and removing hide, head and lower legs. If the animal is boned deduct another 10-12%. Never really checked though.

[JRS]

I found the formulas for determining different weights to be fairly accurate on this site.

http://www.askthemeatman.com/estimate_deer_weight.htm