Boned out buck

lif

WKR
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
731
How much does a boned out mule deer, no hide, antlers on skull plate with boneless meat only, weigh? I was guessing 70-100lbs but not at all positive. Assuming it’s a muture buck of course, because that’s what we all kill. 😉
 
Joined
Aug 21, 2017
Messages
24
Location
Rio Rancho NM
without cape that's about right I'd say 75 to 85lbs. If your trimming as you go and depends on shot up meat etc.. if your in an area you would need to bone one out they are fat on wildflowers and good feed. Also if your hunting early sept after they loose the scraggly red hairs up high the cape is worth packing out. Its heavy but the best hair you'll see on a cape. Taxidermist will give partial credit for your velvet skull mount with a trade for cape.
 
OP
L

lif

WKR
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
731
Thanks for input. I’ve packed a few out. Always guessed at 70-80lbs. Killed a big boy in Colorado one year that yielded almost a 100 lbs of finished meat.
 
Joined
Jun 17, 2016
Messages
1,235
Location
ID
Had 62 pounds of meat in the freezer last year after trimming. Figure 5-7 lbs of bone per quarter. I would guess 80-90 lb range for this particular deer.
 

JDZ

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
559
Location
Texas
Holy balls.

In Idaho you have to take the quarters, backstraps, and tenderloins. I killed a good-bodied 4.5-year-old and packed out 55 lbs of meat, 2 lbs of skull plate and antlers, and a few ounces of proof-of-sex.

Not sure I coulda got 25 more lbs of neck and rib meat. You guys must kick ass at deboning necks, cheeks, and legs below the hock.
 

204guy

WKR
Joined
Mar 4, 2013
Messages
1,292
Location
WY
^^^ That's what I was thinking. When I've weighed them I think it's been around 70-85lbs with bone in.
 

muddydogs

WKR
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
1,099
Location
Utah
70 to 80 pounds of boned meat on a mule deer? Ya right were talking mule deer the size of a 2 year old cow elk. Ones lucky to get 50 pounds of meat off a mule deer and its closer to the 40 pound range unless its a monster buck. Heck grain feed Washington whitetails don't go that big. Even bone in your not going to get 70 pounds of meat as the bone left in the quarter only weights around 2 pounds on a deer so were talking 8 extra pounds of bone.
 

pods8 (Rugged Stitching)

WKR
Rokslide Sponsor
Joined
Mar 12, 2014
Messages
3,840
Location
Thornton, CO
I started keeping a fish/luggage scale at the truck. Here is the buck I shot this year, we trimmed off a ton of thick fat off this guy before taking the meat off him. Broke him down 1/2half each going into a game bag legs were bone in but the rest deboned, those game bags clocked in at 50lb ea, so 100lb of meat/leg bones. No the average deer isn't that heavy but yes they can get that heavy.

I just weighed the finished euro skull from that 84oz so a skull cap only perhaps 3-4lb?

h9qpBOSl.jpg
 

mtnwrunner

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
3,889
Location
Lowman, Idaho
I guess it really doesn't matter what it weighs.........you still gotta pack it out. I'd love to have a pack that only had 50 pounds of meat in it......

Randy
 
OP
L

lif

WKR
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
731
Lol. I’m going to have to stop posting threads. Didn’t realize this would start a school yard scuffle.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Messages
2,454
Location
Somewhere between here and there
Lol. I’m going to have to stop posting threads. Didn’t realize this would start a school yard scuffle.

Some people have a hard time envisioning things outside of their own small world.

I weighed the boneless off of a WY buck (3.5 years old) and came in at 80 pounds. I’ve seen bigger and smaller. Not sure where the cow elk comparison comes in, as I’ve found them to very repeatedly come in at 120-160 pounds.

I would plan on 80-100 for truly mature (4-8 year old) bucks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Messages
44
Location
Michigan
You guys saying 40-50 lbs... you know there is a right side and left side, don’t you? :)

Joking aside, I haven’t weighed a mule deer. But an average Michigan 2.5 year old whitetail (that’s old for Michigan!) from a non-agriculture area will produce 50# of meat, and I have had a couple 3.5-4.5 that produced 75-85#.

By comparison, my Colorado mule deer was an average 4 point but the body was huge compared to the whitetails I’m used to seeing. Just some more anecdotal info, FWIW...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: WCB

HookUp

WKR
Joined
Nov 4, 2015
Messages
957
50-60 lbs for a 3 year old deer farm land mule deer. I could probably take more silver skins and liners, no thanks. Bigger mountain bucks will weigh more.
 

George

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 29, 2016
Messages
158
Location
Stone Branch Kentucky
My 2017 Colorado 4pt that I figured to be 4.5 years old yielded 90lbs of meat into the freezer. I also packed out 27lbs of head, cape, and antlers, and 27lbs of subsequently trimmed off fat and sinew. I did not weigh the leg bones that I packed out. 90-100lbs is on par with most all of the mature buck borealis sub species of whitetail that I killed in Michigan and Iowa.

DSC08650 (1200 x 900).jpg

Macrurus sub species of whitetail killed in Iowa generally yielded about 75lbs of meat.

12pt.jpg

G
 
Last edited:

jimmy33

WKR
Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
350
You guys are shooting way bigger deer than me. I would say 50lbs is about the most “boned out” meat you’ll get out of most muley bucks, give it take 10lbs. I’ve shot quite a few in several different states and that’s about the most meat I’ve got off of one. I’m not counting any bones, cape, or horns.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

EastMT

WKR
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Messages
2,872
Location
Eastern Montana
One of my NW Montana muley was 240 lbs hanging on a certified scale, with the hide on. Far from average size, but good to be prepared for bigger just in case. 35-40% yield is 75+lbs. I don’t remember weighing the meat after it was cut.
 

mtwarden

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
Messages
9,487
Location
Montana
I weighed the boned out meat from mule deer buck this year as I was curious (made even more curious by the fact on how far I had to pack it out! :D)

68 lbs- that's no rib meat except towards the front where I took a large fillet of neck/front ribs off each side, probably close to 2-3 lbs each side. The head (with hide off, but lower jaw still on) was 11 lbs.

He was a pretty big bodied deer, but not the biggest I've seen in the field.

The University of Wyoming has a bunch of pretty solid data available on meat weights, collected on dozens (and dozens) of critters- I believe it can be sourced online
 
Top