Boned out buck

Ross

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I’ve weighed several of mine out of curiosity and the range noted is accurate 70-90 on a mature buck…..someday I will be close enough to drag one again🤙 This tank bodied deer out of the Montana cabinets made me go slow 👍he dwarfed the harem of 10 plus does he was hanging with…by the end of the packout you swear it was 125….
 

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Wrench

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Here's my whitetail with head and a 20ish pound load in my pack.

I packed my wife's mule deer out and it filled my 22mag to capacity with boned out meat and came in about the same weight.

I'd say expect 60 pounds of boneless meat. 20161118_154519.jpg20161118_154519.jpg
 

GrayGoose

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Don't have a final weight yet for packaged meat but 82 lbs is what my mule deer weighed this year on the bone. Front quarters weighed a little over 12 lbs each, hind quarters were around 20 lbs each.
 
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Four bone-in quarters, plus backstraps, neck, heart, inner loins, etc. weighed 103 when I stopped by the processor to use their scale. Adding the fleshed skull and antlers brought it to 107.

If you only got 50 pounds off a carcass, it was a small deer or you probably did a shitty job.
 
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My "little guy" this year produced two bags with bone in quarters + backstrap + tenderloins + neck meat that weighed ~ 32 lbs. ea plus another 4 lbs. for the head and antlers. So if those quarters were deboned, we'd be looking at around 58-60 lbs. total.

My hunting pack with the first load was right at 52 lbs (20 lbs. pack and gear + 32 lbs meat) and my meat hauler with the second load and head was a bit under 45 lbs.

These numbers aren't exact but they are close. That was a young buck. No more than 3 1/2 yrs. old

Two years ago I shot a whitetail in SE Texas with my muzzleloader and packed the whole thing out in one trip. That pack was about 70 lbs. with my hunting gear plus the quarters, scraps and head. 3 mi. from the truck, that sucked. If it hadn't been 80 degrees in January, I would have made two trips. LOL
 

S.Clancy

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The big bucks I've weighed (all bone in) come in between 95-110 lbs for quarters, backstraps, tendies neck meat and head. These are all 5+ yrs old.
 
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60-70 pounds for just meat off of a BIG buck without bone I would say is about average. Never weighted one. Split 2 packs evenly and roll....

Whoever shoots it gets the horns and cape. Unless its my wife, then I end up with her horns and cape..lol
 

mtwarden

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Split 2 packs evenly and roll....

I wish that would have been the case this year; solo and 7.5 miles from the trailhead. 7.5 miles out with ~ 70 lbs (pack/camping gear/20 lbs meat/head/rifle); day two was worse 7.5 miles in with a light pack, but 7.5 miles back out with another ~ 70 lb pack.

Always have a buddy! :D
 

mavinwa2

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my last 5 muley bucks, all mature 4x4 mainframes, the average packed meat yield is 80-82-lbs. All hide removed and meat bagged.
That is with only rear quarters bone-in, all else deboned. Front qtrs/shoulders so easy to debone quickly, 5 min each. Then add skinned head/cape to the load, about 5-lbs more.

Takes me 2 trips in/out as solo. 1 rear qtr, both backstraps, tenderloins packed 1st trip. 2nd rear qtr, bagged meat goes out last trip. This way if predator moves in on remainder, get best meat out first. Never had predator problem with deer. Not so with elk. But of course, solo I can get bagged deer meat higher up in a tree 😉
 
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I think there's always some confusion on this topic because some guys guestimate, some weight the finished packages of meat (did they add fat to that grind meat, by the way?), some weigh it bone in/skin off, some don't take the neck meat.... etc.

I used to get really confused by all this because I knew we would get 90-100 lbs of finished, packaged meat off a cow elk (minus some grind meat). Now I just accept that it'll be a lot of damn weight to haul no matter what, and I'm gonna be taking multiple trips if I'm solo and backpacking. So I just don't really worry about it.

FWIW, I only had to pack out about ~120 lbs of boned out meat from my last raghorn bull in MT. Body size of deer and elk varies wildly by age, genetics, and nutrition.
 

mtwarden

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It adds 20 lbs. to leave the shoulders and hinds bone in?


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20-ish lbs, yes on a “averaged sized” buck

close to 90 lbs bone in, close to 70 lbs boned out- fairly substantial weight savings
 
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20-ish lbs, yes on a “averaged sized” buck

close to 90 lbs bone in, close to 70 lbs boned out- fairly substantial weight savings

Awesome thanks. I didn’t bone out my buck this season in the high country due to time constraints and having not done it in the field before and it was a pretty rough pack out even with my buddy helping me. I’d like to think I’d have no problem doing the same pack out alone if I had boned him out


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mtwarden

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Once you do it a time or two, it goes pretty fast. If I happen to not be too far in, I prefer to leave the bone in on the rears simply because I can hang those two quarters and age them easier. Usually I’m too far in :D
 
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