How much meat off a boned out bull

[Geewhiz]

Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I didn't have much luck searching the archives.

For those of you that bone out elk to pack it out, what kind of weight do you end up with back at the truck, vs weight after processing. I am asking about boned out meat vs bone in quarters. I realize you lose meat due to drying and trimming more with boned out meat.

I shot a bull last week and boned it out up in the hills. There were two of us involved in the butchering so we were able to keep the meat pretty clean and I felt that we were able to pick that carcass pretty clean. He wasn't a huge bodied bull, but what I would call average. As soon as we got back to town I took the meat to the processer. He weighed it in at 220 lbs of meat, not including the bags. Just today I went to pick it up and he gave me 132lbs. This is after adding 10% fat, which means he trimmed the 220lbs down to 120 before adding fat. I did not keep any choice cuts back for myself but had him process 100% of the meat we got off that elk. He told me himself when I picked it up that it was clean when I brought it in.

132 lbs of meat does not sound like much off a whole entire bull,....does it??


Last year I shot a bull and boned it out the same way. I gave the processor 201 lbs and got back 157. For reference. I kept the backstraps out of this one.


What have your numbers been?

 

[ewade07]

damn, thats crazy. ive gotten 150 lbs back off of a cow before. how did he lose 90 lbs?

 

[Geewhiz]

That's what i'm trying to figure out. Just wanted to hear what other people's yield was before I got all up in a tizzy about it.

 

[Ucsdryder]

220 boned out is a lot. Most rag horns are 180-220 with leg bones in. Are you sure that number is right? Did he hang the elk? Hanging it will lead to more trimming needed. I processed my bull this year and was really surprised at how much I I tossed in the garbage pile! Mine was exceptionally clean.

 

[JakeSCH]

I've only take a few cows (this fall will by my first bull hunt) and butcher most of them myself. But I did take one cow to butcher and got back about ~125 lb.

 

[Rob5589]

Here's a site I found while curious myself.

How much Meat to Pack Out on an Elk?

The amount of meat on an an elk & how to pack out an elk are common questions. Table shows the weight of field dressed elk and the weight of de-boned meat.

www.backcountrychronicles.com

I shot a small spike bull this year. 4 quarters, straps, loins, brisket, neck meat, ended up around 80 lbs fully processed by myself.

 

[Geewhiz]

I brought it to him on Thursday mid day and picked it up today so he had it a week. It must have cooled in trays for a bit. As soon as I brought it to him he took it out of the bags and weighed it in trays. I watched him zero the trays before adding the meat.

 

[5MilesBack]

Generally, when I bone out a bull it's pretty darn clean going into the bags so there isn't that much to clean up or lose. A few years ago I got 268lbs (weighed) off a large bodied bull and then threw away something like 14lbs of scrap after processing it. In comparison, this year I quartered my moose and had probably 50lbs of scrap waste. Much more scrap from processing when I quarter them. But generally I think boned out weight is about 1/3 live weight.

And I take all the meat including neck meat, brisket, and rib meat.

 

[hunting1]

125-350 lbs boned meat! Sounds like he may have cut off a bunch of scrap or the elk was stringy.

A great breakdown.....

http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B594R.pdf

Love when guys shoot a raghorn and say they got 300- lbs of boned out meat or carried 600.

 

[Geewhiz]

I mean I realize there is a lot of trimming involved in processing a boned out elk, vs straight from the carcass, as the dried surfaces will have to be trimmed off of most every piece, but only 132 off a whole bull just doesn't seam right to me when I brought him well over 200.

 

[Sundance]

You got screwed. My last bull was #425 on bone-in meat. I cut and wrap myself at home. We weighed #46 of bones which was from all 4 quarters. I then had about #60 of trim which was fat, sinew, blood shot and gristle. I ended at #300+ cut and wrapped meat. If you brought #220 of bone-out meat I'd guess 10-15% trim. You should have ended up with around #190 after trim.

 

[Geewhiz]

180ish is what I was kinda expecting based on previous years yield. NOPE

 

[theleo91386]

The real question is how much weight is lost while it ages/dries in this situation?

 

[Geewhiz]

^^ also this

 

[Ucsdryder]

You got screwed. My last bull was #425 on bone-in meat. I cut and wrap myself at home. We weighed #46 of bones which was from all 4 quarters. I then had about #60 of trim which was fat, sinew, blood shot and gristle. I ended at #300+ cut and wrapped meat. If you brought #220 of bone-out meat I'd guess 10-15% trim. You should have ended up with around #190 after trim.

300 pounds of packaged meat off an elk?! That must have been a monster bodied bull!

 

[Ucsdryder]

The real question is how much weight is lost while it ages/dries in this situation?

you lose a lot from the meat drying out, plus you lose more when you trim the “rind”. Not sure the actual weights tho.

 

[BFR]

Had a similar experience with 2 cow elk, brought in whole, one weighed 270 and the other 260 lbs. when I picked it up I had 145 lbs of meat. Their excuse was one had a hindquarters blown away and the other a shoulder, both were clean double lung side to side. I had pictures and showed them to him and called him a liar, never went back. Had another in Utah, took in a whole cow and when I picked it up the carcass was still in the cooler next to the boxes. I spent 20 minutes and got 30 lbs of meat off the neck, ribs and hinds. Now I do my own, got 205 lbs of meat off her with both shoulders broken. Processors vary a lot, some good, some bad, I’d definitely question that much loss off of boned animal. Not much you can do except not use them again.

 

[theleo91386]

you lose a lot from the meat drying out, plus you lose more when you trim the “rind”. Not sure the actual weights tho.

Yeah the math gets foggy when you actually get into what all might be going on. When I get meat processed, if I want any jerky, their rule of thumb is 20lb wet gets you 5lb of jerky. Handling, trimming... even with ones that were processed at home have never felt nearly as heavy as when that meat was loaded in the pack bags on the mountain.

 

[280Ackley]

If he let it age for a few days and had to trim it, that sounds about right to me. When you debone them you double the surface area that needs trimmed. Even if it is clean when dropped off. I try to leave the bones in unless it is a really long pack out just for that reason.

 

[wapitibob]

Do your own cutting, only take meat for burger to a processor. You’ll then get an understanding how dying out individual pieces /muscles can really affect finished product.