npaden
Well-known member
Okay, I usually butcher everything on my own, but I got busy and lazy this year and dropped off my elk and mule deer at the butcher instead.
I dropped it off boneless and they charge by the pound so they weighed it out with a digital scale. I was surprised by the results.
My 5x5 bull elk that I would guess at 3 1/2 years old yielded 162.4 pounds of boneless meat. Here's a picture of him.
Based on the charts that the Wyoming fish and game puts out that would correlate to a 550 pound live weight on the elk. Seems a little light to me but probably in the ball park. He wasn't an exceptionally large bodied elk, seemed about average to me. This was after the rut and he was for sure a little lighter than he would have been a month or so earlier. Per the Wyoming study that would put him in line with a 2 1/2 year old bull elk, I'll check his teeth and see if that matches up or if he was 3 1/2 and just run down a bit from the rut.
Here's a link to the Wyoming study for elk - http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B594R.pdf
The breakdown was basically 40lbs each for the boneless hindquarters, 40lbs for both boneless front shoulders and 40lbs for backstraps, tenderloins and neck meat. I felt like I do a pretty good job of getting the useable meat off a carcass but don't bring a whole lot extra either.
My mule deer seemed like a solid mature deer to me, no real idea on age (I haven't looked at his jawbone yet) but I would say 4 1/2 or older. Here's a picture of him.
I dropped his boneless meat off at the butcher today and it was 81.6 pounds. Last night I trimmed at least 5 pounds of fat off him and probably about 5 pounds of meat that was shot up a bit. Rounding it up to 90 pounds that would put him at 305 pounds live weight per a Wyoming study for mule deer.
Here's a link to the Wyoming study for mule deer - http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B589R.pdf
Weighing the quarters ended up almost identical to the elk except half the weight. (20lb boned hindquarters, etc.).
This would put him right at 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 based on the Wyoming study and based on his body size.
Thought it was interesting to get exact boned out weights and get a feel for what I've been carrying out on my back.
My friend weighed the big bodied Wyoming bull he shot back during the rut in September and each boned out hindquarter was 66lbs, both shoulders were 66lbs and the neck, backstraps and tenderloins were 66lbs as well for a total of 264lbs. His neck roasts were 14lbs each! Using the chart that would put that bull at 895lbs on the hoof! He was noticeably a big bodied bull that's for sure.
Here's a picture of me with his elk.
Just thought it was pretty interesting to see how things lined up. A 300lb mule deer seems pretty big and a 895lb Rocky Mountain elk sounds pretty big too.
I guess my New Mexico 550lb elk was a dwarf!
Last year on Monster Muleys this kind of thread ended up going crazy with some guy claiming his bull had 165lb hindquarters or something like that.
Anyone else weigh in their animals?
Just curious. Nathan
I dropped it off boneless and they charge by the pound so they weighed it out with a digital scale. I was surprised by the results.
My 5x5 bull elk that I would guess at 3 1/2 years old yielded 162.4 pounds of boneless meat. Here's a picture of him.
Based on the charts that the Wyoming fish and game puts out that would correlate to a 550 pound live weight on the elk. Seems a little light to me but probably in the ball park. He wasn't an exceptionally large bodied elk, seemed about average to me. This was after the rut and he was for sure a little lighter than he would have been a month or so earlier. Per the Wyoming study that would put him in line with a 2 1/2 year old bull elk, I'll check his teeth and see if that matches up or if he was 3 1/2 and just run down a bit from the rut.
Here's a link to the Wyoming study for elk - http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B594R.pdf
The breakdown was basically 40lbs each for the boneless hindquarters, 40lbs for both boneless front shoulders and 40lbs for backstraps, tenderloins and neck meat. I felt like I do a pretty good job of getting the useable meat off a carcass but don't bring a whole lot extra either.
My mule deer seemed like a solid mature deer to me, no real idea on age (I haven't looked at his jawbone yet) but I would say 4 1/2 or older. Here's a picture of him.
I dropped his boneless meat off at the butcher today and it was 81.6 pounds. Last night I trimmed at least 5 pounds of fat off him and probably about 5 pounds of meat that was shot up a bit. Rounding it up to 90 pounds that would put him at 305 pounds live weight per a Wyoming study for mule deer.
Here's a link to the Wyoming study for mule deer - http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B589R.pdf
Weighing the quarters ended up almost identical to the elk except half the weight. (20lb boned hindquarters, etc.).
This would put him right at 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 based on the Wyoming study and based on his body size.
Thought it was interesting to get exact boned out weights and get a feel for what I've been carrying out on my back.
My friend weighed the big bodied Wyoming bull he shot back during the rut in September and each boned out hindquarter was 66lbs, both shoulders were 66lbs and the neck, backstraps and tenderloins were 66lbs as well for a total of 264lbs. His neck roasts were 14lbs each! Using the chart that would put that bull at 895lbs on the hoof! He was noticeably a big bodied bull that's for sure.
Here's a picture of me with his elk.
Just thought it was pretty interesting to see how things lined up. A 300lb mule deer seems pretty big and a 895lb Rocky Mountain elk sounds pretty big too.
I guess my New Mexico 550lb elk was a dwarf!
Last year on Monster Muleys this kind of thread ended up going crazy with some guy claiming his bull had 165lb hindquarters or something like that.
Anyone else weigh in their animals?
Just curious. Nathan
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