LAST EDITED ON Aug-09-09 AT 05:15PM (MST)[p]
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This question is a double edged sword (pun?).
I've been a butcher 31 years.
I know both sides of the debate.
I cut my own & would NEVER go to a commercial processor.
At the meat locker, time is money, they ain't eating it so most of the time they buzz the thing out asap on the bandsaw, which is OK as long as you like gamey tasting meat.
You see the bone marrow of wild game is very bitter & gamey and with each stroke across the bandsaw that marrow is smeared across the face of every single bone in chop or steak.
Time is money and most cannot take the time to remove the silver skin and fat from the burger either, another huge source of gamey flavor.
I just cut up my kid's buck from last week.
ALL BONELESS.
I saved the backstraps and a few pkgs of stew from the sirloin tips.
I love burger (WHEN DONE PROPERLY!) so everything else was boned out, fat & silverside removed and chunked up for grind.
I went down to Safeway & bought about 20 lbs of the fattiest hamburger available and then ground the vennison once.
I opened the hopper dumped in the once ground vennison and added the fatty burger.
Mixed the combo for about four minutes then ground the combo a second time.
YUUUUUUMMMMY!
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On the other hand some hunters can be completley unreasonable.
They bring in a dirt & hair covered carcass that's been shot to Hell.
Then comes the golden question when they arrive to pick it up, you can count on it every time.........."WHERE IS ALL MY MEAT??????"
That big carcass is kind of like one of those hollow easter bunnies.
By misjudging field-dressed weights of bucks, hunters often have unrealistic expectations of how much venison they should receive from their butcher. Many aspects combine to determine venison yields. Although a neck-shot mature buck can yield a big amount of steaks, chops, hamburger and stew meat, the amount of meat seems minuscule when compared to the meat yield of domestic animals.
All animals are built a little different. For hogs, almost everything is used - bacon, hocks, etc. A deer has long legs with little meat on them, whereas steers have the same bone structure (but with more meat). It's the muscle and fat that make them different.
Although it would be convenient to say a deer's meat yield is equal to 50 percent of its field-dressed weight, it wouldn't be totally accurate. A buck's condition plays a large role in how much boneless venison it will yield.
Meat Yields (In Pounds)
Animal Weight* Meat Waste %Meat
Lamb** 50 40 10 80%
Hog 240 189 51 79%
Black Angus 600 438 162 73%
Holstein Steer 900 513 387 57%
Mature Buck 180 72 108 40%
The Equation for Venison Yield
Hunters can learn more about their deer and how much venison it will yield by first obtaining an accurate field-dressed weight. This figure helps determine the deer's carcass weight - the deer's body weight minus its head, hide and innards. From there, it's easy to calculate how much venison is on the carcass.
It's important to note that this equation assumes that no part of the deer is lost to waste from tissue damage. Obviously, a deer suffering bullet - or to a lesser extent, arrow - damage to its back, hams, shoulders or neck will yield substantially less venison. Therefore, it includes calculations for "ideal" meat yield - the maximum amount of meat on a deer with nothing being lost to waste, and a "realistic" meat yield - the amount of meat a hunter can expect to receive after subtracting the pounds of meat lost to bullet/broadhead damage.
The equation does not account for meat that must be removed after being ruined by stomach contents or overexposure to warm weather.
Remember, to use the equation, first obtain an accurate field-dressed weight.
How Much Does it Weigh?
Mature Mule deer can be heavy, but much of their weight is distributed in non-meat areas. Here are some examples of how weight is distributed in deer. (live weights in parenthesis)
Hide Factor
Fawn: (100 pounds) 6.7 percent
Adult doe: (140 pounds) 7.9 percent
Adult buck (160 pounds) 8.7 percent
Bucks: more than 160 pounds 9 percent
Bone Factor
Fawn: (100 pounds) 13.8 percent
Adult doe: (140 pounds) 13 percent
Adult buck (160 pounds) 12.4 percent
Bucks: more than 160 pounds 11.7 percent
Blood Factor
Fawn: (100 pounds) 6 percent
Adult doe: (140 pounds) 5 percent
Adult buck (160 pounds) 5 percent
Bucks: more than 160 pounds 5 percent
Using this guide as an example, a 180-pound buck would have 16.2 pounds of hide, 21.06 pounds of bones and 9 pounds of blood. Unfortunately, it's difficult to estimate the live weight of a deer if it has been field-dressed because the weight of a deer's innards varies depending on its health and diet.
Carcass weight = Field-dressed weight divided by 1.331
Ideal boneless venison weight = Carcass weight multiplied by .67
Realistic venison yield = Ideal boneless weight multiplied by .70
Let's say a hunter kills a mature buck, and it weighs 165 pounds field-dressed. Using the above equation, we estimate its carcass will weigh 124 pounds, and it will ideally yield 83.08 pounds of boneless meat. The deer's realistic meat yield is about 58.15 pounds.
Because waste can vary between deer, we suggest using the "realistic" figure as a gauge. In the above example, the buck's realistic meat yield would range form 58 to 68 pounds. A 10-pound difference doesn't seem like much when dealing with a large deer , but it's noticeable when the deer is a fawn or yearling.
Conclusion
In most cases, hunters will likely see little difference in meat yields between the deer they shoot. Does and bucks from similar age classes yield similar amounts of venison. In fact, don't expect to see big differences in your net venison yield unless you're comparing relatively young deer with a big, mature, deep-chested buck.
HH
