How Much Meat From A Deer Can You Get? (All You Need To Know!)

For the majority of hunters, it’s the venison that makes the activity of hunting more thrilling. Once you’ve achieved your bonus, it’s time to place it in the freezer for storage, right? But this gives rise to an important question. How much meat from a deer will you yield to be able to keep it in your freezer?

In this article, I’m going to discuss everything you need to about the topic at hand. This includes whitetail deer average weight and the deer meat calculator method. So let’s begin, shall we?

How much meat from a deer

How much meat from a deer can you get?

How much meat from a deer

In this section, I’m going to talk about the amount of venison you can yield from a deer. Now, you should know that the calculations only apply to boneless, lean venison. With meat fat or chops, you get a larger overall weight. But the weight and quantity of the meat remain the same.

The weight of the meat is usually 50% lower than the actual weight of the animal.

More often than not, a whitetail deer average weight is around 150 pounds. It can differ depending on the location that you are hunting in. But even then, whitetail deer are not large animals.

A bigger buck can weigh as much as 300 pounds. But these are not the kind of bucks you hunt or even come across, isn’t it? And the chances are that if you’re a beginner, you will be bringing in an average whitetail deer. We always hear stories about bigger bucks but never manage to harvest them.

Typically, field dressing tends to remove as much as 30% of the overall deer weight. This process includes gutting the animal to eliminate its innards before getting them ready for storage. The percentage differs from one deer to another, but that doesn’t change the 30% benchmark.

Does this sound like complicated math? If yes, then there’s nothing you need to worry about here. You can easily estimate a deer’s venison yield at around 30 to 40 percent of the animal’s live weight. So this brings me closer to answering the question, how much meat from a deer can you get?

Factors to Consider

I can easily provide you with the equation that will help you calculate the quantity of venison you can get from a single deer. And I’ll eventually get to that. But before that happens, there are a few additional factors that play a significant role out on the field. It’s never as easy and straightforward as solving the equation.

Even if you’re a good butcher, you will be left with some waste. Improper or wrong techniques can make the process of butchering knock down a few pounds from the meat. Many butchers, both experts and beginners, trim a tad too close to the flesh. This causes them to shave off some meat while working on the fat. And let’s not forget about inevitable accidents.

So you should make it a point to practice performing the procedure with your hands. This way you won’t have to rely on a butcher to get the job done flawlessly. Once you get the hang of it, you can handle this task all by yourself without any guidance.

Let me bring to your notice an important fact before I forget it. Some deer contain more meat along with less fat. While a few of them have a plump physique. This means more fat but extra flavor. The only drawback here is that once the fat is out of the picture, the overall yield decreases in quantity.

So given your best shot at solving the equation, you will still have a rough, almost correct estimation. And even that is more than enough, isn’t it?

Deer Meat Calculator

How much meat from a deer

So how much meat from a deer will you receive? This is the equation that I was talking about earlier.

(Full weight x 0.7) x 0.45 = Weight of boneless, lean venison

The reason why I chose to multiply the overall weight with 0.45 is because of one obvious reason. Venison yield is usually 30 to 40% the total weight of a field dressed deer.

This equation works both ways. What does this mean? It means that you can also calculate the overall weight of your trophy with the help of the amount of venison yield you get. But if you don’t want to mess with the calculations, then stick to the original equation.

So What is the Final Answer?

Not interested in doing the math yourself? No problem. An average buck gives you around 45 to 65 pounds of meat after cleaning. The number can vary, but it’s always a better idea to be prepared to store 65 pounds of meat in your freezer.

Over here, 65 pounds is the maximum value while the lowest can be 30 to 35 pounds.

FIELD DRESSING LARGE GAME – Deer

Final note

Finally, you found the answer to the most frequently asked question. How much meat from a deer can you get?

So be prepared for the upcoming season. But please don’t aim for anything higher than average. The goal is to determine how many places you need to make in your freezer to store the venison, right? It’s not about bragging how big your trophy was.

So let’s keep the activity of hunting simple yet enjoyable. There’s no point in getting competitive for no reason at all.

I hope you enjoyed reading the article. Do you have any comments to drop off? You can do so in the section below. Also, let me know if you think that I’ve failed to discuss something important here. Your honest feedback is welcome.

Thank you for reading. Happy hunting!

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