[Fleroo]

Well, out of the handful of writing contributors that write for the PON, Bob Steiner has consistently been my least favorite. I don't care for most of his "ideas", nor do I typically share his way of thinking. Well, after expressing such on here, I have to give the guy a bit of credit. He actually wrote a column that contained snippets of humor that made me giggle (just a little bit), and contained truth also. It was on all the MASSIVE Deer that are submitted to various publications. Not horn-wise, but rather weight-wise. His premise pretty much was, either get a reliable (properly callibrated) scale, or just stop the nonsensical guessing at a Deer's weight. What "appears" to be a big Deer, may very well be a big Deer, but trumping up the weights to the tune of an extra 50+ pounds just makes all these captions with the photos appear silly. It seems that every single Deer photo nowadays not only comes with the "green score", but also an exorbitant weight with the additional proclamation of it being "dressed weight" to really convince the reader that it was just as big as a Holstein.

Every Buck, in nearly every photo is a nice rounded multiple of 5 or 10 number, and never less than 170 "dressed".

. I agree with Steiner on this one. I've whacked my share of big Deer, and have estimated some at incredible weights (Doe included), only to be humbled when popped on a reliable scale. Sure AR/HR may be producing healthier full-bodied Deer compared to 30 years ago, but some folks need to get a grip......... or a nice reliable scale.

 

[Coureur De Bois]

I agree, just looking at a deer or estimating the weight after dragging it for a mile is going to be accurate. I have found that the deer tape that the PGC sells, http://www.theoutdoorshop.state.pa.us/FBG/game/ProductMedia/deertape.jpg
is fairly accurate. It's based on the same principle of the ones we used for cattle when I was on the farm. We killed a buck one year at camp and the tape said it's field dress weight was 161 pounds. The hunter said he would check it on a hanging scale that he had at the farm when he got back home, scale said 160 pounds.
The following picture will give you some idea on size and weight of hanging deer. The near buck weighed, according to PGC tape, all field dress weights, 146#, middle 171# and the rear was a 1.5 year old doe that probably was about 90 pounds, didn't tape.

 

[harleynit]

That is the reason I just ignore any weights given by hunters. It is the same with fish.

A buddy shot a nice 2.5 year old buck several years back. A bunch of hunters looking at it estimated the weight between 135 - 160. When we put it on the scale it was 108 lbs.

 

[JasonN]

I stopped using my scale because I'd rather guess and sound good than be way off with a 'real' number!

When I bought a scale to weigh deer I was humbled right quick about how much a deer weighs. Those northern deer that are hanging on scales pulling over 250lbs have got be a load of fun to drag!

 

[dce]

I've weighed a bunch of mature doe that had twins with them.The dressed weight was usually around 85lbs.Granted this was in an overbrowsed area of 2G and not AG land.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I must agree many deer are over estimated when it comes to weight. I use to weigh my deer on a scale and once killed an 8 point buck that field dressed 85 pounds. My biggest was two years ago, a 10 point that field dressed 185 pounds! That buck was a monster. I have hunted here for 41 years and have never seen a buck that heavy!

 

[Farmer Jim]

I must agree many deer are over estimated when it comes to weight. I use to weigh my deer on a scale and once killed an 8 point buck that field dressed 85 pounds. My biggest was two years ago, a 10 point that field dressed 185 pounds! That buck was a monster. I have hunted here for 41 years and have never seen a buck that heavy!

I agree that guessing just doesn't work, and the weight tapes are only going to come so close, because just like the ones we use on pigs and cattle it all depends on how the animal is built. I shot a buck 12 years ago that I weighed just because he was a moose compared to any of the others I had shot. Dressed, he was 187 lbs. Until this year I hadn't seen another that even came close, I stalked him during archery but couldn't pull it off, he is big, my unofficial guess is he could break 200. Maybe he'll run into my lap during flintlock. Most around here that I've shot or guys have shown me are less than 150. And those are the exception. Many don't go over 130.

 

[repsagA29]

Two years ago I was fortunate to hunt Ontario with a friend who had been hunting there for years. Before we went, he was telling me about these deer weighing 200 or over. Now I have weighed a few 6 and 7 pointers over the year and most go 100-120 dressed. So I figured my buddy was just pumping up the trip a bit. Well I gotta say, when you see a deer that weighs 218 lbs (later weighed in the barn) you know it. The thing was huge!

 

[Whaler]

We hunt one area that must have some good genes. We have killed several big bodied bucks there. My archery buck from there this year was 191 lbs dressed and that was after I removed the most fat I've ever seen in a buck. This buck was killed Oct 20 and I bet it would of been 40-50 lbs less by gun season due to the rut.

 

[BCozhunter]

When it's a 2 mile drag back to the truck, they all weigh over 200 pounds!

 

[Fleroo]

We hunt one area that must have some good genes. We have killed several big bodied bucks there.

Well Whaler, I don't know if you hunt in an area with remarkable genes or not, but I do know that the poster on your wall has me considering switching my hops/barley preference to Milwaukees Best.

Oh, and by the way, why don't you post a picture of the Deer ?

 

[Smtn10pt]

No way that buck on the right was that big, he still has spots!

 

[Whaler]

You know what, the spots might be genetic also. That's the second buck I killed in that area that had those spots. I'm getting the hide done with the hair on and I hope those spots don't fade. Has anyone ever seen that before on a mature whitetail?

 

[customreloading]

I have a scale on my hoist so no deer that gets processed here does so without being weighed. The weight that people guess have come down quite abit since I added the scale to my setup.

 

[Sykotik]

I have only had 3 deer weighed. The 7-point on the wall weighed 196 dressed. One doe went 144 dressed.

The one I know was the heaviest was a doe that just happend to expire in a stripping pit. 2 miles from the car.

3 hours later, I was still trying to drag that 400 pound deer when my uncle and cousin showed up.

They drug it the last 200 yards or so and heaved it into the trunk of my car.

I crawled up, looked in and asked "Where's the rest of it"

112 dressed....probably 120 or so before I ground part of the one side off dragging the critter.

 

[Wiz]

I started weighing deer about 6 or 7 years ago. I generally find that they lose a lot of weight between the time I shoot them and the time I walk up to them. They loose more weight by the time they get to the scale. Can't figure it out!

I've killed 3 bucks on our property in middle Georgia over the past few years. All three have been near the end of peak rut. 2 bucks weighed in at 175 lbs. and 174 lbs. The one I got this year was 152 lbs and looked way larger than either of the previous 2 bucks. Of course he was sporting larger headgear so of course he looked bigger.

I killed 2 doe on the first Saturday in PA and estimated they at 75 lbs. and 100 lbs. I ended up getting around 25 lbs. of meat from the smaller one and about 35 lbs. from the larger one. My dad's 7 point only produced about 35 lbs. of meat but the processor said the one should was wasted so it would have probably added about 10 lbs. of meat if added. I suspect if we weighed the buck it would have been around 150 lbs.

 

[Big Redneck]

Check out www.rimersburgrodandgunclub.com

click on big buck

This a weight buck pool, the 12 heaviest are listed.

They sold over 5000 tickets, not sure how many were weighted in this year.

Last years winner was a little over 200#, 204 or 205 if I remember correctly.

Most of these deer are shot in farm country, corn fed deer.

 

[SigPro2340]

Shot a fair amount of deer in multiple states over the years and if I had to pick an average weight I'd say 120lb dressed. To the best of my memory the heaviest (scaled) I ever shot was 186lb dressed and the only thing that really stood out was the length of the body. The bulk of all the deer seemed proportionate to the body.

 

[hemicuda]

I killed two big buck. The first one went 198# I killed him the first week of archery. The 2nd big buck I killed is mounted right next to the first one on the wall. This buck has a bigger chest and is visably a bigger deer then the first one. But when I weighed this buck he only weighed 176#. I killed him at the end of the rut. Buck really drop weight through October. Weights were taken on the same scale.
Smallest deer I ever shot was a spike buck in Virginia. 70#.

 

[jmbear12]

I had the opposite problem this year... guessed my brother's early November archery buck at about 150 field dressed. We were all a little shocked when the needle stopped at 185.

I'm assuming when most of you refer to "dressed" deer, you're referring to the field-dressed carcass with head and skin still intact?