How Much Meat From A Deer

Hunting season is close, have you started your hunting strategies to claim or your next game animal - the whitetails? Be it buck or doe, these horned animals are highly intelligent which makes them difficult to catch. Traveling in bachelor groups, there is a chance that you can take home a 170-pound trophy. Hunters, being focused however, on their prize, sometimes disregard the need to estimate how much meat from a deer can be used. Through proper estimates and calculation, it will be a lot easier to enjoy the game, bring home the venison and make your wife happy. As they say, happy wife, happy life!

The Game

Whitetails often reside in remote areas and this means much of your hunting is going to be on foot. It is therefore, important that you are prepared with your weapons. A deer rifle is one of the most common weapon used for hunting and some of the models to consider for starters are the following:

-Winchester Model 70

-Savage Trophy Hunter XP

-Ruger American Rifle

Calibers are as effective and some common models are:

- .30-30 Winchester

- .30-06 Springfield

- 7mm Remington Magnum

Gear and all other critical supplies must be ready as well.

The best time, location, lure, plot, the tracking and the chase are what will make the hunt fun and enjoyable.

The computation

There are several ways to assess how much meat from a deer is converted compared from the original weight the deer has.

1. General estimate

The venison amount is usually 50% of the original body weight.

The field dressing or the innards is usually 30%.

Your average buck will therefore, give you an estimated 45 to 65 pounds once cleaned.

2. Common weight

Whitetails range from 100-170 lbs although they may come in as much as 300 pounds of buck. This highly depends on the area and the bachelor group you were able to connect with.

The natural weight of whitetails includes head, horns, feet, hide, bones, fat which makes the percentage of meat you get smaller A 120 poun deer may produce a 55 pouns venison.

3. Computation

(Full Weight*.7) *.45 = Weight of Lean, Boneless Version.

Field dressed weight * 1.28 (where 1.28 was a computation agreed upon though comparison of the several chest-girth charts.

4. Sample Table

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%

*Carcass weight. Head, hide and intestines removed

**University of Wisconsin research

Cutting up the Meat

Hunters must know how to cut their meat in order to determine how much can be used after the hunt.

Here's a good video to consider when assessing how much meat from a deer is available:

Cooking up the Meat

There are a lot of creative ways to present venison but some of the most common are the following:

• Stew
• Burger
• Corned venison (eg. corned beef)
• Meat balls
• Sausage
• Jerky
• Fried

Hunting will only be as enjoyable if you are prepared. Hopefully this article has provided the information you may need as you travel. Should you have questions, do not hesitate to reach out.

5 Ways In Which You Can Prevent Muscle Injuries

One of the many things that one cannot predict in life is a muscle injury. You may just be doing your own thing, working out or playing an outdoor sport, when you get a sudden, sharp pain, only to realize that you may have pulled or even torn a muscle.

When you engage in strenuous physical activities, you push your body to the limits, which put you at risk of sustaining a muscle injury. The good news, though, is that this risk can be reduced with proper muscle-strengthening activities exercises and engaging in healthy habits. 

Proven by scientific research, the following are ways in which you can avoid muscle injuries.

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1. Monitor Your Heart Rate

An individual’s heart rate variability (HRV) is the key to monitoring his/her fitness level. An optimum cardiovascular performance and autonomic nervous system conditioning are characterized by a low resting heart rate which can quickly accelerate to peak rate and return to baseline rate (higher HRV). A lower HRV is an indication of fatigue caused by overtraining, and could ultimately lead to a muscle injury should you train too fast and too hard.

With today’s smartphones and smartwatches which employ top-of-the-line technology, it is now very easy to keep your heart rate in check. Not only are they easily available in the market, they are very simple to use. 

Here’s how you should keep track of your HRV: measure the time taken by your heart rate to go back to 125 beats per minute after an intense exercise session. If it graduates to lowering faster over time, it means that your cardiovascular fitness is improving.

2. Perform eccentric strength exercises

Muscular injuries such as hamstring tears are a common occurrence in sports, and sustaining one leads to great loss of playing time. Recent studies, however, have proved that certain eccentric exercises such as Nordic Hamstring Curls can effectively prevent muscle injury. Training your muscles to maintain strength and tension as they lengthen, they help in preventing muscle tears, which occur when your muscle has to absorb a high amount of force due to elongating suddenly. 

3. Monitor your Vitamin D-levels

Believe it or not, a very large section of the population (more than 70%) has lower-than-ideal Vitamin D levels. Vitamin D plays a significant role in vital muscle functions, such as electrolyte balance and protein synthesis; a lack of the same therefore will lead to a lower balance of electrolytes, which inhibits muscle recovery and leads to premature fatigue, failure to synthesize protein and a inhibits and injury. In addition, it also leads to severe electrolyte imbalance and affects strength and performance. 

Optimal 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood levels should be 40-50 ng/ml. Athletes, especially those playing indoor games must take at least 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily. You must, however, consult with your physician before you start on any high-dose vitamin regimen.

4. Avoid Over-stretching While Warming-up

That vigorous stretching deters muscle injury is one of the biggest myths of any training program. On the contrary, over-stretching decreases performance by causing muscle damage. The real logic is that if a muscle is shocked by a sudden force or exertion of strength (especially during a warm-up session, which is meant to prepare the body for an intense workout session), it's at a higher risk for a tear. This is why you must keep your warm-up session short and sweet and lay off the Toe Touches. 

5. Get a screening of your functional movement 


A very popular trend that is used to prevent muscle injuries is the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). The FMS is a battery of seven scored drills that measure the level of fitness level and detects fatigue states. A low score and/or signs of asymmetry on this test indicate weakness and low mobility issues. When you have an imbalance, the low function of one muscle group is substituted with another, which increases the chance of a person sustaining a muscle injury.