The Weight of Meat on a Live Deer calculator approximates the weight of meat on a deer based on its live or freshly killed weight and the type of deer.
INSTRUCTIONS: Choose weight units and enter the following:
- (DT) This is the type of deer (Choose One).
- (LW) This is the weight of the live or freshly killed deer, not field dressed.
Weight of Meat: The calculator computes the approximate weight (W) of meat on the deer in pounds. However, this can be automatically converted to other weight units (e.g. kilograms) via the pull-down window.
The Math / Science
The amount of meat yielded from a field dressed deer can be generally calculated based on some approximations of meat, bone, and hide ratios. The initial live (pre-field dressed) weight is multiplied by estimated percentages to give us the amount of weight made up of hide, bones, and blood and not meat. The values vary slightly depending on the size/age of deer. The values of hide, bone, and blood are calculated based on the deer and subtracted from the total live weight. The resulting weight is then multiplied by 0.67 to get the approximate weight after field dressing. 10% of that is subtracted to account for other waste. This brings us to the approximate boneless venison weight which we multiply by 0.7 to get the realistic venison yield.
Obviously it is impossible to calculate exactly how much meat a deer will yield before hand, and other people may assume a higher or lower percentage of the field dressed deer will be meat but this equation will give you a decent ballpark idea of what you can expect.
| Class of Deer | Hide Percentages | Bone Percentages | Blood Percentages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fawn: (100 pounds or less) | 6.7% | 13.8% | 6% |
| Adult doe: (up to 140 pounds) | 7.9% | 13% | 5% |
| Adult buck (up to 160 pounds) | 8.7% | 12.4% | 5% |
| Large buck (over 160 pounds) | 9% | 11.7% | 5% |
Meat Product Calculators:
- Weight of meat on a hog
- Weight of meat on a steer
- Weight of meat on a sheep
- Weight of meat on a goat
- Weight of meat on a deer (field dressed)
- Weight of meat on a deer (live weight)
- How many people will and amount of meat feed?
Read our Blog about the deer meat calculators: How much meat is on my deer
For more information on processing deer and eating venison see: