Guys,

Thinking about a Bison shoot ... no not a hunt ... for freezer filling.

Can anyone give me an idea of what percentage of live weight is recovered as meat from a 3 to 4 year old Bison in the weight range of 1000 pounds?

Sure would appreciate the information!

thanks,

I would say around 30-35% ,3-350lbs. Not nearly as much as one would think looking at one standing in front of you!

My father just got one this past December. Maybe he will post it here. But if I recall it was a 1.5 year old and dressed and quartered it weighed about 500 pounds total. That is with the bone.

I think he got over 200 pounds of meat. So with a 3 to 4 year old, I would guess Trapntrav's 300 to 350 would be pretty close.

I grew up in the cattle ranching business and you figure the hanging weight of a carcass is 50% of live weight +/-5%. You can figure another 20-25% of the carcass weight will be bone. If you want better tasting meat shoot a younger bison if you can get one, I think a yearling should still weigh close to 1000 lbs on the hoof.

I shot a cow for the meat. I think she weighed about 800 pounds, and I got about 200 pounds of meat I do not keep organs, and tend to trim far from the bone, so as to leave more for my dog, and less too chewy for me. She does not care how chewy it is. I usually am content with about 25% net off anything I shoot and butcher.

A friend of mine went to Neb to get one for the freezer. His was a mid sized one and I believe he said he brought back about 370 lbs. Nate

My Dad has a bison ranch.

On average, I would expect (from a younger animal) to get about 50 to 55% recovery of the "hot hanging weight".

From a younger animal, your hot hanging weight is going to be in the vicinity of about 55% of the live weight.

I don't know if this helps, but I have killed quite a few 3 to 6 yo cows from my Dad's place and the bigger ones usually ended up with a hot hanging weight of around 600 lbs. Meat in my freezer was about 300 to 320 lbs after processing.

Bulls will be a little bigger on average, and get much bigger as they age. And the recovery % goes up as well...especially if you like burger.

Cheers,
Canuck

ps: here's a thread from last year showing a typical weekend of "making meat" (for our personal consumption) at the ranch....

Weekend at the ranch

Cheers,
Canuck

A friend of mine in west Texas has bison and told me that, on average, it takes 4 - 120qt coolers to haul all of the meat. Thats more meat than I have freezer room for but I'd wouldnt mind splitting it with someone.

This is a serious question ... How many 120 gt coolers can I get in the back of a Cherokee with the seats down?

I don't really have a feel for how big they are.

Thanks!

A buddy of mine killed a bull in MT on the migration hunt. He got 300 pounds of bugger off it plus steaks, roasts, etc.

Canuck is right on the yield but we generally hope for closer to 37-40% deboned yield of meat. We've hunted/shot hundreds of buffalo through the years and in general a 3-4 year old is pretty good meat. You can get a bad one and summer is a better time for a grass meat animal but generally my clients/customers are happy with these type animals. Spouses are usually pleased because they expect deer/elk taste. I guess a lot of wives aren't real deer/elk fans.

quote:

Originally posted by mstarling:
This is a serious question ... How many 120 gt coolers can I get in the back of a Cherokee with the seats down?

I don't really have a feel for how big they are.

Thanks!

I'm not overly familiar with Cherokees, but my guess would be four coolers of that size, with your other hunting gear. You'll have to stack them, so take something to secure them with, lest one launches out the windshield when you stop in a hurry. Any way you can give them a "test drive" before your departure?

I took a 5-6 year old cow off a farm, in Dec/04. The hanging weight of the cleaned carcass( no hide, no guts, no head, no legs below the knee) was 385 lbs, and I got 205 lbs of meat out of it ( all boneless, except a few packages of ribs).The butcher I took it to insisted on hanging for 10 days, before he cut it up. All cuts were as or more tender than you would expect, with the exception of the round steaks. But they converted nicely into sausage

mstarling,

With the back seats down you should be able to squeeze four 120 qt coolers in. It will be close though. If you shoot a 3 year old bull or a mature cow you will most likely only need 3 coolers IF you don't pack them with ice. Ice isn't necessary if the meat is fully frozen when packed and you are only taking a day trip.

Thanks Guys!

Am driving to Texas from WV. Going pig hunting on a friend's ranch. Will butcher the pork and freeze it, and then shoot a Bison.

The Bison will hang 4 days then be cut into sections that I can move to a place for butchery. Will freeze the meat and pack in ice for the 2 day trip back to WV.

Hope to have enough room in the vehicle to bring back the Bison meat and some pork.

Thought I'd use the .458 AR or a .470 NE DR on the Bison. Going to take a 9,3x74R Chapuis and a 9,3x62 CZ for piggies.

Sounds like you're in for a fun trip. I have a special place in my heart for pigs - especially those I get to shoot!

I shot a 2 yr old cow this last Oct. Did not get a hanging weight, but buffalorancher is right on the money for what I got. Had 1/3 of my burger put into Sweat Italian and 1/3 into Cajun sausage bulk. LOVE IT. Have fixed stews and roasts and like deer, welldone is to done. I took mine with a muzzleloader (TC Hawken .54) with round ball. You are going to enjoy yourself. One thought. We brought back 4 animals. Rented a u-haul covered trailer, lined it with plastic, added cooled meat and bags of ice. Trip was from central Missouri to central Indaina and we had over 1/2 the ice left.