In the UK we weigh our deer when they go to the gamedealer which means they have no internal organs, or feet or head but do have their skin on.

I gather that in the US you measure the deer field dressed ie with all but the guts?

Is there a general percentage that could be added/taken away so that we can compare?

What would be the weights of an average

White tail doe (not Texas or huge
White tail buck
Mule deer doe
Mule deer buck
Cow Elk
Bull Elk

I reckon that the red stags I will be chasing soon will equate (at 250lb ready for the dealer) to a cow elk.

A deer that has been field dressed has lost roughly 1/5 of it's body weight. Most mature whitetail bucks should field dress about 200 lbs. If you hunt the northern part of North America, they can grow substantially larger. Mature whitetail does will be about 2/3 the size of a mature buck. Last fall a friend shot a buck that weighed 185 lbs without organs, feet, head and skin.

The last two cow elk that had weighed were as hanging halves ie sides no skin, head, legs, guts. They weighed as followed:
1.) 255 lbs
2.) 272 lbs

1894mk2,

The whitetail questions are hard to answer. I've hunted in several states and the weights varied a tremendous amount. You have the tiny deer of South Texas, the small deer on the East Coast, and the further North you go the bigger they get and when you hit Canada they are down right huge.

It has a good bit to do w/ how rich the soil is. Here in North Louisiana for instance in the piney woods and hills an average 3.5 year old buck is only going to go around 175 w/ the guts in But, just a short trip over to the Mississippi river delta crop land and the Bucks are much larger w/ a 3.5 yo buck averaging from 230-240 live weight. Of course, there's always a few larger ones taken every once in a while. Point being, the quality of the soil is directly proportionate to the body weight of the animals that feed off of what it produces.

Like GD said, the wt does go about 2/3 of the bucks on average.

I have limited knowledge on the Mulies but, from the mulies I've seen, the desert mulies go around 50lbs lighter than the Rocky Mountain mulies. I'm sure some of the die hard mulie hunters can comment more on the mulie difference here in the states.

Good Luck

Reloader

The amount that game weight is overstated is just about proportional to the amount that women's weights and dress sizes are understated. Or perhaps hunters overstate the size of their game much as they overstate the size of their intimate personal equipment, and for much the same psycological reasons.

1. The field dressed weight of a whitetail is not a fixed percentage of its live weight. The smaller the deer, the greater proportion of its weight is represented by the organs. A large, mature deer will have a greater muscle mass and therefore its organs will be a smaller percentage of its overall weight. This is one reason that the presumed "live" weight of large deer is frequently overstated, since they are almost always weighed after field dressing.

2. Most mature female deer (of all of the species) weigh roughly 2/3 to 3/4 the weight of the mature males. As in humans, there is a great variaton in individuals, but the average holds.

3. Some whitetails do grow as large as 200 lbs (field dressed). They are the exception rather than the rule, in any location north or south. Whitetails in Central Texas, the southwestern states, Florida, and much of the mid-south tend to be smaller, while whitetails in far south Texas, some farmland areas of the south, and most of the northern forests tend to be larger. The average difference is about a 3/2 ratio in weight. Again, this is an average; individuals vary. A buck that tips the scales at 150 field dressed is a mature and representative buck most places. Real "hogs" can and do weigh much more, but then, like humans, everyone doesn't have the size to play tackle in the NFL.

The 1000-pound elk is mostly a myth. 600 will get most "raghorn" bulls, and a real bruiser herd bull might go 800. Cows ain't small, but 500 gets most of them.

Rocky Mt. mule deer can get some size. 400 lbs is not unheard of, but 300 is more typical. As one poster alluded to, desert mule deer are smaller and a 250-pounder is typical with a 300-pounder being a real "horse".

I think that the world's record whitetail is somewhere in the vicinity of 450 lbs. Now, being that humans and whitetails are generally in the same weight range, consider that the "world's record" human is over a thousand pounds. My point is that no hunter should be disappointed if his deer doesn't tip the scales at more than 200 lbs -- if you were "hunting" humans, your typical "trophy" wouldn't either.

In the midwest, 200 lbs field dressed isn't that huge. I am in central Illinois and a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 year old buck is generally 170 to 190 pounds dresses or bigger. Buck don't start getting talked about until they are over 250 field dressed. There has been years that many 300+ pounders (Field Dressed) were taken.

Our coastal blacktail/muley deer will have a live weight of about 120 Lbs for a big buck.

I shot an antlered mule deer doe in eastern Idaho that had a carcass weight (no guts, lower legs, head or skin) of 196 Lbs (89 Kilos or 14 stone)

Frank,

I've weighed several CA coastal deer in the 180's but you're right the average will be 110 to 140 lbs.

Kyler

Thanks all - sounds like our red stags will range from a large mule deer to a small cow elk.

All depends on the area you live in for whitetails here in wis a 200lb plus deer is a big deer. I woud guess the avg is more in the 150lb range for bucks and 100lb range for does.

Sure every once in a while there are bigger ones shot but they are not the avg.

Whole Dressed
American Elk 1,010 810
Deer, Mule 453 340
Deer, Whitetailed 375 275
Shiras "Wyoming" Moose 1,117 840
Pronghorn 160 121
Rocky Mountain Goat 310 212
Sheep, Bighorn 302 222

Here's an idea of some of the upper limits of these animals. These are the Montana records for weight, so of course there are larger ones from other states and Canada.

Most of the records for the whole animal weights were taken from live trapped or penned animals, or ones that were extrememly close to a certified scale after a hunt.

The dressed animals have everything except the "guts". Including head, feet, antlers, etc.

Weighing them with the head,hide,legs and all internal organs removed,my average mature bull elk will weigh about 400lbs with the largest weighing 538lbs in this state.
Again with the head,hide,legs and internal organs removed,my average mature whitetail buck will weigh from 130 to 150lbs,with my largest weighing 176lbs in this state.
I hunt my elk in Alberta and most of my whitetails in Saskatchewan.