San Juan blacktails.

[predatorG]

Trust me, I've been glued to that other thread 

[lokidog]

JD, is that mixed with pork?

Live weight of my son's buck was 148#
 
     - Meat + heart                          = 51.5
     - Skeleton w/head and antlers = 32
     - Lower legs                             =   3
     - Tallow                                    =   3
     - Sinew + other yuck               =  12.4
     - Cape                                      =   7
     - Guts + liver + half skin          = 39

So hanging weight with head was 99#, percent meat to hanging weight was 52%, percent meat to live weight was 35%.
 
I guess I need a better scale since we have had at least three deer larger than this, and I would assume hanging weight was over 100#... granted not much larger, but I would guess our deer are smaller than most of the other larger islands.

Not sure how Kitsap deer fit into the San Juan Blacktail thread though as it is not even an island.     Nice deer though.   

[JDHasty]

That was the meat that came off the deer.  FG doesn't leave any meat on the bone!  That is about as big as "normal" blacktails I have seen come out of the south sound get.  But, as I have pointed out, every once in a blue moon there is one that is so much larger that it is uncanny.  I never saw that one that was hit by a car, but I did see the other one and it was absolutely huge and hard to believe it a pure blacktail except it from Manchester.  The one that was hit and killed, I was told it was 250 at the butcher.  I have seen one this year on an island and last that when standing with another big mature buck makes the other one look small in comparison.  The reason I mentioned the one we dropped off this morning was just to reinforce my point that mature blacktail bucks are not all that big of an animal. 

[fishnfur]

Lokidog - good figuring!  Nice report.  It would be worthwhile to check other's percentages to see how they compare.

 

[skagitsteel]

That was the meat that came off the deer.  FG doesn't leave any meat on the bone!  That is about as big as "normal" blacktails I have seen come out of the south sound get.  But, as I have pointed out, every once in a blue moon there is one that is so much larger that it is uncanny.  I never saw that one that was hit by a car, but I did see the other one and it was absolutely huge and hard to believe it a pure blacktail except it from Manchester.  The one that was hit and killed, I was told it was 250 at the butcher.  I have seen one this year on an island and last that when standing with another big mature buck makes the other one look small in comparison.  The reason I mentioned the one we dropped off this morning was just to reinforce my point that mature blacktail bucks are not all that big of an animal. 

except in the alpine!  mature alpine blacktail average over 200 ibs on the hoof IMO, definitely a different animal than the lowland and island bucks.   I took 70- 75 ibs of boneless meat off my buck this year, no rib meat, a little neck meat taken using gutless method.  Definitely do not get as high of % when you are working solo on a steep mountain.  I guessed the deer live weight probably 210-215 Ibs.  A friends hunt I was on this past week one was taken that we estimated 250.   

[2labs]

250 blacktail? Girlfriend this turning into a bear thread.

[JDHasty]

250 blacktail? Girlfriend this turning into a bear thread.

Please, no one has any reason to exaggerate and I have been there when that Manchester buck was delivered to the butcher.  The second one I reference is hearsay - BUT, I will stand by my earlier comments and if you read them all the way through I add the disclaimer that bucks this big are far and away way to the right hand end of the bell curve, like way out on the tail end of it. 

Re: the one from Manchester, he had a decent, but not special rack, nothing you would want to have a mount done with.  And of the other one that was hit by a car and went to the butcher, I can't remember what, if anything, I ever heard regarding the rack on that buck. 

The monster islander I have only seen on the hoof the last couple years, has a rack to match his size though.  I'm saying he is a quarter to a third bigger than a mature, really nice, two point I have seen him with.  If we put that two point at 120 hanging in the butcher shop (which is entirely reasonable), that makes him pushing two bucks on the hoof - so you do the math. 

That one that went 220 in the shop, had to have been a ~300 lb deer on the hoof.

As for that Manchester buck, he was arrowed in an apple orchard and ran down to the beach and tried to swim away before dying.  He was floated to the boat launch and the truck backed in to the tailgate and slid right into the bed of the truck.  Two guys were not lifting that pig whole up into the bed of the truck.     

[2labs]

Relax, just funnin.

[JDHasty]

I'm fine with that.  And I think you have a valid point that a 250 Columbia blacktail is not something many people will ever see, much less have to pay the bill at the butcher shop to have cut and wrapped.  Incredibly rare, and in 56 years I have only seen two (one validated) and heard of a third.

The point I want to make to the person posting is that 120 hanging is about the limit most people will ever expect to get off the south sound islands, and that leaves others to contribute re: San Juan Island bucks and from there conclusions can be drawn on what to REASONABLY expect to harvest in meat up there.   

[fishnfur]

Well SkagitSteel, I'd like to see a picture of the 1/8 ton behemoth, even if he wasn't an island deer.  Better start a new thread for all the ooos and ahhhs that will follow.

Fun thread. Thanks for letting me play.  I'm out.   The time to hunt is nigh.

[blackmouther]

I personally dont buy it.  An average muley buck at the butcher is 140-160 an abnormally large one is 200+.  The san juan island bucks with no head, hide, guts or legs i can hang by myself including tying the ropes thru the achilles.  My blacktail from east of I 5 last year was 80#'s and according to the wdfw a 5 year old.  From that deer i yielded 41#'s including scrap and in order for tnt meats to make summer sausage and pepperoni i had to include all steaks other than the chops.  I can believe that an alpine west side buck could hang at 120-150 but a blacktail that hangs anywhere near the 200# mark would be a bit far fetched.

[Bantams]

Vashon deer:
My dad's buck from this week is hanging at 115# (all weights are from the meat locker, weighed by the butcher).
My buck from 4 years ago was 127# - our biggest that was actually weighed.
Biggest doe (2 years ago) was 112# I believe.  It weighed more than my 2x2 buck from that year.
I can't remember any other weights, but they usually top 100# dressed.

I usually can expect 65-75# of boneless meat from a buck.  Does are usually around 40-45# (except monster doe).

[JDHasty]

That is 100% consistent w/my observations re: the size of south sound island blacktails

[TheSkyBuster]

My non-island deer last year was a huge bodied blacktail that weighed 155 hanging at the butcher.   20 years ago I shot a buck on Lopez that weighed 110 lbs hanging at the butcher.  Both are rare cases but it happens. 

[blackmouther]

This is a buck from orcas island.  This is one of 3 the group killed and the largest.  At TNT meats it weighed 66# the other was 62#.  Thats with no head, hide, guts, lower legs.  Pretty much what someone could expect out in the san juans.