Deer body weights?

[GOODWIN]

Question...Observation...whatever

I remember when I was growing up hunting in East TN we always referred to deer weight as field-dressed weight. It seemed like it was just understood that when referencing deer weight it was always this not live weight. I cannot remember ever weighing an un-gutted deer.

Fast forward to now and living in MS, it seems things have changed when referencing deer weight. Everybody looks at me funny when I question if it was live weight or field-dressed. Maybe it's TN as well. Do folks just not field dress deer that often nowadays or what?

Dont get me wrong, I'm a fan of quartering an animal where it lays and not gutting if I don't have to. But rarely do I weigh a deer.

 

[Lost Lake]

I've always gone by dressed weight. But now that you mention it, seems like the further south you go live weight is more common.

 

[Jcalder]

Always done weight by a gutted animal.

 

[Omega]

I weighed my deer "on the hoof" when stationed at Ft Bragg NC. in the 80's, because we had a kill shed where we would field dress our deer, so it became a thing. I still do, but now I get the dressed weight too, but I usually reference the weight with "on the hoof" or "field dressed" when asked.

 

[Deer Assassin]

All
My deer are weighed field dressed

 

[BSK]

I get both weights for biological data. Comparing the two can providing interesting information. But when discussing how much a deer weighed with another hunter, I always use live weight, although I state that. Haven't actually "field dressed" a deer (gutted a deer in the field where it was killed) in probably 25 years!

 

[bwgarrett3]

I've lived in east Tennessee my entire life and here is my take on it. We always give the field dressed weight because the majority of places in the area you want that extra weight off the deer for the drag ahead of you. If I can lighten the load by 30, 40 or even 50lbs then that will definitely help me when dragging it out. So by the time you get it anywhere it can be weighed it for sure has already been gutted!

 

[easy45]

I usually do live weight

 

[thirdwilliam]

live weight now. have a place to do it at the farm

 

[megalomaniac]

Cultural difference between TN and MS for sure. For some reason, hunters in TN are taught they should always field dress an animal. That's what I used to to in TN for the first 15 years after I started hunting.

In MS, there are so many hunting clubs with skinning racks, walk in coolers, and coordination with the state DMAP programs that the norm has been to bring the whole deer back to camp, collect biological information, skin/ gut while hanging, then quarter into the ice chest or hang in the walk in cooler. Thus the difference between the two states.

Personally, I always now retrieve the whole animal, take it back to the house to get the whole weight, then skin/ quarter the animal using the gutless method. I then take the carcass with guts inside to one of my fields 3/4 mile down the road to dispose of away from our cattle.

 

[BSK]

Cultural difference between TN and MS for sure.

Absolutely true. And it's a "Deep South" thing because of all the big hunting clubs. Go anywhere north of the Deep South and all hunters were taught to gut their deer in the field. I had never heard of dragging the whole deer back to camp until I started working on the big hunting clubs across the Carolina's and the Deep South.

 

[Ski]

We always gutted them before dragging. But it was practical. It's not uncommon to drag deer a very long way, and sometimes it takes quite awhile. Taking guts out not only makes the animal lighter, but also helps cool it down and reduces bacterial spread from the gut when a deer takes two days to get out.

Not many places like that these days, so it has become a moot, antiquated point. But I remember a time of giant wildernesses and no ATV's. And I'm not all that old. Just lots of things have changed. Hunting, more specifically animal recovery, is much more convenient than in times past.

 

[DeerCamp]

I have a buffalo scale connected to my gambrel. So I usually get both.

But like any good hunter, I always lead with the higher number

 

[shopson]

I've always gone by dressed weight. But now that you mention it, seems like the further south you go live weight is more common.

 

[shopson]

I gut every deer I kill right where it dies and have weighed every deer I ever killed.

 

[Ladys man]

Maybe if I lived on the farm where I hunted I would do a live weight but I always gut where I find them for the most part so mine are dressed weights

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

I haven't gutted a deer on the ground or in the woods in 15 years. This may seem odd to some but I gut them laying on the tailgate and let them hit the ground in my field. Then I drive to the house and rinse the deer out and the tailgating off. I used to gut them where I found them.

 

[Antler Daddy]

I gut them where they hit the dirt. I killed a warrior buck last year at ft Campbell that dressed 178. I tried to pull that sucker and he barely budged. He was well over 200. He about killed me in the sled after dressing.

I once killed a 120" 2.5 age buck at Eagle Creek. I forgot my knife and walked out 1/2 mile to Jeep. A guy from Adamsville was kind enough to offer to get him out on his 4 wheeler. We rode in, pulled him 20 yards to the loggin road, and rode out. We just loaded him into the back of the Cherokee. I didn't even have a tarp or plastic.

5 minutes later....I pull up to the checking station. The deer was not even stiff a bit. The TWRA personnel asked me more than once how I killed him. I think they thought I was road hunting. Buck weighed 128 lbs undressed! I have pics somewhere. It was 1997.

 

[Antler Daddy]

178 dressed

 

[jemo4570]

Field dress weight only for 45+ years.

 

[Snake]

Kinda like gross or net score , right ? Just state what it is live or field .

 

[MUP]

I would venture to say that the "live" weight cultural shift is the latter of the two descriptions. Hunting "clubs" most likely developed this method on a broader scale, bc, IMO, hunters in general, on their own, and responsible for dragging their kill out by themselves, especially wo the aid of modern conveniences as 4 wheelers and SxSs, and even a 4x4 truck, would invariably choose to lighten the load by at least field dressing the animal, if not quartering and deboning it even, before hauling/carrying it back home or to the cabin or vehicle. I've always referred to the field dressed weight btw.

Actually, weight in general was probably never even a consideration many years ago, probably just a "biggun" or a "little'un".

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

Killed 2 does this past week one 132 the other 146 live weight

 

[102]

On many private parcels I've seen the ability to drive up to within a few yards if not inches of a downed deer. But in most places I hunt in "Hills and Hollers" of the South getting even a ATV very close to a dead deer (ESPECIALLY on Public where I hunt) is not only difficult, but illegal!

Gutting is not an option, it's REQUIRED!

102

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Funny you mention that. On my Southern trips, I almost never see anyone field dressing a deer, ill be the only person field dressing. I've actually been fussed on by biologists wanting live weight. Just a difference in the culture and a big difference in how easy or hard it is to get deer out. It's just a lot easier in the flatter land of the South with trails and roads everywhere.

 

[iowavf]

We always gut them where they lay, even if you could drive right up to them. Only time one gets weighed is if it goes to a locker. Brother shot a nice doe last year and I told him that's a big heavy doe. I said between 140 to 150 lbs. field dressed. Locker weighed it at 143 lbs. so we're pretty close on guessing.

 

[GOODWIN]

Funny you mention that. On my Southern trips, I almost never see anyone field dressing a deer, ill be the only person field dressing. I've actually been fussed on by biologists wanting live weight. Just a difference in the culture and a big difference in how easy or hard it is to get deer out. It's just a lot easier in the flatter land of the South with trails and roads everywhere.

Exactly why I brought it up. Interesting to me since I've hunted in both "cultures" so to speak.

 

[basset]

Question...Observation...whatever

I remember when I was growing up hunting in East TN we always referred to deer weight as field-dressed weight. It seemed like it was just understood that when referencing deer weight it was always this not live weight. I cannot remember ever weighing an un-gutted deer.

Fast forward to now and living in MS, it seems things have changed when referencing deer weight. Everybody looks at me funny when I question if it was live weight or field-dressed. Maybe it's TN as well. Do folks just not field dress deer that often nowadays or what?

Dont get me wrong, I'm a fan of quartering an animal where it lays and not gutting if I don't have to. But rarely do I weigh a deer.

Another regional difference: I started deer hunting in Michigan, and up there, at least where I was, they split the pelvis during field dressing. Never seen that here, or a dressed deer hung by the neck instead of the hind legs.