Boned meat estimates

My numb skull cousin has tried time and time again to tell me his bulls he has killed(3 total) 2 in Wyoming 1 in Montana all yielded 350-400 pounds of meat all small rag horn bulls. Most people and especially my cousin who swears they're all 330"-350" plus all over a thousand pounds on the hoof can't score a animal to save there life's nor do they know how far the have walked or hiked. If it was an inch it's a mile and all of there packs have weighed in over a hundred plus pounds, try like 60 to 80 at best. So I seriously doubt they can tell you how much meat they got and how much it weighed.
I have killed 8 bulls in my life and only one gave me 320+ lbs. Of meat and that was in Nevada. I was with my boss on a guided hunt in Nevada and his bull officially scored 402"and it was the one of the smallest bulls I've ever seen in my life body wise. I would have to say small bull is 200-245lbs. good bull 330"+ 245-275lbs.
 
From my undergraduate days as an Animal Science major at Texas A&M, you should expect about a 60% of live weight yield of meat and bone (sans head and hide) from a ruminant. That seems pretty in line with the chart Feenix posted with the yields of Wyoming elk.
 
Not sure what she weighed with Hide,Guts and Bones but I got her out! I won't be doing that again :p
Big cow elk.jpg
 
bigngreen said:
It's funny how big elk are when you don't put them on certified scales!! I've scaled and cut over 2000 greater Yellowstone elk and Fennix chart and Cody are right in there, you'll be hard pressed to shoot a bull over 3.5 years old.
Click to expand...
I don't know Bigngreen! That cow probably did weigh 1200 lbs with the guts out easy the first time she was weighed! But the second time when they took her OUT OF THE UTV.....the scales read 480!
 
In the last 10 years we have taken 2 bulls and 7 adult cow elk. Both bulls yielded 245/258. The cows were from 165 to 230. This is boned out meat to include the ribs, neck and shanks. One calf gave us 125 lbs. In most cases 2ea 100gallon coolers were perfect per animal. You can jam an average cow into one cooler. However the key is making sure the meat is dry, not wet and bloody. We use 1" foam on the bottom of the cooler. Lay a game bag over it and place a layer of meat. Cover with game bag put crushed ice down , cover with cardboard place more meat, repeat till full. Allow room for a layer of ice. Cover with 1" foam. Put a 1" x 8" wrapped dry ice package on to and close the cooler. Cover the cooler with a harbor freight moving blanket. Don't open it till you get home. Good Luck and have a great hunt. SEMPER FEDELIS
 
bigngreen said:
It's funny how big elk are when you don't put them on certified scales!! I've scaled and cut over 2000 greater Yellowstone elk and Fennix chart and Cody are right in there, you'll be hard pressed to shoot a bull over 3.5 years old.
Click to expand...


For sure, someone mentioned 1000 pound elk (Mt elk) according to the FWP web site the largest one weighed is 1010...........course some of the one's I've toted back to the truck sure seemed like 1K by the time I got there
 
The bull I just killed had a carcass weight (no hide head etc) 515 lbs. I'd say the yield of boneless was 250-260ish lbs
 
In 2000+ of Pre wolf Yellowstone elk I've put on certified scales no hide, legs, head I've seen ONE bull break 500 lbs and one cow break 400 lbs on the rail.
 
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