Scale

[wolc123]

Besides the biblical issue, another problem I see with scales, is that most of the weight of a fresh killed deer is made up of water.   It would be interesting to see how much weight they loose when hanging over a week to ten days. That is how long it typically takes for the rigor mortis to break down, and for the venison to be ready for me to process.  The chest girth method may give a more accurate volume measurement and may better predict the amount of packaged venison that will result, ready for the freezer.   

Even if your scale has accuracy that is traceable to NIST, and you have it recalibrated each year,  it still might not give you as good of estimate of how much venison you will end up with than a cheap tape measure. I do see value in those chest girth tables, because they provide an easy way to get a rough estimate of how much venison is needed to finish out a season.   That has a definite value in helping me decide when, where, and if to hunt.    It is particularly nice to know that when there are a deer or two hanging in the garage.       

[Doewhacker]

11 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

It would be interesting to see how much weight they loose when hanging over a week to ten days. That is how long it typically takes for the rigor mortis to break down, and for the venison to be ready for me to process

Rigor takes 24 hours not days. Longer aging changes taste and tenderness potentially but it’s really not a worry with deer. 

But then again you are looney tunes and nothing anyone says will ever sink with you about weights or being a slob ect. 

 

[wolc123]

4 minutes ago, Doewhacker said:

Rigor takes 24 hours not days. Longer aging changes taste and tenderness potentially but it’s really not a worry with deer. 

But then again you are looney tunes and nothing anyone says will ever sink with you about weights or being a slob ect. 

 

It actually depends on the age of the deer and the hanging temperature.  You are just about right on for a 1 year old deer at 40 degrees F.   I usually try and kill older deer, at least for the first half of the seasons.    It never hurts to let them go a little longer though, as long as the temperature is controlled.

Edited December 22, 2017 by wolc123

[dbHunterNY]

if my deer is hanging it's with the hide on. I doubt much water weight is lost. even so based on how much drains and drips from the hanging deer over the course of a week or more isn't much for weight. everyone who's going to weigh their deer does so promptly so it's a moot point. otherwise, i'd think you'd get more loss from trimming if the hide was off.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

4 hours ago, Jdubs said:

You're obviously a good hunter with 3 harvests this season, but what's with the  stubborn obfuscation over weighing meat?  I thought this thread was about a quality Hanson scale and measurement accuracies?  I'd like to learn/read more about that, not how tape measures and eyeballs can justify whatever weight someone wants to brag about on a hunting forum.  

By the way, is this the doe you're referring to?  Looks like you hit her in the rear end which would lead to meat loss, not because she had a lot of fat to trim.  You didn't mention that above.

You can be sure he did not get 100 pounds of meat from any buck he shot this year. People are getting 40-45lbs out of a 100 pound deer and this joker says he gets 90lbs.  Like he has put up a 200 plus pound buck on this site ever.   Maybe he can put pics up of that buck/bucks?

[wolc123]

Here is a little Christmas present for you 4SW

Edited December 22, 2017 by wolc123

[wildcat junkie]

16 hours ago, wolc123 said:

I am thankful that someone posted that chest-girth table from PA on this site so I don't have to mess around with a scale.   Maybe you could use your new scale and a measuring tape to see if that table is close for NY deer next season.  

I have found the tables to be about 1" "heavy" for bucks unless you pull the tape tight, and very close or a bit light for does. I used to have a tape with the tables printed on 1 side and inches on the other.

Edited December 22, 2017 by wildcat junkie

[Four Season Whitetail's]

10 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

Here is a little Christmas present for you 4SW

So you are trying to pass this buck off as getting 90lbs of meat out of?  The buck and the kid together do not weigh 200lbs.  Man you are something else   Glad you threw this up so everyone could see the stupidity 

[Jdubs]

40 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

The chest girth method may give a more accurate volume measurement and may better predict the amount of packaged venison that will result, ready for the freezer.   

Man, you're obtuse.  Did this method "better predict" your doe's meat haul?  Nope, it failed miserably.  You were off by over 33% (60 lbs estimated by you vs under 40 lbs as again estimated by looking at volume in a pan).  

This started out as a good thread about a scale, something I'd like to invest in for next season.  If you can't speak to actually using a good scale, then kindly stop cluttering up the OP's thread.

[wolc123]

10 minutes ago, Jdubs said:

Man, you're obtuse.  Did this method "better predict" your doe's meat haul?  Nope, it failed miserably.  You were off by over 33% (60 lbs estimated by you vs under 40 lbs as again estimated by looking at volume in a pan).  

This started out as a good thread about a scale, something I'd like to invest in for next season.  If you can't speak to actually using a good scale, then kindly stop cluttering up the OP's thread.

It certainly is entertaining and a lot more fun than squirrel hunting out in the cold.

[moog5050]

Cool scale law.   I use the same digital scale that I use when tuning bows.  Goes up to 300lbs and seems to be pretty accurate when tested with my plates for weight lifting.   Waiting for the buck that maxes it out.  Lol.  

[Doewhacker]

2 hours ago, wolc123 said:

It actually depends on the age of the deer and the hanging temperature.  You are just about right on for a 1 year old deer at 40 degrees F.   I usually try and kill older deer, at least for the first half of the seasons.    It never hurts to let them go a little longer though, as long as the temperature is controlled.

Nope rigor doesn’t matter with age. 

I hope any one reading your posts can tell you are full of crap. If not, he is full of crap. 

[Doewhacker]

2 hours ago, wildcat junkie said:

I have found the tables to be about 1" "heavy" for bucks unless you pull the tape tight, and very close or a bit light for does. I used to have a tape with the tables printed on 1 side and inches on the other.

Exactly. It ain’t the method, it’s the guy holding the tape. You might even call the guy that fibs a dishonest scale. 

[Doewhacker]

2 hours ago, Four Season Whitetails said:

So you are trying to pass this buck off as getting 90lbs of meat out of?  The buck and the kid together do not weigh 200lbs.  Man you are something else   Glad you threw this up so everyone could see the stupidity 

That 2 yr old might make 130#s soaking wet. 

[Four Season Whitetail's]

That 2 yr old might make 130#s soaking wet. 

Lol. Would ya give the little girl 70lbs. I know some on here think I am over the top at times but man. God or no God I can't believe some if the things this guy writes and worse yet really believes himself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wolc123]

16 minutes ago, Doewhacker said:

Nope rigor doesn’t matter with age. 

I hope any one reading your posts can tell you are full of crap. If not, he is full of crap. 

The rigor takes 24 hours, but it is a few more days for the mortis

[Lawdwaz]

5 hours ago, goosifer said:

Lawdwaz, what sort of hoist do you use to transfer the deer from scale to the gambral? I have been using a manual cloth strap pulley to raise and lower. Bit cumbersome. Been thinking about treating myself to a powered hoist from Harbor Freight.

 

[goosifer]

1 minute ago, Lawdwaz said:

 

Cool. Old school. Ones like that aren't cheap, either.

[moog5050]

Why not put the scale between the hoist and gambrel.  On the digital, I can 0 it out but even with a spring we are only talking a pound or so.   I leave it there for the season.  

[Lawdwaz]

Hey Goose......the picture is deceiving.  The pulley system wasn't expensive at all, it's just a cheap unit I've used for almost 20 years now.  I changed out the rope once as the first one got frayed....

My shed is quite small I'm quite limited to height so I have had to adapt to that.  Besides cutting the rear legs of the deer off as short as possible, the "gambrel" is a piece of hardwood approx. 30" long with a hole in the center.  That is attached to the bottom eye of the lower pulley with a length of "fish tape" a friend gave me while working pulling IT cable in commercial buildings.  It is incredibly strong!

The top pulley has a split chain link attached to it then it is hooked over more of the fish tape to a 2x4 screwed to the rafter and attached at multiple points.  

Everything was done do give me as much height as possible to get the deer up off the floor.  Some of my bigger bucks (217lbs, 204lbs and 186lbs) DON'T swing free, the rest all do but skinning is difficult on your knees if they are junk.

I work with carpenters during the week and two good friends of mine on this site (I won't mention their names (Dinsdale and 2012_taco)  to embarrass them)  are tremendous carpenters but I can't seem to convince any of them to help me add a cupola big enough to get a deer  a couple feet higher off the shed floor.  And of course you guys know I'm just bustin' onions on Dins & taco.......

The fish tape at the end of the "gambrel" is to keep the hocks of the deer from sliding off the stick, and it works well.

I have another hunk of fish tape that I hang the scale from, transferring the deer from the "gambrel" to the scale is not an easy thing put not much in life is......

[Lawdwaz]

1 minute ago, Lawdwaz said:

Hey Goose......the picture is deceiving.  The pulley system wasn't expensive at all, it's just a cheap unit I've used for almost 20 years now.  I changed out the rope once as the first one got frayed....

My shed is quite small I'm quite limited to height so I have had to adapt to that.  Besides cutting the rear legs of the deer off as short as possible, the "gambrel" is a piece of hardwood approx. 30" long with a hole in the center.  That is attached to the bottom eye of the lower pulley with a length of "fish tape" a friend gave me while working pulling IT cable in commercial buildings.  It is incredibly strong!

The top pulley has a split chain link attached to it then it is hooked over more of the fish tape to a 2x4 screwed to the rafter and attached at multiple points.  

Everything was done do give me as much height as possible to get the deer up off the floor.  Some of my bigger bucks (217lbs, 204lbs and 186lbs) DON'T swing free, the rest all do but skinning is difficult on your knees if they are junk.

I work with carpenters during the week and two good friends of mine on this site (I won't mention their names (Dinsdale and 2012_taco)  to embarrass them)  are tremendous carpenters but I can't seem to convince any of them to help me add a cupola big enough to get a deer  a couple feet higher off the shed floor.  And of course you guys know I'm just bustin' onions on Dins & taco.......

The fish tape at the end of the "gambrel" is to keep the hocks of the deer from sliding off the stick, and it works well.

I have another hunk of fish tape that I hang the scale from, transferring the deer from the "gambrel" to the scale is not an easy thing put not much in life is......

One more thing; when I weigh at home (as opposed to at my buddies where clearance isn't an issue) I have to hog tie the rear hocks to the head/neck in a pretzel like deal and hoist the package off the floor THEN get it onto the scale.

[Doewhacker]

That’s funny Lawd, at my pops we used to use a guy on a ladder and another to lift to get em on the hook for ever. Then I brought a gambrel over and it was so popular he stole it from me. 

After hanging we drag them into the basement at his place and lift them to the floor joists with a wood gambrel just like yours for skinning. It has seen hundreds of deer no doubt and still going strong. 

Not to worry I bought another gambrel for my house. 

[2012_taco]

Lawd, when we get done trimming your porch, installing the garage door opener, raising that storage rack above your garage door, we might have enough time to tackle the roof raising on your shed. After all it is a long weekend!!! My turn to bust onions, Have a Merry Christmas! 

[Lawdwaz]

14 minutes ago, 2012_taco said:

Lawd, when we get done trimming your porch, installing the garage door opener, raising that storage rack above your garage door, we might have enough time to tackle the roof raising on your shed. After all it is a long weekend!!! My turn to bust onions, Have a Merry Christmas! 

I was hoping you'd see that.