PA Girth Chart vs Live Weight Comparison

[Steuben Jerry]

So in the live thread yesterday @Lawdwaz asked about our the weight of our daughters' buck. I joked that I didn't weigh it yet but could get a quick girth measurement. So today we did both. Instead of cluttering the live thread, I posted it here. Hey @wolc123

My results are a bit different.

[CapDistPatriot]

4 minutes ago, Steuben Jerry said:

So in the live thread yesterday @Lawdwaz asked about our the weight of our daughters' buck. I joked that I didn't weigh it yet but could get a quick girth measurement. So today we did both. Instead of cluttering the live thread, I posted it here. Hey @wolc123

My results are a bit different.

wow am I reading that right? an almost 40 pound difference?

[Five Seasons]

maybe it only works on button bucks?

40 pounds! lol

[moog5050]

This must mean that wolcs estimates are way low just as I suspected.   Lol

[Zag]

Thanks for sharing and congrats to your daughter, I feel like she got a nice one a yr or two ago, but then again I think you got a nice one last yr. Must be something in the creek water

Edited November 21, 2018 by zag

[dbHunterNY]

never used chest girth and i grew up on my immediate family's New England Poled Hereford (beef) farm.  deer vary too much in size at the relatively young age they're taken at. i've always used a scale and zero is checked before weighing. last doe i took during bow season weighed 123 lbs dressed and i got 53 lbs of meat. i may have lost at most 2 pounds from trimming around where a coyote tried to snack on it right after it tipped over. my thing is i've taken doe ranging from 2.5 yrs old to mature that weighed that much. carass or bone weight will be significantly different within that age range which means the same for meat.

[Steuben Jerry]

1 hour ago, dbHunterNY said:

never used chest girth and i grew up on my immediate family's New England Poled Hereford (beef) farm.  deer vary too much in size at the relatively young age they're taken at. i've always used a scale and zero is checked before weighing. last doe i took during bow season weighed 123 lbs dressed and i got 53 lbs of meat. i may have lost at most 2 pounds from trimming around where a coyote tried to snack on it right after it tipped over. my thing is i've taken doe ranging from 2.5 yrs old to mature that weighed that much. carass or bone weight will be significantly different within that age range which means the same for meat.

Plus I don't see a distinction for buck or doe unless I missed something on the website. I always thought that a same-age buck weighs more than a doe gernerally speaking. Maybe not? I know that size in general can vary greatly, especially by area.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Steuben Jerry

[philoshop]

A buck (or doe) that spends all year standing on its hind legs while picking fruit from trees in an orchard is likely to be heavier than one with a big "chest girth". Big legs. "Chest Girth" Is fun to consider, I suppose, but it's not the whole story.

Are we still talking about deer?

[turkeyfeathers]

Well as suspected, wolcs PA chest girth weight  is defunct. Shocker 

[crappyice]

Well as suspected, wolcs PA chest girth weight  is defunct. Shocker 

Now wait a minute...did you throw out the liver? Kidney? Heart?? Lungs? Cull fat? Testes(bucks only)? Milk sac (on a doe-makes amazing riccotta)? Brains? Ribs? Tail(great for soup)? Hooves (awesome glue!)? Sinew (amazing dental floss!)?

You guys are wasteful- if you keep all I mentioned (oh yeah I forgot the eyes and cheek meat and tongue!) your tally would be more accurate to PA chart.

AND, if the remaining bones are left, pretty sure a Squatch will be on the pile that night with his pet chubracabra and mountain lion..aka- more meat!




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[dbHunterNY]

9 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Now wait a minute...did you throw out the liver? Kidney? Heart?? Lungs? Cull fat? Testes(bucks only)? Milk sac (on a doe-makes amazing riccotta)? Brains? Ribs? Tail(great for soup)? Hooves (awesome glue!)? Sinew (amazing dental floss!)?

You guys are wasteful- if you keep all I mentioned (oh yeah I forgot the eyes and cheek meat and tongue!) your tally would be more accurate to PA chart.

AND, if the remaining bones are left, pretty sure a Squatch will be on the pile that night with his pet chubracabra and mountain lion..aka- more meat!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

that's why i only shoot bucks with 3 pts or more. i need forks and utensils. i'm not a barbarian, that just stabs food with a spike antler to pick it up.

[Uncle Nicky]

The PA meat yield chart is a joke. I processed over 250 deer a year commercially for 15 years, as well as working as a meatcutter in a supermarket.

Even if you are including the brain, tongue, heart, kidneys, liver & ribs, the most boneless yield you will get on a deer is 35%. A big buck is meatier, and a fawn/button buck will be more bones.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Uncle Nicky

[Steuben Jerry]

I'll post up the usable meat weight when she gets it back from her processor.

[wolc123]

36 minutes ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Well as suspected, wolcs PA chest girth weight  is defunct. Shocker 

Easy there partner.

The pictures shows SJ's daughter's buck has a "live weight" of 180 pounds on the scale.  The PA chest girth chart shows a live weight of 182 pounds for a 40" chest girth.  SJ's measurement looks like 39-3/4".  That looks pretty close to me, at least a little closer than it was on my own 3-1/2 year old antlered buck this year, which weighed 182 pounds field-dressed with a chest girth of 42".   The PA chart showed that my buck should have only weighed 170 pounds field-dressed.  

I am just estimating the age based on the body size right now.  I will know for sure after I finish the euro and can compare the scull size to the 43" chest girth specimen that I took with my crossbow last year.  I will also save the lower jaw this time in case FSW wants it for confirmation.  

edit:  It is actually G-mans chart, he is the first one I saw post it on here, but I admit that it comes in handy.  My back is still sore from lifting that slob up onto that scale.  

Edited November 21, 2018 by wolc123

[philoshop]

My friend Dan has been processing deer since he was a kid helping his father about 50 years ago. He'll tell you within five pounds what the carcass weighs , and within five pounds what the meat yield will be. A very skilled and practiced eye. He averages about 450 deer a year in his shop right now. I have no reason to not believe him. "That "250 pounder" is a lot closer 150 pounds."

[Hunter007]

Just use a scale already .

You couldn't accurately guess the weight of a human from a chest or waist measurement  so why would it work on any other animal?

[turkeyfeathers]

Just now, Storm914 said:

Just use a scale already .

You couldn't accurately guess the weight of a human from a chest or waist measurement  so why would it work on any other animal?

At 4 am bar closing time I’ve miscalculated a few woman’s weight based on chest I saw   Didn’t weigh them but was slightly ashamed as I snuck out of their house 

[wolc123]

2 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

Just use a scale already .

You couldn't accurately guess the weight of a human from a chest or waist measurement  so why would it work on any other animal?

A tape measure / chest girth estimate is a lot faster and easier on your back.  SJ's numbers show that the PA chart reasonably accurate for "live weight" estimate of NY bucks anyhow.   My own data point shows it to be a bit more conservative on the "field-dressed" weight estimate.     

[Hunter007]

Just now, wolc123 said:

A tape measure / chest girth estimate is a lot faster and easier on your back.  SJ's numbers show that the PA chart reasonably accurate for "live weight" estimate of NY bucks anyhow.   My own data point shows it to be a bit more conservative on the "field-dressed" weight estimate.     

When you say accurate  + -  how much ?

[turkeyfeathers]

Yes , a pulley and scale take so long 

[turkeyfeathers]

1 minute ago, Storm914 said:

When you say accurate  + -  how much ?

Within 50-75 pounds.  That’s close right ?! 

[wolc123]

1 minute ago, Storm914 said:

When you say accurate  + -  how much ?

On live weight, per SJ's numbers, it looks like +/- 1 pound in weight and +/- 1/8" in distance.  

[wolc123]

1 minute ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Within 50-75 pounds.  That’s close right ?! 

For field dressed weight, my numbers show that the PA chart underestimated a NY buck by 12 pounds.  That is probably because they run a little bigger this much farther north.  

[moog5050]

1 minute ago, wolc123 said:

On live weight, per SJ's numbers, it looks like +/- 1 pound in weight and +/- 1/8" in distance.  

Pretty sure that buck is field dressed Wolc.  Meaning the chart says 144lbs when it weighed 182ish field dressed or close to 40lbs wrong.  By the way, one data point does not a scientific study make.  

[wolc123]

5 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Pretty sure that buck is field dressed Wolc.  Meaning the chart says 144lbs when it weighed 182ish field dressed or close to 40lbs wrong.  By the way, one data point does not a scientific study make.  

 Read the title of the post to get a better idea about that.

I am sure that our fine neighbor's to the south used a lot more than one data point to come up with that chart.

 

edit:

I see that he weighed it today and it was killed yesterday and I can't imagine that he would leave the guts in it overnight so you are probably right about that.   Some bucks carry more weight in the rear and that was probably the case here.  

Edited November 21, 2018 by wolc123