Most deer meat is not aged properly for starters because processors do not have space in coolers. Older deer unless aged properly make for best grinding. Younger deer best to get cut up. Anything under 100 pounds just don't have that much boneless meat. Most processors don't have manpower to fix deer meat the best way it takes time and good help. Not saying they are not good at what they do, but quality is better than quantity if that is what you want and that takes a lot of time. You would be best to grind all your meat for sausage or hamburger and take that extra care will be worth it! In other words grind deer yourself all others to be cut up to processor if you can. Try to schedule your hunts around times you can process deer. If you can harvest a deer in such a way to not shoot front shoulders that would be my suggestion because that is location of the bulk of the meat. Unless you like bones with little meat on deer less than 150 pounds rib cage has little meat.

Here is a thread about this subject from a few days ago. My deer and meat were weighed accurately. The consensus was 25-30% recovery is about average.

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...652#Post1169652

processors have to eat to

I normally get 40%, that seems to be standard if ground.

U should have gotten around 30-35lb of ground out of a 120lb guts in deer. I'm assuming he dressed around 90lb.

Obviously if u mess a shoulder up it goes down.

If be pissed and be asking for reasons why.

You have to remember he said lean meat, no fat added. Fat content is normally 15-20% of weight of processed meat. I have never gotten close to 40% either but I cut my own and cut out all silver skin and connective tissue before grinding.

Good chance they packed more than 1lb into the bags.

I wouldn't be upset. Get out there and kill another deer.

This
I process my own and have packed more than 1 lb into the 1 lb tube type packs. I normally get 20 to 24 lbs of ground (without back straps or any fat added) on a deer that size. That is using the 4 quarters and maybe some neck meat with no bullet damage. I've never seen a deer hit in the shoulder that did not have some damage that had to be trimmed away.

I thought about that later too. I figure the fat adds a pretty good bit.

Good point

8lbs per ham deboned and probably 3lbs per tenderloin.

Has anyone on here ever deboned a shoulder? 2lbs at the most comes of most deer.

I'm going to post a video of me cleaning a deer one day and it will show how easy it is to debone the meat off the hind quarter instead of sawing it off. I can clean a deer in 6 minutes. Deboned and in the cooler.

You are right, it is really easy to deboned the hindquarters once you know where to cut. I debone the hindquarters with the deer hanging and the bone will be clean as a whistle in no time. I haven't learned a quick way to deboned shoulders yet though. I normally cut them off and then saw off the bottom portion of the leg at the joint and deboned them in the kitchen. Takes forever to trim one out. Maybe someone can show me some tricks.

I usually just give them to my outside dog to eat there's not much meat on them unless it's a big bodied deer

I picked up the doe I killed a few weeks ago today. She was 110 live weight and we got 30 packs of hamburger 5-6 packs of cube and the tenderloins. If I got 15 packs back I'd be pissed.