Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting How much meat yield from an elk?

My buddy drew a coveted Michigan elk tag. It's a once on a lifetime opportunity. We had a blast! We hunted for 6 days through some of the toughest conditions (2 feet of snow, blizzard conditions, sub-zero windchills, whiteouts) I've hunted in. He scored a nice cow at 451 pounds that last day of our hunt. He's been my best friend for 30 years and I'll never forget the memories we made.

Anyway, due to time and lack of resources to handle a 450# completely frozen animal, he opted to take it to a processor. In return, he got 116# of meat or about a 1/4. That seemed light to both of us. We never weighed the elk we've shot in CO or WY, so we can't really correlate the yield. I always thought we got about a 1/3 back which should be around 150#. I'm curious as to what your experience has been regarding yields from your elk. Thanks!

You got 26% if 451# was 'on the hoof'.
I'd expect 40% net of that gross weight.

What did you deliver to the processor?

Lots of variables go into the equation.

Was 450# the hanging weight, with hooves, head ect still attached? Or was it the live weight?

Where was the elk shot, how many times, what kind of damage did the bullet cause?

Some general rules that I've heard

ELK (hang weight at processor)
Bull: 250-500 lbs
Cow: 200-350 lbs
Calf: 60-100 lbs

Approx. Live Weight = Hanging weight x 1.65
(ex: 64 lb Antelope x 1.65 = 105 lb live weight)

TYPICAL BONELESS YIELDS ON WHOLE CARCASS
Very clean/Head Shot: 50-60% Yield
Average cleanliness/Heart shot: 50-55% Yield
Dirty carcass, shoulder or hind shot: 45-50% Yield

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With that info
If 450 was the live weight, then 273 would be the hang weight. If it was an average shot , then my expectation would be 122# - 136# of meat. If you got back 116# and it looks well trimmed--- then it makes sense.

That is a good cow and the pounds of meat is right on the money.

I have killed lots of cows and I have run from 100 pounds, up to around 120 for the most part of closely trimmed, boned meat. I have never weighed any of them whole, though. You can get a bit more meat, if you strip the ribs and take every ounce of gristly neck meat etc., but it looks to me like your butcher trimmed it close and did a good job.

He may have kept a couple steaks for himself, though!

Sounds about right to me. My daughter just took about 193 lbs of meat from a 400+ pound cow, some still with the large bones, to a processor. She got back just about what your friend did.

Cows usually run maybe 450 pounds live weight.

Typically I get about 130 #'s of meat out of them. All with no bone.

I do my own as years ago the processor I used wasn't as finicky about cutting up as I was. I do a lot better job getting the meat off the bones, trimming, and cleaning

As others said, about the right amount. My bull was right at the 600 lb mark on the hoof. I got:
80 lbs sausage (50/50 mix with port trimmings)
80 lbs of hamburger (75/25 mix with bacon)
15 or so pounds of backstrap steaks
2 whole tenderloins (about 3-5 lbs each)
and 60-70 lbs of steaks from the hams.

Total elk meat around 180 lbs

Total with mix = 250 lbs or so.

After I killed a Wyoming cow elk recently, my dumbass ex-bil asked if I got 350-400 pounds of meat from her. I told him that I got the same amount of meat that got all of the other times he asked me! Many people are clueless, as to how much quality, trimmed meat that you get from a wild animal.

I usually expect roughly 30% of live weight, but that depends on how much meat was damaged by bullets, how thoroughly the processor trims fascia and fat, how fat and healthy the individual animal is, etc.

I'd say his return was reasonable, especially if he shot up the front shoulders, the butcher did a really good job of trimming and cleaning up the meat, etc. The pickier you are with your meat processing, the less you end up with

Live weight to carcass/hanging weight is about a 38 to 40% decline. Carcass weight to cut and wrapped is about a 70 to 75% yield if one does bone in saw cuts. Bone it out completely, and one is down to about a 55 to 60% yield based on carcass. A carcass has no head, hide, innards, or bone past the knees/hocks.

I'd say one is pretty close to being in the ball park, especially if there was some serious trim due to drying/contamination, blood shock, and fat. I always make a serious effort remove fat from large game. There are some fat soluble enzymes that can be active well below 32 degrees. With extended storage they can have a significant effect on flavor.

One can probably elevate yield by doing it your self, and taking it down to near a white skeleton. That is trimming everything as clean as possible with most that going into burger or stew meat. Given the volume handled, commercial folks cannot take the time to shave off those last tiny bits.

In the beef world where things are relatively sterile and clean, one can expect about 350 lbs of meat from a 1,000 lb live weight steer. I.e live to cut and wrapped is about a 35% yield.

451 lbs field dressed as she hangs right there and delivered to processor as is. For scale, he's 6'3". She's frozen rock solid there. 1 shot from a 7mm MAG Kongsberg Lakelander, 165gr Trophy Bonded Bear Claw to the lungs. DRT.

I found this to be an interesting study. The cow pictured above was obviously weighed with its knees and hocks intact.

http://www.wyomingextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B594R.pdf

Given the head, hide, feet, and a few lbs of snow are still attached, I think one came out about right on yield.

Where are those troops with the tractor, trailer, and lift when I drop one? No pack frames in that pic. Envious.

Just a word: Most cutters bill $$/lb for delivered hanging weight. Strip off the head, hide, and feet, and one will save substantially. One paid for those pounds, and within seconds they were in the bone barrel.

We get 150-175lbs meat yield from mature cow elk (450lbs live weight about right). Small to medium bulls go 180-225 lbs generally. 116lbs seems light to me but there are variables to consider like how dirty it was. Having butchered 30+ elk, if I took a mature clean cow to the butcher and got 115lbs back I'd be pissed.

Yep, he charged $416.50. No specialty cuts or anything added. We should have thought of that, but she was frozen like a brick. Would've needed a chainsaw to get through it.

The "troops" are Michigan Department of Natural Resources biologists and wildlife techs. It's a pretty heavily regulated hunt. We have to mark the gut pile so they can inspect it and take samples later. They weigh it and age it - although they couldn't get the mouth pried open because it was frozen too. Believe me, those "troops" were nowhere to be found when we had to get her off the side hill ravine. Not sure I've ever had a harder job in my 42 years of hunting. She was shot at 4pm. We didn't get back until 10. Those 3 fingers of Basil Hayden tasted awfully damn good.

Yeah, I kinda think he's eating well (the butcher that is). The packages were either marked "steaks" or "burger". No roasts whatsoever. The tenderloins weren't marked, neither were the backstraps or chops. All the steak packages are the same shape and size. He got 2 boxes of meat total, 30" X 30" X 8".

An old butcher and friend of mine told me that 41% of live weight was meat weight if there is no waist and the cutting is done clean.
So you loose 24% to 25% in field dressing. A 450 pound hanging animal weights 562 live.

417% of 562 = 230.62 So call it 231 pounds if it was a super clean kill, and if the butcher is very good at what he does.

I have yet in my long years of elk hunting seen a cow that weighs 500+ pounds and I have killed a lot of them and I have yet to get more than 150 pound of meat out of one.

Butchering beef ( of which I have done more than a few) is different than butchery elk. Completely different yields.

Last years bull

Boned out and packed out

265 lbs

Note.I said cows,not bulls