ERK;
Good morning sir, I hope the weekend behaved itself for you and you're well.
Sorry for the possibly regional, north of the medicine line question here, but when you or the respondents say "dressed" does that mean hanging carcass weight to you folks?
In my experience in Saskatchewan growing up and then for sure here in BC, we'll weigh the carcass going into the cooler, but if anyone locally weighs them with say head, hide and feet on, I've not heard of it.
Lastly I'd be remiss if I didn't clarify that at our house we weigh using a bathroom scale and will tare the meat chunk holder's weight and then stand on the scale with the part of the carcass before putting it into the cooler which is a modified fridge, so carcasses don't fit into it whole.
Depending upon which map you look at, we've either got Ocherous or Northwestern whitetail here. I'm not sure, but haven't seen any personally that might exceed 150lb carcass weight.
This one was 138lb hanging.
This one was aged at 7½ and was a pound or two either way of the one above.
Our mule deer likewise aren't as big bodied or antlered as those on the prairies. In nearly 40 years of chasing mulies in southern BC, helping out some taxidermist friends for a few years and also cutting and wrapping game for friends and family since '89, I can recall perhaps 2 mulie bucks that exceeded 200lb into the cooler.
A good mature mulie here will go right around 150lb carcass. This guy was the biggest bodied deer I've killed and we packed 145lb of meat off the mountain for him - but that does include the leg bones in that total. I'd make a guess he was pushing 190lb carcass.
For comparison and I'm aware these aren't the best photos - sorry - here's a 90-100lb 2 point on Carly the Appy on a freezer filling morning off the mountain behind the house.
Here's the biggest bodied buck I killed off the horse, an ancient 3 point who had zero fat anywhere and the two front teeth looked like he'd been chewing a can of Copenhagen everyday since he was a fawn! Just two worn down, brown stained stubs.
On that ancient buck, I weighed the bags of boned meat plus the 4 legs with bones in and it was just under 150lb, so he'd have been pushing that 190lb carcass I'd think.
Thanks for the thread and all the best to you all in your hunts.
Dwayne