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Heaviest deer you've ever killed?

Deer&Ducks

Deer&Ducks

PMA Member
My 1st season shotgun buck was an old tank, just dwarfed everything else we had hanging on the rack. I removed the inner loins before dropping him off at the locker and they still reported cutting 98lbs of meat off of him. I usually do my own butchering and can't ever remember getting more than 75-80lbs from a big deer, so my question is what's the heaviest deer you've ever killed or seen someone else bag? Really wish I would've gotten a field dressed weight for him before dropping him off...
 
Never know unless you put them on a scale. I bought a good scale a bunch of years ago which seriously decreased the number of 200# (field dressed) bucks killed by my friends. Personal best so far was 196# field dressed. Should have weighed my wife's buck this year but it was -16 F. degrees and all I could think of was get him caped, skinned & gutted before my hands froze! He was a big old bruiser. Back straps & tenderloins in freezer, zero fat trimmed, 56# for deer sticks & 40# for jerky. Pretty sure he was biggest I've processed. Central Iowa's father shot the biggest I've ever seen but don't remember the specs on him.
 
I got 108 lbs of meat before adding beef fat on a buck I killed in 2009. The Tipton locker told me it was the 2nd biggest they processed that year.
 
I have personally harvested only a few, maybe 3 or 4 total, that have probably weighed over 200 pounds field dressed. One of them may have weighed over, or at least right around, 250 on-the-hoof, but I can't say for certain because I've never weighed any.

I've heard legendary stories about 400 pound bucks before, but have never seen seen any in person. In, (I believe 2008), a guy in my shotgun party did harvest the only deer that I'd honestly say weighed at or over 300 pounds field dressed, and well over 300 on-the-hoof. That thing looked like a damn donkey with a set of huge, thick 50 pound antlers with stickers and kickers all over the place. I wouldn't have believed it if I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes and helped load it into my truck. When field dressing it, my buddy rolled his HUGE stomach out onto the ground. We could already tell what it was full of, as tightly as the membrane was stretched, but out of curiosity, his son cut into it with his knife. It was like a water balloon popping in slow motion. There was enough corn in there to probably fill a 5 gallon bucket. This buck was an absolute hog.

For what it's worth, many moons ago, I wrestled heavy-weight in HS and did some mixed martial arts in my 20's & 30's against some big-ol-boys, so I've got some real life experience to reference when it comes to picking up and moving around big heavy bodies.
 
All measured by a spring scale from Cabellas, so probably not the most accurate but I'd guess within 5 lbs. I've been lucky to get some big body deer. Two at 220 lbs. One at 225 lbs. This one was a small 10 point (about 120"). This was early in my hunting career so I'm not sure if it was young and big or old and coming down hill. My guess is that he was young but big. There were some huge body genetics on this property. I got close to one on this property that is still the biggest bodied deer I have ever seen. I have no doubt he would have been easy 275 and maybe 300 lbs dressed.

My biggest harvest was a 265 lb old hog. Rack was a kind of a stubby short tined 10 point (135") with almost no brows. This is the only sizable deer I have ever taken with a gun and was on a drive. We cut off his back straps and grilled them when were done for the day and we could not even finish eating it. Toughest stringiest venison I have ever had. Aging by tooth I estimated him at 6.5 or 7.5, but I'm not good at tooth aging. If I had to guess buy meet toughness I'd say about he was in his early 90's.

Good thread by the way to the OP.
 
Dunno on meat but I killed one in October and one very early nov (before rut drained them) that both poked a touch over the 250lbs mark dressed. Both were extremely mature. Those 2 were 7+ but I imagine probably about same size the year before.
On the flip side- I've shot several bucks pre and post rut that were old bucks.... 145 -175 lbs dressed. Some of that may be sickness, hard rut but mainly, imo, genetics just like people, to have smaller bodies.
 
This was one that topped 250 dressed.
 

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218 field dressed was my biggest in MN....Shot this one in Iowa that was about the same...guess 210-220 but I did not weigh it...Iowa busted up 9.jpg
 
My grandpas was the largest I seen, dressed at 252 lbs at the locker. It was a 20 pt, 200+ class deer.
My heaviest was a 240 lb dressed, but only had a 115" rack...
Quit weighing them we I started cutting them up myself, didnt have the room to add the scale in..
 
First deer I shot as a kid was weighed at by the meat locker scale just the carcass was 243 lbs. That was no head, no hide, legs cut off at knee joint. Was only a 7 point buck & seamed fairly young, but who knows. He was shot the first day of youth season & had a ton of fat. No rut to run him down. I have shot a couple with bodies close to as big but no where near the fat on them.
 
I need to get a scale! The only giant I ever shot was about 6 years ago and all I can remember is it took everything my cousin and I had to get that sucker into the pickup! And neither of us are what I would consider to be wimps. I believe that was live weight, I don't think i dressed him until I got home. Big deer!
Long ago my dad shot a really nice buck and, at the time didn't have the money to do anything with it. A friend had acquired a mountain lion and asked to use my dads deer to do a full body mount of the deer with the lion jumping on it. I remember my dad saying the taxidermist had to get a mule deer form for the buck because whitetail forms didn't come large enough. I'm not 100% of the accuracy of that, it's just what I recall. Big deer though!
 
220#

Some other interesting numbers.

155# doe. HOG. Obviously very old. One of the smarter deer I've ever seen.... Buck or doe

187# 2 year old. (Way back in Michigan when not shooting yearlings and targeting 2 year olds put you in the "management" category... Sad but true)
 
LYON said:
I need to get a scale! The only giant I ever shot was about 6 years ago and all I can remember is it took everything my cousin and I had to get that sucker into the pickup!
Click to expand...

So, what, like say 80 pounds then? :D :D JK!! JK!!

I don't recall ever weighing one, so I can't be sure...but there have been a couple through the years that were substantially bigger than most of them. I would guess one in the 235 plus range as live weight and another that would be close to that, but most are 15-25 pounds below that. I have taken a couple of monster does too, but I would only be guessing at their weight, but probably 20% bigger than a standard doe.
 
Ive seen a 303 and 285 live weight. Both on same farm in east central Illinois killed by my cousin. MONSTER body and neck o both of them. My personal biggest was 230 dressed, which would be about 270-280 live weight.
 
Biggest PA buck dressed out at 190#, a couple Illinois buck that were estimated by the taxidermist since we didn't have a scale were around 260# (huge deer) and 230# dressed.
 
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