I was looking at some Roger Rothhaar photos, particularly the monster buck hanging ungutted next to him indoors. Ryan, what did that weigh? What is everyone's biggest whitetail and what state? I weighed one dressed at 230# from
southern Wisconsin, a 4 1/2 year old

My heaviest was 217# live weight. But I'm in TX, and our deer just don't have the mass like northern deer do.

Bisch

We have weighed alot with guts in.  The biggest we have weighed were in the 265-270 lb range live weight.

Dad kept records and the most he ever had one lose was 38 lbs, with the average mature buck losing 30-35 lbs by field dressing.  When you see guys talking 50+ pound losses with dressing...well....

Of course time of year matters, the buck I just killed in Indiana was this size (265), but he would have lost alot by mid November, probably 20-30 lbs I'd guess. He had fat pads 2 inches thick over his hips and rump.

Here in Indiana the 4 1/2 yr old and better bucks I've killed were all 240-265 live wt.  In Iowa on Dads old farm the average 4-5 yr old buck was in the 220 range with only a handful of the really big ones over the years.  Genetics? Feed? I don't know, but the Ohio/indiana bucks we weighed averaged more than the iowa bucks.

That one you are talking about was in that 250-260 range.

R

Here's a picture of the read out of a certified scale weighing a nice field dressed 11 pointer from 2016.[attachment=1,msg2933797]

Here's a picture of the 11 pt. mentioned in earlier post[attachment=1]

Growing antlers takes a lot of energy. The bucks tend to add a tremendous about of body weight after the antlers harden. Typically this is during the months of September and October. Ryan's buck had a huge body during the first few days October, and yet there were still 4 full weeks to put on even more weight. Acorns and many high nutritious food are all available. The huge necks and shoulder muscle these bucks build during prep for the rut are not filled with air, but heavy mass of dense muscle. The fat that Ryan described is also not going away, but will continue to build. We talk about "Come November" or the magic of the "November Rut" for a reason. It is then that the bucks go to chasing and tending does without eating properly. And it is then they burn off a lot of weight like Ryan describes. 20- 30 pounds by mid November and even much more by the end of November. If you think Ryan's buck looks big now, image that beast on Halloween! hahah  I have killed a lot of bucks in Illinois and even Minnesota that field dressed 200 - 245 pounds.   
[attachment=1]

A seven year old Missouri buck that was either 203 or 207 field dressed and fat doe that was either 163 or 167 field dressed.  If memory serves me right the doe was 163 and the buck 207 but that was many years ago.  The buck was a heavy mass, short tine ten point that only scored in the mid 120s.  Still the prettiest rack I have.

205# dressed, Kentucky.

Had a nice 10 point that field dressed 215#.  NW Iowa.

My biggest was 165#. Middle Georgia deer often don't run as large as in other regions of the country, but every once in a while somebody takes a really big one. I've seen a few of them...

The biggest one I have ever seen was 311 lbs. live weight That said he was a pen raised stud buck that a friend had on his deer farm. I don't remember how many points he had but his rack was huge. As soon as his  antlers hardened they were cut off to keep him from hurting the other deer in the pen. A buck isn't much different than a bull when the rut gets started, they will get dangerous real quick.

 My biggest Kansas whitetail buck field dressed 205#. Most FD I've shot were from 165-190. A friend of mine in Parsons, Ks. shot an average 8 pt that field dressed 308# and he kept the locker print out of the weight as it was so big. He looked like a butcher steer.

Hunters tend to really over estimate the weight of "their" deer. Every year hear talk of 200+ pound bucks and 150 pound does.
Here in Kentucky, I've personally seen two that cracked 200#, and barely. Takes a heck of a doe to hit 120#. 100# is a good one. Most of the bucks I see that "had to dress 200" are more like 140-150#.
I do know they get much larger farther north.

My biggest #206 dressed and this was killed during the prerut he was chasing [attachment=1]

One of the largest my dad put on the scale was 265lbs +, field dressed Kentucky buck (very heavy racked 8pt)....stomach was loaded with acorns. Super thick layer of fat on carcass. This was a really good deer but not even his largest...just the largest I can remember him putting on a scale.

Lived in eastern South Dakota for a while during college...even larger deer up there. One of the professors up there did deer research and they had an experimental herd (penned). Does estimated field dressed weight over 200, bucks 300+

Northern deer are heavier...especially the corn feed ones.

I've killed several in Michigan's UP that weighed over 200# dressed, the biggest was 215.  My brother and I were in Bruce Crossing one day in late November when they were weighing one on the scale at Digger's bar, and that buck weighed 251 dressed.  My brother killed one near Kenora Ontario a few years ago that weighed 245.  He sent teeth to DeerAge.com to be aged.  The letter he got back said the rings were very distinctive, and the deer was 9 1/2 years old.

I've weighed every deer I've shot in the last 10 yrs at my home, the largest were 218, 215,208 and 204 all field dressed. They were taken in NE Iowa and SE MN. Biggest doe was taken in Wi and weighed 143.

Kentucky for a while (might still do it but haven't seen anything about it in a while) had a "trophy" doe program. Entry was a minimum 140 lbs field dressed.

The year was 1982. I killed it in Northern Elkhart County, IN.  Weighed on certified state scales at my Kingsbury WMA office. 265# field dressed.  Eleven yard shot, he ran about 55 yards and fell just inside some thick stuff. A little 5-6 point went right up to where he laid and hung around. Landowner scooped him up in a tractor bucket after I field dressed him for the check station. I had seen him only one time before on a Sunday and killed him on a Wednesday AM.

Quote from: Pflum on October 07, 2020, 09:24:18 PM
Hunters tend to really over estimate the weight of "their" deer. Every year hear talk of 200+ pound bucks and 150 pound does.
Here in Kentucky, I've personally seen two that cracked 200#, and barely. Takes a heck of a doe to hit 120#. 100# is a good one. Most of the bucks I see that "had to dress 200" are more like 140-150#.
I do know they get much larger farther north.

That's why we have a scale.  And no, it's not certified but we've checked it with sacks of feed and it was PDC.