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Well then I guess we are all wrong and you knew the answer all along. I wouldn't sweat much over 20 lbs of deer meat. In the end if you figure how much it ultimately cost you by the pound it is all more expensive than the best ribeye steak you can buy.
If you were a sustanance Hunter you wouldn't pay anyone to process it.

Huntwest, I don't think you paid much attention to the thread and responses. I added extra details based on some of the questions and comments and admitted that I should have had a starting weight. I don't know how you take that as "knew the answer all along." Your comment, "I wouldn't sweat much over 20lbs of deer meat" is exactly why there can be sloppy processors. If you don't care about losing meat, that is your business. I'd prefer to have accurate work for the pay given. I'm not a subsistence hunter and I didn't say that I was. However, not trying to clarify what I perceive as more than a 20% error seems lazy at best and stupid at worst. Does either one of those categories fit you?

Moderator, please lock this thread since it doesn't seem to be generating much useful information for anyone.

Thank you to the people who responded with information about their results in processing weights.

I process my own deer. I don't add fat to the ground meat, or make sausage. I am always amazed that I don't get more meat per deer when the job is done, and it is put in the freezer. In the past, when I have gone to a processor, they wanted me to pick it up ASAP to get it out their business and get paid. Maybe they were careless with your order, or made a mistake. I would be very surprised it they tried to rip you off somehow. On another note, for anyone who wants to learn how to cut up deer, there are some great videos on Youtube. Also buy a quality grinder. I bought a #12, 3/4 hp electric grinder from Gander Mountain and am happy with it.

Ive used this site in the past to get an estimate of what to expect to get back, it seems to be pretty accurate. Of course you have to figure in bullet damage waste etc. http://www.daystohunt.com/index.php/deer-weight-formula

Wyndell,

Things like that link are what caused me to think that meat was missing. If I shrink the deer to the smallest on the list (since Texas deer aren't as big as northeast deer) it still looks like there should be more meat from three deer. Remember, the total weight I got from three deer (quarters & backstraps) was only 93 pounds. If my buck was only 180, then total meat should have been almost 80 pounds for the buck alone. Subtract 10 or so pounds for the neck, rib, & flank meat and the buck alone should have weight close to 70 pounds processed...

I'm not really saying my deer were huge, I just think that the confusion on the processing sheet looks like some of the deer meat was lost. The photo below shows the numbers on the photo-copy of the processing page I was given. I'm going to ask the processor about it one more time. Also, remember that the actual weight I received, 73 pounds, doesn't show anywhere on the processing sheet.

I would imagine most deer you will get in the 40% range back.

When you say "if my buck was only 180" it tells me I think your over estimating the weight of your deer. I bet there is a slim to none chance that deer weighed 180 lbs live weight, and the does weight probably doesn't even register on the bottom end of that chart.

Found this on Youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoawhsmKIEY

So, RedChevy, no comments about the unexplained weights on the processor's log sheet? About the errors and scratch-outs? Or the obvious error that shows (after lots of corrections) the same numbers quartered and trimmed? I suspect >180 pounds for the buck, but I didn't weight it live, dressed, or quartered. My son-in-law and I couldn't lift it into truck, but had to get mechanical help.

The bottom line is that I'm done with this processor and I will recommend against him if someone around in my area asks. I've already deleted the positive reviews I gave on Yelp and Facebook after having two backyard steers butchered. There were some errors on the processing logs for the steers, too, but I gave the shop the benefit of the doubt. Not chancing it for anything else.

I'm still debating negative reviews.

I don't recall seeing the name of the processor. Maybe someone has some experience or knowledge about the processor in question if you care to provide it.

I doubt you got shorted. I just finished processing 3 deer, 2 doe and a buck (no front shoulders) and ended up with right at 75# of meat. Like others said, many people overestimate what they will get off a deer. I do see why you would question it given the numbers above.

Dude, It is your own fault. Why didn't you wait to get it weighed and checked in? Don't bash someones business because of your own neglect. You said they gave you a refund for the difference so whats your gripe? You didn't pay for anything you didn't get. Go shoot another and take it to someone else. Sounds like this processor is giving you a fair shake. If you just left it in an icechest in the locker, who's to say some other customer didn't borrow a hind quarter or 2 before it was weighed in the first place. Take responsibility for screwing up and move on.

WestTx, thanks for the civil reply. My buck had both shoulders and no lost meat in the quarters since I shot it in the lungs.

HornSlayer-- it is my fault. The only choice I had was to walk out since they wouldn't weigh it while I waited. It was checked in, and tagged with their storage IDs. They had something else going on at the moment and wouldn't stop. That's one of the reasons I'm not going back.

The meat went back into their processing area immediately. If there was some stolen, it was by the employees. I am not accusing them of theft, only sloppiness. My initial question was to figure out if the number was realistic. Some say it is-- but the screwy production sheet doesn't support the 73 pounds I received. Based on what I see, sloppy work and bad documentation lost some of the deer. The processor has declined to explain. The refund allows them to say they only had 93 pounds to process, nothing good-hearted about it.

Others say it is only 20 pounds... get over it. Unlike some of you that are on management property, I have the opportunity to shoot 1 buck, 1 spike, and 2 does. The three deer I have are all I will get this year. So, over 20% of the deer meat I should have had is gone.

I haven't mentioned the name, since I didn't start out to bash the processor, just check my opinion. I will send it by PM if someone is in the Round Rock, Georgetown, Belton area and is interested.

Maybe the processor just didnt trim every ounce of meat off the bone. No processor does that. They have their time/labor in mind, not getting you 100% yield.

I used a processor in Carthage once because I won a free deer processing gift certificate at a banquet. They gave me backstraps and the rest in pan sausage when I asked for backstraps and hamburger. Seriously had like 40 lbs of pan sausage. I called and told them they messed up my order and somehow they came up with 20 lbs of ground steaks for me to come pick up to make up for it. Where did this meat come from?

Unclaimed processed deer meat most likely if it was ground venison steaks.

180 lb deer in texas that are low fence free range and not protein fed are not that common, especially if they are not super mature, he is a nice looking buck, but I think that weight chart you were looking at is geared toward northern deer. We feed free choice proten 10 months a year and the bigged bucks we have killed so far in the 4-5 YO range have not broke into the 180 lb range yet.

The processor sheet seems slopy at best to me. If you buck weighed 180 lbs each hind leg quarter by itself would weigh about 20 lbs. The weight the processor gave your for the buck was 37 lbs. The deer didn't weigh 180 lbs.