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Interesting Article on Guessing Weights #8484839 12/23/21 04:09 PM
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Be it hogs, coyotes, or deer, apparently hunters have a hard time accurately guessing weights and they tend to over estimate weights. Old article, but good one...

https://www.chron.com/sports/outdoors/article/Tales-of-giant-hogs-don-t-carry-weight-5147325.php


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8484851 12/23/21 04:24 PM
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I find this kind of thing hilarious, and you see it all the time. I was hunting the Aransas Wildlife Refuge earlier this month and on the game log over half the entries were such BS. Someone put down they took a 400 lb hog, one guy shot a 240 lb buck, someone got a 160 lb doe. Someone on Reddit a week ago said they shot a 300 lb hog that looked like it was maybe the size of my 60 lb lab.

Last edited by JB1316; 12/23/21 04:24 PM.
Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8484995 12/23/21 06:46 PM
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Much like the frequent posts where someone asks for opinions on a deer's age, I've sometimes thought a thread where people ask others to offer their best estimate of a deer or hog's weight while hanging on a meat pole might be interesting to follow. Such a thread would of course work best if the OP would eventually offer the measured weight to see who provided the most accurate value. Such posts would also offer some measure of observations and experience in judging harvested animal weights for those like me who suck at it.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 12/23/21 06:54 PM.

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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485019 12/23/21 07:07 PM
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I think it is a lot easier to judge weights at a specific location when you actually weigh animals at that specific location all the time. Below are logged weight over multiple years

Concho mature bucks on my deer lease vary from 120 -160lbs dressed
transpecos mature bucks on my mule deer lease vary from 150-200lb dressed
panhandle ranch mature WT vary from 150-200 dressed
Panhandle ranch mature Mule deer vary 170-210 dressed
Panhandle ranch mature antelope weight 90-116 dressed (116 was major outlier)

I wouldn’t discount some one’s opinion, never know what they have actually weighted


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485040 12/23/21 07:33 PM
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The average hunter tends to greatly overestimate the weight of a dressed deer.

I can't begin to tell you all the 300 lb hogs that were shot that once on the scale immediately shrunk to 220-230 lbs.

We shot a mule deer out west that dressed 238 lbs if i remember correctly. Deer was a freaking horse and it took two of us to get it into the buggy. Mine this year dressed 138 lbs.

Our average mature buck at the ranch in south texas dressed 140-160 lbs. we did shoot one pre-rut buck that dressed 198 lbs but that was an anomaly .


Biggest doe I've seen dressed 107 lbs on a managed ranch in McMulled County.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: txtrophy85] #8485084 12/23/21 08:28 PM
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Originally Posted by txtrophy85
The average hunter tends to greatly overestimate the weight of a dressed deer.

I can't begin to tell you all the 300 lb hogs that were shot that once on the scale immediately shrunk to 220-230 lbs.

We shot a mule deer out west that dressed 238 lbs if i remember correctly. Deer was a freaking horse and it took two of us to get it into the buggy. Mine this year dressed 138 lbs.

Our average mature buck at the ranch in south texas dressed 140-160 lbs. we did shoot one pre-rut buck that dressed 198 lbs but that was an anomaly .


Biggest doe I've seen dressed 107 lbs on a managed ranch in McMulled County.



Your mule deer isn’t much of a surprise when you look at teeth and age.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485105 12/23/21 09:23 PM
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100% true. I think it takes you actually seeing what those high numbers look like in real life to realize how big they are. I’ve shot one 300lb pig in my life and it was barely that at 304lbs.

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Prior to that I was over estimating pigs by 25-50lbs. Only problem is now I’m underestimating them by the same. Shot this guy last week and thought it wouldn’t be over 175. Ended up being 230lbs and I nearly threw my back out trying to lift into the mule bc I thought it would be so much lighter.

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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: BOBO the Clown] #8485141 12/23/21 10:10 PM
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Originally Posted by BOBO the Clown
Originally Posted by txtrophy85
The average hunter tends to greatly overestimate the weight of a dressed deer.

I can't begin to tell you all the 300 lb hogs that were shot that once on the scale immediately shrunk to 220-230 lbs.

We shot a mule deer out west that dressed 238 lbs if i remember correctly. Deer was a freaking horse and it took two of us to get it into the buggy. Mine this year dressed 138 lbs.

Our average mature buck at the ranch in south texas dressed 140-160 lbs. we did shoot one pre-rut buck that dressed 198 lbs but that was an anomaly .


Biggest doe I've seen dressed 107 lbs on a managed ranch in McMulled County.



Your mule deer isn’t much of a surprise when you look at teeth and age.



Even in his prime i bed he didn’t weigh a whole lot. Guy was just little.


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485234 12/23/21 11:27 PM
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By using the word " dressed", is it safe to assume you mean field dressed? Thanks Daniel

Last edited by DLALLDER; 12/23/21 11:27 PM.




Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485308 12/24/21 12:53 AM
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I learned what hogs actually weighed 20 years ago when my older buddy told me that a hog I killed was 220 pounds. I had guessed 300. He laughed and said let's go out to the shop and weigh him. He was 225. Ever since then I laugh too at how many times I've heard "I killed a 300 or 400 pound hog." A 300 pound hog is a HUGE hog. Once you start weighing them, it becomes obvious.

Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: DLALLDER] #8485318 12/24/21 01:05 AM
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Originally Posted by DLALLDER
By using the word " dressed", is it safe to assume you mean field dressed? Thanks Daniel

Yes, normally “dressed” means field dressed or gutted. That seems to be the excepted way most people that track weights of deer for management purposes do it.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485628 12/24/21 02:53 PM
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I hunt the piney woods region. It’s MLD so we weigh every deer and have for a few decades. Field dressed weight of mature bucks on average weigh between 140-170. Late season rutted down bucks commonly weigh in the 130’s. Heaviest by far field dressed buck to date weighed 192, killed November 22, 2014. Have seen quite a few of the larger bucks killed in October field dress in the 170’s.
Grown does generally dress in the 70’s. A really big one may squeak into the 80’s. The 2-3 year old ones that dress in the 60’s are the best eaters we shoot.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485654 12/24/21 03:29 PM
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I am horrible at guessing weight and that is after weighing and doing records on several 1000 WT deer. Hogs will fool just about everyone who tries to guess the weight. For WT deer we have weighed them live and then gutted. We have found that in early season you can take off 17% for dressed weight after you have a live weight. Later in the season we use 16%. Biggest bucks I have gotten a weight on field dressed have been 208 lbs on 3 bucks over the years. Lot of 200+lb dressed weights. This was on ranches in South Texas and Central Texas. Ranges on mature bucks depend on time of the season and on the ranch. Doe weights were dependent on location of the ranch in Kendall County in the early 90's we started at 52 lbs dressed weight then in 5 yrs it was up to 72 lbs dressed weight. Largest doe there was a 1.5 yr old that dressed 97 lbs the last year. Mature bucks on that ranch ranged from 110 lbs early on to 158 lbs after 5 yrs. Other ranches it ranged from 60 lbs to 114 lbs on dressed weights on does. Yearling bucks on ranches I managed ranged from 60 lbs to up 119 lbs(spike). My place in Goliad County I had mature bucks range from a low of 108 lbs to 145 lbs. dressed weight. Does were from 57 to 85 lbs.
Hogs that I have weighed range from 10 lbs up to 258 lbs live weight. I think I have shot a few larger hogs but did not weigh them so it was just a WAG they were larger. Most hogs I never weigh.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485695 12/24/21 04:38 PM
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We weigh everything bucks and does. Does fluctuate a lot based on age. Our heaviest bucks have come in just under 190 lbs live and 155 dressed. That’s pretty close with ranchmans 17% less than live estimate.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8485697 12/24/21 04:43 PM
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I think the biggest does we have ever killed dresses 115 lbs, and it’s not many of them. Typically our heaviest age class of does are 4 year olds and dress right at or slightly over 100 lbs.

When we had a lease in Kendal county and on our place in Duval co, there appear to be some deer that are just plain different. We don’t see it as much down south, but in the hill country there were definite examples of short squat deer and long and lanky ones.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8486495 12/25/21 06:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Double Naught Spy
Be it hogs, coyotes, or deer, apparently hunters have a hard time accurately guessing weights and they tend to over estimate weights. Old article, but good one...

https://www.chron.com/sports/outdoors/article/Tales-of-giant-hogs-don-t-carry-weight-5147325.php



I agree with much of what was said in the article, but first rattle out of the bag it is stated:
Quote

"You hear all the time about 300-, 400- or 500-pound (feral) pigs - these 'Hogzilla' stories," said Scott Henke, regents professor with Texas A&M University-Kingsville's Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute. "But my experience is that it is extremely rare to come up with a wild hog that weighs over 200 pounds."


^^^^

Is a bunch of hooey....(at least in East Texas). Mature Boars here will almost always weigh in excess of 200 lbs. and I am not 'guessing'. I have weighed many, many of them. Yes a 200 lb. hog is a big animal.....but certainly NOT "extremely rare". Now when you get to the 300 lb claims....yes. Very few hogs most places in Texas will make the 300 lb. mark.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8486647 12/25/21 10:18 PM
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Is a bunch of hooey....(at least in East Texas). Mature Boars here will almost always weigh in excess of 200 lbs. and I am not 'guessing'. I have weighed many, many of them. Yes a 200 lb. hog is a big animal.....but certainly NOT "extremely rare". Now when you get to the 300 lb claims....yes. Very few hogs most places in Texas will make the 300 lb. mark.


Yeah, they missed the mark on that. It is most definitely a sampling issue. If you are in an area where there is heavy hunting pressure on the hogs, the biggest hogs tend to go first. Pretty soon, your whole population is full of only smaller hogs.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8486764 12/26/21 01:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Double Naught Spy
Quote
Is a bunch of hooey....(at least in East Texas). Mature Boars here will almost always weigh in excess of 200 lbs. and I am not 'guessing'. I have weighed many, many of them. Yes a 200 lb. hog is a big animal.....but certainly NOT "extremely rare". Now when you get to the 300 lb claims....yes. Very few hogs most places in Texas will make the 300 lb. mark.


Yeah, they missed the mark on that. It is most definitely a sampling issue. If you are in an area where there is heavy hunting pressure on the hogs, the biggest hogs tend to go first. Pretty soon, your whole population is full of only smaller hogs.


I think everyone here and the as well article are correct. A mature boar will weigh more than 200lbs frequently, but mature boar (at least on our ranch) are probably less than 5% of the population which I would call extremely rare. We kill 50+ pigs a year and don’t think we’ve had more than two or three top 200lbs in a given year. On a less pressured ranch, I’m sure there would be more than that, however I have hunted across the state and have never come across a situation that didn’t put heavy pressure on hogs where large boar would be given the safety to become common place.

Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double AC] #8486899 12/26/21 04:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Double AC Ranch
Originally Posted by Double Naught Spy
Quote
Is a bunch of hooey....(at least in East Texas). Mature Boars here will almost always weigh in excess of 200 lbs. and I am not 'guessing'. I have weighed many, many of them. Yes a 200 lb. hog is a big animal.....but certainly NOT "extremely rare". Now when you get to the 300 lb claims....yes. Very few hogs most places in Texas will make the 300 lb. mark.


Yeah, they missed the mark on that. It is most definitely a sampling issue. If you are in an area where there is heavy hunting pressure on the hogs, the biggest hogs tend to go first. Pretty soon, your whole population is full of only smaller hogs.


I think everyone here and the as well article are correct. A mature boar will weigh more than 200lbs frequently, but mature boar (at least on our ranch) are probably less than 5% of the population which I would call extremely rare. We kill 50+ pigs a year and don’t think we’ve had more than two or three top 200lbs in a given year. On a less pressured ranch, I’m sure there would be more than that, however I have hunted across the state and have never come across a situation that didn’t put heavy pressure on hogs where large boar would be given the safety to become common place.


Then East Texas/Deep East Texas is your place. Except for Paper Company Land and the National Forests....it is mostly privately owned ranches/farms of small acreage. (typically under 1,000 acres) often half that. Excellent habitat many places. While hogs are despised by landowners and a certain amount of hunting/trapping goes on. There are enough 3 year old Boars and Sows in this region to comfortably get outside the 'extremely rare' group.

'Common Place' we will need to define, but suffice to say East Texas likely has an somewhat older average age group than other parts of the State. It's a difficult place to hunt hogs, hogs have plenty of natural forage and because land holdings tend to be small...hogs traverse many properties (many of which do little to nothing to combat them). They get to grow up here.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8486938 12/26/21 10:50 AM
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If East TX has 300 pound hogs in abundance, just gives me another reason to stay away. Too often I hear the number 300 pounds and see one less than 250. 250 is a large pig for any of the parts of Texas I have been so fortunate to hunt in.

I don't really like hogs.

Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Hudbone] #8486975 12/26/21 01:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Hudbone
If East TX has 300 pound hogs in abundance, just gives me another reason to stay away. Too often I hear the number 300 pounds and see one less than 250. 250 is a large pig for any of the parts of Texas I have been so fortunate to hunt in.

I don't really like hogs.



East Texas does not have 300 lb hogs in abundance, nor does any other part of the State. A true 300 lb. hog is a rare animal.

When you drop down to 200 lb. hogs (boars or sows) you find those in East Texas in no small number. Its a matter of the animals living to maturity and the excellent habitat here (forage and cover). I define a 'mature' hog as being 3 yrs. old or older.

I agree that a 250lb hog is large animal and also represents a plateau of sorts...most places in East Texas. 200-230lb hogs (not only boars) are big animals here and will be acknowledged as such. But won't have anyone oohing or aahhing over it.

250-275 lb hogs are worthy of attention. 300lbs or just over ARE rare these days, though 30-35 yrs ago our PineyWoods Rooter boars could hit that mark no trouble.

If you look at mature hog weights in places like Georgia....you'll find them to be on average heavier than many other places. So 'region' can make a big difference.

Often times I see a post where someone has killed a 'bruiser/monster/other' hog and the picture shows a hog weighing 150 lbs at best. Now that may in fact be a big hog for their area/property....its all relative. But that would barely make a good, mature sow in my area.

I am happy to see ANY dead hog....regardless of true weight, so keep on killing them guys and gals. up


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8486994 12/26/21 02:01 PM
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It’s interesting to hear some of the stuff in here. Some good answers/suggestions and some bull.

Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8487033 12/26/21 03:17 PM
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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8487095 12/26/21 04:36 PM
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I can tell small, medium or large, but that's about it. For hogs, I use a tape if they look big enough to be interesting, but without a scale, I'd have no idea what a deer weighs.


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Re: Interesting Article on Guessing Weights [Re: Double Naught Spy] #8487127 12/26/21 05:22 PM
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As Flintknapper says, I see many more large (200+) hogs on my small place in East Texas than I used to see on the place I hunted in Victoria County on the Goliad County border and that place was more than ten times larger with a lot of hogs. My son recently shot a 224# sow we weighed and this past weekend I shot two large sows, one of which was as large as the one he shot and the other a little smaller. But there are two boars that are absolute monsters that come by occasionally and one of them wrecked one of my low based standup feeders that was spiked into the ground and had about 200 pounds of corn in it. He then went and wrecked two regular tall feeders at a neighbor's. He only comes out in the wee hours but I think he could be close to that #300 pounds. Both of these boars are the size that years ago I would have guessed over 400# pounds but now I know that would be extremely rare.

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