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That's interesting information. I measured the girth behind the forelegs on my muley this year, and it was about 48". I measured it with the hope that I could maybe find a chart that would estimate it's weight, but have never taken the time to look for one. I wonder if this would translate to mule deer? Does anyone have such a chart for mule deer?
That's lots of sausage there.....
The neck doesn’t look overly huge. I wonder when the deer was killed. If in mid-late November or later, the weight could have been considerably more if he had been killed in early November. They sure run a lot off during the rut.
T roy your neck would be skinny to if you where hang n by it lol that is big deer
I like that he is smiling! So sad when guys are sad for a trophy photo.
I remember a chart in OL or F&S in the 80's had a chart where you could estimate weight from a few measurements. It hung in our cabin for a while
Horace Hinckley, 5'1" tall....Ha! That is a giant buck!
“Never measured for B&C”...love it. Yet they’ve got 5 measurements on body size and weight. A different time for sure
Whew! I thought it was probably a crossbow kill........
I would smile too if I had shot that buck!
In that part of the world;deer weight impresses more than B&C score.It takes a 200 # to get a second look.
WOW! That's cow elk stature weights already.
The gut pile weighs as much as the hunter.
Cheesehead Mike's Link
It's a huge deer but I question the accuracy of the weight. The method of estimating weight based on the circumference of the chest is known as the "Heart Girth" method. I have a tape somewhere at home that I used in the past and compared it to actual weights and it's very accurate.
My link includes a Heart Girth chart based on an actual study. The chart only goes up to 46" but you can estimate that a 47" heart girth would be about 250 pounds field dressed. I think they're about 100 pounds too heavy with the claimed weight.
Also if you look at the chart and compare field dressed weight to live weight, field dressed weight is usually about 82% of live weight. The Hinckley buck's field dressed weight is claimed to be about 73% of the live weight which doesn't seem right. 133 pounds of guts, holy crap!
New England Game & Fish magazine used to post heaviest deer from the prior year and all-time from the New England states and I remember that one always stood out.
Here's the same buck hanging in my garage with a 10 foot ceiling. The buck's hooves are touching the ceiling and his nose is only a few inches off the floor.
Here's the same buck hanging in my garage with a 10 foot ceiling. The buck's hooves are touching the ceiling and his nose is only a few inches off the floor.
Here's a bow kill that I shot in 2000. He weighed 255 pounds field dressed on two different scales. I'm 5'11" and weighed about 200 pounds in this photo for comparison. This buck had the biggest/longest backstraps I've ever seen and the meat off of the neck nearly filled a 5 gallon bucket.
Hinckley's buck is big, but it's hard to imagine that it was 100 pounds heavier than this one...
Nice buck Mike. I'm no expert on the subject but have read a little about it being from New England and seeing this 355 lb weight several times in publications. Whether it is true or not, I sure can't confirm, but you do make good points. This is from an article listing this deer as the third largest whitetail...."Hinckley reportedly spent three days searching for a scale large enough to properly weigh his buck. With a Maine Sealer of Weights witness present, the buck officially tipped the scales at 355 pounds, giving it a live weight of 451 pounds. Hinckley’s buck had a 28-inch neck girth and a 56-inch chest girth".
The picture of the Hinckley buck above shows a girth of 47" behind the forelegs, which is where the Heart Girth is measured. I find it hard to believe that a buck with a 47" heart girth weighs 488 pounds live and 355 pounds field dressed when according to the chart by Pennsylvania State University a buck with a 46" heart girth "only" weighs 286 pounds live and 234 pounds field dressed.
Based on the claimed weight, Hinckley's buck would have had to put on 202 pounds live and 121 pounds field dressed with only 1 more inch in heart girth. Something doesn't add up.
If I remember correctly, my buck in the photos above had a 48" heart girth, which is 1" bigger than the Hinckley buck...
Should have let him go another year or two.