I have raised hogs, bought hogs for slaughter, trapped and kept feral hogs for fattening (don't bother trying to do this), and killed some undeterminable number of wild (feral) hogs. I prefer the wild ones. I would only slaughter sows for my own use. The barrows would be sold and I only kept boars for breeding. Bought hogs had a "taste" to them, presumably from the feed they had been on. I would keep them on straight corn for about two weeks before I would butcher them. Feral hogs on feed gain so slowly that you're better off eating the corn yourself. A good head or spine shot and a quick bleed on an unexcited feral hog, especially if you've had a good acorn crop (down here at least) will give you some fine eating. I killed an "Acorn fat" boar once that was 400# if he was an ounce and I could not taste any wild or gamey flavor at all.
I won't bother with any hog that has been run by dogs. I've had some people tell me that they couldn't taste anything gamey in the meat but I can.
Alan
This man knows what he's speaking about.....head shots only, and anything over 200 lbs is seldom seen unless hunted at night. 15 lbs or so are hard to describe how good they taste. Much leaner than domestic.....
