Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Pigs, what do you prefer?

I know many hog hunters that wont even touch a big, over 150lb boar. They insist that they taste awful. I don't know how they know that, as they've never tried one. The larger boars do tend to have a stronger smell, but that's on the skin. I always thoroughly wash down them down before skinning and gutting, making sure there is little contact between skin and meat. I also try to keep my hands clean so they don't transfer either. There is little wrong with the smaller ones, but the larger are just as good. capt david

I have to agree with you. I know a bunch of hunters that will not mess with any boars and especially the big ones. Some of them smell stronger than others but I clean all of them even the really big boars. If they have a bunch of fleas and/or ticks on them I either hit them with a pear burner or spray them down with a spray bottle of everclear grain alcohol and throw a match to them. You get a little bit of burnt hair smell but all the fleas and ticks are dead and gone. 9 times out of 10 the big boars are just as good as the smaller ones once you cook them. Every now and then you will get one that is pretty strong but those are few and far between. One thing that I think helps on the big boars is to throw the meat in an ice chest with ice and water and let it soak some and then drain off the water and leave them on ice. This seems to pull allot of the blood out of the meat and I think makes it eat a little better.

Anyway the way I look at it the bigger pigs have more meat and in most cases it is just as good to eat if you take care of them properly.

We butcher them all

Mohawk,

To me alone, I prefer the "wee piggies" that dress under 60# & that can go onto the BBQ pit whole.
(IF I'm cooking for a crowd, like for our church's Brotherhood, a BIG sow is FINE, too if you have a day & a big enough pit to cook it slowly/throughly.)

just my OPINION, tex

the ones here in nor east fla any over 40lbs an got nuts you cannot get the stink out of them .I have tried for 45years

My dad's side of the family has hunted hogs here in FL and south GA going back to just after WWII well before I was born; over 75 years since my grandfather shot his first one. They've come from south east FL, central FL, north FL, and south GA near the state line. Big pigs pushing 250 lb, little pigs in the 35-40 lb range, swamp pigs, hardwood creek/river bottom pigs, Kissimmee prairie pigs, pine woods pigs and it hasn't mattered. Every one got processed and only a few in all that time were "rank", the rest went to sausage, backstrap, tenderloins, and roasts. One of the nasty ones was a big sow I shot that that had just weaned a litter. It's not only boars that can be off.

Some were certainly better than others for flavor; diet related we always have assumed; but only those few noted were discarded for nasty. Notably, a few of the best were boars in the 90-120 lb range, so we don't discriminate. My youngest son shot a 104 lb boar two weeks ago that falls into that group, as well. Plenty of fat on the hog and good flavor from the first cuts we've had.

If there's a choice for me to make in deciding which one of a group to shoot, I'm more concerned with how tough the meat might be than afraid of the flavor.

I kill dozens of them, clean a hundred pounder once in a while. Only a few smell bad.

Had a big boar absolutely run us out of the house it smelled so bad when we tried to cook some of it. One huge sow was so tough as to be unchewable. Since those two episodes I’ve not butchered one over #150 or so and haven’t had any more bad ones.

Generally I can kill 3-5 before they get out of sight with my personal best being 9 out of a sounder. In those cases I pick the smallest 2 or 3 and remove the loins, sometimes I’ll take more of them depending on how close I can get the truck. Rarely I’ll remove a couple hams off a #50er to smoke and pull.

“Pigs, what do you prefer.” ...dead

We've had ones that stunk bad when we walked up. Doesn't matter what we did they smelled when you cooked them too. Yes we know how to clean a pig properly etc... Didn't taste bad but the smell made it tough to eat.

Our rule now is nothing thats old, they are generally tough. Even sows. And if there is a strong odor when you walk up, no way at all.

Beyond that doesn't matter to us, male/female, the rest have all been very good, not just edible.

Seems our history mirrors the kid's too. LOL.

FLNative my family turned the hog lose in fla when the place was found hundreds of years ago they did not eat boar hogs they cut the nuts off and killed them later no fla people eat stink hogs

All I care to hunt here anymore are hogs. Cleaned and eaten all sizes, boars and sows. Prefer smaller ones as they are easy for me to handle if alone.

100%

That's my rule. If you can smell a boar fifteen feet away when walking up, leave him for the buzzards.

Other wise, fair game!









I've got to where in my old age, I don't alway skin em' out completely

Lotsa times these days, it depends on the time of year and whether it is morning or eve. Due to a lots of hard knocks, at 67 I've got to where if I've been up since five and it's just getting dark at 9 PM and I don't get the critter back till 10 or 10:30 PM, I just take the backstraps.



An example.

Where we hunt there is no cell service except in a couple areas. My bud and I left camp about 10 PM to go down to one of those area where we could get signal and call our wives, make sure no state of emergency existed. On the way back we decided to check a pen I've set up with trap door for catching hoglets. Well as it turned out we had about 15 hogs in the pen. I had my shotgun with 5 rounds and my glock 43 with 7 rounds. Bill had his Kimber and 8 rounds IIRC. Well we killed till we ran out of bullets. Now mind you we are in the dark, holding lights while these pigs in a 30' x 30' pen are going bat-schitt crazy. So we made our withdrawal, drove the mile back to camp and got my trailer and more ammo and came back and finished the job. Next was to get them out of the pen. Well Hog panel is 32" high and the trap door is about 30" wide and 2' high. Good bit of liftin' went on. Two old farts who both have back problems. By time we got back to camp it was 1:30 AM..
I was in the mood/need of a beverage and 4 Ibuprofen. I stripped the loins out of one and called it good. As it was 90 degrees or so at 1:30 in the morning, wouldn't bee too long before the meat was green.

So I just take the backstraps/loins and don't bother to open them up.





ya!

GWB

Trailer full of pigs, I like that!

Well, I've fattened up a share of bar hogs, too. All depends on the situation, of course. As for ancestry, that's impressive, tracing all the way back back to the 1500's here in the peninsula. French Huguenot or Spanish conquistador? Either way, I reckon you got me beat, since my ancestors were still in Scotland and Italy back then, near as I can tell.

As for no FL folks eating boar hogs . . . good to know. I'll take it under advisement . . . while I continue to enjoy smoking, grilling, and frying this 104 pounder that tastes better than any grocery store pork anybody will ever buy.

"Well...bye"

I'll go with what Geedub said...cause hes shot a couple more than I have....

Personally I like sows at 100 pounds or less, though I have eaten them up to 169 pounds with no complaints. Every boar Ive killed over 125 lbs fed the buzzards and the coyotes cause they didn't pass the smell test...

I prefer the huge sows, sober even.

GW’s second to last picture looks like how the buzzards find them when I’m done. No mess of blood and guts and I can strip the loins off one in just a couple minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever gutted a pig, even taking hindquarters I just skin them from the top down to the knees and then disjoint the hip and roll out.

Only bad one I have seen was the first. My father shot it in central CA and it was easily the biggest boar I have ever seen. It smelled bad and died in an eroded creek bed and we had a miserable time getting it out to where we could work it over. We tried to eat it. I have shot a good many since, in a good many different States. Have not had a second bad one. Did have one on Hawaii (the big island) that was as parasite infested as a critter can be that we did not salvage. Other than that they have all been very good. Looking to find a spot to shoot some this winter.

10/4

The hoglets where i hunt have large shouders and small hinds. Lotsa' times its not worth the effort to skin out the hinds. However, if I'm gonna have sausage made or want pork chop and ribs





then I skin and gut.



Most times these days I take the backstraps and if I'm in the mood and the hoglet warrants, then its the loins and shoulders, then take a knife and work around the ball/socket joint on both sides, lower the pig down where the head and front shoulder are on the ground. Takes most of the stress off the hinds. Free one hind from the carcass, then do the other.





Wrap a strap around the neck and drag to the bone yard.

ya!

GWB

I realize they are horribly destructive beasts and that they spread like wildfire but this will sound really odd to you all.

I've never seen a feral hog in my 66 years. Not hunting, not driving, nor have I heard of one locally being seen.

Dang, even with all their bad traits..........bullet and load testing fodder 365 days a year? Cheap meat? (OH.......naturally I've never tasted one either.)

I've mentioned such before and was told "yes you do have them". No.........we don't. Farmers would be begging for hunters.......not refusing access. I HEARD a few was seen in Southern IN but that was years back and, even though I check occasionally with the state, a place I could FIND some isn't provided.

I'm kinda jealous. I might have to move. My grand-kids would be ......not happy. Na............I'll just do without.

God Bless
Steve

We will send you some!

The hogs in South Carolina have two primary breeding cycles.... End of August and then around first of February.

We will shoot boars outside these times and shoot sows/shoats year round. They are excellent to eat.

We kill everyone we can. I don’t think we are doing any good, because there is so many.

Processed a bunch over the years, now I leave every one of them lay, just isn't worth the hassle.

"Pigs, what do you prefer?"

Speaking for the pigs, to whom the question appears to be addressed, I assume it is NOT to be in this position...

Perhaps I'll get there one day,

but for now........





pork loin, pork chops, pork tenders, pork ribs!






strawberry pulled pork piled high on an onion roll with cole slaw slathered with pot liquor so ya' have to lift fast and eat fast less it fall through!






16 bean soup with ham and sausage!








smoked pork roast and link sausage!





egg taquitos

talk about hog heaven!

ya!

GWB

Gee, some great looking food!!

It is good looking food. I’m not much of a cook!

Geedub...we make Carnitas with a lot of the trim from pigs we shoot.


It doesn't suck...


Also some goes in to chili...

What kind of beans do you put into that chili?

I like beans in my chili.



I really need to chase feral pigs one day, and not just the ones found in Montana...when they get into the chili though...a man better watch out.

The boars do tend to have a stronger smell but it will wash off or is not in the meat inside.

S

Sometimes it doesn’t wash off. Sort of like a rutting bull caribou.

You sir...are a Cretin.

I'm not much for sausage as I prefer ribs and chops, so I prefer 100 pounders or less. Those about 150 or more go to anyone who wants them. Of course some folks swear the big hogs are just right. Ymmv.

Is that good or bad?

Holy hell that looks good.

geedubya,

I've never heard of such a thing, but I'm salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs at the idea!

Could you post your recipe?

I've just searched the 'net, but the recipes I found varied a LOT and I'd like to start with a good one!

John

Quien Sabe?

I am not the author of this but, this is pretty much what I do when making strawberry pulled pork.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups strawberries
3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (if you don't want that much bite, use one or two)
1 cup ketchup
2/3 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 (3 to 4 lb) pork butt or shoulder roast
1 can of Dr.Pepper

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sweet onion and saute, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic and saute for 60 seconds.

3. Stir in strawberries, chipotle chiles, ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, ground mustard, and black pepper, chili powder and paprika. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.

4. Transfer to a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth.

5. I trim the fat from the pork butt, shoulder or hind as practical. Then place the pork roast into a slow cooker. Pour sauce over pork, then add the Dr. Pepper.

6. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until it "pulls" with fork.


Now if I'm gonna do smoked pulled pork......



I get a Boston Butt or use a hindquarter off one of the pigs I shoot.

I will put the meat on freezer paper and pat it dry.

I will prepare a rub, using Pork Rub and or Grub Rub, then add a cup of light brown sugar, pepper, paprika, kosher salt, "Slap yo' Mamma, chili powder and garlic powder. I will coat all exposed surfaces. If necessary double the amount for your rub,

After I have it coated good, I place the meat in a 2 gallon zip lock freezer bag and either put it in a large bowl in the fridge or on ice in a cooler. I will let it sit for 3 to four hours up to over-night depending on what I got to do in the next 24 hours.

One can google “smoked pulled pork” or other similar topics, but basically a good rule of thumb is two hours per pound at 225 degrees F.

This was a 7.5 lb. Boston but.



I trimmed the fat and had it seasoned by noon yesterday. I seasoned it and let it sit in a 2 gallon bag in the refrigerator crisper until I took it out about 7:15 PM.
I had already heated my smoker to 225 degrees F and had placed two cups of wine, and a couple teaspoons of honey and maple syrup in the smoker to add moisture. I usually smoke pork with apple or cherry and a bit of hickory.

I got it in the smoker at 7:30 PM. Each hour for the next 5 hours, on the hour mark I mopped it with the following sauce…….

1 cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup wate
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground mustard
2 tbsp Worcesstershire sause
Tbsp honey
Tbsp maple syrup.

Combine this and bring to a boil.

I mop the top and sides, then turn over and mop top and sides.

Crash about 12:45 AM,

Mop once more about 7:30 AM

Take out of the smoker at 10:30 AM, having smoked for 15 hours.

I then put the roast in a crock pot on warm for an hour to let it rest.



If it is not quite there yet, put crock-pot on low for another hour. You’ll know when its right!

Ya!

GWB

260AI

Used to be the 270 back in the early 80's

Many thanks!

<Irish accent ON>
You are a gentleman and a scholar, a fine judge of whiskey and women - and there are very few of us left.
<Irish accent OFF>

I like all of those ingredients, so I'm drooling even more now!

When I make this recipe, I will think of you -- and use my finest knife in your honour!

John

Smell test is important. Generally we don't mess with boars over a 100. Have had sows at 200 taste fantastic.

As a bonus, don't overlook those little 15-25 pounders, unbelieveable!!

Yeah Geedub..thanks for the recipe! I'll be making it this week and you'll know how I like it by the number of pigs I send home with you in March ( if any....)

I always used the stinking ones for coyote bait, and mostly still do, but have found how to get the stink out of the meat. A local central Texas woman hog hunter said to debone the meat, ice it down with salt for 3 days (adding salt and ice as needed, and draining off the water), then a day or two over ice with no salt, again draining off the water. Shortly after hearing that, the grandson showed up to hopefully kill a hog for his freezer at college (starving college kid). All he could do was take a boar. A real smelly one, and about 125 pounds or so. We put it over the ice, with salt as the woman suggested. Then the wife put some of the backstrap on the grill to see if we were successful. The meat was terrific, with no stink at all.

As the woman told me, the stink is in the blood. Get the blood out and you get the stink out.

I am just jealous of you guys that have easy access to the great shooting/eating that pigs provide. I shot one pig with a muzzle loader, while hunting deer in New Mexico, when I live there. It was fantastic eating.

GEEDUB!


Theres a batch of your Strawberry Pulled Pork simmering in the crock pot right now!


Gonna be supper tonight!


YA!

Looking forward to reading a report, Ingwe!

John

Back at ya!




Well, this one is not Strawberry pulled pork, but it turned out mighty tasty, and just got finished with a heapin' helping, plus cowboy beans and potato salad, washed down with a Real Ale "Real Heavy!



Mighty fine, one pot meal. Gotta wash one crock-pot, two glasses, and two forks. Toss the paper plate and the beer bottle.

The glass will remain in use for a spell longer

ya!

GWB

Gee Looks great..

GEEDUB!


The Strawberry pulled pork was skookum!


Gonna have to kill more pigs now!

Australia ?

Bewty Mate !

Both of these wild hogs were processed into tasty table fare!

Sherwood

I'm thinking GW ought to put out his own wild pork cookbook. Maybe he and Eileen could collaborate.

My BIL and I kill somewhere between 20 and 40 per year. Generally we're after something south of 100 pounds - easier to handle, among other things - but I won't let a big bar escape. He'll generally go to the processor. With the rest all we take are backstraps and hams. There are enough out there, with more coming all the time, that I'm not too concerned about "waste."

RM

GWB's stuff really, really makes me miss Texas! As for size, I found quite a difference in the taste/quality depending on what the food availability was. When I had a place in Rocksprings, the pigs ate rocks and pinion for the most part. I don't think you could have filled a wheelbarrow with the soil I had on 200 acres! Anything over 200lbs was going to be old and tough. Sold that one, got another place down near Cestohowa. Lots to eat in the Cibolo Creek drainage, so a 200lb pig was still pretty young and tender!

*sigh* I miss Texas sometimes!

Wouldn’t hurt my feelings if I ever saw another wild pig. I have been dealing with them for over 40 years. Back in my younger days I enjoyed hunting them very much, now I despise them. There like illegal’s from south of the border.... if you ain’t got em now... you will soon.

These are about the right size for eater pigs. Rio7

This old pig didn't smell to good. Rio 7

These were good. Rio7

Sometimes they stink and sometimes they don’t. If they have rolled in their own piss and mudd or masturbated on there belly then yes. Depends how horned up they are.

This is a very true post. A boar over about 100 pounds is chit! Boars get to smelling pretty rank when they get much heavier than that. And those small choats are wonderful of either sex. In fact you gotta watch how long and how hot you cook 'em because the meat will get mushy if you over do it. Just cook it til it's fallin' off the bone good and call it good. Because it is good, as good as it's gonna get.

That is what I was thinking; was wondering if he needed help with the eating. Cheers NC

What are you calling cowboy Beans? I've heard of 'em everywhere but here in Texas. Maybe all beans in Texas are Cowboy beans. We call what I think of as cowboy beans as Pinto's cooked with Salt Pork, Bacon, or ham hocks with garlic, onions, and a little to a lot of chili Powder. I like a couple hand fulls of chopped up cilantro thrown in towards the end. I soak em over night before I cook em. I also put in a half a cap full of Yucktecha Habinaro sauce. I don't want 'em hot, just a suggestion of hot. BTW, they go great with BBQ.

Smoked!

I referenced "Cowboy Beans" earlier in this thread........






I buy them by the pint at HEB food store, along with a pint of homestyle potato salad. Great for a quickie. I like beans. I'll suck em' down cold right out of the container when I'm at the lease and don't want to take time to fix a meal.



Now when it comes to home-made........


I call these my Texas "Barking Spider" Beans.



Sometimes I use pintos

other times I use 15bean soup beans..........





Put dry beans in a pot and add a quart or so of water. Let sit over night or blanch (bring just to a boil), turn of the heat and cover and let sit 20 minutes or so. Pour off liquid. Rinse beans.


The ingredients are not set in stone, one can add or subtract to/from. This is basically how I do it.

Into a large crockpot pour/add

1 can Rotel tomatoes, with Cilantro and lime juice.
2 cans tomato sauce.
Three tablespoons (or more) Caldo de Res powdered beef bullion.
½ teaspoon Corriander
Two or three teaspoons Cumin Powder
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Paprika
Chili Powder
Cayenne Red Pepper
Couple dashes of Tony Chacheries Creole Seasoning

Chop up and add
1 or two large cloves of garlic
½ sweet yellow onion and red onion
½ large red bell pepper
2 medium jalepeno peppers
2 chipotle peppers
bunch of fresh Cilantro, chopped
½ lb of Venison Smoked links, chopped, or your grocers brand of smoked links if you don't have your own.
4 to 8 oz of cubed/diced ham
Beans of choice

Add water to within 1/2" of the lid so you'll have plenty of soup. If you need to add more beef bullion powder do so to taste.

Cover your crockpot and fasten the lid securely. Cook for 10 to 12 hours on low.

After the beans are done, put your beans in a bowl with plenty of pot liquor

Add some crushed up Corn chips or crumble up some cornbread and scarf.


If the spiders in your immediate vicinity don’t start barkin’ within six hours of consumption, you left something out. LOL

ya!

GWB

What ever pig I can shoot.

Too much work for me. I like your first idea "" Coyote bait". Too many pigs to worry.

Good thread enjoyed .

Stinky piggies , give the meat a soak in Sprite or similar soft drink .

Place meat in bottom of cooler pour on 2-3 - 3liter Sprites cover with bag ice left in bag . 24 hours will take any gamey taste/smell away another day on ice and you are ready to eat .
I've tested this by having some meat that was only put on ice - big difference in the quality of taste to friends and I . Don't worry your hog won't taste like Sprite .