Not sure where to post this so I guess I'll start here.
Hey fellas, I'm from PA and we don't have any hogs up here to speak of but I've always thought about trying it out.
The thought was put into my head about going on a hog hunt in TX. I Googled it and it's only (lol) a 26 hour drive to my buddy's ranch. Which really if you're taking 2 or 3 guys isn't that far to drive straight through.
Well another thought creeped into my mind that if I were to just drive south several hours, do some hunting on my own, I could potentially bring home a years worth of swine to fill the freezer.
Does anyone else do this instead of buying the store bought or butcher bought meat? How is it to eat, I've heard that it's better? How is it to smoke, etc...?
Don't get me wrong, an annual trip like this would be a blast, but it'd also be a mission to fill my family's freezer for a year so I would be counting on successful trips instead of a 100% pleasure trip.
Any advice, or opinions, etc... would be greatly appreciated.
Chad
There are ample resources for accommodating your needs in Texas. Do your research. There are people that will take your money & run.
Lots of wild pigs to be had. The meat is good. It is more lean than a farm fed pig. But, that's not a bad thing.
just my experience....
the meat on (smaller) Georgia hogs is not bad but I wouldn't want a freezer full....
the Florida hogs we have here?....we feed them to the buzzards...
Most all of the wild hogs in the Southeast are feral or feral razorbck mix. A few Russian boar have been imported in some areas.
They taste great on the grill and makes mean sausage. Go for it.
BTW, beware in Tx that javelin are not swine and are small. JG can tell you more, probably.
Wild hogs:
1. wear rubber gloves when skinning and handling the meat.
2. after skinning, cut a piece and cook in a teflon skillet. If it smells ok, then butcher it. If it doesn't, you'll know right quick like and discard.
3. Cook thoroughly.
4. Enjoy your hunt.
Meat kitchens (charity) no longer accepts wild hog meat in our greater area.
I have ate plenty. Not like store bought pork down here in South florida. Very lean. I find it is best to add pork fat and grind them into sausage. After you get one boned out you will be suprised how little meat they yield. I have ate big ole boar hogs that where as good as smaller ones. But I have had both large and small that were not that great. We debone ours when we kill them . Our goal is to have them in a cooler of ice within a few hours of shooting them. We soak them for a few days n the ice water. I drain off the water every day if possible. Meat will be white when you take it out of the cooler. Our method comes from 30 years of trial and error. I would guess every region may be different depending on what type of hogs and what they eat. Some say it depends on what they are doing when you shoot them. I never noticed much difference but most we have shot where jumped in a field or shot at a feeder. Either way they were on the move.
Thanks fellas! Boarmaster & Toot, I will most certainly heed your advice, thank you.
Well another thought creeped into my mind that if I were to just drive south several hours, do some hunting on my own, I could potentially bring home a years worth of swine to fill the freezer.
Does anyone else do this instead of buying the store bought or butcher bought meat? How is it to eat, I've heard that it's better? How is it to smoke, etc...?
Chad
Yeah...I do.
As these guys have said, its leaner than store bought, but to my tastes its every bit as good. Haven't smoked any, can't help you there...
Went on a Texas hunt a few years ago. They (Texans) were telling me that they knew how to do it best way. They dug a big pit and burned a load of Mesket in it and then put the pig in for most of a day. My opinion, leave it in the pit and go to Safeway and buy a pork roast. That wild pig stuff is fuggn rank.
Went on a Texas hunt a few years ago. They (Texans) were telling me that they knew how to do it best way. They dug a big pit and burned a load of Mesket in it and then put the pig in for most of a day. My opinion, leave it in the pit and go to Safeway and buy a pork roast. That wild pig stuff is fuggn rank.
LOL Now you're actually the first one that I've ever heard say that.
As mentioned, before you do anything beyond skinning, cook a piece of it. It can be most excellent fare.
Some people eat them, we don't. They are a very destructive nuisance. We shoot them and leave them for the buzzards.
Will do Toot.
This is a bit far off yet, maybe during the winter months of February or March. It'd be a budget trip with camping and doing it all on my own. Although I'd have fun it'd be more about focusing on providing for my family.
Some people eat them, we don't. They are a very destructive nuisance. We shoot them and leave them for the buzzards.
Well Sharps, just let me know where you're at and I'll be glad to take care of some for you every year.
From my limited experience with feral hogs in Georgia and Florida ---
The most important factor id what they have been eating. Hogs in good acorn years taste OK. If they are reduced to rooting in muck and eating carrion, they will be rank. Big boars are usually rank--they taste like a billy goat smells. The best are young pigs in good acorn years. I don't know how this translates to Texas hunting. If it were me, I would fill my coolers with little ones.
If you're up for a longer trip to central Florida Triple M Outfitter will put you on hogs. I'm two for two going out with Matt. The last hog weighed around 90lbs and was made into sausage (except for the back straps). It made a bunch of spaghetti dinners that my daughters loved. Plan on going out with Matt again in the next month or so. Good luck
From some years of hunting them( first encounter was early 84 or so IIRC) I can pass this on.
Ice them and keep on ice water is good for the meat. It wont' take away anything from the strong ones.
Our rule then ended up being, if they stink when you walk up to them, like piss or worse, to dump em. Never had one turn out good after that. The meat would be edible but the piss smell when you cooked it was bad... even made some into smoked hams... put it in the frying pan... puke....
So if they have balls, I"m suspect. If they are over 150 or so I'm suspect. If I can smell them when I walk up, no way in hell.
We've done boars over 200 with NO smell at all, balls intact, and the meat was fine.
I have no issue at all on them meat wise vs domestic, they are lean, lean is good for you too, but they eat just fine.
My preference.... find a sounder of 50 pounders or so that are dumb enough to let you knock out a handful and get after it...
Some pigs have tough meat even if aged... I have no clue why, but the skinnier they are the worse the issue it seems.
Corn fed off feeders, sure ain't bad eating if following all the above.
Granted I"ve lost count but probably never shot more than 200 in life so far...
Sidebar, I've shot and tried javelina every last way... I will never attempt them again... you can NOT make one of them edible IMHO.
It has been my experience in the few that I have killed that if it stinks when you shoot it, the meat will stink just as bad when you cook it. Its your money but I would not process a stinky hog.... Further I have not shot a male hog near or over 200 pounds that did not stink nor has anyone that I hunt with..we did have one boy process one however...threw the meat away first time on the grill.
Thanks Rost, some sound advice there.
Omega, I'm sure that Matt is a top notch guy, but unfortunately I'm seeking budget type of hunting. I don't care if I have to sleep in my truck for a week and cook hotdogs off of my hibachi grill everyday while not showering until I get home.
I know that I'll still have fun and complete my mission. I'm not afraid to get in touch with my inner Viking, I've done worse in worse conditions, but thanks for recommending Matt.
I was in on the shooting of one in West Virginia. Weighed about 75lbs. The bear dogs chased it to the shooters. It was very good eating. I smoked a ham and it was excellent.
Depends on their diet. Eating soybeans, corn and acorns, our river bottom hogs are usually fat and eat well.
We don't eat boars, although young ones are OK before they start to mature.
+1 on wearing rubber gloves, maybe double gloves. Feral hogs can carry diseases and parasites. The ones most likely to affect humans are Brucellosis (Bangs disease) and Tularemia (Rabbit Fever). Other diseases/parasites are more risk for cattle, etc.
Hogs are nasty critters. I've posted before that we put a trail camera at the camp "bone yard" where we drag carcassas. We would see carcasses eaten down to skeletons the next day. Man, we though, those coyotes are really active. Nope, it was hogs eating hogs.
Having said all that, hogs are great table fare when they're fat and the meat is handled with care, into the cooler ASAP.
DF
I got to go to Texas three years in a row for Axis, turkey and pigs. The place we hunted on let us kill all the pigs we could in 3 days and I killed a bunch each time. The meat ran from good to bad, like many have reported. They had people down there who would butcher as soon as we brought game in.
If it was me, and I was on a limited budget, and was using my meat budget for the year on a hunt, I'd shop the sales at the grocery store so my family had some decent meat for the year.
Not many places will let you shoot all the pigs you want unless you have the bucks to keep paying as you go, and there is not much public land in Texas.
Another, if it was me, and I did go to Texas and had the money for an Axis "hunt", that's what I would bring home. Axis is one of the best tasting wild game meats I've had and I've never heard of a bad axis deer unless ruined by infected wounds, heat, or allowed to spoil.
Planning your annual menu around a hog hunt is iffy at best, unless they're are feral on your own property.
The only wild pork that I've eaten that had a bad taste was when somebody killed one and let it stay warm too long. You need to skin them and get them iced down as soon as possible. It's ok to hang them for a while as long as you keep the temperature between freezing and 40 degrees. When the meat temperature gets above 40 degrees bacteria in the meat starts growing rapidly.
Thanks Fellas, I'm enjoying reading your opinions and comments.
On my first two hunts I went for boars. The first one tasted great, the second one was horrible (each about 250 lbs). Both had been eating acorns, so that is not a guarantee. The second one was specifically hunted as it was a very-ill tempered roan which had killed at least one dog and had eluded other hunters for quite some time. He was scarred all over from many fights. Lesson learned: don't shoot those if you want to put it on the table.
Since then I've only taken sows (three of them) and have been pleased with the table fare they provide.
Good luck in making the arrangements that work for you. Hog hunting is a blast.
Went on a Texas hunt a few years ago. They (Texans) were telling me that they knew how to do it best way. They dug a big pit and burned a load of Mesket in it and then put the pig in for most of a day. My opinion, leave it in the pit and go to Safeway and buy a pork roast. That wild pig stuff is fuggn rank.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This......and I've shot quite a few.
Interesting comments about Florida hogs considering I have probably shot & eaten about 100. Most were meat hogs, but dammed good. Sort of like a comment when fishing Lake Ontario for salmon & several locals advised me that their salmon were oily & not fit to eat. They were fishing with me the next day & I offered them salmon sandwiches & they remarked how good Alaska salmon were. They were amazed when I informed them I caught them the day before. No idea where this kind of misinformed crap comes from. Even a boar hog makes good sausage if the fat is trimmed off & domestic pork fat used.
I need to come hunt with you in VA TBear. I was just online looking at VA's regulations and such.
We usually eat quite a bit of feral hog each year, but I haven't shot one in awhile, mostly due to the heat. Last one I did get was a tender shoat I cooked whole in my electric smoker. I've eaten all sizes, never got a really bad one, actually the largest boat I've taken on my place was excellent eating, but from his smell he had been heavily into some molasses-based livestock feed!
In my opinion, gloves should be worn whether cleaning hogs or deer. Most common hog diseases are neutralized by cooking. Fresh back straps are as good as deer back strap, and I like to cure and smoke the hams. Shoulders are either cut up for sausage or into "roasts". The ribs are "different" from domestic hog ribs, but very tasty smoked.
As has been noted, not a lot of fat on feral hogs, so some fat usually needs to be added when making sausage. I usually make "pan" sausage, which we use for meat sauces and as a substitute for ground beef, as well as for breakfast sausage.
I have only killed one feral hog to date with enough belly fat to make bacon, but the dry cured bacon I made from that one was VERY good.
By all means, get them skinned and quartered, washed well, and on ice ASAP! I leave either hog or venison iced for as long as a week, draining water off and adding ice if needed daily.
Mike
I"ve run across enough bad hogs smell wise, to understand some think they are bad period. They are not. Use a bit of sense and you'll be fine.
I have eaten quite a few of them, and given the choice, I will pass. Pork tastes a lot better from when its penned and corn fed...
After working with a lot of biologist's and seeing and butchering them for inspection and testing. No one that knows what they are like would eat that $hit on a bet!!!Most vermin infested animals that walk!!!!
unless it's a young'un been fattened on white oak acorns, and maybe a little man-made corn thrown in.
i've always thought rankness varied by age, and especially by gender. if a male is knocked down we cut him immediately. some folks say it doesn't help at all.
the temp the hog is kept might vary also. the sooner one can be iced, probably the better.
lot's of variables, without a doubt, not all of which is the pigs fault.
Do what ingwe does and start buying hogs and turning them loose out in hunting areas . He told me he has turned nearly 800 pigs loose in Montana and hopes to never have to travel to Texas again.
He brought the wolves to Montana/Idaho/Wyoming etc. too so he knows what he's doing .
At least I think it was ingwe -he's shady like that .
Fat half grown females are best. Half grown males are ok. If your are the one doing the cleaning, bring plenty of sharp knives. Also helps to have lansky or good sharpening equipment.
Hunted with a group who loved to trap hogs. Cut all the males and marked their ears. These hogs grew really large and it did not take long. Hasbeen
After working with a lot of biologist's and seeing and butchering them for inspection and testing. No one that knows what they are like would eat that $hit on a bet!!!Most vermin infested animals that walk!!!!
Vs what gets jacked into a commercial feedlot hog?
please y'all, let's don't glorify wild hogs. they are a nuisence, a pain.
don't get enraptured with the potential of a new game animal.
they are not that. and the farmers will thank you later.
I shoot 'em and let something else eat them. Not me.
Wild hog diseases and parasites are pretty scary. There's too much good meat to eat to risk it for me...
Diseases that are transmissible from animals to humans are called zoonotic diseases. Many of these diseases are transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and handling or ingestion of infected tissues. Diseases can also be transmitted indirectly through contaminated water sources and possibly, through ticks. Zoonotic diseases transmissible by wild pigs include
•Leptospirosis
•Brucellosis
•E. coli
•Salmonellosis
•Toxoplasmosis
•Rabies
•Swine Influenza viruses
•Trichinosis
•Giardiasis
•Cryptosporidiosis
Disease Prevention
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Follow these simple measures to avoid infection when handling or field dressing wild pigs:
1.Wear latex or nitrile gloves; pathogens can enter the body through cuts on hands or torn cuticles.
2.Avoid splashing body fluids into your eyes or mouth.
3.Wash your hands thoroughly after field dressing and processing meat, even if you wear gloves.
4.Thoroughly clean and disinfect work areas and tools used to dress and butcher wild pigs.
5.Dispose of animal remains, used gloves, and other materials properly. Animal remains should not be left for scavengers, nor should they be fed to dogs. Depending upon your jurisdiction, several methods of appropriate disposal may be considered. Check with your local health department or state wildlife agency.
6.Follow correct refrigeration, freezing, and cooking methods. Freezing to 0°F will render bacteria inactive but will not destroy them; once thawed, bacteria can again become active. Also, do not rely on home freezing to destroy Trichina and other parasites. Thorough cooking will destroy all parasites and kill bacteria. Cook wild pork to an internal temperature of 165°F to 170°F.
The eating size ones eat good but I wouldn't drive to Texas to stock up on pork.
They're fun to shoot though.
Travis
BTW while talking about eating, we should note some folks won't eat MREs, think they are the end of hte world and almost the same with freeze dry. Instant milk, instant potatoes and so on..
Lets just say I"m not quite that picky. Food is food mostly as long as it isn't bad tasting, I"m not picky past that point.
Cut wild hogs have been great.
RE knives... you don't need a sharpener or multiples, you need a havalon...
We put 3-5 in the freezer every year, mostly 65-125 lb pigs. Like they said, the meat is leaner and there is not as much on the animal as the domestic pigs. On the larger pigs we debone and then using a slicer, slice the meat about 3/8" thick into steaks. The smaller pigs, we will leave the hams and backstrap whole and cook them on the grill or smoker. Taste great.
if a male is knocked down we cut him immediately. some folks say it doesn't help at all.
Seems to me that is sort of like cutting a deer's throat to bleed it after its dead, or cutting the tarsal glands off.
I've cleaned a grand total of one wild hog. I think if I was going to make a habit of it, I would get a 3000 psi pressure washer, hang the hog up and wash the heck out of it before I made the first cut. Hogs pee on themselves and wallow in their own filth and no telling what else. I can guess that guys sometimes get all kind of funk on the meat while they are cleaning them which may account for at least some of the variability of stories you hear about the quality of the end product....but that is only a guess. It just makes sense that a young sow would give you the best eating.
We've seen "country boys" at a small town carwash with a couple of hogs (dead) in the back of a pickup truck!
I use my pressure washer to clean them before skinning. It's just one of those Wally World electric models, but it does the trick.
if a male is knocked down we cut him immediately. some folks say it doesn't help at all.
I think it helped in the 70's.
Dave
My group caught 16 hogs this year trapping this spring. Saved the straps and tenderloins put the rest in sausage. Best sausage ive ever eaten!
Best sausage ive ever eaten!
That's what she said...
Dave
The old saying "You are what you eat" is spot on for hogs. I've shot some that their diet consisted solely of what they could forage on salt water coastal islands. To say the meat was vile would be an understatement. Kill one that's been feeding on acorns, hickory nuts, and ideally corn, and the difference is like night and day. We used to catch them when they were small, and put them in a pen for a few months, feeding them corn. At slaughter time, you could not find better meat.
I'll be hunting in lowland South Carolina this fall and can shoot pigs where I'll be.
Sounds like that might be a decent area to kill a pig for eating? Would likely be in agricultural land and hardwoods, from what I can tell.
Look for one the size of a labrador and let 'er rip?
Look for one the size of a labrador and let 'er rip?
One hell...
Kill 'em all.
Anybody think the taste could reflect their health at the time they were killed ?
Say a pig was sick from disease that was kicking in when killed ?
I've killed one that was skin-n-bones, let it lay. Same way with deer. If they aren't in good shape, they stay in the woods.
HH- We use to catch them and feed them out, but now there is so many, that it really isnt necessary. Most of the pigs I get come from the Red River bottom-- corn fields as far as you can see.
Look for one the size of a labrador and let 'er rip?
One hell...
Kill 'em all.
LOL!
I do have a new-to-me M1A......
I shoot 'em and let something else eat them. Not me.
Wild hog diseases and parasites are pretty scary. There's too much good meat to eat to risk it for me...
Diseases that are transmissible from animals to humans are called zoonotic diseases. Many of these diseases are transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and handling or ingestion of infected tissues. Diseases can also be transmitted indirectly through contaminated water sources and possibly, through ticks. Zoonotic diseases transmissible by wild pigs include
•Leptospirosis
•Brucellosis
•E. coli
•Salmonellosis
•Toxoplasmosis
•Rabies
•Swine Influenza viruses
•Trichinosis
•Giardiasis
•Cryptosporidiosis
Disease Prevention
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Follow these simple measures to avoid infection when handling or field dressing wild pigs:
1.Wear latex or nitrile gloves; pathogens can enter the body through cuts on hands or torn cuticles.
2.Avoid splashing body fluids into your eyes or mouth.
3.Wash your hands thoroughly after field dressing and processing meat, even if you wear gloves.
4.Thoroughly clean and disinfect work areas and tools used to dress and butcher wild pigs.
5.Dispose of animal remains, used gloves, and other materials properly. Animal remains should not be left for scavengers, nor should they be fed to dogs. Depending upon your jurisdiction, several methods of appropriate disposal may be considered. Check with your local health department or state wildlife agency.
6.Follow correct refrigeration, freezing, and cooking methods. Freezing to 0°F will render bacteria inactive but will not destroy them; once thawed, bacteria can again become active. Also, do not rely on home freezing to destroy Trichina and other parasites. Thorough cooking will destroy all parasites and kill bacteria. Cook wild pork to an internal temperature of 165°F to 170°F.
best post, shoot them and let em lay they are vermin for the most part. Kill em all..
I have hunted wild hog quite a bit. I have killed 14 of them and been with my buddies when they killed 25 or 30 more.
Wild hog is the best meat I ever have eaten. If I had a shot at a 120 pound wild sow I would let an 8 pointer walk, and never think twice about it.
Wild hog tastes great and had half of the fat of domestic pork.
DO NOT shoot a big boar. My buddy killed a 450 pound monster and the meat was not edible. The meat stunk.
I did kill a 120 pound boar once and the meat was pretty good, but not as good as a sow.
"•Leptospirosis
•Brucellosis
•E. coli
•Salmonellosis
•Toxoplasmosis
•Rabies
•Swine Influenza viruses
•Trichinosis
•Giardiasis
•Cryptosporidiosis"
This list of diseases that can supposedly be transmitted from the hog to humans is a bunch of bs.
E. coli? That is found in the intestines of any animal, including deer and humans. If you get crap from the intestines onto the meat it will make you sick. NO KIDDING.
Trichinosis? This is only found in domestic hogs that feed on garbage.
Swine flu? That is utter bs, give me a break.
I helped clean over 40 wild hogs and we never wore gloves, we cleaned 'em just like we did deer, never hosed one down. Sure their hide is dirty, muddy, but I wasn't going to eat the hide.
The scare stories on this thread are amusing to me as an experienced hog hunter.
Look under Ask the Gunwriters, best hog gun, We kill a couple hundred every year, we posted some of them. We cook a 30-40lb pig once in awhile. It aint nothing I'd drive to Texas for. Save your money, buy a calf with someone and have it butcherd. Just my opinion.
I know plenty of people that catch and pen them. I just shoot them and drag them off for something else to eat them. They will fugg up a good deer hunting area.
Hogs taste good if they eat good. Humans do too allegedly. In the 1960s a visitor to the Belgian Congo asked why every man over the age of ten seemed to not only be a smoker but a five pack a day chain smoker. He was informed that it was because smoking made the meat taste bad and the cannibals would leave smokers alone.
There is a reason humans were called The Big Pig.
That is absolutely the only good reason to be a smoker that I have ever heard!!!
My buddies and I are up around 50 taken so far over the past 8 years. We drive 10 hours to get to south Georgia, & take 'em in a swamp. Sometimes they're eating acorns, other times just eating whatever scrub is down there. We have noticed some differences in flavor, but haven't tracked it down to diet just yet. We once shot some in a different area that tasted noticeably better, and they were regularly parking themselves under corn feeders.
Across all those swamp hogs, we've not yet gotten a bad one, even with 3 or 4 having gone over 200 lbs. This includes boars. I did walk up to one smelly one, but he surprisingly ended up eating just as well as the rest. A good hose-down seems to be important, but I don't know if power washing or shampooing them would be worth the extra effort.
As a rule, though, we look for 100-ish pounders or less. We haul 'em intact back to the cabin and dress 'em there, then put 'em in a walk 'in cooler. When we're ready to leave, we section them with pruning loppers or a sawzall, then toss 'em in coolers & cover with ice for the ride home.
My buddies make sausage with their meat, but I've never cared for it. I don't know if they add domestic hog lard, or what, but it's not my kind of sausage. I've not had much luck with grilling it - any off flavors seemed to be accentuated, and it cooked too fast. If I don't watch that meat carefully on the grill, it'll clunk-up into shoe leather in a hurry.
I smoke my portions whole, and that seems to work out best. 225 degrees or so, and it cooks much more quickly than domestic pork. The pieces are far smaller than a domestic hog, and there's precious little fat to work with. Those that do have fat have carried it on their backs, rather than as intramuscular fat (marbling).
Brining for 10 hours and/or injections really improves things. The meat retains far more moisture, and those hogs that might have had some off-taste have it greatly reduced, and usually eliminated. I did a test at a New Year's party where the guests could choose from 2 piles of pulled meat. One was a domestic shoulder (took 20 hours to smoke it), and the other was brined shoulders, hams, and a loin from my trips (took 6 hours to smoke). To my considerable surprise, everyone chose the Georgia boars.
Still, I dunno that I'd look at it as a reliable way to feed my family. I know that if I keep at it long enough, I
will get a nasty one that won't make it into the cooler. The flavor profile across individual hogs will vary a lot. Smaller critters means more processing time for less usable meat. The drive is a pain. And I've had trips where I only brought back 1 hog across a 3 day hunt.
Then I compare that against my local grocery occasionally having butts on sale for < $1/lb. Kind of an easy choice.As a, "Guys Spring Break" trip, though, it's a hell of a lotta fun. We go down again 9/30.
FC
I'll second the vote for using a Havalon! For long cuts through that thick hide, though, I keep a box cutter with replaceable blades handy.
I personally LIKE venison, but on average a good woods hog is better than an older buck.
About the only "wild" animal I haven't or won't eat found in my area is a possum. Armadillos are sort of a toss up.
I have hunted wild hog quite a bit. I have killed 14 of them and been with my buddies when they killed 25 or 30 more.
Wild hog is the best meat I ever have eaten. If I had a shot at a 120 pound wild sow I would let an 8 pointer walk, and never think twice about it.
Wild hog tastes great and had half of the fat of domestic pork.
DO NOT shoot a big boar. My buddy killed a 450 pound monster and the meat was not edible. The meat stunk.
I did kill a 120 pound boar once and the meat was pretty good, but not as good as a sow.
"•Leptospirosis
•Brucellosis
•E. coli
•Salmonellosis
•Toxoplasmosis
•Rabies
•Swine Influenza viruses
•Trichinosis
•Giardiasis
•Cryptosporidiosis"
This list of diseases that can supposedly be transmitted from the hog to humans is a bunch of bs.
E. coli? That is found in the intestines of any animal, including deer and humans. If you get crap from the intestines onto the meat it will make you sick. NO KIDDING.
Trichinosis? This is only found in domestic hogs that feed on garbage.
Swine flu? That is utter bs, give me a break.
I helped clean over 40 wild hogs and we never wore gloves, we cleaned 'em just like we did deer, never hosed one down. Sure their hide is dirty, muddy, but I wasn't going to eat the hide.
The scare stories on this thread are amusing to me as an experienced hog hunter.
I have to disagree with you, Simon.
As a former Wildlife Specialist trained in this very subject, I can tell you that the information is compiled by years of study, field necropsy, and actual data.
This isn't a "scare story" as you put it, but merely a warning of the possible threats to disease and parasites wild hogs are proven to carry, and how to avoid getting said disease and parasites when near or handling wild hogs.
As with anything else, just take from it what you will. Or not...
http://noble.org/ag/wildlife/feralhogs/disease/
They do carry diseases. We are not faithful about gloves but should be.
That said, we've been really lucky. But what do they say about life vests and fire extinguishers and rubbers... yeah, you don't need em until you need em and then its often too late....
I have hunted wild hog quite a bit. I have killed 14 of them and been with my buddies when they killed 25 or 30 more.
Wild hog is the best meat I ever have eaten. If I had a shot at a 120 pound wild sow I would let an 8 pointer walk, and never think twice about it.
Wild hog tastes great and had half of the fat of domestic pork.
DO NOT shoot a big boar. My buddy killed a 450 pound monster and the meat was not edible. The meat stunk.
I did kill a 120 pound boar once and the meat was pretty good, but not as good as a sow.
"•Leptospirosis
•Brucellosis
•E. coli
•Salmonellosis
•Toxoplasmosis
•Rabies
•Swine Influenza viruses
•Trichinosis
•Giardiasis
•Cryptosporidiosis"
This list of diseases that can supposedly be transmitted from the hog to humans is a bunch of bs.
E. coli? That is found in the intestines of any animal, including deer and humans. If you get crap from the intestines onto the meat it will make you sick. NO KIDDING.
Trichinosis? This is only found in domestic hogs that feed on garbage.
Swine flu? That is utter bs, give me a break.
I helped clean over 40 wild hogs and we never wore gloves, we cleaned 'em just like we did deer, never hosed one down. Sure their hide is dirty, muddy, but I wasn't going to eat the hide.
The scare stories on this thread are amusing to me as an experienced hog hunter.
I have to disagree with you, Simon.
As a former Wildlife Specialist trained in this very subject, I can tell you that the information is compiled by years of study, field necropsy, and actual data.
This isn't a "scare story" as you put it, but merely a warning of the possible threats to disease and parasites wild hogs are proven to carry, and how to avoid getting said disease and parasites when near or handling wild hogs.
As with anything else, just take from it what you will. Or not...
http://noble.org/ag/wildlife/feralhogs/disease/ Agreed. Brucellosis and Trichinosis are transferred from one meat eater to the next. Hogs, bear, lions better be cooked well or you are taking a risk with a nasty payback. Check out the symptoms and you'll be wearing kitchen gloves to clean the damned things.
"My buddies and I are up around 50 taken so far over the past 8 years."
We (8 of us) usually kill 70 plus during bow season alone. We don't kill as many during rifle season because the hogs go nocturnal real quick after they get shot at. We still kill 10- 20 during rifle season.
So, there's a long list of possible stuff that hogs carry. OK.
Is there any statistic on the rate of occurrence on any of those?
Is it 1 in 5, 1 in 10, 1 in 10,000....?
Not being difficult, I'm genuinely curious.
So, there's a long list of possible stuff that hogs carry. OK.
Is there any statistic on the rate of occurrence on any of those?
Is it 1 in 5, 1 in 10, 1 in 10,000....?
Not being difficult, I'm genuinely curious.
That would be interesting to know. I'd bet accurate statistics would hard to come by, being largely based on self-reported incidents. I remember from my days pushin' pork for a prodigious packer, that trichinae are killed at 137 degrees F. The other nasties, I'm not so sure about.
"My buddies and I are up around 50 taken so far over the past 8 years."
Trust me, if we lived down 'mongst 'em, we'd sure shoot a whole lot more of 'em.
FC
Look, just cook it like any other piece of game and any and all diseases (if any) will be destroyed. Been eating them for years and as others have said, they eat well, especially if properly prepared. Personally, I'll take it over venison (deer) any day.
Backing up rockinbbar post .most inclusive post ever. When you see the results of samples sent in ,on blood, tissue, glands ,all the parts, why would anyone eat it??? But some people eat $hit, so knock yourselves out.
CDC (yeah, I know) recommends wild pork be brought to 160F internal temp for safe consumption.
They actually have what appears to be a pretty reasonable PDF of how to handle the meat.
https://www.cdc.gov/brucellosis/pdf/brucellosis_and_hoghunters.pdfMostly focused on brucellosis, obviously, but seems to be a "catch all" on how to handle/cook it and be safe.
I stopped counting at around 200 and that was 15 years ago. But I dont care if you have butchered 1 or 1000 I would use gloves and caution. Never gotten sick myself and I dont intend to. I am willing to take the word of our wildlife professions down here that say to do so. If any we kill show any sign of sickeness or injury we toss them to the buzzards. Where I hunt you cant count on them all tasting good but you can count on another one being out there to kill.
Backing up rockinbbar post .most inclusive post ever. When you see the results of samples sent in ,on blood, tissue, glands ,all the parts, why would anyone eat it??? But some people eat $hit, so knock yourselves out.
Sure hope you don't look in the kitchens of places you eat out at either then.....
Shadow, meet scared....
I'm always amazed that humans survived until now, since untold generations butchered, cooked and ate wild animals long before government guidelines ever appeared.
I'm always amazed that humans survived until now, since untold generations butchered, cooked and ate wild animals long before government guidelines ever appeared.
Some didn't.
A friend of mine lost his dad to tularemia he contacted while cleaning rabbits he killed for eating.
Of course that was humans as a whole, but I get it totally.
I have a sister in law thats scared of her shadow.
Damn sure won't wade fish on the coast, but if you ask her WHY, its sharks. Not rays, not flesh eating, not rattlers, not alligators(not sure she is even aware of those) but sharks.
And she thinks dolphins are cute....
Thats a shame on the tularemia. We should really all be a bit more careful, but in the end, I've always opined... as long as you don't have an open cut, or cut yourself in the process(glove being of no help there) and wash up post haste and not touching mouth/nose etc.... you are likely to live a long life in regards to the chances.
Godchild of ours.. father an anally clean freak dentist... didn't like him playing outside or in the dirt and wash wash wash all the time... kid has been sick with colds and such probably twice the average kid...
You can go to extremes on either end IMHO.
Wife and I won't eat our steaks any other than rare and I prefer my burgers that way also... that may well not be good in the end...
It's the government guidelines that get you. We will have a lot more if Hillary wins
just my experience....
the meat on (smaller) Georgia hogs is not bad but I wouldn't want a freezer full....
the Florida hogs we have here?....we feed them to the buzzards...
a lot of the hogs I shoot in Georgia are not worth processing. Male hogs seem to be the worst. Young females are not bad.
Here in North Florida, they don't seem to be as bad. We butcher and process our own. Not that difficult.
On our lease, some of us shoot the hogs, butcher and eat them. Others claim that they don't like the taste or that they carry diseases and are not safe to eat, so they just shoot them and let them lay down and die. Usually, they are eaten by something in the next day or two. None of us who eat them have ever gotten sick from them while cleaning, cooking or eating.
Either way, the wild hogs are a problem for the farmers and ranchers. They also reproduce like crazy.
We only shoot them when no one is deer hunting but regardless of reason for killing them or what you do with them the farmer is happy to hear we killed some.
In my experience, the best are the ones less than 150 lbs and are shot in the colder months. Clean them quick and soak them in brine for a day or two before eating, if you have not made them into sausage.
The smaller ones eat real fine,the larger ones not so much.
We shoot all we see at the least but haul the large boars up the hill to use as varmint bait.
If they are not cooled down fast they will get rank,even sows.
My hunting bud shot a large sow and gave me some ribs.They were broiled in the oven and then thrown out with the pan they were on.
The dogs wouldn't eat them.
Killed some 75-125 lb. hogs over in Jack county and after the chores were done the backstraps were cut about 1 in.thick and butterflied.
Had some fried potatoes as well as some beans.
Made you glad that the bunks were close by,we were full.
Pretty simple here.
If it (the meat) is rank/rotten, dont eat it. Pretty much like whatever else youve harvested.
Ive had meat from 400 pound boars down to piglets and Ive never had a bad one.
I have had food poisoning from a five star restaurant, never wore a helmet while riding a bike and drive on a sheet of ice several times a year.
The odds may scare you of how dangerous life is "outside".
Fill up the tub with kitty litter; its gonna be a long ride.
My buddies and I killed and butchered around 45 wild hogs in central Georgia and we ate them all, except for the 450 pound boar, the meat from that monster was nasty! Stunk!
We ate all the other ones and the taste was great.
We never used gloves, or took any other precautions, we processed the hogs same way we processed the hundreds of deer we killed.
Nobody ever got sick.
Now, on this thread, I am hearing that it is a miracle that I still am breathing air! All these nasty diseases that hogs supposedly will transmit to humans!
Do not deer and elk also pose similar dangers to humans?
I wish y'all would inform the forum of the dangers posed by these antlered animals.
First and foremost, you have to recognize that wild pigs are not domestic pigs. They have not lived a short life eating grain in a pen. They run, fight and forage for a living. Even a fat one does not have fat throughout the meat like domestic pork, only around the meat, under the skin. Like anything else, their condition and environment dictates how they will taste. The difference between the sexes has been covered pretty well and I will add that boars are leaner and harder to skin than sows because all the fighting and roaming that they do.
Comparing wild pork to domestic pork is much like comparing wild duck to domestic. There really is not much comparison, but it doesn't mean it's bad, you just have to understand it's different and know what you're doing.
I've handled hundreds without any ill effect.
The big boars at the Ranch, we leave em lay and shoot coyotes off of the carcass.
We cut up the medium to small size sows for BBQ.
Like others mentioned, if the meat stinks bad, we leave em lay.
My little brother prefers the little football sized ones for rotisserie grilling.
First and foremost, you have to recognize that wild pigs are not domestic pigs. They have not lived a short life eating grain in a pen. They run, fight and forage for a living. Even a fat one does not have fat throughout the meat like domestic pork, only around the meat, under the skin. Like anything else, their condition and environment dictates how they will taste. The difference between the sexes has been covered pretty well and I will add that boars are leaner and harder to skin than sows because all the fighting and roaming that they do.
Comparing wild pork to domestic pork is much like comparing wild duck to domestic. There really is not much comparison, but it doesn't mean it's bad, you just have to understand it's different and know what you're doing.
I've handled hundreds without any ill effect.
This thread is also a reminder of how many Ive heard say antelope stinks or the meat is bad......
If I shot a rutted up boar (and have), the first inclination is that the whole thing stinks. Yes, the whole thing can stink.
I do own more than one knife and the notion that domestic animals do not suffer smells into the meat is even funnier.
I recommend one of Eileen Clarke's books if you're a novice at wild game preparation, but anyone who feeds out and butchers even domestic meat can be a help.
Cooking it also differs from domestic, but people have been doing so for centuries.
on the javalina. You have to be careful skinning to keep the hair off the meat. You have to be careful and get rid of the scent gland not touching the meat.
we have boned them, then soaked the meat in buttermilk for several days. then mixed with pork and made into barbeque.
Did this once and invited people over, one comment was that was the best barbeque i ever ate, what was it? My answer was rodent. Took the mood away.
basically what i am getting at is it's common to hear havalina isn't any good. Not so, but its in how you take care of it.
A young boar running with sows will stink worse than a big old rouge boar that's hanging out by himself.
Also...... a dead hog will not dissipate the heat from his internal organs like a thin skinned animal such as deer. I gut them where they fall, within ten minutes of the shot.
I've gutted a couple for hunters after laying out in below freezing weather for over four hours and the hot gas boiled up out of 'em as soon as I opened them up. In hot weather you can damn near see them swelling up after only thirty minutes or so.
They can make pretty fair sausage but I don't much care for them any other way.