[adobewalls]

I've been told the best eating pigs are between 150# and 200#, and so that's the size I usually go after if I have a choice; but here's the lesson learned this past weekend...

I went hunting this past weekend with an old friend and he shot two boars on Sunday morning. One was about the right size for eating, about 175#; but the other was a bigger boar we estimated about 300# (4'-6" long shoulders to butt).

He was going to leave it because he was worried the meat might be rank, but I talked him into going ahead and salvaging it. I told him, once we cut it open, we would know if it was worth keeping.

Well, I finished putting it up in the freezer about an hour ago, but kept some backstrap out to saute. I am glad we didn't leave it for the coyotes, the meat is quite good.

I just thought I would pass this along to share that sometimes you run across a larger pig that is good for eating

 

[72shane]

Ive eat em all sizes and the only consistant thing i have found is the young, small pigs are more tender on the hoof. Dont mean they will always taste better but they will be more tender.

 

[dane17]

This milk soaked mama pig was the tastiest I ever had. Even better than a 30 lb "snacker". (Sorry, I cant help but laugh every time I hear a young pig called a snacker)

The teats lock in the flavor!

"snacker"

 

[adobewalls]

Great pics...

I wish we had a camera now to take pictures, that boar was something else. But it was wet and cold and neither my friend nor I at the time cared much for posing for pictures - we just wanted to process the pigs out as fast as possible and get out of the rain.

 

[Wild-Will]

I spoke with some guys who are serious hog hunters about the rough smell and taint in boar meat.
They told me that the way to keep that stank out of the meet is to "nut" the big boars as soon as possible after you kill them. I was informed that a hormone is released sometime around when they are killed that taints the meat but, if you remove the source of the hormone quickly, there's no stank. Leave 'em on too long and I imagine the meat will be nothing but buzzard bait then.

 

[Musicguy]

A lot of folks use either a little vinegar and water in a soak or buttermilk to remove the big boar gaminess. Before I cook about any large cuts of pork (domestic or wild) I like to brine it in a mix of salt, brown sugar, and apple cider for a few hours. Adds moisture and flavor to the meat without loosing the "porkiness" taste.

 

[adobewalls]

I spoke with some guys who are serious hog hunters about the rough smell and taint in boar meat.
They told me that the way to keep that stank out of the meet is to "nut" the big boars as soon as possible after you kill them. I was informed that a hormone is released sometime around when they are killed that taints the meat but, if you remove the source of the hormone quickly, there's no stank. Leave 'em on too long and I imagine the meat will be nothing but buzzard bait then.

Well there may be some truth to this. We found the big pig about 30 minutes after my friend shot it (it ran into some thick brush). We started working on it immediately because it was too heavy to drag out without gutting. Of course the first thing I did was de-nut the carcass.

The smaller pig fell in the open and we did not start working on it until about an hour after dragging the big pig out because we had to go get the truck. The smaller pig seemed to have a stronger odor when we opened it up. Not enough to be of concern, but enough to notice.

 

[Yeboh]

It has been my experience that the most important thing is to get them quartered and iced down as soon as possible. I aways do it imediatly after the kill. On large hogs I for go gutting them and just skin them, cut out the backstraps and cut off the 4 quarters and ice them down. My son and I can do one in about 30 minutes. I always have a cordless sawzall with me though.

 

[Kicker]

If you ate a 300 lb boar that had nuts on it, then you must have no taste buds, and your smeller must be broke..............It doesn't make a rats ass if you cut the nuts off before you killed it, while you was killing it, after you killed it, as soon as you killed it, a few minutes after you killed it, ect... :....A big boars meat is nasty, it stinks and taste like ass....I don't care how much you soak it in milk, wine, ect.......It's rank....................

 

[Lou77]

Kicker - I am with you - Stink and taste worse - We use them for coyote bait and shoot the coyotes.

 

[adobewalls]

Well I tested the theories by cooking one of the hams from the big boar today. Started it at 9:45AM and we ate at 6:00pm.

In this case, the nay-sayers were not correct. The meat was firm, not tough. The taste was excellent.

Here's the before, during and after:

http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=1747692021/PictureID=55589050021/a=2087570021_2087570021/

 

[madcritter]

Now boys there are still some monster hogs running around out there

 

[letsgetreal]

I spoke with some guys who are serious hog hunters about the rough smell and taint in boar meat.
They told me that the way to keep that stank out of the meet is to "nut" the big boars as soon as possible after you kill them. I was informed that a hormone is released sometime around when they are killed that taints the meat....

yeah, that's called the "death adrenaline" , where they know they're gonna die( and yes, it DOES taint the meat). My Grandpa would never eat any meat that's kilt when it knew it's gonna die. AFA the age thing, that's why we put youngins in the freezer.

 

[sailinghudson25]

You southerners bragging bout yer hog hunting sure make me feel way too much yankee.

I'd much rather go on a hog hunt than go to alaska. Hunting in shorts has an appeal to it. I think you guys also stalk hunt a bit more too.

Very jealous. Might pay for a Russian Boar hunt on a Vermont Ranch this spring.

 

[charlie505]

I hate you all - the only pigs we have in NYC are politicians and welfare cheats.

 

[madcritter]

I hate you all - the only pigs we have in NYC are politicians and welfare cheats.

ain't yall got some of them there wild nasty Clinton hogs running around up there

 

[JM753]

I hate you all - the only pigs we have in NYC are politicians and welfare cheats.

you can still gut those. I wouldn't eat them though.

 

[draht dog]

Ill take a 100 lb sow over that big boar seven days a week and twice on sundays.

 

[draht dog]

It just dont, make any sense to me to cut them after they are dead. How will that have any impact at all on the meat? No blood pressure, no way for anything to move about the carcass. Its better to head shoot a boar if you are gonna kill them while they are totally calm, or better yet just shoot a sow. Its best to catch the boars with dogs or trap, cut em then release them at a young age. When you cut them you can mark their ears so the can be identified later to shoot. To be a true bar hog it has to be cut at a young age. They then will grow alot bigger and taste better.

 

[papajoscochise]

yeah, that's called the "death adrenaline" , where they know they're gonna die( and yes, it DOES taint the meat). My Grandpa would never eat any meat that's kilt when it knew it's gonna die. AFA the age thing, that's why we put youngins in the freezer.

Lots of truth in that. I have eaten deer that were run hard, wounded and shot again. And....I have eaten deer that were dropped completely unaware while browsing a cornfield. No comparison...the clueless deer were MUCH better table fare than the hyped-up ones.