Hog durability question

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Sows and young pigs of both sexes are OK, but feral hogs are much, much leaner and subsequently not as tasty as domestic. Also, feral hogs are obviously not controlled bred for good taste like a domestic. An old boar? Impossible to eat.....after cleaning one you may never eat any pork again
And that's why I don't hunt javelina in AZ. They stink when cleaning and you have to do a lot of work to make them "tastier".
Some will disagree I'm sure.
 
My two favorite bbq meats are young goat and a good wild pig.
Smaller hogs here on the coast are pretty tasty, especially if they have access to crop land.
Out in West Texas, ours are tough, chewy, very lean. Living in rocky ground and working hard for a living. Even smaller ones are tough.
Doing control work on cold nights, we used to kill big boars. Field dress them. In the morning we would cut out the tenderloins from inside the carcass and fry them up with eggs for breakfast. If they didn't stink while cooking them you were good to go to grind the rest for sausage. A rank breeding boar has a musky smell, and you can get that smell and taste when you cook the meat. SOME people don't mind musky boar meat, met a few who liked it. I don't care for it and have ruined an entire batch of sausage trying to use that meat. Not all boars are bad. If he smells musky to high heaven when you walk up, probably not going to be very tasty. Otherwise, don't be afraid to do the tenderloin test above. I kill so many now I can afford to be picky about which ones we eat.

Boars don't always musk up and stink. I personally believe boars stink when they have been with sows in heat. If he has been celibate long enough, the meat isn't bad. Just my theory. Opinions vary.
 
Revolting Peasant,

My ranch is just north of Coleman, TX and is where I do all my hog killing. A couple years ago I was getting my horses teeth floated and was visiting with the local vet about the hogs. I asked him what his opinion was regarding eating them and he strongly advised not to. He said they carry many diseases and parasites. I do know of one person that got very sick from field dressing one down south of Pecos. He had a small cut on his hand when he came in contact with some of the hogs blood and it made him very sick. Something to do with his liver but I can't remember exactly what it was. But is was due to coming into contact with the hogs blood. I shot one a couple weeks ago that had a fairly large wound on his flank from fighting. it was full of maggots.

Anyway....I have butchered a few in the past but have quit doing it.
 
I liked that Coleman area. Used to be a guy lived there named Bobby that built some nice rifles in the garage. I bought quite a few from him over the years. Hogs are vectors for like 48 diseases. As long as its cooked well you're ok. As far as contact, anymore a lot of animals carry crap I never used to worry about. Up here they recommend wearing a mask and gloves to dress deer due to TB. Then theres CWD emerging. WTH? I'd still rather risk the wild critters than what they put in store bought meat. I was looking at some kids FFA hogs the other day. On the side of a feed bag it said to "stop feeding it at least two weeks prior to human consumption." No thanks.
 
Revolting Peasant,

My ranch is just north of Coleman, TX and is where I do all my hog killing. A couple years ago I was getting my horses teeth floated and was visiting with the local vet about the hogs. I asked him what his opinion was regarding eating them and he strongly advised not to. He said they carry many diseases and parasites. I do know of one person that got very sick from field dressing one down south of Pecos. He had a small cut on his hand when he came in contact with some of the hogs blood and it made him very sick. Something to do with his liver but I can't remember exactly what it was. But is was due to coming into contact with the hogs blood. I shot one a couple weeks ago that had a fairly large wound on his flank from fighting. it was full of maggots.

Anyway....I have butchered a few in the past but have quit doing it.
Bangers. Bangs disease or Undulate Fever most commonly called Brucellosis. It causes the females to miscarry the young. If you kill a big sow with tremendous quantities of fat and no sign of the teats ever having bagged up or suckled, handle with caution. Blood to blood transmission. Cuts or scrapes on your hands are most common means of catching it. I use rubber gloves a lot.
Several acquaintances have caught it. Fever and bad flu symptoms that do not go away. Bacterial. Treatable. **If you are diabetic I would be extremely cautious. I personally know several diabetics that have lost fingers, toes, or in one case part of a foot due to complications after getting the disease.

Ranchers fight this disease in cattle. My understanding is buffalo are common carriers. I have read that sheep, goats, dogs, elk, and deer can carry it but it is much less common.

Hogs are no worse than any other animal regarding disease and parasites. Everything from rabbit to bear carries something. I was single for much of my adult life. In that regard, single women scare me more than any hog. 👀😎 Again with the "glove".

Certain people and corporations are pushing commercialization of feral hog poisons. They are really pushing the narrative "nasty disease ridden " feral pigs trying to get approval to use. The government was very worried for years about Rinderpest getting into the US and spreading across the country uncontrollably through feral hogs but that fear has subsided with believed global eradication of the disease. The first I heard the disease carrying hog narrative was tied to that fear. First rule of investigations, follow the money.

Personally, I am more afraid of tick fever. Had a bout and it was bad juju.
 
I liked that Coleman area. Used to be a guy lived there named Bobby that built some nice rifles in the garage. I bought quite a few from him over the years. Hogs are vectors for like 48 diseases. As long as its cooked well you're ok. As far as contact, anymore a lot of animals carry crap I never used to worry about. Up here they recommend wearing a mask and gloves to dress deer due to TB. Then theres CWD emerging. WTH? I'd still rather risk the wild critters than what they put in store bought meat. I was looking at some kids FFA hogs the other day. On the side of a feed bag it said to "stop feeding it at least two weeks prior to human consumption." No thanks.
Yes sir....I am very familiar with what you are talking about. We raised show cattle for 20 years and the same thing is true. So now all we eat is grass fed beef and very little pork.
 
Bangers. Bangs disease or Undulate Fever most commonly called Brucellosis. It causes the females to miscarry the young. If you kill a big sow with tremendous quantities of fat and no sign of the teats ever having bagged up or suckled, handle with caution. Blood to blood transmission. Cuts or scrapes on your hands are most common means of catching it. I use rubber gloves a lot.
Several acquaintances have caught it. Fever and bad flu symptoms that do not go away. Bacterial. Treatable. **If you are diabetic I would be extremely cautious. I personally know several diabetics that have lost fingers, toes, or in one case part of a foot due to complications after getting the disease.

Ranchers fight this disease in cattle. My understanding is buffalo are common carriers. I have read that sheep, goats, dogs, elk, and deer can carry it but it is much less common.

Hogs are no worse than any other animal regarding disease and parasites. Everything from rabbit to bear carries something. I was single for much of my adult life. In that regard, single women scare me more than any hog. 👀😎 Again with the "glove".

Certain people and corporations are pushing commercialization of feral hog poisons. They are really pushing the narrative "nasty disease ridden " feral pigs trying to get approval to use. The government was very worried for years about Rinderpest getting into the US and spreading across the country uncontrollably through feral hogs but that fear has subsided with believed global eradication of the disease. The first I heard the disease carrying hog narrative was tied to that fear. First rule of investigations, follow the money.

Personally, I am more afraid of tick fever. Had a bout and it was bad juju.
I hear ya. You just mainly have to use common sense and you'll be alright. **** near every one I shoot is covered in mud from wallowing. Their wallows reek as I am sure you well know. Therefore I just can't bring myself to mess with them.
 
I'm originally from the south and grew up killing hogs that would root up our entire 3 acre garden.Fences don't matter to a hog.
We ate some females and shoults but gave the males to a local butcher and he did something that made them eatable but wouldn't tell us what it was,he said it was a trade secrete.
I have shot a big male porker 3 times with a 12 gauge slug and still had to hunt it down after dark and finish it off.
Most people that my brother introduced me to north of Houston said they would not eat them.
Old Rooster
 
I've got a question for all you experienced hog hunters: Is there a spot on the neck of a hog that is possible to temporarily drop them in their tracks but is not fatal? Twice now, out of over 100 hogs killed, I've had a hog get up and take off after being shot in the neck between the back of the head and front of the shoulder. The second one being this past Saturday night. I shot a medium sized boar dead center in the neck, at least that was my POA, at 454 yds. This is my usual POA and it always drops them DRT, but this time it didn't. Granted....I must not of hit the hog exactly where I wanted but I'm shooting 220 gr Berger out of my 300 Win mag. This dropped him immediately and he didn't move, which was kind of odd to me because they normally twitch and kick for about 2 mins or so. I shifted my rifle off of him just for an instant to try to pick up another boar, in my scope, that was feeding off to the left under a lighted feeder 300 yds away. When I shifted back to the first hog it was gone. I searched Sunday morning for him with no luck. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

BTW....my rifle is a custom built rifle that easily shoots 1/4-1/3 MOA groups with my load. I don't miss at this range.
Neck shots are iffy I've read alot from the old hunters 50-70++ years ago (jack O'Connor era) there has always been alot of old people that like to shoot game in the neck, unfortunately if you are not close enough to kill it with a 22LR in the bran even the slightest deviation in shot could result in a meat only hit. I believe you that you are every bit as accurate as you say you are, I have shot my share of .3-.7 MOA groups and I won't shoot anything in the neck. Regardless of how good of a shooter you are at the range .25MOA is 1.5" at 454yards and that's with no wind and perfect SD/ES. Not insulting your shooting in the least but I know just because I can put 5 bullets in one hole at the range means I am at best a 1.5MOA shooter in the field. That's 6.9" at 454yd. The hogs brain/spine is only .29MOA at best, if you hit them in the wind pipe they will run and breath through the big hole you made.
 
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