Any good to eat ?

[K-HILL]

Looking into preserve hunt in Tennessee this fall . Quick weekend away with wife and these hunts look like fun .
My concern is , are these big 350-400lb hogs any good to eat ?

 

[manitou]

You will be lucky to break 200 lbs. If they are killing 400 lb hogs there, they are domestically raised. But yes, MOST wild hogs are decent. Dry and tough as they have little fat and they make a living in a tough environment. They do, however, smell and taste like pork.
A 40 pounder would be better table fare theoretically, but I have had them that were similar to wild game... a bit tougher and dryer meat. It all is still very edible but you need to treat it like wild game IMO.

 

[Hatrick]

On the big ones. Except for the back straps we make sausage out of everything.

 

[TRG65]

I've the last year and a bit, we have eaten 180# of meat that my son and I got from 12 hogs. We smoked all the hams and shoulders and it was very good. We double layer wrapped them at 160F inside AL foil smeared bacon grease. Then we left them cook until they reach 210 or higher preferably 212. This was 6-10 hours depending on the size and number and outside temp. Let rest an hour, then we pulled the meat apart. The bones just fell away. Even did one piglet "whole" but dressed this way. The loins we didn't smoke as well for us, but they grilled just fine.

 

[J E Custom]

We look for young hogs 80 to 120 pounds if meat hunting. For management, we take the big boars and sows and drag them off for the varmints to enjoy. If you see a young boar that has not Dropped
his package, he will be very good. Obviously, 10 to 30 pounds are the best for table fair.

With care and proper treatment (The sooner the better it gets placed in the cooler) the better the quality. You can try to save the back strap and the hams for sausage on the really big hogs, but they are typically very game'y.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Varmint Hunter]

We shot a PILE of large hogs on a recent night hunting trip in Georgia. Unfortunately, almost every one of them was a large boar. Our outfitter said that they were definitely not fit to eat.

 

[J E Custom]

We shot a PILE of large hogs on a recent night hunting trip in Georgia. Unfortunately, almost every one of them was a large boar. Our outfitter said that they were definitely not fit to eat.View attachment 187775

That's A good ending for the big boars, quick, painless and fun.

J E CUSTOM

 

[rm76]

Sows are good at any size/age, but boars have a definite distinct taste/odor that is not liked by many. However, some folks can tolerate that distinct flavor just fine.

 

[thwatson2]

Sows of any size are very good. I grind it into burger, bbq them or make sausage. The boars under 60 pounds are decent, and over 60 are just stinky when you cook them, but they taste ok. Unfortunately you will have hard time dealing with smell. We never eat the boars as we can't get over that stink so we give them to some old country folks. Hence, I'd recommend you shoot a sow unless you are just trophy hunting.

 

[Alibiiv]

On the big ones. Except for the back straps we make sausage out of everything.View attachment 187691

We do the same with bear meat, sausage and ground meat mixed with prime rib fat. I like meat cooked rare and fear getting trichinosis from the meat; hamburg and sweet sausage can be cooked up "well" done and it doesn't toughen out the meat. Haven't hunted bore yet, but would do the same.

 

[Cinchy]

A big boar hog is rank, his meat will stink terribly when you cook it too! When people talk about gamey meat its usually just a little strong with a slightly noticeable after taste? On a bigger boar you won`t be able to get past the smell to put a fork in your mouth! LOL Shoot small hogs & avoid even the little boars & its not bad eating , just very dry!

 

[JimFromTN]

Whatever you do, don't throw the meat away because someone said it wasn't worth eating. I have never eaten a 400 lb boar but I have eaten a 250lb boar from Texas and have eaten allot in the 150 lb range from south Georgia. I have yet to taste one that did not taste like store bought pig. The meat does start to go bad fairly quickly so you have to get it on ice and processed as quickly as possible. My theory on why people say it taste bad is because they let it sit too long before they gutted it and put it on ice. When you smoke them, you won't be able to tell the difference between a sow and a boar. When you make sausage, you won't be able to tell the difference between a sow and a boar. If you slow cook a roast, you won't know the difference between a sow and a boar. If you decide to slice up the loin and throw it on the grill, a big boar will be tough. Take a meat tenderizer and beat on it a little.

 

[Bait57]

When we lived in Alabama I loved hog hunting. We didn't eat the boar. We only ate the sows.

 

[J E Custom]

We make a habit of killing the larger hogs during the winter because of the parasites that infest them during the summer and the food they eat. The sows are best when they are not supporting piglets. but the small pigs are good year round where we hunt.

This system works good to manage them and have good eating pork. we also installed two feeders for hogs only (They have no pends)and we set the timer to go off a 9:00 am Only, so we can be there when it goes off to harvest the ones we want depending on the time of the year.

You can normally smell a hog while cleaning, that will be marginal quality and cull it. It only takes one bad tasting hog to turn people off to wild pork so we look at those that are culled as management hogs and move on. Really good wild pork is better than domestic pork In my opinion and can be cooked any way with good results.

In the beginning, we killed all hogs we saw, because there were so many, now we manage them by selective harvest and are enjoying the benefits. we like to leave one or two boars and as many sows. the rest we manage the numbers fairly well. (We like to leave two or three sounders on our place at a time.

J E CUSTOM