Hog experiment

[J E Custom]

We have to many hogs and in an effort to harvest "ALL" hogs to eat I tried an experiment to see if the realy big boars could be utilized for the table. Years ago I took a 350 lb boar that the land owner had trapped and castrated. Before he could be butchered (The land owner wanted to give him 8 to 10 weeks to feed and purge before butchering) But he broke out and rejoined the wild ones.

When the land owner saw the boar he recognized him and told me, he would butcher it if I would give him some of the meat. I jumped at the chance (I figured the meat would not be that good anyway and maybe only good in sausage) After butchering the beast, he brought me some meat and offered me some that his wife cooked. To my surprise, it was very good. With all that said, this is where the experiment started.

Our hogs are very trap wise and it is rare that we trap a big boar so we just kill them and haul them off. Opening day Of deer season I had an encounter with a well known boar we have and took advantage of an unusual shot placement. You guessed it In the sack, the bore was down in a gully facing away from me presenting a perfect shot that wouldn't hit anything except the sack.
My stomach still hurts just thinking about the hit, The little 120 ballistic tip did its job and as far as i could tell did not hit anything else. My son saw him two weeks later and he was doing fine, So we will wait till next year to harvest him and see if castration by bullet worked.

I know it sounds cold, but I just hate to wast meat if it is not necessary. We kill every pig we see and don't see any decrease in numbers. Maybe this will work.

J E CUSTOM

 

[stx]

That's certainly a different approach! When I was younger, we hunted hogs with dogs 2-3 nights a week. We castrated a lot of the boars we caught and let them go.....it was mostly to keep them from breeding! They are a nuisance..... I wish we could kill everyone we see but unfortunately, my landowners don't allow that.....we're required to make good use of all animals killed except coyotes and snakes! Hogs are a "Royal PITA!"

 

[KyCarl]

My friends in Florida catch them with dogs..Neuter them and do an ear notch.
They love to eat them and the bacon they smoke is Great!

 

[scrmblr1982cj8]

Any video? I'd pay to watch that!

 

[Mike 338]

Might find a way to work that into the prison system for certain offenses.

 

[J E Custom]

My son and I will hunt him in the spring and report how it worked if we can get him. We might find him hanging around the Trans Gender facility.

J E CUSTOM

 

[HARPERC]

....My son and I will hunt him in the spring and report how it worked if we can get him. We might find him hanging around the Trans Gender facility........J E CUSTOM

It will definitely be a life style change for him.

We've shot young hogs castrated, and turned out. Flavor is OK, but generally tougher than pen raised.

 

[JohnnieB]

Don't know where you live, but I'm here in San Jose, and we shoot a fair number of hogs. I can honestly say that I've never really had a bad our tough boar. In all honesty, nearly all our hogs have been shot in the spring or early summer harvest, and most have been living off the grain fields. All have been very good table fare. So much so that I prefer to shoot the boars as they do have more flavor than the sows. I really think the main issue comes down to game care and meat aging. We make sure the animals are skinned, gutted and on ice ASAP, and we always give them about 7-10 days of aging. They all taste great.

Now, I do have one example of a central CA boar I shot in the fall, about a 150 lb boar, that stunk of musk to high heaven. His meat, while tender, carried that musk smell and was inedible! So there are exceptions.

 

[J E Custom]

Don't know where you live, but I'm here in San Jose, and we shoot a fair number of hogs. I can honestly say that I've never really had a bad our tough boar. In all honesty, nearly all our hogs have been shot in the spring or early summer harvest, and most have been living off the grain fields. All have been very good table fare. So much so that I prefer to shoot the boars as they do have more flavor than the sows. I really think the main issue comes down to game care and meat aging. We make sure the animals are skinned, gutted and on ice ASAP, and we always give them about 7-10 days of aging. They all taste great.

Now, I do have one example of a central CA boar I shot in the fall, about a 150 lb boar, that stunk of musk to high heaven. His meat, while tender, carried that musk smell and was inedible! So there are exceptions.

Where we are, they live off of tubers and acorns when they are not feeding of crops and the meat is/can be rank if they are very big.

We also normally don't/cant eat the big ones before the first frost or cold spell that kills the parasites.

The younger ones are good and if the boars jewels haven't dropped
they are normally very good.

Even if it has been cold, the big boar's are never very good. That's the reason most catch, castrate. and feed for 8 to 10 weeks.And it does make them palatable.

J E CUSTOM

 

[stx]

Where we are, they live off of tubers and acorns when they are not feeding of crops and the meat is/can be rank if they are very big.

We also normally don't/cant eat the big ones before the first frost or cold spell that kills the parasites.

The younger ones are good and if the boars jewels haven't dropped
they are normally very good.

Even if it has been cold, the big boar's are never very good. That's the reason most catch, castrate. and feed for 8 to 10 weeks.And it does make them palatable.

J E CUSTOM

EXACTLY!!

 

[Zen Archery]

Bar hogs bro.
Europeans pay huge money for these.
They do grow massive and is considered great table fair (especially the cheek area).

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[J E Custom]

Bar hogs bro.
Europeans pay huge money for these.
They do grow massive and is considered great table fair (especially the cheek area).

Good luck. Keep us posted.

It is actually big business in some parts of south Texas. They trap them and ship them live to Europe, But the time spent gathering them and shipping them is enough to feed out the wild taste and they also castrate the boars to calm them down for the trip and other reasons we have already talked about.

Most sportsmen don't have the time or space to feed them out so we cull them by size, sex and age. this determines what parts of the hog we use for what.

J E CUSTOM

 

[stx]

Not to mention

 

[stx]

Not to mention the damage they do to deer pens, etc when you're trying to manage, feed and raise whitetails......they're a Real Nuisance!