Update on the Super Pigs

[Citified]

Any feedback on whether they are in Central Oregon? We have lots of deer, elk, cougars, raccoons etc around our property but I have never personally seen any wild pigs/boar. We have wolves also but ODFG doesn't think we do yet.

 

[Buffalobwana]

I hear Colorado is set to release 5 wild boars to reintroduce them to the state.

Boulder is ecstatic!

 

[G. Neely]

Well sir they can take below zero, snow and ice. Any of you guys ever see a grass/thatch hut these hog build for shelter? Trappers are catching 40-50 in a single drop on cell traps, helo's are shooting 100's per flight, how would you measure this problem. If you are raising anything for a profit that's livestock, exotics, crops, the hogs will eat you out of business. I have personally seen at a corn feeder a boar come out of the tall grass and take after an axis doe that was eating corn and 15 minutes later doe came circling back by running full out, mouth open and tongue hanging out and boar steadily gaining ground. This was on a property where I was working and this feeder was in front of the house and set for lunch time entertainment. They will destroy the turkey populations by wrecking out the nest and eating the eggs, they eat fawns, lambs, goats and I suspect calves as well plus wreck out the fence to get in. I road on a combine cutting milo a few years back in DHanis Texas and in the middle of the field there were acres of nada, just rough plowed earth. You cant afford to loose 25% of a field crop nor 1/2 of a herd of anything. I was daylight calling on a place on the Seco and heard somthing on my left and it was a 200# class black Russian boar sneakin up on me at 20'. They are predators no doubt. They are eatable and no season, feed the hungry.

I drive thru D'Hanis on the the way to my place in Rio Frio about once a month. Hogs are thick there, but not as thick as they were before I bought a thermal imaging setup. It's funny how you start out eating some of them and then go to just finding a gully to empty the front end loader into.

 

[Bux240]

The comment on "bonus bacon" is a fallacy, wild pigs don't gain enough fat (especially belly fat where the bacon comes from) to make bacon. They good breakfast sausage and that's about it. Killed a couple on our Texas deer hunt in October, nothing worth taking pictures of but the sausage is good.

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

The comment on "bonus bacon" is a fallacy, wild pigs don't gain enough fat (especially belly fat where the bacon comes from) to make bacon. They good breakfast sausage and that's about it. Killed a couple on our Texas deer hunt in October, nothing worth taking pictures of but the sausage is good.

Well that sucks. But sausage yumm

 

[Buffalobwana]

The comment on "bonus bacon" is a fallacy, wild pigs don't gain enough fat (especially belly fat where the bacon comes from) to make bacon. They good breakfast sausage and that's about it. Killed a couple on our Texas deer hunt in October, nothing worth taking pictures of but the sausage is good.

You can tell the "out of state" hunters by what they do with the hog. This is not derogatory or being rude or anything like that but *most* Texas hunters got over gutting pigs years ago.

I gave up trying to utilize the pig 20 years ago. I haven't gutted one since. I have removed a few exceptional skulls though.

 

[Lee7588]

If you shoot them and let them lay there for a day, you can go back and usually find yotes feeding on them

 

[Lee7588]

You can tell the "out of state" hunters by what they do with the hog. This is not derogatory or being rude or anything like that but *most* Texas hunters got over gutting pigs years ago.

I gave up trying to utilize the pig 20 years ago. I haven't gutted one since. I have removed a few exceptional skulls though.

The little ones are great to eat, bigger are targets

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

What about tender loins and back straps on smallish pigs?? Yes out of stare ignorant hunter here.

 

[G. Neely]

What about tender loins and back straps on smallish pigs?? Yes out of stare ignorant hunter here.

They're great if you're cleaning them in cool weather. My wife occasionally makes lasagna from a ham, but it's been awhile, mainly because I don't often clean one.

A piglet is good for the grill, if cleaned and split lengthwise.

 

[Buffalobwana]

What about tender loins and back straps on smallish pigs?? Yes out of stare ignorant hunter here.

The meat is usually fine on any size pig. I have had two 100# sows that were not edible. Not even close. I have never had a big boar that was bad.

A lot of people who say "Big boars ain't fit to eat." Are just repeating what the internet told them for years.

Some pigs aren't fit to eat. I don't know why. But my experience is that a big boar is every bit as good as a 100# sow.

 

[sierrastalker]

If you shoot them and let them lay there for a day, you can go back and usually find yotes feeding on them

Or you might find more pigs feeding on them. I once shot a sow (around 150-175lbs) in a huge sounder of probably 35 that were eating a dead horse. She stumbled about 5 yards and flopped over. Half of the rest of them scattered, but a couple walked right over to her and started in trying to eat her right on the spot, not 30 seconds after I had fired. I had to walk down there and run em off so they wouldn't eat my pig! They were so keyed up on eating with that horse carcass there they didn't even care about me shooting.

As far as are they fit to eat? My largest was a sow that was almost 350 lbs and she was the most delicious. She also had a layer of fat like I'd never seen and haven't since. I made some bacon from her belly...it was definitely lean but it more than passed for bacon. It was after a really wet year and a huge acorn crop. The only one I've shot that was funky tasting was that same sow I shot over the horse carcass. She was still great in sausage but any of the meat I got from her that wasn't heavily seasoned definitely had a strong aftertaste like I've never had in any other pig.

I eat all of em that I shoot, but I know guys that go out to clear em from ag land and there's literally no way they could handle all the meat they shoot. It's just something different when you're trying to eradicate them or even just control the population. When the do keep the meat they use the gutless method and are incredibly fast at taking pigs apart, but not exactly getting every scrap of meat. There's just too many pigs!

 

[Lee7588]

Or you might find more pigs feeding on them. I once shot a sow (around 150-175lbs) in a huge sounder of probably 35 that were eating a dead horse. She stumbled about 5 yards and flopped over. Half of the rest of them scattered, but a couple walked right over to her and started in trying to eat her right on the spot, not 30 seconds after I had fired. I had to walk down there and run em off so they wouldn't eat my pig! They were so keyed up on eating with that horse carcass there they didn't even care about me shooting.

As far as are they fit to eat? My largest was a sow that was almost 350 lbs and she was the most delicious. She also had a layer of fat like I'd never seen and haven't since. I made some bacon from her belly...it was definitely lean but it more than passed for bacon. It was after a really wet year and a huge acorn crop. The only one I've shot that was funky tasting was that same sow I shot over the horse carcass. She was still great in sausage but any of the meat I got from her that wasn't heavily seasoned definitely had a strong aftertaste like I've never had in any other pig.

I eat all of em that I shoot, but I know guys that go out to clear em from ag land and there's literally no way they could handle all the meat they shoot. It's just something different when you're trying to eradicate them or even just control the population. When the do keep the meat they use the gutless method and are incredibly fast at taking pigs apart, but not exactly getting every scrap of meat. There's just too many pigs!

On our farm we don't ever see pigs eating carcasses, we put cameras out to see what the predators are. We get lots of yotes, coons, wild dogs, and possums but never pigs. I guess different areas offer different food sources and availability.

My wife and I like the piglets, the ones after they loose their stripes and have a little meat to them. One piglet is dinner for two. I've shot sows that smelt rank, I guess they had recently been bred, tasted ok. If we keep any other than piglets we prefer them to be in the 20-60 lbs range. Trim off all the fat and good to go. We found most of the fowl flavors is in the fat.

When out to manage the population and not harvest the meat, an AR-15 in 5.56 with a binary trigger is a great tool.

 

[Lee7588]

They're great if you're cleaning them in cool weather. My wife occasionally makes lasagna from a ham, but it's been awhile, mainly because I don't often clean one.

A piglet is good for the grill, if cleaned and split lengthwise.

Cleaning them asap or gutting them to cool the meat is necessary, or the bacteria will spread quickly (2hrs) or so. Piglet is like having chicken quarters with back straps