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ORIGINAL: redneck buck hunter
I was wondering if some one could post a picture of a good medium/cooking size hog. This will be my first time hunting hogs and i was just wanting to know what a good hog lookes like. I dont want to wait for hogzilla but i dont want to kill a baby. I just need to know what size a good first hog is. A description would be good some pics would be better. Any help is greatly appreciated.
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I've never actually shot a hog. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!
Seriously, though, I spent a few years working for a major meat packer. And as I've lined-up a hog trip for late April, your very question came up among my hunting partners. Just last night, I spoke to my long-time buddy from the meat business, who's the head of hog procurement (aka Hog Buyer) for the nations #2 pork producer. His advice was to shoot them at 100 lbs. or less, which wouldmake them < 6 mos. old. Beyond that, they're more likely to taste "gamey". Also, if you were to kill the ones without a "penile sheath" beneath their rear portion of their abdomen, then so much the better! FWIW, the butcher hogs (aka "neutered") used for meat are generally killed at 230 to 250 lbs. As they get heavier than this weight, they tend to pick up more weight in fat than in meat.
Here's a good treatise on anatomy for shot placement, & it also gives a rough idea of size on a "meat hog":
http://www.texasboars.com/anatomy.html
Happy Hunting!
FC
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