Is it safe to eat 400-800 pound wild hogs?
08-30-2014, 12:42 PM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
Big hogs are usually best made into ground sausage, especially big boars that are pretty rank! I have no idea what you are asking as far as being safe to eat and how to keep it. Get it dressed out and cooled properly ASAP and then have it processed, including being properly wrapped and quick frozen before you store it in your home freezer.
08-30-2014, 01:11 PM
#3
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
The problem with big boars is they are rank in both smell and taste because they were not cut when they were piglets. Some people swear that soaking the meat in cider vinegar and water right after killing and skining takes the rankness out, I cannot attst to that. However, a big sow if you see one that is not feeding young will tast very good.
08-30-2014, 02:33 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Wherever liberalism must be eradicated.
Posts: 2,734
Unless the hog is showing signs of being sick, or you are sing evidence of parasites. Than a decent recipe should hold all the answers you need.
Last edited by sconnyhunter; 08-30-2014 at 02:35 PM.
08-30-2014, 04:58 PM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
That is true! I once shot a big boar down in south Texas that probably went over 300# and he was so rank we couldn't even dress him out he was so nasty. We rolled him over to the side of the sendero and the coyotes and other critters wouldn't even touch him over the next week or so before we headed home!
08-30-2014, 07:41 PM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Wherever liberalism must be eradicated.
Posts: 2,734
08-31-2014, 05:37 PM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 170
I've heard that if the large boars smell so bad that you can't stand to be next to them, then you shouldn't bother to skin and cut them up. So far I haven't run into any that fall into that category. We've killed several that weighed between 230 — 300 Lbs and made sausage or ground meat out of all of them without any complaints from the folks who've eaten the meat.
09-01-2014, 08:47 AM
#9
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Comance county, OK
Posts: 11,408
So far I haven't run into any that fall into that category.
We've killed several that weighed between 230 — 300 Lbs and made sausage or ground meat out of all of them without any complaints from the folks who've eaten the meat.
IME: Every complaint of "strong tasting" hog meat i've ever encountered, and there have been many, were because of contaminated or rotten hog meat.
I routinely see guys drive around in 90 degree heat for hours with hogs that have not been field dressed in the back of their pickups. You see them contaminate the meat when field dressing hogs. You see guys get dirt, crud, semen, poop and urine all over the meat. They cut the intestines and get that stuff all over the inside of the hog.
In the back of my pickup are several milk jugs full of water for washing out the body cavity after field dressing hogs. Sometimes my buds and i take really dirty hogs to the car wash before field dressing.
09-01-2014, 11:07 AM
#10
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
Wild pork for dinner
I don't shoot really big hogs, I like them somewhere between 130 to 140 lbs. I will shoot a big sow if she isn't nursing but so far my boars between 120 and 150 have been delicious. Here is a picture of a wild boar butt I am making today for labor day. Just getting ready to foil it, then back on the heat until 205 degrees, then wrapped in a towl and put in an icechest for 2 hours, then enjoy. I also made a batch of Carolina style vinegar Bar-B-Q sauce to go with it.
