Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

I'm trying to put together a hog hunt for my son and one of his buddies for Feb. or March. Few questions....

1. I enjoy field dressing and quartering my deer.....and I feel it's part of the hunting experience. But...the idea of butchering a pig does NOTHING for me. How different is it? I'm not sure how much it costs to have the outfitter do the butchering.....but I'm betting it's worth it!:)

2. If you were going to have one processed.....what would you have done (2-4 whole hogs). We want to give some of the meat (OK...a lot of it) to friends and relatives, too.

3. Have you hunted them at night?

Anything else you might wanna warn me about would be appreciated.

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

Processing a hog is not a terribly difficult thing. Compared to deer however, they are MUCH thicker skinned, have right much more fat...and are often dirty and smell fairly bad (as you might expect). Have a couple of good sharp knives handy, cause you will go through them all.

As far as how to process...they only ones I have ever done myself have
all been under 100 pounds. I gut and skin them... lop off the head and throw them on the grill whole. All the rest I have either given away or had turned into sausage. I have taken a few of the smaller large ones (150+ but still under 200), and had some pork chops and loins etc etc done. Most of the big ones 200+ have been given to folks who were interested. I have heardmostly horror stories about the big hogs regarding taste (and from reliable sources), so I haven't bothered to find out for myself. I know the little ones that I always target are delicious.

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

Hey that's a great point. I have a big pig cooker. I coud cook a whole pig. I guess we can plan cookout for Sunday, huh? Would a pig be OK on ice for a week?

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

I suspect it would be, long as you kept a good eye on it. You might want to consider having it flash frozen and using dry ice. Works well for folks who take charters offshore and have to drive back home a day or two later with their fish in coolers.

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

I'm thinking we could just freeze a small pig in two halves, then.....and thaw it out to cook whenever we wanted to. Actually.....if I'm gonna do it that way.....some 125lb'ers would be GREAT. That would make for some good cookouts.

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

We skin and process all of our hogs at the house (but I did marry a butcher ... just seemed like the thing to do at the time!!).

We have made sausage (pan, stuffed, smoked, and summer) to share with people. We have also BBQed it and given it away like that (tip -- BBQ will last in the freezer for months and is a great thaw and eat meal when you are in a hurry).

We have kept the meat in ice water for 4 or 5 days in the cooler BUT you have to make sure the meat stays cold -- we put the meat in the cooler with ice and water. The next day we drain the water and add fresh water and ice. This helps soak the blood out of the meat -- which also helps with the 'gamey' taste some people don't like.

As for skinning them, we just hand them up by the hind legs and skin them down.

Good luck and have fun!

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

When we went to TN last Feb. the outfitter did all of the processing for $30 bucks. It was the best sausage I have EVER had.

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

The meat will be fine on ice for a week. Just add ice every day so it stays cold.

If you are going to have a majority of the meat processed I woulnd't even field dress them. Lay the pig on his belly and skin from the back down. Take out the loins, take off the hams and shoulders and neck meat. A couple guys can do this on the spot in about 20-30 minutes. If you lay the skin out it will keep the meat clean. No need to open them up if you do this. I usually take a couple pillow cases with me and 100# or less hog the meat will fit in a pillow case, lets it breathe and keeps it clean.

If you are going to cook one whole gut it like a deer and take the head off then just split it down the middle. That would be a lot more work and outfitter should have the tools and a place to hang them.

I make most of mine into sausage of different types. It is very good and reasonable to have done. If I kill a sow I'll take the loins and keep them whole and grill them. The rest goes to sausage. I'll get flamed for this but if you are going to cook one whole make sure it is a sow. Some of the boars are gamey, even the little ones. I've had a90lb boar that stunk when you cooked it, couldn't cook the meat in the house and couldn't eat it when cooked outside. That was with a pig that was trapped, I killed it and cut it up immediately, put it on ice water in a cooler for three days, etc. The meat was taken care of correctly, some boars are just bad. There's a reason they don't sell boar meat in the store. The other 4 boar pigs of the same size, likely same litter that came out of the trap were fine, but one wasn't . Better to make the boars into sausage and not take the chance of getting a bad one if you are going to cook whole.

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

I agree with mez about the boars. At times I'll kill a boarand just leave it if it stinks too bad. Keep in mind before you jump all over me that some of my hogs hunts are for population control of pests so the ethics police can just stay calm.
On many pigs I kill I cut out the backstrap, shoulders, and hams, and leave the rest. I usually put them on the smoker and then chop it up and add BBQ sauce. YYYUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMY! I'll be smoking a couple of shoulders on the 4th.
One thing to keep in mind, if you pay a processor by the pound, make sure you cut that big heavy head off.

RE: Hog Hunters.....couple of questions....
 

The best site I have found for all kinds of hog hunting information is TexasBoars. Google it and you will find it easy. By far the best site on the net for hogs in my opinion.

The main things I would like to point out is thathogs aren't deer, and you don't shoot them the same. When you go to TB, look at the anatomy of a hog link, it is very informative. The lungs are farther forward than you think, so shoot accordingly. I would also seriously refrain from using a mechanical on hogs. Not saying it can't be done, but all of the hog guides I knowreally frown onthem. I prefer a fixed blade, cut on contact. I only shoot 60 lbs, and in fact I prefer the 2 blade Magnus. The old one, and not the Stinger. My shots are close, because I set up for night hunts, and that baby will go DEEP if you need it to on a bigun.