rockport

Anything I should know?

Oldtimr

Make sure they are dead before you walk up on them. That is the voice of experience.

Double Naught Spy

Play the wind. Try not to make too much noise. A loner or a sentinel in a group will often freeze, listen, and sample the air, then continue. That is often my target hog because they are looking out for themselves and/or others and are the ones most apt to bust me. Shoot it. During the freeze is often a good time to shoot the hog. You may be able to watch it freeze 2 or 3 times before you see a pattern. The freeze often doesn't last long so be ready to shoot when you see it repeated.

As Oldtimr said, make sure they are dead. When in doubt, shoot them again. A hog that is down and doing the curly shuffle may not be ready to die. I have seen several get up after kicking for a while. Be ready to shoot them again. Also, few hogs die right side up. If the hog is upright on its belly, it is probably still alive. Shoot it again.

rockport

Thanks, I will be sure to do that.

Ive never hunted wild hogs but I have worked with quite a few giant boars that wanted me dead.

My cousin had a boar get a tusk in his leg when we were younger. He got it in well below the knee and ran it all the way up his leg...1000+ stitches.

I used to be able to whip a big boar hog but I think those days have passed me by so I'll be making damn sure they are dead.

rockport

What about the eatin size? What size pig should I be looking for as far as good eatin? Do the big boars make good breakfast sausage?

Ive always shot hogs(not wild) in the head with a .22 and got them hung and stuck in the heart before they quick kicking which makes them better eatin. Is it wise to try and heart shoot them with a bow so they bleed out or better to just blow the lungs out?

super_hunt54

OT and DNS advised you quite well as far as making sure the critter is done for. I am assuming you are bow hunting since your last post kinda hinted at that ... Go for the lungs. Largest target area as well as the easiest to get through. They go down plenty quickly enough with a good double lung pass through..


As far as eating size, on a good sow you are looking at anything from 60 pounds up to around 150-170 will have some really fine eating meat. Pretty much the same for a good boar. Anything over that, the back straps will still be fairly good but everything else will be pretty much sausage meat in my opinion. Of course that is also dependent on their feed as well. Unlike beef, pork doesn't necessarily have to be hung and aged all that much. 2-4 days is all it really needs for aging in my opinion and since I don't have a scalder pot I skin mine out as fast as humanly possible and quarter it out and get it in the cooler. I have racks set up in my coolers to keep the meat off the bottom and out of the water and blood. Works just as well as hanging it in my walk in cooler.

Oldtimr

Size wise, CI gave you a good parameter, 150 is where I try to stay but this year I went a bit over that on a boar. My first year I had no idea of how to judge size and I shot two about 90 lbs which is ok but I wanted more meat. Judging the weight of hogs is a bit different than deer. I have only taken 10 but each trip is a learning experience. I almost always head shoot the hogs but this year I took one just behind the shoulder and he went down and didn't even kick. I use my 45-70 which is a bit over gunned but if you read my post titled February hog hunt you will see that even the largest caliber is not guarantee. As Ci said a sow of any weight will be fine so long as her teats are not hanging low because she will be drawn down by feeding piglets and she will not have much fat. A sow that is not feeding young will have a lot more fat than a boar because boars use up their fat chasing sows for breeding and by fighting for the right to breed. I usually get pork chops made but this year I just had the loins pulled out. As far as bacon, I had bacon made one year from a 150 lb hog and I won't do it again. It tasted good but the belly meat was not thick enough to make a nice wide strip of bacon, it was thin so you had to make twice as much because it shrunk so badly in the pan. I suspect if you are successful you will be hooked. I love hunting hogs and I like eating them. I have a tone of sweet Italian and fresh country sausage from my two Feb. hogs. My butcher doesn't make breakfast sausage but I am trying spice recipes to make it my self until I find one that is close to Jimmy Dean or Bob Evans. Wild hogs make great sausage of any kind. Good luck Rocky. There are guys here who have a lot more experience than I do so you should get some good info.

MudderChuck

I usually hunt them going to or coming from bed to food or food to bed. They tend to use the same trails in a broad sort of way, it may just be a patch of forest they are familiar with. Were I hunt the food sources are numerous, hard to say which they will choose. A few small scattered piles of Corn on there normal paths may help them stop and feed a little, otherwise they may be there and gone pretty quickly.

Scent or noise will spook them, noise seems to be a slightly higher factor. Unless they are on the move in leaves or brush, they make a lot of noise themselves and it masks your noise. If they are moving slow through the grass it really doesn't take to much noise to spook them. A rifle lightly taping a branch can do it within a hundred yards.

I usually shoot 100-150 pounders.

The big ones are smart, the juveniles not so much. The large ones may lead the sounder on a round about way, the juveniles often split from the sounder and cut corners, not nearly so cautious.

And in addition to making sure they are dead, dead, dead, watch your rear. On more than a few occasions the lead Sow has doubled back to check on a sounder member, they may turn it into a confrontation. Doesn't happen often but it happens.

The Deer often tip me off that the sounder is coming. If a Deer panics and bolts, it my be your scent or it may be the sounder breaking brush off in the distance.

A hogs vitals are lower than you'd think.

The only way I've ever gotten close enough for a bow shot was in the dark. I've never tried a bow, but have gotten pretty close moving real slow and quiet at night.

A full grown single Hog is usually a Boar or the Boars trail the sounder. Juvenile Boars are mixed in with the sounder until they get a year or so old. IMO Sows are better eating.

rockport

Thanks guys, I shouldn't have any trouble judging size as Ive worked with domestic hogs most of my life. I don't think I'm gonna be real picky. I think the part I'm looking forward to the most is hunting without the pressure of aging,managing and all that stuff. I just want to go hunt and not worry about any of that like I did when I was a kid.

I do want to bring home some good eating though.

So if I understand any wild hog will make good sausage but if I want chops,butts,steaks etc I need to keep it around 150 or so but could go a little bigger on a sow?

Are the butts/shoulders good for smoking or pork steaks? Spare ribs good for smoking or too thin?

I'll be doing all my own butchering/processing and while Ive butchered hundreds of domestic hogs Ive never done a wild hog.

MudderChuck

How they taste depends a lot on what they have been eating. I've boiled it down to good times of the year and poor times of the year. I usually fill my freezer (when I have the room) shortly after harvest time and before the Acorns fall. Here the hogs eat better than I do, fresh from the farmers field.

Nothing at all wrong with a smaller Sow, a hundred pounds or so. Here they only mate once a year, so the Hogs come in sizes, first year, second year etc.

I make a lot of Goulash, you can smell quick when you brown the meat what it is likely to need for spices. Most of the Hogs I get aren't gamey and as good as or better than beef. Everybody has different tastes though, maybe it is just me.