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#diepiggydie It's the first Hog hunt of 2018. Big Boar down with a 165gr Federal Trophy Bonded Tip to the head in Navarro County w/ the POF P-308, Trijicon Snipe-IR and Dead Air Sandman L w/ Rifles Only Had Suppressor Cover. TNVC PVS-14 on a Wilcox mount and A Team Wendy ExFil helmet. Otte Gear for staying warm and dry. Third Coast Thermal provided the Snipe-IR.

Looks great to me. Waiting for a thermal scope to come in.

Is the meat from a wild hog that big, edible?

That's some serious gear for taking out Porky! Thanks for posting.

mayor wrote:Is the meat from a wild hog that big, edible?

That is not a big wild hog.

Yes but the answer needs some explaining.

Boars or sows up to 100-125 lbs are both great table fare. The small ones can be smoked/roasted whole.

With the bigger pigs especially boars,you need to do a few things to make sure the meat is edible.

First, kill them quickly. If they get upset, their fight or flight kicks in the hormones released will make the meat more gamy, especially boars.

Second, Dress and clean them ASAP, especially in warm weather. Get the meat cooling. Big boars need a little extra attention during cleaning.

Third, place the meat quarters in an ice chest covered with ice. Allow the melting ice to drain. Wash the meat off and the tainted water from the chest once a day and cover with ice. Do this for 5-7 days especially with the big ones. This removes a lot of the blood and lessens the gamey taste.

Cut it up, freeze it. Make sausage. Grill it. Smoke it. Use it just like hamburger. It needs extra fat since wild pork is leaner than domestic. Adding beef or pork fat makes it taste better.

Very nice .. Poor piggy didn’t stand a chance.

I've got no personal experience with this, but I've been told that, in some areas, the males are live-caught and castrated, and then their ears are notched and they are released. Future hunters can see the ear notch and realize that the meat will be of better quality due to the previous castration. Pay it forward, Texas-style.

anygunanywhere wrote:

mayor wrote:Is the meat from a wild hog that big, edible?

That is not a big wild hog.

Yes but the answer needs some explaining.

Boars or sows up to 100-125 lbs are both great table fare. The small ones can be smoked/roasted whole.

With the bigger pigs especially boars,you need to do a few things to make sure the meat is edible.

First, kill them quickly. If they get upset, their fight or flight kicks in the hormones released will make the meat more gamy, especially boars.

Second, Dress and clean them ASAP, especially in warm weather. Get the meat cooling. Big boars need a little extra attention during cleaning.

Third, place the meat quarters in an ice chest covered with ice. Allow the melting ice to drain. Wash the meat off and the tainted water from the chest once a day and cover with ice. Do this for 5-7 days especially with the big ones. This removes a lot of the blood and lessens the gamey taste.

Cut it up, freeze it. Make sausage. Grill it. Smoke it. Use it just like hamburger. It needs extra fat since wild pork is leaner than domestic. Adding beef or pork fat makes it taste better.

I agree with everything you said, and done exactly that many, many times. Sometimes I'll even let the meat bleed for as much as 10 days. Keep it packed in ice though, and drain daily. I like to get the meat on ice withing an hour after killing.

Interblog wrote:I've got no personal experience with this, but I've been told that, in some areas, the males are live-caught and castrated, and then their ears are notched and they are released. Future hunters can see the ear notch and realize that the meat will be of better quality due to the previous castration. Pay it forward, Texas-style.

Yeah, that happens sometimes with the dog hunters. If you are a land owner you hate it. We look at hogs the same as prairie dogs. They just tear up the land and cost us lots and lots of money. What little value the meat brings is maybe 1% of the cost of fixing their damage to the land. It makes me mad every time I kill a barr hog to know that somebody could have already killed him, and didn't.

On taking care of the meat;

Removing as much of the fat and connective tissue as possible will help a lot with the gamey taste. Not nicking the bladder or intestines also helps quite a bit.

I have eaten both boars and sows up to 175# and had no issues.

Lynyrd wrote:

Interblog wrote:I've got no personal experience with this, but I've been told that, in some areas, the males are live-caught and castrated, and then their ears are notched and they are released. Future hunters can see the ear notch and realize that the meat will be of better quality due to the previous castration. Pay it forward, Texas-style.

Yeah, that happens sometimes with the dog hunters. If you are a land owner you hate it. We look at hogs the same as prairie dogs. They just tear up the land and cost us lots and lots of money. What little value the meat brings is maybe 1% of the cost of fixing their damage to the land. It makes me mad every time I kill a barr hog to know that somebody could have already killed him, and didn't.

Any idea why there's not more of a market for this product? We have 30 million people and 3 million feral hogs. It sounds to me like dinner needs to be served. They have those descending cages now that can trap a whole swarm of these buggers at one time. It seems like it could be made scalable and profitable for someone, maybe some little Mom and Pop outfit. I'd certainly be a buyer.

Interblog wrote:

Lynyrd wrote:

Interblog wrote:I've got no personal experience with this, but I've been told that, in some areas, the males are live-caught and castrated, and then their ears are notched and they are released. Future hunters can see the ear notch and realize that the meat will be of better quality due to the previous castration. Pay it forward, Texas-style.

Yeah, that happens sometimes with the dog hunters. If you are a land owner you hate it. We look at hogs the same as prairie dogs. They just tear up the land and cost us lots and lots of money. What little value the meat brings is maybe 1% of the cost of fixing their damage to the land. It makes me mad every time I kill a barr hog to know that somebody could have already killed him, and didn't.

Any idea why there's not more of a market for this product? We have 30 million people and 3 million feral hogs. It sounds to me like dinner needs to be served. They have those descending cages now that can trap a whole swarm of these buggers at one time. It seems like it could be made scalable and profitable for someone, maybe some little Mom and Pop outfit. I'd certainly be a buyer.

There is a place in Ft. Worth called Frontier Meats that butchers them and ships the meat overseas. There are buying stations scattered around where trappers can haul their hogs to and sell them. I just don't think the general public here has much interest in wild hog meat, but it brings a premium price in some countries.

Lynyrd wrote:

Interblog wrote:

Lynyrd wrote:

Interblog wrote:I've got no personal experience with this, but I've been told that, in some areas, the males are live-caught and castrated, and then their ears are notched and they are released. Future hunters can see the ear notch and realize that the meat will be of better quality due to the previous castration. Pay it forward, Texas-style.

Yeah, that happens sometimes with the dog hunters. If you are a land owner you hate it. We look at hogs the same as prairie dogs. They just tear up the land and cost us lots and lots of money. What little value the meat brings is maybe 1% of the cost of fixing their damage to the land. It makes me mad every time I kill a barr hog to know that somebody could have already killed him, and didn't.

Any idea why there's not more of a market for this product? We have 30 million people and 3 million feral hogs. It sounds to me like dinner needs to be served. They have those descending cages now that can trap a whole swarm of these buggers at one time. It seems like it could be made scalable and profitable for someone, maybe some little Mom and Pop outfit. I'd certainly be a buyer.

There is a place in Ft. Worth called Frontier Meats that butchers them and ships the meat overseas. There are buying stations scattered around where trappers can haul their hogs to and sell them. I just don't think the general public here has much interest in wild hog meat, but it brings a premium price in some countries.

There are quite a few processing plants in Texas. The link bellow lists the feral hog buyers by county.

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbt ... Swine_Buyi

The europeans like the wild boar flavor so I have been told. If someone could make Texas wild pig taste like Iberico wild pig we would have a gold mine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Iberian_pig

I took a look at that list. Nobody in Harris or Galveston Counties. That's five million prospective diners off the list, at least in terms of convenience.

Interblog wrote:I took a look at that list. Nobody in Harris or Galveston Counties. That's five million prospective diners off the list, at least in terms of convenience.

The list is buyers, not processors.