HOGS

[YORNOC]

I'm a novice hog hunter. I've only shot three...the biggest was 100#. We roasted it whole at a HUGE family party. I had nothing to do with the cooking.
 The other two I traded to get my truck fixed when it broke down on the way home.
My interest is high, it was a lot of fun.
Here's my question:
I assume the bigger the hog, the tougher to eat?
Is there a preferred size for eating, and how do you all butcher them?
Like a regular hog, smoked hams, bacon and loin roasts? Do you make ground pork?
How is the flavor compared to farm raised?
Many thanks, enjoying myself planning for future hunts this coming year.

[Cory Mattson]

Backstraps for cutlets pounded out and breaded

some belly and some neck for bacon

Back hams for fresh roast pork

front shoulders, some neck and clean scrap for ground - sausages yes breakfast  italian - andoullie - and ground for mixing w venison to make meatloaf and meatballs.

hundred pounders are cool - I have only taken around 10 monsters and they were all good to eat. we shoot all sizes from 30# on up depending on what we need to take out of the herd.
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[YORNOC]

No smoking/curing hams then, better to roast?

[Thare1774]

I took a 200 lb boar a few years ago in central CA, and I like sausage so I had the whole thing processed and made into ten different flavors of sausage. It lasted me a year, best year ever!

[wtpops]

There is always a general thought that a big old boar is not good to eat, what i have found over the years is it depends on how they live. You can kill a 250# boar that has lived his life in the foothills coming down and eating out of the farmers fields, oats,corn and so on and he will be very good eating. You can kill a 125# sow that live in steep mountains and eats sage brush and dead animals and she will be nasty tasting. This is just what i have found in my neck of the woods.

I do like me a 100 to 125 pounder though, easy to drag, clean and butcher and tender back straps.

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

I just killed one tonite. Gutted, she weighed 135lbs.   Quartered it out and have it soaking now.  I always smoke the shoulders. The hindquarters I usually cook down and make into pastor or some other slow cooked dish that involves beans and rice.

If I grill any wild pork, its the backstraps.  Usually marinate it in tabasco, black pepper and garlic, then grill it for a few minutes over a wood fire.  The more rare the better.

[T Lail]

I sure am hawngry....

[YORNOC]

Can you tell me about the soaking... my guess is in a salty brine?  What does it do for us?

[stickbowmaniac]

I ice my hogs down for 4-5 days before processing.Draining the blood each day.Killed a 400lber this summer.it was just as good eating as a 100lber.

[Bjorn]

I have not killed one over 250 yet; but mine have all been great for eating. I soak 3-4 days in very cold water with some vinegar and salt-no idea what it does...............just part of the process. I grind a lot for sausages and ground meat in pasta dishes. Better cuts often go in the dutch oven. Don't be afraid of killing a big one for the table.

The only way I cook my wild pigs is in the smoker/BBQ pit. Slow cooked like a brisket with it drowned in marinade and covered in either brisket or rib rub. Cook it on the open fire for about an hour to sear the outside, then wrap it in a foil tent. Several hours later (2-6 depending on how big the hog is) the meat id falling off the bone and wonderful to eat. There is no better way to cook a wild hog in my opinion. I only shoot pigs that are under about 150#. The boars tend to get REAL stinky and nasty once they get much bigger than that. Sows are usually good no matter how big they get. 50#-100# is as good as it gets.

Bisch