Wild Pig for Dinner

[guspup]

I was just looking at LongSpurs wild pig. I am just totally amazed that there are wild pigs like that out there, that can be taken with a bow.
Also, after spending alot of time in rural Mexico, I am a big fan of the pig as perfect table fare.
Just curious as to the comparison of wild pig to domestic pig, as far as taste.
Any opinions :-) I bet it is GREAT!!!

[Huntschool]

My wife and I find it more like pork once tasted.  Her Dad was a pretty big pork producer when we first met and let me tell you his pig did not taste like the stuff my Mom got at Safeway in NJ back in the 60's....Of course he would put an even more special finish on stuff he had buthchered for the family

We both actually prefer wild to domestic.  I only shoot 70-110 or so gilts when I am hunting them.  The meat seems to be a bit darker.

[wingnut]

Once you have wild pork you'll never buy it in a supermarket again.  It is what pork is supposed to taste like.

Even the big boars make great ground.

Mike

[SOLDIERII]

It the other white meat, darn good eaTING

[cacciatore]

Wild Boars taste different depending on what they are eating.In Tuscany where they feed on roots,nuts and other bush stuff they have a stronger flawor.In North of Italy they feed on corn chestnuts and other farming crops(for the joy of the farmers) they have a less pungeant flawor and looks more like domestic pigs.All of them have anyway an excellent taste.

[Bobby Urban]

Huntschool - funny you say that about "once tasted" because when anyone asks me what wild pig tastes like I say, "it tastes like pork did when you were a kid".  I am 44 so that about dates it back 35+ years.  Long before it became America's other white meat and they began breeding them to be the lean, colorless nasty stuff you get in the supermarket.

Some of the best wild game available IMO.  Love the ribs, tenderloin, and roasts made into pulled pork.  Everyone I feed it to raves.

Bob Urban

[guspup]

This is really intersting... thank you. I never really thought about the 'modern' pig being bred to be more like wonder bread, but it makes alot of sense.
Tell me more :-)

[Rob DiStefano]

mmmmmmmmm, did someone mention HOG???  if that's what yer cookin' fer suppers, please invite me too!  :D   love the wild hog!

[Huntschool]

Bobby:

Yep...  When my wife and I first started going out (68) her Dad had was one of the first in IL to have a confinement hog set up.  Those hogs could not hardly stand on concrete and the loin eye was less than 2/3 of what producers call normal today. It was not like todays set ups as the sows were still kept outside until it was time to farrow so they got to "play in the dirt" and eat other stuff than supplied feed.  The feed base was really different then also even for producers.  That pork was some good stuff.

Country Cured (southern hard) hams from his pork done by a local black guy were the best thing I ever tasted.  The ribs were to die for and believe it or not the shoulders.. (Boston Butt and pork steak depending on how you cut em were terriffic)

The "factory" produced stuff is not real pork to me....

[huntnmuleys]

for sure i prefer the wild pork over the domestic, wish i had it more.  very, very good...

[JMartin]

Yep, don't pass on the 30 to 60 pounders, they are perfect for the smoker, mmm....mmmm...yum!!!!

[Ray Hammond]

I'm with these guys- anything from 50 to 150 will cook and eat fantastic.

Ours eat acorns in the fall, corn for a couple months exclusively in Jan and Feb, then grass, shrooms, flowers and seeds in early to mid summer, grapes and persimmons in late summer, and back to acorns.

I do notice some changes in the way they taste depending on what they eat...but its all good!!!

[Mudd]

Wow! I am like totally surprised!!

I think I've read everyone's posts but don't recall reading one from RC(The Pig Sticker!"...lol

What say you RC?

God bless,Mudd

[JEFF B]

wild pig mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yum yum nothing Better with pork crackling and apple sauce and dumplings  

[huntsfairchase]

As mentioned, I don't think there's any comparison in flavor. Wild takes domestic any day of the week.

[Biggie Hoffman]

Now wait a minute.....you guys who say you can taste a big difference in wild or domestic are kidding right? I mean, something you kill and drag home tastes better mentally, but domestic pork is just as good or better!

Now you guys who smother your meat with marinates and rubs and smoke it using flavored wood chips are out of the conversation. You're not tasting the meat, you're tasting the marinate!

I'd bet even money that I could cook one domestic ham and one wild one and you guys couldn't tell the difference!

[frank bullitt]

Biggie, is that a cured or uncured ham?
So your saying that wild isn't different?

Wild and domestic turkey, don't taste the same!
Wild is better, richer flavored in my oppinion.

Never ate a wild pig, sure would like to though!
You can Have all them Confined, drug injected, factory pigs!  

[guspup]

Looks like many of us could have an opportunity to hunt and taste this wild pig. Did a look on the web, and am suprised they are around me...  http://www.scrippsnews.com/content/location-wild-hogs-state

[Biggie Hoffman]

[RAU]

Ive never tasted truly wild (just game farm "wild" pig that a buddy shot) or even organic raised pork that gets to forage a bit so I cant say from personal experience which is better but have been told by those that have,  and whos opinions I trust that its FAR, FAR superior to factory farmed pork we can buy at the supermarket