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pushpullpete,

While a domestic hog that size is great eating, I know a lot of folks who won't eat a feral hog weighing over 120 lbs or so.

Why would you suppose that is?

Thanks!

Abraham,
Sir, I can only imagine that they think the meat has a 'gamey' taste (hormones), don't care for fresh meat, are just small
minded or not understanding about the feral part. While attending a pot luck dinner party years ago in college I watched
people scarfing down on 'chicken strips' that they thought tasted great, until, they learned the chicken strips were actually
rattlesnake. Reactions spanned from, 'Really ?, cause it's actually pretty good' to some getting violently ill. Because the
professor, who brought the dish, had a connection to the ranch where I worked I knew what the meat was & went on
enjoying it. He had collected the snakes during one of our cattle roundups.
I believe alot of times people think too hard & freak themselves out, all while forgetting to enjoy life and those they love.

Abraham wrote:Lynyrd,

What did you do with him?

Eat, bury as is, or ...?

Thanks!

P.S. I've killed em with a .17 cal. fmj to the noggin. DRT!

I certainly can't eat all the ones I kill. I butcher the small ones myself, and grind enough to keep us in sausage. But my limit on size for a feral hog is about 80-100 lbs depending on the hog. The boars will get a hormone at maturity that makes the meat stink when it hits the skillet. You can soak them in salt water for 10 days or so and let all of the blood come out of the meat, but I still don't like the smell or the taste of one this size.

The older sows can be tough even at 100-120 lbs and I've just got too many young tender ones to go to the trouble of butchering something less tasty. The best tasting ones are about 20-30 lbs. I like to cook them whole until the meat just falls off the bone.

This one wound up as buzzard food. You should see my bone yard. I swear the buzzards come whenever they hear me shoot.

And in case anyone is thinking, "Why don't he just give them away?" I couldn't count the times I've tried to give people hogs. Bottom line is that people will take what you gut, skin, cut up or grind, and package. But they won't come do the work. And it is WORK.

Isn't that the same with ALL GAME? Noone wants to, or knows how to, do the work. I couldn't tell you the last time I prepped a deer, wonder if I would still know what to do! But as with most game, the larger it is, the less "tasty"...

TreyHouston wrote:Isn't that the same with ALL GAME? Noone wants to, or knows how to, do the work. I couldn't tell you the last time I prepped a deer, wonder if I would still know what to do! But as with most game, the larger it is, the less "tasty"...

That boar will most likely prove to be a bit rank

Lynyrd,

I completely understand.

For decades I was an avid wade fisherman and was pretty darn good at it.

On a few occasions I tried to give away my catch and found I could as long I cleaned and get this, delivered them. I'm talking Redfish, S. Trout and Flounder.

Once my freezer was full, I went into catch and release so I had no surplus to 'give away' to the ingrates...

Nice pig.