Eating Wild Hog

[wowzers]

I stuck my first pig a couple weeks ago and thought the meat was awesome. One of the guys in camp took the heads and seasoned them up, wrapped in foil then roasted them in the fire. They made killer tacos.

When I got home I soaked it in a cooler with ice for a few days draining the water every day. Smoked a loin and made carnitas out of a neck piece and both were fantastic. Carnitas was actually better I thought because the meat was a little leaner.

 

[BleedingCoffee]

I also had my first hogs this last year and agree it’s great eating!

 

[Weldor]

Going to Instapot some ribs today, 40 minutes on high put in foil for 30 minutes in the oven soaked in bbg sauce. Outstanding.

 

[roymunson]

I've eaten them. My experience was they're lean, which is the opposite of a domestic pig. We added some pork fat to the sausage and they were delicious. My son shot a 275 pound boar about 2 weeks ago. Was strongly advised to deposit him in the coyote feeding area.

 

[Yoteassasin]

We've shot 3 in the last 2 weeks and all
Of them have had over 2" of fat back on sow had almost 4" . The loins get turned In to the awesomest "jagershnitzel" you've ever had . And the shoulders get made into pozole and chile verde the shanks and hocks are for Sunday ragu over parpadelle and the hams are for jalepaneo cheder and linguica . We shoot around 30 a year and only in the late summer do they get puss pockets and gross ... those ones the buzzards eat

 

[Big_wals]

We shoot a lot more than we can eat, but I try to save as much as I can. These west TX hogs are very lean, so we usually buy pork fat at HEB to mix in and make breakfast sausage. Also do plain ground meat for tacos, and I like to save backstraps for the grill. IME, the people who say wild hogs arent good to eat have usually never tasted one.

 

[Amos Keeto]

We shoot a lot more than we can eat, but I try to save as much as I can. These west TX hogs are very lean, so we usually buy pork fat at HEB to mix in and make breakfast sausage. Also do plain ground meat for tacos, and I like to save backstraps for the grill. IME, the people who say wild hogs arent good to eat have usually never tasted one.

West Texas or West, Texas?

My dislike for eating feral hogs has nothing to do with taste and everything to do with the health risks associated with eating it.

Feral hogs carry diseases that have pretty much been eliminated in domestic pork.

Pigs don't have lymph nodes, therefore, any toxins they ingest goes into their musculature, making the meat as toxic as whatever they've been eating.

I can't say much. I've eaten quite a bit of feral pork! Last time was one that I bar-b-qued. It weighed 15 pounds and fit in the smoker whole! Fed a big group of folks at a jam session. They loved it! ......and it was good!

I won't say don't eat ferals. I'm just saying, "Be cautious!".
I won't even take the time to dress out anything that weighs over 20 pounds or so on the hoof. Hopefully, those haven't ingested anything toxic.
Just my OFS!

P.S. - I've never seen a "fat" feral hog that hadn't had access to some type livestock feed or maybe some farmers crop.

 

[Bubblehide]

West Texas or West, Texas?

My dislike for eating feral hogs has nothing to do with taste and everything to do with the health risks associated with eating it.

Feral hogs carry diseases that have pretty much been eliminated in domestic pork.

Pigs don't have lymph nodes, therefore, any toxins they ingest goes into their musculature, making the meat as toxic as whatever they've been eating.

I won't say don't eat ferals. I'm just saying, "Be cautious!".
I won't even take the time to dress out anything that weighs over 20 pounds or so on the hoof. Hopefully, those haven't ingested anything toxic.
Just my OFS!

...

Feral pigs have a liver and kidneys that filter toxins . So, there are few to zero issues consuming ferral pig as far as toxins go; unless they have been consuming actual poison.

Obviously they need to be cooked well due to potential parasites.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

West Texas or West, Texas?

My dislike for eating feral hogs has nothing to do with taste and everything to do with the health risks associated with eating it.

Feral hogs carry diseases that have pretty much been eliminated in domestic pork.

Pigs don't have lymph nodes, therefore, any toxins they ingest goes into their musculature, making the meat as toxic as whatever they've been eating.

I can't say much. I've eaten quite a bit of feral pork! Last time was one that I bar-b-qued. It weighed 15 pounds and fit in the smoker whole! Fed a big group of folks at a jam session. They loved it! ......and it was good!

I won't say don't eat ferals. I'm just saying, "Be cautious!".
I won't even take the time to dress out anything that weighs over 20 pounds or so on the hoof. Hopefully, those haven't ingested anything toxic.
Just my OFS!

P.S. - I've never seen a "fat" feral hog that hadn't had access to some type livestock feed or maybe some farmers crop.

None of this is correct lol, except maybe trichinosis which is mostly gone from commercial pork but still exists which is why you have to cook it to 165 still, otherwise you'd be grilling up commercial chops rare like a steak.

Our's live in fields on the coast and aren't fed, they're the cleanest hogs ever never seen a single flea on them. They're not commercial pork fat but they are pretty plump for a feral hog.

 

[Yoteassasin]

West Texas or West, Texas?

My dislike for eating feral hogs has nothing to do with taste and everything to do with the health risks associated with eating it.

Feral hogs carry diseases that have pretty much been eliminated in domestic pork.

Pigs don't have lymph nodes, therefore, any toxins they ingest goes into their musculature, making the meat as toxic as whatever they've been eating.

I can't say much. I've eaten quite a bit of feral pork! Last time was one that I bar-b-qued. It weighed 15 pounds and fit in the smoker whole! Fed a big group of folks at a jam session. They loved it! ......and it was good!

I won't say don't eat ferals. I'm just saying, "Be cautious!".
I won't even take the time to dress out anything that weighs over 20 pounds or so on the hoof. Hopefully, those haven't ingested anything toxic.
Just my OFS!

P.S. - I've never seen a "fat" feral hog that hadn't had access to some type livestock feed or maybe some farmers crop.

Man oh man . Well this is a ham off a 200# sow this spring we don't feed except summer or plant anything this is all acorns and ryegrass

 

[Big_wals]

West Texas or West, Texas?

My dislike for eating feral hogs has nothing to do with taste and everything to do with the health risks associated with eating it.

Feral hogs carry diseases that have pretty much been eliminated in domestic pork.

Pigs don't have lymph nodes, therefore, any toxins they ingest goes into their musculature, making the meat as toxic as whatever they've been eating.

I can't say much. I've eaten quite a bit of feral pork! Last time was one that I bar-b-qued. It weighed 15 pounds and fit in the smoker whole! Fed a big group of folks at a jam session. They loved it! ......and it was good!

I won't say don't eat ferals. I'm just saying, "Be cautious!".
I won't even take the time to dress out anything that weighs over 20 pounds or so on the hoof. Hopefully, those haven't ingested anything toxic.
Just my OFS!

P.S. - I've never seen a "fat" feral hog that hadn't had access to some type livestock feed or maybe some farmers crop.

West TX, Pecos area. To my understanding, all you have to worry about is trichinosis, and I always cook it to at least 165. I havent done any real research though.

 

[Big_wals]

Man oh man . Well this is a ham off a 200# sow this spring we don't feed except summer or plant anything this is all acorns and ryegrass

That looks great! Every once in a while we’ll get a fat one, but generally they are very lean. I think its because they have to travel so far between food and water out here in the desert, plus the food sources aren’t as good as some places.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Man oh man . Well this is a ham off a 200# sow this spring we don't feed except summer or plant anything this is all acorns and ryegrass

Nice.
A friend of mine was given a feral hog out of a trap.
It was mid-May. He penned the hog, went and got some hog feed, thinking he'd have a really nice pig for the Fourth of July.
July the third, he had a $75 feed bill and a thin, scrawny hog for the grill! LOL!
I've been dealing with feral hogs, off and on, since back in the 1960's. I've never seen a true feral that had any appreciable fat. In fact, I've killed wheat pasture deer that had way more fat that a feral hog.
.....and I've killed hogs that were absolutely covered with lice.

Could be the environment, but I've never killed a feral pig or a deer that didn't have some ticks or lice. Just the nature of the beast.

 

[BT_707]

I’ve eaten a lot of hogs I’ve gotten over the years. Mostly made into sausage or used the hams for carnitas or pulled pork. All very good.

 

[Amos Keeto]

West TX, Pecos area. To my understanding, all you have to worry about is trichinosis, and I always cook it to at least 165. I havent done any real research though.

Now THAT fellas, if you're not familiar with Texas, is WEST TEXAS! That's where IH20 and IH10 merge....or split, depending on your direction of travel! LOL!

The most horrendous stretch of highway on earth is that stretch of IH10 between Pecos, TX and El Paso, TX.
Adds a whole new concept to the statement. "Miles and miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles and miles!"

I'm pretty certain the hogs out that way are pretty scrawny.....AND well traveled!

The cows out there have to graze in a long lope to get a mouthful.
Most ranchers tie a sack lunch around each cow's neck every morning!
Ranches out in that country are large enough you can eat a full meal at the front gate and die of starvation before you can walk to the back gate!

 

[White Falcon]

Some are real good and some not so good.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Some are real good and some not so good.

If I'm out deer hunting, I shoot every pig I can. I no longer just go hog hunting.

I had two that were about as bad as feral hog gets! My neighbor shot 'em, gutted 'em and gave me one to process the other for him.
He musta gut shot 'em! Ugh!

I can't think of a feral hog that I've killed and cleaned that stunk or tasted bad.
If you take care of them properly, they taste just fine.

I'm 73 years old. I no longer chow down on anything and everything. I'm a bit picky about what I eat.
If the SHTF, and we need protein, I won't turn down a feral hog! I do like a full, tight tummy! LOL!

"Any port in a storm!"

 

[kthomas29]

Every once in a while I make my way out to florida to shoot hogs with my brother and all the ones we have shot out there have tasted pretty good as long as the meat was put on ice quick. I've also killed a few wild hogs in Arizona, yes, wild hogs, not Javelina, and they were the nastiest things I've ever eatem. I think it depends a lot on what they are eating.

 

[mobohunter]

I have a place up in Oklahoma, wild hogs come through every so often but after reading this thread, im thoroughly excited to get one down and on the pit. Wrapping the head in foil and then pulling for tacos sounds amazing... will send updates once this happens

 

[Weldor]

I have a place up in Oklahoma, wild hogs come through every so often but after reading this thread, im thoroughly excited to get one down and on the pit. Wrapping the head in foil and then pulling for tacos sounds amazing... will send updates once this happens

They make great taco meat. We do street taco's all the time.