Processing Boar

[slow]

I have an opportunity to take a 300# Black Russian in the near future (feral pig in In.). What is the best way to get all that black fur off such a big pig?

[XLT]

:barf: :barf: :barf:

lots of boiling water if you want to try. i would just skin the sucker, if he's 300# or so, he may taste a little strong for eating.

We try to keep it under 200, preferably 150.

[Ranger Al]

Use propane roof blower...

[Fat White Boy]

+1 on it might be a little rank...String it up by the ankles and skin it. I keep the loins whole- The rest I get ground up into sausage....Way easier to store and the sausages are delicious...I usually get Italian, Polish and some breakfast....

[Lloyd Smale]

personaly id pass on the 300 lb boar and try to find a 300 lb sow!!!

[Rottweiler]

+1 more on Fat White Boy's comments

Yep, he's gonna smell.

[T. O'Heir]

"...to get all that black fur off such a big pig?..." Skinning does that.

[castnblast]

4+ on skinning. That skin is going to be way too tough to be worth anything. Unlike true ferral hogs, a russian boar actually has a cartelidge-near boney type of skin behind the shoulders, and it does not fold when skinning. It's hard as a rock. It is there to protect their innards from getting punctured when they fight. You care to eat something that is tough enough to keep a tusk from penetrating? I shot one of these guys 3 years ago on a turkey trip. Nailed it w/ the 7mm mag around 150 ish. No exit wound. I heard the bullet make a WHOP noise. The bullet stopped between the skin and the body on the opposite side. To this day I swear that whop was the sound of the bullet getting stopped by the hide. It was a very distictive sound I have NEVER heard before.

[keita]

I've heard about that "body armor".

CA dep. of Wildwife's guide to hunting wild pigs suggest not using 44 Mag. for anything over 80 lbs. Only .480, 454, and 500 were suggested for handgun for anything over 80lbs.

[fisherman66]

I undressed a 150lb feral boar last Jan. The smell as pretty strong, but I credit that to the swim it took in it's last seconds. BTW, pigs may not fly, but they do float.

The ticks were pretty bad, but once you get the underside of the skin exposed it's all peal and cut, peal and cut. Its skinning requires a knife (obviously to make the incision, but also during the pull back process.)

+1 on the loins and sausage.

[smiljko]

Skin the sucker! The most important thing while gutting is not to get urine or sperm on the meat-it will really smell then:barf:

[castnblast]

The body armor really depends on the area. In Refugio county where I currently hunt, the pigs are pure ferral, and to my experience, they have no russian boar in their gene pool...yet. A 200 lb'er has some, but not much. HOWEVER...The same is not true in LaSalle and McMullen Counties to the Northwest. They have quite a bit of Russian in their gene pool, and look totally different. They have the true razor back, long snout, large shoulders, and thinner, but muscular hindquarters. Big ass tusks to go with it. These pigs need a shot in the head w/ a small caliber, or a shot in the boiler room with a big one. The one in Refugio are not strong, even up to 200 lbs. But like any other animal, bust the bladder, and your meat is coyote bait.

It just depends on what is in their gene pool as to how thick the armor is. It can vary from one part of the state to another, and from one part of the country to another. If you shoot one that has a lot of russian in it, they tend to be VERY lean, and the skin does not fold over when you skin it, where as the ferrals, that don't have russian in their gene pool will be a bit fattier, the skin is a lot more flexible, and they can be black, red, or multi-colored.

Ferrals may or may not have tusks, depending on how long they have been wild. Their snouts really begin to elongate after 7 generations, and some tusks appear after that time period. However, the "armor" is still not as thick as that of their russian counterpart...until they cross bread.

[kingudaroad]

I will never eat one of those smelly suckers. I'll take the 120 lb sow every time.

[FirstFreedom]

Hey I've heard to use gloves when processing pigs, but never heard you need to for deer. Last weekend I gutted a deer I shot with new hunting bud watching; he couldn't believe I did it without gloves; said I would catch some disease (can't remember the name of it - he said it) and my weenie would fall off. True concern?

[smiljko]

There are sevral diseases a man could get from wild animals-rabies,brucelosis(makes your balls very big ),leptospirosis(from rabbits-dangerous -don't touch sick looking rabbits),trichinella spiralis-parasite(you get that from eating infected pig meat when it is not cooked enough-for example sausages-be careful of that one-it can't be cured-take pig meat for analysis if you are making sausages or smoking the meat) ,echinococus...there are more but I don't know the names .
I still don't use gloves while processing game,but I use gloves,nylon bag or a stick when I touch a fox.
PS You should really get pig (wild and domestic)meat analyzed for trichinella!!!

[76-bronco-J]

-------this is from night before new years eve in Rochester,TX.,,,,,,serious hog problem there ,,,,,, not saying there aren't parasites cause they are everywhere on the planet ,but cleaning goes on & on there with no gloves even though it is probably is a very good idea to wear gloves,,,,,ate the one in the first pic new years eve,,,,,,,,, the tastey little piglet was singled out of a herd cause they taste the best as the boar are only killed as nuisance pests & are never eating around that area since they have tough meat & are always rolling around in there own urine,,,,,, PS.-- hello everyone on this awesome forum,,,,,,,

[whiskey]

CA dep. of Wildwife's guide to hunting wild pigs suggest not using 44 Mag. for anything over 80 lbs. Only .480, 454, and 500 were suggested for handgun for anything over 80lbs.

I am so glad that I don't live in a state that puts out such crap to "help" hunters.

I have eaten larger boars with no bad taste or rankness. You have to skin the pig and get it on ice for a week to get all the blood out of the meat. Check out www.texasboars.com for instructions.

Their ain't a hog's shield in the world that will stop a 300gr hard cast .44mag.

[skeeter1]

The rest I get ground up into sausage....Way easier to store and the sausages are delicious...I usually get Italian, Polish and some breakfast....

That's the only way I'll eat venison as well. My ethnic heritage (Bohemian) makes me crave sausage, anytime, anywhere. AFAIC, that's as good eatin' as a prime steak.

[oldbillthundercheif]

You could always cook it African-style...

Gut it, dig a pit, start a fire in the pit, throw the whole hog (fur and all, it will burn off) into the pit, stack some more wood on top of the hog for the viking-funeral style roasting technique (no longboat required). Let it burn for a long, long time. Cut off the hide (it will be black, crispy, and easy to remove) and eat.

It's tastey. No joke. Stuffing a load of fragrant herbs into the organ cavity is optional.

[Desertfox]

We torched the hair off of a ferrel hog only ONE time. The stench from the burning hair could not be cooked out of the meat.

I always skin em as fast as I can. +1 for skinnin -1 for torching the hair.

Get that hair off of the meat. Quarter it up and soak it in ice chests with ice water. Replace the water for 3 days and re-ice.

This process gets the blood out and takes some of the gamey taste with it.

I do this to my limit of deer every year and a couple of hogs. I don't grind everything into sausage. If you soak the blood out, it can be eaten as steak or roast as well. +1 to the pork roast! +1 to the venison steak.

[agtr05]

We hunt in Refugio County, Texas also, near the Bee, Karnes Counties line. Last weekend my older brother shot a 250 boar that must have had some Russian boar in him. He had a long sloping head and 2/12 inch top and bottom tusks. He was very streamlined compared to the other feral hogs we shoot.

Even with a 338 Win mag right behind the shoulder shot, the bullet did not completely pass through the boar. He did have that plate of whatever behind his shoulders. He was also tough to skin.

Joel Lehman, Austin TX

[Dogjaw]

The "boiling" is called scalding a hog. It involves boiling 40 gallon of water to a fast roll, adding a capfull of lye. Dump the water into a open top 55 gal drum that's at the end of a bench on an angle, and add a 10 quart pail of cold water to temper. You cut the skin at the back of the rear ankles and hang the hog by the tendons with oak, hickory or steel hanger. Then 2 guys SLOWLY lower the front of the hog in. You must keep moving, raising and lowering the hog and rotating it. You pull it out to air, checking the process by pulling and scraping hair (hogs have hair, not fur). Dunk him back in and repeat till the hair comes easily off. Around 3 - 4 minutes. Pull him out, and use sharp knives or hair scrapers (wood handles with cupped round sharpened discs on each end) and scrape the hair off. When the front half is done, you spin him around, and use a sturdy hay hook with a long handle on it. You hook him in the mouth and dip the back end in. Once the hair is removed, you hang by the back feet. A weed burner or propane torch will get the small amount of hair you missed. A large wash tub under the head works well to catch the guts in. Scalding works well for roasting a hog, and by trimming the skin and fat from the cuts, rendering into lard and making cracklin's (the best damn artery clogging food out there, that's best consumed with large amounts of beer in an attempt to counteract the cracklin's by keeping the blood thin, thus flowing).

Or, you can simply hang that sucker by it's feet, use this as an excuse to buy that new skinning knife you've always wanted, and cut and pull. By the way, boars are NASTY once they've bred. Sausage and loins.