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March 2, 2013, 07:43 PM | #1 |
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What Gender And Size Of Hog Has The Best Meat?
What Gender And Size Of Hog Has The Best Meat?
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March 2, 2013, 07:52 PM | #2 |
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Feral hog or domesticated? For feral's (in TX), I like the medium sized boars (~150 lbs + / -). I have to believe there's a little difference around the country but can't comment outside of Texas.
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March 2, 2013, 10:25 PM | #3 |
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What Gender And Size Of Hog Has The Best Meat?
Boars are for the guy pile, unless they're small. The small sows under 100 lbs are the best eating. Just like any other animal, the younger ones are better to eat.
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March 3, 2013, 12:07 PM | #4 |
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Hormone levels in adult males can taint the taste of the meat. Females or younger ales are best. Older males should be cut few weeks before slaughter, which isn't easily done to wild hogs. Some opinion here.
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2005/11/11/to-cut-or-not/ They aren't that easy to sex. Last year a local hunting preserve gave me a deal on a older "female" that wasn't breeding that turned out to be a castrated male. They forgot more about hogs than I know and got it wrong. Some pics on pages 10-11 of this pdf give you a clue what to look for. http://www.pigs.org/book.pdf edited to correct typo
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A gun is like a parachute... when you need one you usually need it pretty bad... Last edited by Tom Matiska; March 3, 2013 at 10:05 PM. |
March 3, 2013, 06:52 PM | #5 |
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Much Appreciated
Those pages were very helpful, thanks for the replies!
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March 3, 2013, 09:40 PM | #6 | |
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Quote:
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March 4, 2013, 12:59 AM | #7 |
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I like to stay around 100LB. or less.
Doyle thats a good rule of thumb. |
March 4, 2013, 08:54 AM | #8 |
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Lots of variables determine what a hog tastes like. Hormones play a big part in it as does size. However a major player in all of them is what their diet is. If they are feeding off of agricultural crops and corn they'll tend to taste better than those living and feeding in a pine forest or deep swamp. Bo hogs tend to get rank the older and bigger they are.
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March 5, 2013, 10:45 PM | #9 |
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Best gender is "Barr hog" or a barrow which is a castrated male...
He will be tasty to 150 and beyond but the kicker is he will hold some fat... might even render some useful bacon... Second is a sow up to 150 IMO... Brent |
March 5, 2013, 10:47 PM | #10 |
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Doyle's rule of thumb can work but not always...
There are pockets of pigs that throw swords when pretty young and small and there are pockets that never seem to grow big cutters even when old and large... Brent |
March 6, 2013, 09:01 AM | #11 |
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Any fat hog is good to eat: Some are better than others. The meat of big boars is often tough but marinating fixes that. Skinny hogs of any size/gender are not fit to eat.
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April 1, 2013, 03:06 PM | #12 |
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I shoot and eat a lot of hogs here and I would say there is no one correct answer. I've seen 100 lb. sows that I wouldn't feed to my dogs yet ate and enjoyed 200 lb. boars.
The main thing is to kill your hogs quickly so the animal doesn't have big load of fight or flight chemicals in the muscle. We always head shoot our hogs to put them down immediately. Second, fat hogs will be tastier than skinny ones. Third, process the animal as quickly as possible. In the summer I want the animal harvested, processed and in ice within 2 hours at most. In the winter you can go 4-5 hours without problem. Finally, soak your hog in some kind of brine solution for couple days. I normally change the solution every day and keep it soaking for 3-4 days until it stops bleeding out. In general a fat sow of about 150lb. or less is best to eat. |
April 6, 2013, 04:46 AM | #13 |
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50 to 75 lbs is about right for me....I just split em and smoke em on the pit....
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April 6, 2013, 06:29 PM | #14 |
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THe determining factors for me are how fast they hit the ground, and how fast they hit the ice.
Push either of those and you end up with gamey pork no matter how big they are. That said the bigger they are, faster everything else needs to happen. I have had some that bumped 400# that were excellent, and some that were 30 ruined my supper. I just learned as I went and found the faster I can drop them which isn't always in my favor, and the faster I can get them dressed out and on ice or in the freezer the better they eat and I don't pass on many at all.
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LAter, Mike / TX |
April 6, 2013, 07:17 PM | #15 | |
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Quote:
Give me a bunch of 30 pounders over one 400 pounder any day....
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April 6, 2013, 07:20 PM | #16 |
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+1 Mike
Also...I seldom keep boars I kill unless under 60 lbs. On the other hand, I've eaten wild boars upwards of 300 lbs that were fine. All of them head shot and butchered with a couple of hours on cold days. Don't really know what the clue is. I keep my quartered animals on ice for at least 3 days, adding ice and draining water. Then I cut up the meat and soak it for at least 2 days in brine in the fridge. Then I can grind or freeze. I vacuum pack ground and freeze all other meat in water. Lasts for a couple of years. |
April 8, 2013, 09:01 AM | #17 | |
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Quote:
On my property they have been sweetened up by my corn and protein feeders which run most of the year. Even the bigger ones tend to have a good flavor. If I drop the corn though they get pretty rank pretty fast, and tend to taste like that sandy loam smells.
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LAter, Mike / TX |
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April 8, 2013, 10:57 PM | #18 |
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I took this boar three weeks ago, it weighed an estimated 225 pounds. We ate one of the loins, it was delicious. I made 25 pounds of sausage last week, also deelish!!
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April 8, 2013, 10:58 PM | #19 |
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Crap- hold on, let me fix that. Still working on it...
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Fat White So Cal |
April 9, 2013, 03:40 PM | #20 |
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Nice Hog, And Nice Rifle!!!
Nice hog! I like your rifle too! And your dog!! Appreciate the help, I was just trying to help out a friend who got about 1000 acres to hunt on full of hogs, deer, turkey, and God knows what else!
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April 9, 2013, 11:25 PM | #21 |
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Sorry about the pic- I was unable to get it right. The dog belongs to the guide I used. He is a Catahoula Hound named Moose.
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Fat White So Cal |
April 10, 2013, 06:38 AM | #22 |
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Picture...
The picture was fine!! That was quite a hog! What kind of rifle is that?
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April 13, 2013, 04:25 AM | #23 |
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We once shot a mountain ( 100+) in a night. Good fun, the Ruger .44 was smouldering by the end. These guys had been living in pine trees, and the meat had a horrible resin taste to it. It made good ham and bacon, but the rest was revolting. I really think what they have been eating makes more of a difference.
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April 20, 2013, 11:41 PM | #24 |
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Small (60-80 lbs) sows.
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April 21, 2013, 06:11 PM | #25 |
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Size does not matter as much as the gender, the sows are the best meat.
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