# ARE HOGS GOOD EATS



## LNK (Apr 15, 2021)

Read a lot on diseases that some hogs could carry..How are our hogs in Georgia ?


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## sghoghunter (Apr 15, 2021)

They carry a few but with cooking them to proper temperature it kills all the bad stuff. IMO they aren’t worth wasting time to clean one unless you making sausage then I’d rather buy some already made.


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## blood on the ground (Apr 15, 2021)

I have eat many wild hogs and they all were great. I do prefer the ones under 150 lbs.


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## Guitar Guy (Apr 15, 2021)

They're great eating.  Wild hog tacos last Sun...


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## bfriendly (Apr 15, 2021)

LNK said:


> Read a lot on diseases that some hogs could carry..How are our hogs in Georgia ?


In a word, FANTASTIC! I grew up with a poor taste for venison. Always said I didn’t like it but there were never a hog I didn’t love! Then I got into doing venison right and forgot how much I loved hog. I got one in FL a few months ago and remembered why I always said that. I’ve never made sausage, but basically cut it into pork chops, or smoke and crockpot for pulling......it’s fantastic!


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## Son (Apr 15, 2021)

I catch or kill lots of hogs in SW Ga. Give most away, dispose of some big boars, and pick the healthiest looking under 125 or so for myself. The hogs I get have no external parasites, checking livers, they're clear and look healthy. Free pork, but it's labor intensive. Big bars like in the photo, are great any size.


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## Gbr5pb (Apr 15, 2021)

Prefer the 150 pounds or less! Them big old ones get a little tough! Don’t want any boars over a 100. But shoot all on sight they are pest


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## Doug B. (Apr 15, 2021)

Gbr5pb said:


> Prefer the 150 pounds or less! Them big old ones get a little tough! Don’t want any boars over a 100. But shoot all on sight they are pest


I have to disagree with this.  I have killed some boars that were over 300 lbs that were very tender and delicious.  I have killed large sows that were great eating too.


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## GeorgiaGlockMan (Apr 15, 2021)

This one ate really well.

Most do.

Maybe 1 in 10 are so foul i won't even touch them.

Both pics are same pig.


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## Son (Apr 15, 2021)

What I've noticed about boars being good to eat. If they are not riled up it helps. Like dropping them with one shot to the head when they don't know you're in the world. Butcher and cool the meat asap, in cool running water works for me. Then soaking in Melting ice water for two to three days. I also like to bone out the hams and shoulders. We've used boars up to about 225 when dropped in their tracks with no problem. We butcher and process our own.


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## Hillbilly stalker (Apr 15, 2021)

The danger with disease when dealing with wild hogs is actually in the handling and cleaning  part. Always  Always wear rubber/ latex gloves. Keep all their body fluids off you and clean your tools or knives with bleach or hot soapy water. Brucellosis and several other bacterial diseases can be contracted from hogs.....and you don’t want any of them. As with any pork proper temperature while cooking will take care of any internal problems. They are fine eating.


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## antharper (Apr 15, 2021)

They are absolutely delicious to me . I haven’t bought sausage in years , and I’m not sure if there’s any better . I like to kill them during the winter when they got plenty to eat . Most areas have unlimited amounts of corn on ground from deer hunters and acorns. This one had been eating cull peanuts for a few months and may of been the best eating one I’ve ever ate , it was a boar . But I have seen a few that stunk so bad I wouldn’t try to eat


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## bfriendly (Apr 16, 2021)

I do agree that some pig will be so rank, I won’t put a knife on them. The last one I had was a shoat maybe 15-20#. I kill two of them. One was plump and fat, didn’t seem to have a bug on it anywhere. The other was covered in ticks and stunk real bad...real bad!  Couldn’t believe it but it was RANK! YOU’LL KNOW!


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## sleepr71 (Apr 17, 2021)

If I can’t find anything else to eat...I’ll eat one. I catch the most in the Summer,when they come to our Hayfields to root up nut grass. When it’s hot...they usually wallow & stink so bad it’ll make a billy goat hurl. They are just overgrown rodents/pests to us..that breed like crazy ?


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## MattLemmon (Apr 18, 2021)

You’re going to read all sorts of things on this topic. I suggest you go kill one and try it, and make your own opinion. Other than the rank ones, like @bfriendly mentioned (which are not all that common) they taste like store bought pork to me, even the big ones. After processing them a couple different ways I quarter them up asap and soak them in ice water for a few days.  They taste great to me. But again, go try it yourself and form your own opinion.


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## twoheartedale (Apr 18, 2021)

blood on the ground said:


> I have eat many wild hogs and they all were great. I do prefer the ones under 150 lbs.



Yes sir. I make sausage out of bigger ones. Smaller ones are quarter and smoked.


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## sghoghunter (Apr 18, 2021)

I’ll guarantee y’all there’s atleast two of these that you couldn’t stand the smell to skin just to see if y’all could eat em


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## bfriendly (Apr 23, 2021)

Btw-killing a pig ain’t the easiest thing to do either. If you put one on the ground take a good look at it from a butcher’s type view. See past the skin, it’s pork. Do you like pork? If you do I think you’ll like it. Ive also put a store bought shoulder in a crock pot and it stunk up the whole house........again, it’s pork and there is nothing really exotic about it. I’ve been praying to see one again soon, but have only seen nominal sign.


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## frankwright (Apr 23, 2021)

I have always heard of the really bad smelling ones but luckily I haven't killed one yet.
My friend killed one that was 300lbs. We put a scale on the tractor bucket and lifted it. He made BBQ and it was great.
I always smell a pig when I first kill it and also smell the dressed meat after a few days in the cooler.
Never had a bad smell. 
If I ever do, the coyotes can have it!


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## twoheartedale (Apr 23, 2021)

sghoghunter said:


> I’ll guarantee y’all there’s atleast two of these that you couldn’t stand the smell to skin just to see if y’all could eat em



I've killed a few large boars that stunk to high heaven and were just fine.  I have friends who have tried eating them from Morgan Co. and said they are HORRIBLE. Luckily for me I've never cooked or eaten one that is rank.


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## sghoghunter (Apr 23, 2021)

twoheartedale said:


> I've killed a few large boars that stunk to high heaven and were just fine.  I have friends who have tried eating them from Morgan Co. and said they are HORRIBLE. Luckily for me I've never cooked or eaten one that is rank.




Yrs ago when I started the job I got now there was a guy that done paid hog hunts and we was working around his land and I mentioned something about shooting a hog for meat. After a little while he said I’ll do you a better deal if you’ll come back when you get off. When I went back that afternoon he gave me two paper bags full of already made sausage links. I took a pack out and called a buddy to come eat with me. I was cooking them on the stove and almost had them done when he showed up and he said when he turned in the driveway all he could smell was a hog pen. I guess I was use to the smell while I was cooking them. It I walked out side for a min then went back in and it stunk to High heaven. Needless to say someone wasted some money on them sausage cause all of it went in the trash


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## mguthrie (May 4, 2021)

Of the dozens I’ve killed and or quartered up I’ve only came across one rank hog. I didn’t think much of it when I was quartering it. I had it processed into sausage and when we went to cook it it stunk the house up. That was a learning experience for sure


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## sleepr71 (May 5, 2021)

It’s kinda hard to find processors willing to fool with them. I think one local to me got Brucellosis,or Pseudorabies while processing a hog last year & it about did him in. No more hog processing after that experience. About the only decent tasting part on them are the back straps to me.Makes decent boneless pork chops..and they are easy to get to. Hogs = Apocolypse food to us...I’ll eat one if We start gettin real hungry & all the squirrels,coons,and fish are gone?


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## Okie Hog (Jun 7, 2021)

Yep, 95 percent of the meat i eat is venison or wild hog:  i prefer wild hog.    Well cared for wild hog meat is much better than commercial pork.   The wild meat don't even look like domestic pork. 

Since 2000  i've  hunted  hogs at least one day  every week when not working out of state.  

IME:   Bad tasting wild hog meat is tainted or rotten hog meat.   When the temperature is over 80 degrees F one has about four hours to get the meat cooled before it begins to go bad. 

i routinely see Okies haul intact hogs around in the 90-100 degree heat.   Then they complain about bad meat.   i've watched as guys bust the bladder and allow urine to contact the flesh.   Ditto for the male hog fluid. 

After the wild hog is shot:

1.  As soon as possible hang the hog head down ,  cut it's throat and allow the animal to bleed out.    Use a big sharp knife and cut all the blood vessels. 

2.  The folks i associate with skin the hog before field dressing.   If the hog is really dirty we sometimes take it to the car wash before skinning.  We cut the head and front feet off before skinning.   

Once the preliminary  cutting around the back legs, butt and front legs is done we use a big pair of skinning pliers and pull the skin off. 

3.  When skinning the hog be careful that the outside of the skin don't come in contact with the flesh. 

4.  From the time it's is hung up i can have a 200 pound hog in the cooler or meat sack in 35-45 minutes.   We don't soak the meat in water. 

Few processors here will accept a wild hog.   Those that do require the hog to be field dressed and skinned.


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