# Processing a large boar hog tips



## Houseme1971 (Apr 5, 2020)

So I killed a large bore hog and I have it all butchered and in the cooler on ice. I always process my own wild game but i have never processed a hog. I have heard that large bore hogs can have a strong taste. Maybe it is just an old wives tale??? Anyone have any feedback or  tips for avoiding a potentially strong taste. A friend told me that he puts the meat in a large cooler covers it with ice and adds a gallon of vinegar.......Thanks for the help.


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## Big7 (Apr 5, 2020)

One good tip is to cut off the nads right quick. Soon as he hits the ground.

Bleed him out. Hang by back legs, I'd cut of the entire head. On a "home kill" I'd cut the throat all the way to the back of the neck leaving the head attached.

Back to feral pigs, while he's hanging, skin it right quick. Then, you will want to finish butchering into what you want to save or what get's ground.. Hit it with the hose sprayer as much as possible before it hits the cooler.

Cooler full of ice, enough space and volume of ice so it will get cold quickly. Keep it there at least 24 hours so it will continue to bleed out. I like a LOT of salt. 1 cup pickling or kosher salt to each gallon of water. Skip the vinagar.?

I'd probably grind the whole hog after the above steps are followed.?


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## FrChs28 (Apr 5, 2020)

Houseme1971 said:


> So I killed a large bore hog and I have it all butchered and in the cooler on ice. I always process my own wild game but i have never processed a hog. I have heard that large bore hogs can have a strong taste. Maybe it is just an old wives tale??? Anyone have any feedback or  tips for avoiding a potentially strong taste. A friend told me that he puts the meat in a large cooler covers it with ice and adds a gallon of vinegar.......Thanks for the help.


Congrats on that Boar ! I shot my first in February and it weighed 170 lbs. and didn’t smell at all. I had it on ice from Saturday until I got home Monday. It was cold and it didn’t thaw much. I processed it like I would a deer and all was well. I’ve actually got a ham in the oven now which I browned on the BBQ first. I’m slow cooking it now. Enjoy your Boar and stay well...


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## Mr Bya Lungshot (Apr 5, 2020)

Houseme1971 said:


> So I killed a large bore hog and I have it all butchered and in the cooler on ice. I always process my own wild game but i have never processed a hog. I have heard that large bore hogs can have a strong taste. Maybe it is just an old wives tale??? Anyone have any feedback or  tips for avoiding a potentially strong taste. A friend told me that he puts the meat in a large cooler covers it with ice and adds a gallon of vinegar.......Thanks for the help.


Either it reeks or it don’t.
Being a large boar it probably does.
GoodLuck and go cook a piece now.
No aging required. You’ll know a rank hog quick.


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 5, 2020)

Big7 said:


> One good tip is to cut off the nads right quick. Soon as he hits the ground.
> 
> Bleed him out. Hang by back legs, I'd cut of the entire head. On a "home kill" I'd cut the throat all the way to the back of the neck leaving the head attached.
> 
> ...


That’s great advice thank you! Sounds about like how I handles this one less cutting the nuts off right away. thanks!


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 5, 2020)

FrChs28 said:


> Congrats on that Boar ! I shot my first in February and it weighed 170 lbs. and didn’t smell at all. I had it on ice from Saturday until I got home Monday. It was cold and it didn’t thaw much. I processed it like I would a deer and all was well. I’ve actually got a ham in the oven now which I browned on the BBQ first. I’m slow cooking it now. Enjoy your Boar and stay well...


Thanks! Lots of good eatin on this one here. Enjoy that ham!


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 5, 2020)

Mr Bya Lungshot said:


> Either it reeks or it don’t.
> Being a large boar it probably does.
> GoodLuck and go cook a piece now.
> No aging required. You’ll know a rank hog quick.


The hog smelled horrible as I was skinning it but the meat in the cooler has no smell as all!


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## sghoghunter (Apr 5, 2020)

Houseme1971 said:


> The hog smelled horrible as I was skinning it but the meat in the cooler has no smell as all!



If he had a musky rank smell when you walked up to him the best thing to do is take pics and roll him in the bushes. I’ll  99% guarantee you can cut off a small piece and fry it in a pan and find out. It’ll smell like cooled meat or a hog pen one


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## Mr Bya Lungshot (Apr 5, 2020)

I like little non trophy sows for big show purposes.


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## FrChs28 (Apr 5, 2020)

Houseme1971 said:


> Thanks! Lots of good eatin on this one here. Enjoy that ham!


Eating it now, I actually shot 2, this was the smaller sow. Boar was good also, cooked him the same. Made pulled pork from shoulder


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 5, 2020)

FrChs28 said:


> Eating it now, I actually shot 2, this was the smaller sow. Boar was good also, cooked him the same. Made pulled pork from shoulder


That looks awefully tasty! I grind most of my wild meat and will likely grind up most of this hog. sausage and pepperoni and likely a few steaks!


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## FrChs28 (Apr 5, 2020)

It tasted even better than it looked , awesome! Simple recipe. I seasoned it with Goya, and pepper. Than I browned it on BBQ like 10 minutes a side. Sprinkled some Worcestershire sauce on .Then I put it in oven at 300 degrees. I make a mix of pineapple juice from can, half teaspoon cinnamon, 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. After an hour and a half I baste it with this mixture and throw some pineapple slices on it. Another hour and I baste it again. Half hour later baste it again. Total cook time 3 hours and temp was 170 degrees plus.


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 5, 2020)

Sounds like you’ve got it down to a science!!


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## bany (Apr 5, 2020)

Lots of big boar hogs stink. Some something terrible. If you can skin and dress them clean most all will be good eating. I lose the oysters and stab the heart and twist the blade and slice right to chin as quick as I can. Get rid of any glands when processing but I do cook a lot of whole hams. Let it hang or in cooler for a few days.


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## Doug B. (Apr 6, 2020)

Big7 said:


> One good tip is to cut off the nads right quick. Soon as he hits the ground.
> 
> Bleed him out. Hang by back legs, I'd cut of the entire head. On a "home kill" I'd cut the throat all the way to the back of the neck leaving the head attached.
> I like a LOT of salt. 1 cup pickling or kosher salt.lt to each gallon of water. Skip the vinagar.?
> ...



None of this is necessary. Get him skint and put on ice as quick as you can. No salt. No vinegar. I have killed several in the 200 to 300 lb. range. No problems


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## jbogg (Apr 6, 2020)

I have yet to shoot a rank hog, but the last Big Boar I shot was tough as shoe leather.  Brining in a salt water solution for at least 24 hours can help break it down and make it more tender.


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## Mexican Squealer (Apr 6, 2020)

Big7 said:


> One good tip is to cut off the nads right quick. Soon as he hits the ground.
> 
> Bleed him out. Hang by back legs, I'd cut of the entire head. On a "home kill" I'd cut the throat all the way to the back of the neck leaving the head attached.
> 
> ...



Just when you think you have heard it all...


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 6, 2020)

Doug B. said:


> None of this is necessary. Get him skint and put on ice as quick as you can. No salt. No vinegar. I have killed several in the 200 to 300 lb. range. No problems


That’s great advice thank you.


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## Railroader (Apr 6, 2020)

sghoghunter said:


> If he had a musky rank smell when you walked up to him the best thing to do is take pics and roll him in the bushes. I’ll  99% guarantee you can cut off a small piece and fry it in a pan and find out. It’ll smell like cooled meat or a hog pen one



Agreed, before going to any trouble processing, pan fry a bit of backstrap.

If he's rank, he's rank, and nothing will change it.

One bite and you'll know whether to feed you, or the buzzards.


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## Big7 (Apr 6, 2020)

Doug B. said:


> None of this is necessary. Get him skint and put on ice as quick as you can. No salt. No vinegar. I have killed several in the 200 to 300 lb. range. No problems


Not many things are necessary.
Just trying to help the man out.
I've killed my share of feral boars myself.?


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## Big7 (Apr 6, 2020)

Mexican Squealer said:


> Just when you think you have heard it all...


Alright mr know it all.
What EXACTLY was wrong with my advice?

What do y'all messicans do. Sit out in the hog pen and eat it raw with the dogs.

Besides, I was answering a question.
You show just how ignorant you are stalking my posts. Never see you trying to help anyone. You need to be educated.

Go back in your hole.


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## sghoghunter (Apr 6, 2020)

Railroader said:


> Agreed, before going to any trouble processing, pan fry a bit of backstrap.
> 
> If he's rank, he's rank, and nothing will change it.
> 
> One bite and you'll know whether to feed you, or the buzzards.


 
I ? agree with you. We have killed a pile of hogs in the past whether being ran by dogs for miles to them falling from a bullet up side the head. If you walk up to a boar hog and he stanks there’s no amount of ice you can soak him in to get it out. We’ve killed some that’s 100 lb and stink worse than one 300lb.


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## NCHillbilly (Apr 7, 2020)

I've never shot a hog that didn't stink on the outside. Boar, sow, or shoat. I wash them off with a water hose before skinning. They all stink externally, but some of those boars carry that taste into the meat. Some don't. As others have said, fry a little piece and eat it, you'll know quick if it's rank. 

I have no idea why cutting the testicles off of a dead hog would do anything one way or another. If it's dead, nothing circulates. I put that definitely into the old wives' tale category. Cutting his testicles off when he was a shoat would make a difference, but not when he's laying there dead.


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## bany (Apr 7, 2020)

The testicular thing makes me wonder too. I get that from a buddy whose handled literally thousands of hogs over the decades.  Bleeding them right away I know makes a difference.
a head shot will leave the heart pumping usually and you’ll clear a lot of blood if you act quickly, not sure the nads do anything or not.
Brining like jbogg said makes a good difference on a lot of meat.


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## Hillbilly stalker (Apr 7, 2020)

On the farm we always shot them in the head, pulled them downhill ,cut their throat and bled them out. But you never raised a boar for slaughter, they were only fit for sausage sometimes. We cut them when they were shoats and didn't have to wonder about their testosterone level later on. Same way with cattle, you don't raise a bull for the table. I don't know how cutting them as soon as you killed them would help any. I do remember guys cutting rutting buck deer like that years ago as soon as they put them down. If they been toting a set for a couple years I don't know how it would matter now. I have soaked a rank hogs backstrap  in a cooler with ACV for 10-12 hours and they were fine to eat. Any longer and they will start to turn/ pickle. Next one I'll soak one B/s and not the other and compare.


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## zaraspook04 (Apr 7, 2020)

I've killed my share of feral hogs...spring, summer, fall, and winter. I have never experienced a "rank" one as many describe. The smell of a feral hog is not to different than the smell I experienced growing up cleaning the farrowing house, nursery, or feed lot floor of my papa's hog farm.
As far as prepping for processing, I do feral hogs as I do deer. I pack the meat in a cooler with the drain plug open. The meat is never submersed in water but is always packed in ice. I leave it there for several days...minimum 3. Rigor mortis has to happen! If you process the meat before this happens, the meat will be tough. 
I process the meat my self. Most is turned in to ground pork...I use this several ways. I have taken hams to a butcher shop and had smoked sausage links made. I currently do not have a way to smoke meats...hopefully soon!! Backstraps are turned into thick pork chops.
I honestly prefer feral hog meat. Be aware it is not going to have the fat that a domestic hog will. 
Take pride in the fact you harvested your own hog, processed it, and will provide for your family!


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 7, 2020)

zaraspook04 said:


> I've killed my share of feral hogs...spring, summer, fall, and winter. I have never experienced a "rank" one as many describe. The smell of a feral hog is not to different than the smell I experienced growing up cleaning the farrowing house, nursery, or feed lot floor of my papa's hog farm.
> As far as prepping for processing, I do feral hogs as I do deer. I pack the meat in a cooler with the drain plug open. The meat is never submersed in water but is always packed in ice. I leave it there for several days...minimum 3. Rigor mortis has to happen! If you process the meat before this happens, the meat will be tough.
> I process the meat my self. Most is turned in to ground pork...I use this several ways. I have taken hams to a butcher shop and had smoked sausage links made. I currently do not have a way to smoke meats...hopefully soon!! Backstraps are turned into thick pork chops.
> I honestly prefer feral hog meat. Be aware it is not going to have the fat that a domestic hog will.
> Take pride in the fact you harvested your own hog, processed it, and will provide for your family!


Thanks for the great advice. I have been processing my own wild meat my entire life. I enjoy it. I make sausage, pepperoni and a ton of burger. Keep it clean and keep it cold.


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## Big7 (Apr 7, 2020)

NCHillbilly said:


> I've never shot a hog that didn't stink on the outside. Boar, sow, or shoat. I wash them off with a water hose before skinning. They all stink externally, but some of those boars carry that taste into the meat. Some don't. As others have said, fry a little piece and eat it, you'll know quick if it's rank.
> 
> I have no idea why cutting the testicles off of a dead hog would do anything one way or another. If it's dead, nothing circulates. I put that definitely into the old wives' tale category. Cutting his testicles off when he was a shoat would make a difference, but not when he's laying there dead.


Could be an old wives tail.. It only takes a couple of seconds. The old thought, true or not, is if the hog, deer or whatever, can still indeed "circulate" all fluids at an increased rate- including adrenaline and everything else UNLESS it's a DRT shot. ?DRT is always a good thing.


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## NCHillbilly (Apr 7, 2020)

Big7 said:


> Could be an old wives tail.. It only takes a couple of seconds. The old thought, true or not, is if the hog, deer or whatever, can still indeed "circulate" all fluids at an increased rate- including adrenaline and everything else UNLESS it's a DRT shot. ?DRT is always a good thing.


Any time you can walk up to a big boar hog and grab its cojones without losing a hand or femoral artery, that particular hog is likely done out of the circulatin' business.


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## zaraspook04 (Apr 7, 2020)

Every time i walk up to a dead feral hog and experience the smell, I remember my Papa saying, "Son, that smells like money!" So, I guess we all have our perspective of what things smell like!!


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## Railroader (Apr 7, 2020)

I have only ever experienced two truly "rank" pigs, out of at least a few dozen.

One was a very mean ol half wild crossbreed that terrorized our little 200 acre lease for a couple years before I nabbed him one evening, raping a feeder he'd turned over...

The other was a 50 pound male, that we intended to smoke whole, but he was bad rank....

Maybe it's a deep south swamp thang, but "rank" goes way beyond the normal pig stink...

The only way I can describe it, is that a hog that is truly rank smells somewhere between soured urine, and being dead in the sun for about three days, on TOP of normal stink..

Maybe sgahoghunter can chime in with his description...

As has been said, by far, most are fine eating.


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 7, 2020)

All right! The verdict is in I can officially add my 2 cents for what it is worth! 100% of the large stank bore hogs I have killed and processed are delicious!!!!!!
This one hit the ground at 9pm With one shot to the head, was fully quartered and on ice by 1am and has been on ice for 72 hours! 
Thanks for all the help!


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## Railroader (Apr 7, 2020)

I also remember my old uncle, who always raised a few hogs but never bought one, culling one here and there because it "was gonna be rank"... That's all I remember, but there must have been something to it because Unk never wasted a thing.


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## Railroader (Apr 7, 2020)

Houseme1971 said:


> All right! The verdict is in I can officially add my 2 cents for what it is worth! 100% of the large stank bore hogs I have killed and processed are delicious!!!!!!
> This one hit the ground at 9pm With one shot to the head, was fully quartered and on ice by 1am and has been on ice for 72 hours!
> Thanks for all the help!



Glad all's well!  Sure looks good.

Be assured your pig was NOT rank...

?


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## sghoghunter (Apr 7, 2020)

As long as you was happy with your boar hog that’s all that matters. 90% the time we shoot ours it’s well after dark and if it’s a sow and on the smaller size we will cut out the back straps but the rest goes in the gut pile


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 7, 2020)

Well said. Yes I am happy with it!


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## Big7 (Apr 7, 2020)

NCHillbilly said:


> Any time you can walk up to a big boar hog and grab its cojones without losing a hand or femoral artery, that particular hog is likely done out of the circulatin' business.


Tru' Dat' too..


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## jammeri5 (Apr 10, 2020)

I’m by no means an expert and to hard headed to listen to most. I caught 2 boars and 3 sows in a trap one night. All within 20 pounds of each other. One boar smelled so bad I figured I could have trailed him like a beagle on a rabbit. Figure that’s what people considere “rank” . Cleaned and processed them all the same way. Never could tell them apart on the dinner table. All were excellent


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## chrislibby88 (Apr 17, 2020)

Doug B. said:


> None of this is necessary. Get him skint and put on ice as quick as you can. No salt. No vinegar. I have killed several in the 200 to 300 lb. range. No problems


 I never bleed or brine mine. I usually zip the hide down the back strap, take the loins, push the guts to the side and take the tenderloins (if the pig is big enough, small pigs have a bacon strip for tenderloins) then roll the hide down the shoulders and hams, pack the meat and leave the carcass where it dropped. You can search gutless method on YouTube.  Pork doesn’t require aging like red meat, so you can process as soon as desired. I usually through mine in a cooler for a day or so until I get a chance to debone, and grind or do whatever I’m gonna do. I never let my meat soak in cooler water, and if any water develops I trim the white bleached meat and discard it. I’ve ate 200lb boars, nursing sows, and everything in between none have been “rank”. I did leave one pig in the woods that had a ruptured rotten nutsack leaking pus, and several other visible open sores on his body. Handle them like a deer and you’ll be fine, and like someone else said, if you find any glands cut them out without slicing through them.
I’ve also started carrying a Havalon knife with disposable blades. I ruined two knives trying to skin a big boar with 3 inches of dried mud caked over half his body. Use one blade to get the skin rolled down, and another to quarter and cut meat.


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## bfriendly (Apr 19, 2020)

Good stuff in here and I agree 100% to leave the meat on ice, NOT in water soaking. As far as RANK, I’ve only killed one that was really rank and it wasn’t even a 25lber. Throw a shoulder in a crock pot and it ain’t gonna smell as nice as banana bread in the oven. It’ll stink even if you bought it from a store, BET!

I love ya 7, but I ain’t cutting off anything I ain’t eating! If I catch a shoat alive, I might consider cutting and turning loose.


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## eco41crider (Apr 20, 2020)

Congrats! I also killed my first hog a couple of weeks ago. He didn’t have a bad smell or anything. I dressed him and put him on ice for 72 hours, nothing else.  The butchering was a bigger task than I had anticipated but I was pleased with how it all came out.


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## spurrs and racks (Apr 21, 2020)

me..........

I leave a big boar hog in the woods.............

I will eat a sow at any size......

but this is just me


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## sghoghunter (Apr 21, 2020)

spurrs and racks said:


> me..........
> 
> I leave a big boar hog in the woods.............
> 
> ...




Your not the only one. There ain’t no way I’d even take a chance on a bigger boar hog being ok to eat.


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## spurrs and racks (Apr 21, 2020)

I kill 3 with a bolt action running across a slew in Beaver Dam WMA one year in a late summer hog hunt. "hog explosion" was the title of the hunt in GON. I dragged all 3 out to my truck with my belt. At the same time.

In my opine, just right to gut, skin and place on the grill whole.

2 were sow, but 1 was a tiny Boar hog, he was already stinking. I bet none of then weight more than 25 lbs gutted. You guessed it, I could not eat that tiny boar hog. Let my dogs have him.


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## Railroader (Apr 21, 2020)

I've heard reliable claims of rank sows, but I never seen, or smelled one...


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## NCHillbilly (Apr 21, 2020)

Like I said, I've never killed a hog that didn't stink to high heaven. They pee on themselves and spend half their time wallowing around in stagnant mud mixed with pig pee and feces. There is a difference between a whole, unskinned hog stinking and rank, stinking meat.


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## Hornet22 (Apr 21, 2020)

Ya'll make shore to wear yo rubbers when cleaning and handlin the raw meat. The same ones erybody is using for the wulongchineeflu will work. Bleve me, hawg aids, "brucelosus", or howeva you spell it, ain NO fun. But, it will make a fat boy skinny for a few months, silver lining for everything.


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## Tunaman (Apr 22, 2020)

Have shot probably 30-35 hogs last 3 yrs. can honestly say only a couple smelled bad. One being quite large for this area. Probably 200-250 lb boar. Smelled so bad I hated even putting rope around his neck to drag away with side-by-side. All the rest smelled fine. Maybe the area for some reason.i do think killing them quick makes a difference.


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## Mr Bya Lungshot (Apr 22, 2020)

My friend shot a 100lb sow soooo clean I would have ate off the hide. Not one spec of dirt even on its feets.
We probably knocked it clean with the rough haul out.


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## Houseme1971 (Apr 22, 2020)

eco41crider said:


> Congrats! I also killed my first hog a couple of weeks ago. He didn’t have a bad smell or anything. I dressed him and put him on ice for 72 hours, nothing else.  The butchering was a bigger task than I had anticipated but I was pleased with how it all came out.


That’s awesome! Congrats on the hog!!!


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## Hillbilly stalker (Apr 22, 2020)

Don’t let anything that touches the outside..touch the inside. Remove the gland in the rear hams. It sits between the muscle in the hamstring area between the knee and hip joint. People will disagree with this but I have spoke with 2 different professional butchers about it, pork should  not ever touch ice and it should be processed the next day. Pork ages from the inside out, deer and beef just the opposite. Don’t take my word, google or speak with professionals. Ive done wet aging in coolers, but I was assured the best way for best tasting meat is what I described. There are some hogs that are just stanking rank. I have followed their smell and caught up with them before. They smell like burnt urine and testosterone. A really big old one would be next to impossible to stomach the stench to clean it. Most I’ve killed that were fine eating were 150 lbs or less. And always...ALWAYS wear gloves.


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## Slewfoot (Apr 26, 2020)

A couple of things that I learned over decades of killing hogs.   Cutting out the cods in a rush does not seem to do anything other than Make extra work.   The best loin I ever ate came from a boar hog that is on my wall with long cutters.   I didn’t treat him any different than a deer in the field and butcher process.   

I hunted with a man that got brucellosis or some nasty parasitic disease from cleaning a hog.  It was really bad and put him on his back in the hospital for days, nearly killed him.     Ever since that occurred, I have taken wearing gloves very seriously when cleaning a pig.


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