# The taste of big hogs



## red neck richie (Dec 20, 2017)

I have heard that large hogs don't taste good. The biggest I have shot was a 250lb sow. It tasted wonderful. What are your opinions on size and taste and do sows taste better than boars? Is there any validity to it?


----------



## Nicodemus (Dec 20, 2017)

Every gilt or sow I`ve ever killed was fine table fare. Every boar would run you out of the house when you tried to cook it. I`ve tried everything to make a boar fit to eat and it didn`t work for me. 

My wife shot a 90 pound on the hoof boar one cold evening and I had it gutted, skint, and hung in less than an hour. Fine little hog covered in fat and it was below freezing when she shot it so the carcass never even heated up. The meat even smelled fine. That was on a Saturday. On Sunday I processed it, wrapped and froze, except for the backstraps. We kept them on ice to cook. Monday evening when I got off work Monday evening and drove up in the yard I knew what was cooking in the house. It smelled that bad. I just grabbed a oven mitt and took it out to feed to my dog. gave the rest to some plantation workers. 

Maybe some others can fix a boar to where it`s fit to eat. I don`t even try anymore. I prefer gilts.


----------



## Darkhorse (Dec 20, 2017)

I've shot both sows and boars from 300 to 400 lbs. and we ate them all. I could taste no difference between them and the smaller ones.
My family used to own large tracts of the flint river swamp and I grew up on tales of how rank and tough big boar hogs were. But I haven't found that to be true.
A lot of it is in how the hog is taken care of after the shot. They have a lot of fat that holds heat in and can spoil quickly. First thing I do is field dress the hog and wedge his ribs apart with a green stick, then drag it over a log so air can circulate. Then get it out of the woods and skinned as soon as possible.
For the really big ones we take the shoulders and rub spices in really good then cook it for several hours in a roasting pan with water in the bottom. It just falls apart when touched by a fork.
I cut the backstraps and tenderloins into steaks. I'll also cut some steaks from the larger muscles in the hindquarters. Then grind the rest into sausage. I try real hard to trim as much fat as possible off before I start cutting.


----------



## Mexican Squealer (Dec 20, 2017)

Keep the sows up to 150, leave the rest for the buzzards.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Dec 20, 2017)

Some are good and some ain't. Don't know if it depends on what there eating or what. Worst hog I ever had was about a 150 lb boar. Had the whole hog processed in sausage. Wasn't fit to eat.


----------



## Hoss78 (Dec 20, 2017)

I have never cooked a boar hog “ no matter the size” that hasn’t been rank. I’ve tried many ways to handle the carcass and it still stinks when cooked,and have thrown bacon out from the grocery store that you could smell time it got hot in the frying pan. Back when I caught hogs regular every boar would get cut before being released and if caught later would fine to eat. The ideal eating wild hog would be 75-100 guilt or sow. But to each their own.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Dec 21, 2017)

I've never had a bad-tasting sow, but some of the boars are nasty. Some of them aren't. I don't know why. Handled the same and cleaned and cooled quickly, some of them are still rank. I have eaten several boars in the 60-75 lb range that were fine, but I prefer sows for sure.


----------



## Dbender (Dec 21, 2017)

You can google boar taint and get as in depth an answer as you like.  All pigs, domestic or wild, boar or sow can have a bad taste (boar taint).  I personally have never come across one with tainted meat.  Either wild or domestic.


----------



## Redbow (Dec 21, 2017)

I have even experienced Boar taint in restaurants that specialize in BBQ..Last time I ate BBQ up in New Bern NC it happened..We haven't been back there, too scared for my taste buds to eat there again..


----------



## The mtn man (Dec 21, 2017)

Some are good, some ain't, we usually bbq or slow cook a boar, it usually comes out ok. Or even make sausage, I've seen one that had that rank smell and taste like y'all describe. There was nothing that could be done to fix it, had to feed it do the dogs. Saved on dog food bill for a while though.


----------



## Knotwild (Dec 21, 2017)

For what it's worth, probably not much - I used to work in an area of FL where they anything. And I did eat some good stuff there. They would take the smaller boars and soak them in iced water with a ton of baking soda for a couple of days. I tried it and as far as I could tell, I was just eating pork. Maybe I was just lucky.


----------



## Darkhorse (Dec 21, 2017)

I have been told that if hogs feed or root often in swamp mud then they will taste like the mud. Add that to the natural rankness of a boar and I could see how one could be unfit to eat.
I did have a big sow that had a bad aftertaste and was unfit to eat, I figured it was the mud.
I forgot to add that when we cook a shoulder or ham in a roasting pan that not only do we hand rub a good rub into the meat, we also add sliced vegetables like celery, onions, and carrots.
When I retired I started trapping a piece of family property that was overrun with hogs. I caught and killed so many that my hands started smelling like wild hogs. It got to where I couldn't stomach eating them anymore. Period.


----------



## bfriendly (Dec 21, 2017)

I have eaten big and little boars and sows.......have heard of “rank” pigs but never seen or smelled one really rank until recently. It was a shoat but looked nasty and flat out stunk.....I never put a knife on it. I think you will know the difference before you ever cut it.  I have had some in the crock pot that stunk up the house like Nic mentioned.....it fed whatever lives out back


----------



## Ohoopee Tusker (Dec 22, 2017)

I've never had a problem, usually kill a couple of boars a year. I avoid the glands, quarter them without gutting, and remove the fat on the big ones. I place them in a cooler on ice for a week. Read on here some years back to add Sprite, so I usually do that. I think the truely rank ones have been feeding on carrion.


----------



## bany (Dec 22, 2017)

I try to bleed them and remove the nuts as soon as it hits the ground. Most are pretty much the same as sows. The really big ones are a bit stronger. Gotta really watch the scent bag on their belly too. Whole hog sausage let’s you remove all the glands


----------



## bfriendly (Dec 22, 2017)

I don’t think it’s size has as much to do with it as what they eat too........I was at a pig farm and the bigger ones were absolute monsters. Almost strangely large......I have put store bought roasts in a crockpot that stunk to high heaven as well.   I guess pigs just stink


----------



## Nicodemus (Dec 22, 2017)

Old folks around home wouldn`t even butcher a sow or gilt if it was in heat because they said the meat from one would be nearly as rank as an uncut boar. I don`t think a lot of folks realize that.

That could account for the rank meat sometimes found in stores and eating establishments.


----------



## GeorgiaGlockMan (Dec 22, 2017)

We shoot allot of pigs on our deer leases in Texas.

I don't know what causes it but about 1 in 10 of the big boars are just flat-out rank.  I hate even putting a hand on a rank one any more.... Winch cable and drag it to high grass.

Some of the best BBQ I've ever had was off a 200+ lb boar that was separated and soaked in a cooler with ice for 4-5 days.


----------



## Killer Kyle (Dec 22, 2017)

I had a different experience a couple months ago. Not with taste, but texture. Still have not eaten a rank hog yet, and I've eaten a fair amount over the years. Couple months back, I tried making crock pot pulled pork (I know that's a sin!) from a hog shoulder. Came off a little maybe 100 lb sow I killed. She did about 10 hrs in the Crock-Pot, and was TOUGH. I figured she wasn't done for some odd reason. I left her in there for 14 hours, and that shoulder was hard as a rock. I just had to make sliced and chunked sandwiches. I remove all the silverskin and trim the fat from every piece before I package it. I don't know what the heck was going on, but that was the first and only piece of wild pork I've cooked that was so tough. I blew the other shoulder up pretty bad, so I didn't get to eat it. Anyone ever have a random piece of super tough hog like that?


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Dec 22, 2017)

Nicodemus said:


> Old folks around home wouldn`t even butcher a sow or gilt if it was in heat because they said the meat from one would be nearly as rank as an uncut boar. I don`t think a lot of folks realize that.
> 
> That could account for the rank meat sometimes found in stores and eating establishments.



Worst smelling animal I been around was a sow in heat.


----------



## NE GA Pappy (Dec 22, 2017)

I always cooler a hog for at least 3 or 4 days.  I put the cooler on a slope, and open the drain on the downhill side so the water can drain out. I keep it covered with ice the whole time


----------



## Mexican Squealer (Dec 22, 2017)

You will know a rank hog when you get one.


----------



## jbogg (Dec 22, 2017)

Killer Kyle said:


> I had a different experience a couple months ago. Not with taste, but texture. Still have not eaten a rank hog yet, and I've eaten a fair amount over the years. Couple months back, I tried making crock pot pulled pork (I know that's a sin!) from a hog shoulder. Came off a little maybe 100 lb sow I killed. She did about 10 hrs in the Crock-Pot, and was TOUGH. I figured she wasn't done for some odd reason. I left her in there for 14 hours, and that shoulder was hard as a rock. I just had to make sliced and chunked sandwiches. I remove all the silverskin and trim the fat from every piece before I package it. I don't know what the heck was going on, but that was the first and only piece of wild pork I've cooked that was so tough. I blew the other shoulder up pretty bad, so I didn't get to eat it. Anyone ever have a random piece of super tough hog like that?



I had the same experience with a hog I shot last spring.  Put a couple of roasts from the hindquarter on the smoker.  Wrapped them in foil at about 140* and then let them stay in the smoker until they reached an internal temp of 215*.  Could not even begin to pull it apart which was what I was going for.  Ended up slicing it up for sandwich meat.  She was a good sized pig at over 250 lbs, so not sure if that made a difference.  I had the front shoulders made into sausage not realizing that is the best part to put on the smoker.  Won’t make that mistake again.  I will be after another one in a few weeks.


----------



## Hillbilly stalker (Dec 23, 2017)

Are y'all cutting the scent glands out the rear hams ?  I've seen some boars that are so rank on the outside that they smell like a burnt jock strap. I won't shoot them if I can tell. I haven't cooked a strong one yet tho.  I like 175 lbs and under if given the choice. I always clean my own and remove those glands.


----------



## Ohoopee Tusker (Dec 23, 2017)

Nicodemus said:


> Old folks around home wouldn`t even butcher a sow or gilt if it was in heat because they said the meat from one would be nearly as rank as an uncut boar. I don`t think a lot of folks realize that.
> 
> That could account for the rank meat sometimes found in stores and eating establishments.





tree cutter 08 said:


> Worst smelling animal I been around was a sow in heat.



The last sow in heat that I killed I quartered and packed her out. Got up the next morning for another hunt and when I put on my orange vest from the day before it smelled so bad I couldn't wear it. Had to wash it twice to get all the stink out. To my surprise the meat was fine.


----------



## deadend (Dec 29, 2017)

I've long heard of rank boars but out of several hundred from north Georgia, north Florida, and South Carolina over the last 15 years I've never eaten a bad one no matter what they smelled like on the outside.


----------



## jerry russell (Jan 7, 2018)

I guess you can run into a bad one but I have killed far more than I could ever remember and I have never encountered a boar or sow that was bad.  Countless 250-500 pound boars included.


----------



## Feedingdeer (Jan 7, 2018)

Killer Kyle said:


> I had a different experience a couple months ago. Not with taste, but texture. Still have not eaten a rank hog yet, and I've eaten a fair amount over the years. Couple months back, I tried making crock pot pulled pork (I know that's a sin!) from a hog shoulder. Came off a little maybe 100 lb sow I killed. She did about 10 hrs in the Crock-Pot, and was TOUGH. I figured she wasn't done for some odd reason. I left her in there for 14 hours, and that shoulder was hard as a rock. I just had to make sliced and chunked sandwiches. I remove all the silverskin and trim the fat from every piece before I package it. I don't know what the heck was going on, but that was the first and only piece of wild pork I've cooked that was so tough. I blew the other shoulder up pretty bad, so I didn't get to eat it. Anyone ever have a random piece of super tough hog like that?



The problem was that you probably cooked it too long. I have done Pork butts/shoulders in a crock pot and in a smoker and if you have an internal temp any higher than 190 degrees, it will be tough. And yes, this temperature works the same with feral hogs and store bought pork. If you try it again, Leave it on high for about for hours, then check temp. If you are not at 180, put it on medium. check hourly. Best between 180 and 185 degrees. it'll pull apart easily with a fork.


----------

