fence buster eats a .270

That "purple" mark is the lungs. The photo is probably from one of Craig Boddington's "Ultimate Shot" books. I've heard about the hard cartilage shield too though.
 
sodak said:
That's interesting. Most domestic hogs that I've butchered run around 200 to 250 lbs before dressing, and they are wonderful. I wonder what causes the change in the feral hogs.
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It's all in the hormones. Ever wonder why good t-bone steaks come from steers? Old bulls aren't any good for eating either. And apart from the hormones, old boars and bulls tend to end up with tons of stringy connective tissue in the muscle which makes the meat really chewy and gristly.

Changes in diet do affect meat flavor a bit, but all I'm really familiar with is the difference between grass and grain fed animals. Grain fed ones tend to be fattier, which means more marbling. Most of the flavor in meat actually comes from the fat, which is why many people mix pork fat (or fatty pork cuts) in with their ground venison, instead of the fat on the deer itself as deer fat is very gamey and unpleasant tasting.
 
off subject but deer is so lean that when making sausage the pork adds a little moisture & also softens the texture. my brother is xpert at cooking deer over mesquite coals. his deer is so good it surpasses the best beef. quick cleaning, chill down, aging & no hair on meat are prerequisites to good venison.the last time at the ranch i just could'nt stop eating his deer & my stomach ached from overeating. did'nt need breakfast the next morning.
dennis
 
early texas hunters typically used to tie their deer across the hood or bumper & then dry 100 or even much further miles with deer sitting on a hot hood. in those days everyone thought deer were supposed to taste "wild". education has certainly helped the taste of venison.elk hunters have to get hide off even if it's minus zero temp. elk can lie on snow all night but if hide is'nt removed the carcass will be warm in the morning . some time back a friend brought an elk to camp at twilight & i begged him to let me assist in removal of hide. [ no go ]. the next morning while cleaning i heard him remark that body was still warm. i passed on any of that meat.
dennis
 
Dennis,
Great hog! Down here in Florida when someone kills a big ol' boar hog we soak the meat in ice water and add a cup or two of baking soda to the meat and drain off the water every other day. We flush the meat of all the blood (the baking soda really helps do this) to get rid of the testosterone, it really helps to get rid of the "gamey taste".
Mostly have him ground up into sausage, taste great!
 
swampdog that's a new tip i'll pass on to my friends in north tex. but i do'nt know where i could get a tub of ice water for one like i shot.it's still a lot of effort, reminds me of the cajun recipe for mudhen. thanks for the info since some of my buddies have a lot more time than myself to process game.
dennis
 
Swampdog said:
Down here in Florida when someone kills a big ol' boar hog we soak the meat in ice water and add a cup or two of baking soda to the meat and drain off the water every other day. We flush the meat of all the blood (the baking soda really helps do this) to get rid of the testosterone, it really helps to get rid of the "gamey taste".
Mostly have him ground up into sausage, taste great!
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hmmmm..... i think i'll have to try this one.

pigs are such a massive feral pest around where i live in outback Queensland, Australia.

most of teh time i wouldn't even feed 'em to my dogs.
 
bruce that's why we call them fence busters. if they ca'nt squeeze under the wires they just push hard. we have to mend fences weekly. time permitting we drive every fence line since calves can slip under. woprst than pigs --we had a bull from adjacent ranch bust through twice in 2 weeks & fight with my brothers bull. brothers bull is about 2000 lb. so he was'nt injured, finally neighbor moved bull to another pasture miles away.few years back the bull on brothers ranch was killed & sometimes they tear up 100 feet of fence. we gave up burying dead cattle since hogs dig them back up to feed.we feel there is at least one boar about 600 lbs. since rub marks on a tele post are so high. always possible to have several this big. deer season has started so ca'nt request help from dog pack owners. last year they killed a boar near shackelford ,tx. weighed 660lbs.
dennis
 
I grew up in Texas (lived there for 28 years) and being that it can be nearly 100 degrees during the November deer season, unique methods of game care need to be employed. We have always dressed and quartered our deer as quickly as possible. Once quartered (preferably boned out as well) we put all of the meat in a cooler with ice. We drain off the bloody water and replace the ice for a couple of days. Removing the skin, bone, fat and silver skin as quickly as possibly really helps to minimize the "gamey" taste. The icewater bath cools the meat much more quickly than letting the carcass hang, and draining the water periodically helps to bleed out the meat.

We use the same procedure for pigs, but adding apple cider vinegar to the water bath seems to knock out the more robust gamey flavor of wild pigs.

Water doesn't cause meat to go bad, warm temperatures do- especially when combined with moisture.
 
we have winches set up & have cleaned deer out within 30 to 40 minutes. plenty of friges & freezers. this week we have one in the frig aging for 4 days. your right about 100 degrees in nov. it's a treat when we can hang one all nite to chill down before cutting up. the worst meat is a fresh killed deer that you try to eat while still warm, always has been tough for us.
dennis--ps you're right about fat & hair on meat , deer fat has to go along with silver skin. if we make sausage we add a certain amount of pork.
 
That is one big hog Dennis! I recently brought home the meat from a 140lb and 170lb hogs and they both taste great... I soaked the meat in Salted Ice water (Changing it out every day). Since there has been a bit of gun talk in this thread I used a Contender 7-30 Waters and an AR with a .50 Beo Upper. The Beo is a real hog stopper!
 
I really want to spend a summer and hunt some hogs down south somewhere...I would muchhhh rather do that than go on any vacation (family vacation that is). Texas needs our help
 
texans are a friendly bunch especially if you like guns & fishing.--sadly most land is privately owned so you usually have to pay someone to hunt. the use of a pack of dogs is a 100% guarantee of getting hogs. in fact we have a public area 52 miles from austin but my dogs would be killed or severely injured since they don'nt understand hogs.--dennis
 
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DennisStrickland said:
texans are a friendly bunch especially if you like guns & fishing.--sadly most land is privately owned so you usually have to pay someone to hunt. the use of a pack of dogs is a 100% guarantee of getting hogs. in fact we have a public area 52 miles from austin but my dogs would be killed or severely injured since they done understand hogs.--dennis
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Yeah that's the problem. You'd think some farmers would be more than willing to let hunters get rid of the pigs!

I definitely couldn't spend money on a hunt. Stupid college :(
 
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