Bacon Seeds....

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I'm curious. Are feral hogs much gamier than domesticated? I know there is a huge difference between wild ducks I've hunted, and farm raised.

I remember a few years back, watching a couple tv shows about people who used to hunt hogs in Texas. They got a little too soap-opera-ish for me though, and I quit watching.
 
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I'm curious. Are feral hogs much gamier than domesticated? I know there is a huge difference between wild ducks I've hunted, and farm raised.

I remember a few years back, watching a couple tv shows about people who used to hunt hogs in Texas. They got a little too soap-opera-ish for me though, and I quit watching.
It all depends on what the hog has been eating. Generally, mature boars over 100 lbs. have a strong odor to their meat. I stick to sows and immature boars under 100lbs.

Spring pigs are the best, having fed on acorns all winter and the new spring green shoots in the spring. The place these came from also has a corn feeder out. The meat has a very slight wild flavor. I have served the smoked sausage to people and they could not tell the difference, but if you consume a lot of wild game you could taste it. It's not bad-I actually enjoy the mild wild flavor.
 
 
I'm curious. Are feral hogs much gamier than domesticated? I know there is a huge difference between wild ducks I've hunted, and farm raised.

I remember a few years back, watching a couple tv shows about people who used to hunt hogs in Texas. They got a little too soap-opera-ish for me though, and I quit watching.
I process my own meat so I eliminate all of the undesireable stuff that would lead to gaminess. With the care I take all of my game meat comes out fantastic and seems almost like regular pork to me!  It will have some flavor difference but I think that is just because they are leaner and meaner but it all tastes like pork and not some random stuff.

I've been fortunate and haven't personally shot any that stunk so bad that I didn't want to eat them but as Indaswamp mentions the smaller the better.  I generally haven't shot and eaten hogs over 180 pounds and I get more of the 100-140pound range and prefer a SOW.  I did once shoot a massive 275+ pound boar but he was clean as a whistle with no smell which was odd for such a stud.  It was a beautiful Golden Tip hog which again is unusual for a feral hog to be good looking hahaha.  It was my white whale.  It looked so pretty I mounted it.  I haven't seen a large good looking hog come close to what I shot so it was a 1 in a million.

Also when you shoot a boar many times it pisses itself or on the ground while dying.  A lot of musk smell can come from that and people think the hog is just nasty.  You skin it and viola the smell is often gone, it was all just part of the urine.

As for the show.  There was one called American Hoggers that did get too silly but I liked the hunting action in it when the hunt was on.  I wish they would have followed more of the pattern that Swamp People does where they stick to the hunting and then show the good culture and character of the people rather than fabricating 100% of the story telling.
 
 
Also when you shoot a boar many times it pisses itself or on the ground while dying.  A lot of musk smell can come from that and people think the hog is just nasty.  You skin it and viola the smell is often gone, it was all just part of the urine.
This is why I rinse the animal with water very very thoroughly with a water hose before skinning and gutting....
 
As for the show.  There was one called American Hoggers that did get too silly but I liked the hunting action in it when the hunt was on.  I wish they would have followed more of the pattern that Swamp People does where they stick to the hunting and then show the good culture and character of the people rather than fabricating 100% of the story telling.
Yup, that's the one I was thinking about. Couldn't care less about the dysfunctional family dynamics, I just wanted to see the hunting.
 
We processed the hogs yesterday and now I have 38# of deboned meat to play with excluding 2 hams I set aside to cure and smoke. pics. when I do the smoke on those...
 
 
We processed the hogs yesterday and now I have 38# of deboned meat to play with excluding 2 hams I set aside to cure and smoke. pics. when I do the smoke on those...
Nice haul!
 
 
 
We processed the hogs yesterday and now I have 38# of deboned meat to play with excluding 2 hams I set aside to cure and smoke. pics. when I do the smoke on those...
Nice haul!
that 38# is on top of the 120# we have already processed. We have been given 10 hogs so far this year since February, biggest one was an 80# sow.

Here are the hams in the cure....


You can see how small that hog was-each back leg weighed 2 3/4lbs.... ought to be really tender hams!!! That is why I titled this thread 'Bacon Seeds'!!! LOL!!!
 
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Man that is an awesome amount of pork!

I had 138 pounds of processed venison and pork meat after my hunting season last year.  Makes for a great haul and little need for me to buy beef for most of the year other than when I want a steak.

Have you ever considered taking a roofing torch to some of those 20-30 pound mini hogs, scraping them, and then doing whole suckling pig cooks?  Hell I bet skinning and doing whole would still work as well.

Thoughts?
 
 
Man that is an awesome amount of pork!

I had 138 pounds of processed venison and pork meat after my hunting season last year.  Makes for a great haul and little need for me to buy beef for most of the year other than when I want a steak.

Have you ever considered taking a roofing torch to some of those 20-30 pound mini hogs, scraping them, and then doing whole suckling pig cooks?  Hell I bet skinning and doing whole would still work as well.

Thoughts?
Now I gotta locate a roofing torch-that would make the job so much easier! We have been hesitant to attempt to skin one because of the work involved. I have put one on the pellet smoker @ the firehouse and even with the injection brine, it had a lot of meat on the outside that was very dry. I saved it to use in cowboy beans so it did not go to waste. It was good, but the skin on would have helped tremendously. Sorry no pics. I should have snapped a few.
 
I gave 45lbs. to Dad for him to mix with venison to make his sausage. We kept the rest. Still have to make our venison sausages and might use some of the wild hog meat there. But wild hog fresh sausage is very hard to beat....
 
I'm gonna buy one tomorrow when the store opens....

https://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-61589.html

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Youvguys are killing me on the wild hog. That's the one game meat we don't have here that I would really like to hunt.
 
Youvguys are killing me on the wild hog. That's the one game meat we don't have here that I would really like to hunt.
I don't hunt them....guy traps them, then calls me to come get them. It's a win/win in my book!

Flip side-be glad you do not have them in your area-they are a royal PITA and do a lot of damage!
 
I believe that torch would probably work.

I wish I could get into hogs like you get a chance to.  My cousin has a little bit of access to hunt hogs on a guys land but nothing has come of it.  I will see if we can set up a corral trap and get some in winter :)
 
 
I believe that torch would probably work.

I wish I could get into hogs like you get a chance to.  My cousin has a little bit of access to hunt hogs on a guys land but nothing has come of it.  I will see if we can set up a corral trap and get some in winter :)
Corral traps are the way to go! Catch the whole herd at one time.
 
I'll be watching for this, I have not tried a boudin yet, I know when we do our next trip that way I will definitely be looking to try it. 
 
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