Processing Week 2022...

[indaswamp]

After trimming and packaging, I ended up with 67# of wild hog meat. It's all been bulk packaged and in the freezer now. After the required chill time, I'll pull out the meat I have set aside for salumi....some time in December.

 

[hoity toit]

Good start to the season...

HT

 

[indaswamp]

Well, I have been out of town for the last 10 days; waterfowl hunting in Kansas and then stopped by the deer camp in Arkansas for the opener of rifle with my brother and Dad. We took 5 does the three days I was there. Meanwhile, my little nephew shot a nice 8pt. in Mississippi...

So that's 6 more deer for processing day.

 

[indaswamp]

^^^that deer is a 3 year old; 16 3/4" spread, 4 7/8" bases.

 

[tallbm]

Nice haul, I'm excited for all the hunting and success! :D

 

[indaswamp]

Nice haul, I'm excited for all the hunting and success! :D

Thanks tallbm! The 5 does tallied 160# of meat but not all of it will be ground up. I figure 15-20# of grind per deer.....

 

[tallbm]

Slight derail of the thread here but I just ordered 2 of these Vortex scopes.
The reviews were good when they were $300 and now they are on holiday sale for $150 each. My brother but his eyeballs through one and liked it quite a bit and he has horrible vision so I knew they were good to go but I can't give 1st hand feedback on them.

They seem to be an Academy exclusive scope. "Exclusives" like this are generally not a really good thing... BUT Vortex is supposed to have a fairly "legendary" warranty program so if they break down hopefully problems can be easily solved or replaced.

Finally, I've purchased way more high dollar better quality & brand scopes than this and I in no way think this is some kind of amazing holy grail of a scope. It's simply just a good deal for a no frills scope that allows you to see bullet holes in a target at 100yds (often hard to do), has BDC type marks, a no questions asked warranty, and is from a much more reputable brand known for getting people out of the lowest end brands and into something a little more mid range+ in quality.

I'll be saving these scopes for my next rifles. I'll likely put one of the two on my 6.5 Creedmoor which is running a digital day night scope because I had no respectable night vision hog hunting optic and wanted one when I bought the 6.5 so just paired them up as they were bought at the same time.
That day/night scope is likely not going to be on that rifle for long so having a ready to go 4-16magnification x 42mm scope puts me in a good spot for a respectable swap should I need to reach out like the caliber can :)

Here's the dea!

Vortex Eagle 4-16x42 Riflescope | Academy

Shop Academy Sports + Outdoors for sporting goods, hunting, fishing and camping equipment. Find recreation and leisure products, footwear, apparel, grills, b...

www.academy.com

Ok done derailing the thread, feel free to let me know if I need to delete this but it seemed appropriate with all of your amazing hunting atm indaswamp :)

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks for the heads up on the vortex scope. My cousin uses them on his kids guns. Great scope for the price point.

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for the heads up on the vortex scope. My cousin uses them on his kids guns. Great scope for the price point.

Yep I agree.

Also having a 12x magnification or higher becomes mandatory for me as I work up loads so I can see the holes in paper at 100yds. Trying to see 5.56/223 holes at 100yds to know where you are hitting is such a pain and I don't have a personal range so I have to wait until time is called to check/replace targets to see those holes. I have a pair of cheapo fixed 20X binocs which work wonders compared to my crappy spotting scope but those smaller holes are still a pain.
Better scope glass than my cheapo 20x binocs allows me to see the holes and work up my loads way faster and way easier :D

 

[tallbm]

Slight derail of the thread here but I just ordered 2 of these Vortex scopes.
The reviews were good when they were $300 and now they are on holiday sale for $150 each. My brother but his eyeballs through one and liked it quite a bit and he has horrible vision so I knew they were good to go but I can't give 1st hand feedback on them.

They seem to be an Academy exclusive scope. "Exclusives" like this are generally not a really good thing... BUT Vortex is supposed to have a fairly "legendary" warranty program so if they break down hopefully problems can be easily solved or replaced.

Finally, I've purchased way more high dollar better quality & brand scopes than this and I in no way think this is some kind of amazing holy grail of a scope. It's simply just a good deal for a no frills scope that allows you to see bullet holes in a target at 100yds (often hard to do), has BDC type marks, a no questions asked warranty, and is from a much more reputable brand known for getting people out of the lowest end brands and into something a little more mid range+ in quality.

I'll be saving these scopes for my next rifles. I'll likely put one of the two on my 6.5 Creedmoor which is running a digital day night scope because I had no respectable night vision hog hunting optic and wanted one when I bought the 6.5 so just paired them up as they were bought at the same time.
That day/night scope is likely not going to be on that rifle for long so having a ready to go 4-16magnification x 42mm scope puts me in a good spot for a respectable swap should I need to reach out like the caliber can :)

Here's the dea!

Vortex Eagle 4-16x42 Riflescope | Academy

Shop Academy Sports + Outdoors for sporting goods, hunting, fishing and camping equipment. Find recreation and leisure products, footwear, apparel, grills, b...

www.academy.com

View attachment 517143

Ok done derailing the thread, feel free to let me know if I need to delete this but it seemed appropriate with all of your amazing hunting atm indaswamp :)

indaswamp got those scopes in and put my eyeballs through them.... Oh man I'm super excited!!! Again I've had much nicer and better scopes with more bells and whistles, but WOW for the price point I wish I had bought 4!!! Even though I don't have enough rifles in need of optics to use up 2 much less 4 of these hahaha.

I just wanted to report back since my last post on the topic now that I've handled them. :)

 

[indaswamp]

Another one down...that makes 9 deer so far.

Cousin went back up to the deer camp yesterday morning, shot a cull buck yesterday afternoon. Buck has a basic 8 on one side, but a funky pedicle on the left side. Deer weighed 160#...probably a 3.5 year old deer guessing...

 

[tallbm]

Nice!!!
Good to get that cull buck out, he'll eat nicely :)

 

[indaswamp]

Got a call from my cousin..."Hey, Uncle Ronny shot 2 hogs this evening, you want them?"

Me-"Hell Yeah!"

I was told 150# sow and a piglet....She's more like 180#

She's a fat ole girl too! Cleaned her up at the carwash, gutted, packed with ice and will skin and quarter tomorrow. 38*F for the low tonight....they will be fine until morning. Cousin is on shift at the firehouse so we will be deboning tomorrow as well. The guys want the piglet whole for the pellet smoker so I will be giving it to them. Piglet is about 30#. Should get about 60-70# of meat off the sow for processing day.

 

[indaswamp]

Uncle Ronnie lives in the country. Has a corn feeder 75 yards from his back door for pigs. Got a street light on the corner of the driveway by the barn. Shot the hogs 45 minutes after sundown. And he shot both hogs in the head. It is legal to shoot feral hogs at night year round here in Louisiana.

 

[indaswamp]

Got the big sow on ice....that pig had a 1 1/4" thick cap of fat on the back....one of the fattest wild hogs I have cleaned. The belly is about 1 1/4-1 1/2" thick so I may try and make some wild hog belly bacon. Never made it and this would be the perfect sow to try it.

 

[Omnivore]

Got the big sow on ice....that pig had a 1 1/4" thick cap of fat on the back....one of the fattest wild hogs I have cleaned. The belly is about 1 1/4-1 1/2" thick so I may try and make some wild hog belly bacon. Never made it and this would be the perfect sow to try it.

As someone who lives no where near wild hogs, is the flavor a lot different than regular domestic pork? You are so lucky that you get to harvest so much wild food close to home.

 

[indaswamp]

As someone who lives no where near wild hogs, is the flavor a lot different than regular domestic pork? You are so lucky that you get to harvest so much wild food close to home.

All depends on what the pig has been eating. We had a bumper crop of acorns this fall so I'm sure this sow has been feeding on them...well that and eating corn out of a corn feeder for the past 2-3 months. Best time to harvest wild hogs for good flavor is fall into early spring. It's when the pigs start on grubs and insects late spring into summer that the flavor can be a little off....

I always slice a small piece of fat off the back and fry it in a pan so I can smell it...if it is strong then I won't use it in the sausage, preferring to remove the fat and save the lean. If the fat is good, we just debone it all and use it.

 

[indaswamp]

The flavor is 'porkier'....like the old school taste in a hog when they use to let domestic pigs free range in the woods on the farm. A little stronger porkiness than a pastuered hog. The commercial hogs nowadays....the meat is light in color and very bland in flavor.

 

[indaswamp]

About the only wild hog I won't take is a big boar over about 100-120#... Those can get really strong and the fat is always off....

 

[tallbm]

Got a call from my cousin..."Hey, Uncle Ronny shot 2 hogs this evening, you want them?"

Me-"Hell Yeah!"

I was told 150# sow and a piglet....She's more like 180#
View attachment 517724

She's a fat ole girl too! Cleaned her up at the carwash, gutted, packed with ice and will skin and quarter tomorrow. 38*F for the low tonight....they will be fine until morning. Cousin is on shift at the firehouse so we will be deboning tomorrow as well. The guys want the piglet whole for the pellet smoker so I will be giving it to them. Piglet is about 30#. Should get about 60-70# of meat off the sow for processing day.

Uncle Ronnie lives in the country. Has a corn feeder 75 yards from his back door for pigs. Got a street light on the corner of the driveway by the barn. Shot the hogs 45 minutes after sundown. And he shot both hogs in the head. It is legal to shoot feral hogs at night year round here in Louisiana.

Man that is awesome!! I love them around 180lbs, makes it worth the effort and it's a good 60 pound haul of meat or so when said and done. Crazy how much of a pig is head, hide, and bone.

Here in TX, feral hogs are considered a pest so we can hunt them day/night and with basically anything (spears, knives, firearms, archery, your car, etc.). Also we can pop'em with FMJ's as well. I wouldn't recommend that, even if taking head/neck shots. Now go to anything cheap that mushrooms, breaks up, up or goes frangible and do head neck shots and no issue.
I'd love to see a Barnes Varmint Grenade bullet put in the eye/ear or base of the skull on a hog. Those types of bullets can be soooo inexpensive and I only shoot pigs in the head/neck anyhow so I don't have to track a wounded hog and so they drop right there :)

I've got 1 more range trip to sight in my new loads for my new 6.5CM and .308, after which they will be ready to rock and roll and I can go night time on some hogs with the 6.5CM with my day/night scope :D

Found an acceptable price on Barnes 127gr LRX for the 6.5CM so will load those up to be my non-lead deer hunting option. I prefer to go lead free and I have this fantasy that I can go hunt anywhere with those rounds since they are lead free. It doesn't hurt that they are super accurate and expand like crazy too :D

Grats on the extra meat!

As someone who lives no where near wild hogs, is the flavor a lot different than regular domestic pork? You are so lucky that you get to harvest so much wild food close to home.

Inda has it explained well.
I feel like wild flavor is outstanding. It tasted like a different kind of pork meat. The best way for me to explain it is that wild hog meat is like chicken dark meat and farm raised pork is like chicken white meat.
Soo much flavor difference to me.

I've only ever hunted them in late Fall - late Winter in North TX, Central TX, and NE TX. They have all tasted fantastic and haven't been very nasty. All nasty smells and such washes off and is definitely gone when the hide comes off. Everything from 300lbs+ down to 60lbs has been good to me. When in doubt get rid of the fat, clean the unwanted tissue off the meat, and grind the meat for sausage :)