Wild Hogs

[thebig1]

I wanted to know how many of you either smoke, or religiously live off of wild hogs instead of store bought pork.

I've been thinking about looking into, and implementing, and annual trip south to do some hog hunting and God willing fill my freezer for an entire year off of nature's bounty.

If you do smoke it and/or live off of it, is it better, etc...?

Chad

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello.  This one is a bit different.  I assume you have eaten wild hog.  NOT feral hog.  NOT crossed. Wild.  Either way it doesn't matter.  What you are asking is do you live off venison INSTEAD OF beef.  We are talking apples and oranges here.  Wild, feral, wild/feral cross pigs taste very little like "pork" as in commercial produced pork.  WILD has that taste.  You can smoke it, brine it, make bacon,  jerk it ect. but it isn't what most folks know as "pork"  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[thebig1]

 
Hello.  This one is a bit different.  I assume you have eaten wild hog.  NOT feral hog.  NOT crossed. Wild.  Either way it doesn't matter.  What you are asking is do you live off venison INSTEAD OF beef.  We are talking apples and oranges here.  Wild, feral, wild/feral cross pigs taste very little like "pork" as in commercial produced pork.  WILD has that taste.  You can smoke it, brine it, make bacon,  jerk it ect. but it isn't what most folks know as "pork"  Keep Smokin!

Danny

Thanks Danny, I appreciate your reply.  I guess what I'm thinking of is FERAL hogs then.  Please forgive my wording.  I have never had it but I've heard that when it's good, IT'S GOOD!  So I thought that if I were to maybe put together an annual hunt several hours south of me, possibly in the Carolinas, Tennessee areas, etc... that I could possibly do it on my own.  I'd camp or sleep out of my truck for a few days until I filled my coolers and then head home for a shower and wait until next year.  It'd be a fun getaway for me plus I'd be fulfilling a purpose and mission if I were successful.

 

[bkleinsmid]

For about 8 years I had access to wild hogs from Central Cali and Northern coast line Cali.

Back in those days we could take all we wanted for free as we were doing the rancher a favor.

I don't care for summer hogs......they are a bit gamey when they are eating summer foods. But the winter and spring ones are great. Get them cooled down as quickly as possible and be very careful about keeping everything clean.

As Danny said.......they do taste a bit different but are still very good.

Brad

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello Chad.  Slow down a bit brother.  Get a tent.  Get a camping cot.  Get some sort of heat.   GlAMPING!!  Take the hogs in autumn or winter.  These won't taste like pork you get at the store.  BUT!! they are good eating!  Keep Smokin!

Danny 

 

[thebig1]

Thanks Danny, I appreciate it. This will probably be a year and a half in the making. Probably February of 2018.

 

[kc5tpy]

WELL!  How about reach out to the members?  We have folks all over and I KNOW some of them hunt.  I'll bet you could get someone to ship you a hind quarter.  A lot of our members sound like grumpy ole folks but they will go out of their way to help anyone out.  GREAT bunch of people here.  Give it a shot.  You need to taste it before you jump in with both feet.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

I see what you are thinking.  Wild Hogs.  Cost=ZERO  But you can hunt for MONTHS and not see a hog.  Just info.

Danny

 

[forluvofsmoke]

 
WELL!  How about reach out to the members?  We have folks all over and I KNOW some of them hunt.  I'll bet you could get someone to ship you a hind quarter.  A lot of our members sound like grumpy ole folks but they will go out of their way to help anyone out.  GREAT bunch of people here.  Give it a shot.  You need to taste it before you jump in with both feet.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

I see what you are thinking.  Wild Hogs.  Cost=ZERO  But you can hunt for MONTHS and not see a hog.  Just info.

Danny

...technically, hunts aren't zero cost, and in many states a permit is required (for feral hogs not so much...they're a destructive nuisance, and hunting is encouraged)...the cost of travel, time off work (if working), expenses while you're away, ammo - if you drop a ton of brass (archery is low-cost shooting only if you recover your sticks and don't destroy your heads due to hard-strikes). Hunts add up quickly with associated costs...depending on the animal, several dollars/lb...that's on the low end of the spectrum, with a shorter, successful hunt. You gotta love to hunt and really want free-range meat to justify it. If you're only driving an hour or less away from home to hunt, can set up camp and plan on being there for a week if need be, and you have local area knowledge (scouting for weeks/months in advance helps, too), you have an edge, and somewhat reduced costs. If you take a guided hunt, well, you just threw the wallet a major curve-ball.

As for Wild Hog, no, never had the opportunity to hunt, process, smoke, grill, or preserve the meat.

Eric

 

[dirtsailor2003]

As far as I know, there aren't many states where you can "fill your freezer" without having a hunting License, and a tag for the game you are taking.

In my state if I wanted to hunt for everything here it would cost me close to $500 if I drew the tags.
Then there's the costs of hunting. Which could be cheap unless the tags I drew were on private property. Then there's fees to pay the property owner if you want to hunt there.

Ammunition is probably the cheapest part of the hunt. As far as I am concerned. Pennies in the dollar compared to the licenses.

With all that said, if it's your dream to go do that, pack up and go. When I lived in Hawaii, my neighbor brought home wild goats several times a week, if not daily. Cooked them sold the meat no one seemed to mind...

 

[kc5tpy]

Eric!  Case!  Long time no speak guys!  Good to hear from ya.

Well Chad; there it is.  Good luck with your hunting.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[thebig1]

Thanks fellas.  Danny, I just might see if someone around would do that for me, thanks for the idea.

Chad

 

[lennyluminum]

I live in fl and I hunt hogs year round and in my experience I have to disagree with the others on the taste of the hogs. This may just be a location based thing but I've found the all the wild pigs I harvest have a much stronger pork flavor. Not gamy at all just a very well defined pork flavor.

No as far as cost and bag limits fl is pretty good. We have tons of "raches" that offer paid hog hunts. Usually around $200- $400 depending on size. There is a guy in GA called hog swat he offers night hunts for $500 for all the hogs you can kill.

Fl has no bag limit on hogs and you don't need a license to hint them.

The meat can be used just like and store bought pork.
I make sausage and pulled pork I also cann it like you would with venison.

I have plenty in the freezer. I don't know how to ship something like that but if we can work it out I'd send you some.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[thebig1]

Thanks for the offer Lenny, I most certainly wouldn't say no but like you I wouldn't have the first clue on how to ship it.

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello Lenny.  Texas is pretty much the same ( or it was )  Wild and feral hogs are considered "vermin" and are destructive to farm land.  No license is needed and no bag limit ( or it was )  I have been out of it now for more than 20 years.  Trapping is also allowed.

I on the other hand have found "wild hogs"  "Russian boars"  "European wild hogs"; whatever the terminology to be a bit gamy.  It MAY be a location thing.  Cross breed those with feral hogs and you have some mighty fine meat indeed.

From my research all of the "wild hogs" in the U.S. are decendants of animals brought from Europe.  I could be wrong.  Have been before.  There IS a breed on some islands off the coast of the Carolinas.  They came from wild hogs from Spain and are said the only ones like them in the world.  Well in animal husbandry anytime you breed X animal to the SAME X animal and you get an EXACT copy of X animal with ZERO through backs;  You have created a new  "breed"( little more complicated ).  Like Santa Gertrudis cattle or Labradoodles.  Maybe these are the only TRUE North American breed of that sort of wild hog.  They are farmed on the island and sold for meat.

I went too far didn't I?  SORRY!  Shoot it!  Kill it first shot!  Skin it!  Smoke it or make pork and beef sausage!  Better?  

  Sorry guys.

Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[flatbroke]

Hunted hogs 2-3 times a week for years. the rank boars 3 inch teeth were pretty strong in taste. Sows were not too bad. We ended up only making sausage out of the younger boars and sows. We gave the hogs with 3 inch tusks and up (seems all our dogs would catch were these for a while) away to labor camps and or neighbors. After a few years the people at the labor camps would not take them anymore either.

 

[flatbroke]

Hunted hogs 2-3 times a week for years. the rank boars 3 inch teeth were pretty strong in taste. Sows were not too bad. We ended up only making sausage out of the younger boars and sows. We gave the hogs with 3 inch tusks and up (seems all our dogs would catch were these for a while) away to labor camps and or neighbors. After a few years the people at the labor camps would not take them anymore either.

we process our own sausage too. Always had a dedicated stand up freezer full at my house and and my brother in laws. I also have a stand up freezer dedicated to a half of beef as we raise our own. The sausage is great for get togethers and BBQ snacks