Do un-castrated boars taste bad!

[cnh1294]

I have heard some farmers/hunters  trap,castrate and release young boars for future harvesting .And that this is done to remove the testosterone or something from the meat which cuts down on the gamey taste of boars. Is there any truth to this?

 An what is your experience with boar meat--

Thanks,
cnh1294

[Graybeard]

What they've been eating and what stress they were under just before death has much more impact than whether castrated or not. Chase them a long time with dogs and they will be full of adrenaline and not taste as good as if taken by surprise. A quick kill also helps the taste.

[Redhawk1]

Have to agree with Graybeard on that.

[ras308]

I have eaten small and large boars up to 300+ pounds, sometimes the small ones are too strong to eat, I feel it has more to do with whether or not they are breeding sows.  You will be able to tell whether they will be too strong to eat by the time you get w/i 10 or 15 feet of them!!!  It helps to leave them in the ice chest for 3 to 4 days, just keep draining the water off and adding more ice.  Hogs will breed at any time, but it will normally be focused around 2 different times of the year with the majority being born in late winter and early spring, with this said, most hogs in our area are breeding in late summer and early winter.  Regardless of how strong they smell, I have yet to waste one, someone will always take them.  I just do not believe in shooting something and letting it lay.

[pinduck]

It has been my experience that uncastrated hogs certainly will give off an unpleasant smell when cooking the meat, has a stale urine smell, however will not usually affect the taste. Best thing to do is cook the meat with onions or garlic and make some kind of italian dish of it. I grew up on a farm and we butchered usually 3-4 hogs each year, sometimes you could get this smell from one the old timers said" wasn't cut close enough" when castrating.

[victorcharlie]

This I know for certain........put enough tabasco on it and you can eat anything.......I never would have made it 18 months in China with out plenty of tabasco.........Another lesson learned is......if your hungry...eat....if you ain't....shut up and let the rest of us eat........this is a don't ask, don't tell thing...........
 
Seriously, Slowly roasting a small hog over hickory coals, and a good bar-b-que sauce is my favorite way of doing a hog........used to do one every forth of july........an old amy bunk works great for cooking a small hog on...........I think the biggest factor is the age and size of the hog......... I'm sure that running a hog with dogs would really get the hogs blood pumping so I'd agree that a quick kill would be a little better as well......
 
Now, about them Rocky Mountian Ostyers..........

[Wynn]

Uncastrated boars live for 4 things. Eating, sleeping, fighting and ..... well, you can figure the last one out for yourselves. Remove the last one and you will minimize the fighting and that just leaves eating and sleeping. The smell of a uncastrated boar can be so strong that a good hunter will always be alert for it. I have detected more than one laying up in a Palmetto thicket snoozing just yards away. The slightest noise or scent will alert them and they are gone and so are any others with him. I usually just stay put and wait em out.

I tried frying some sausage off one that someone had given me and I ended up pitching it out the back door and leaving through the front until the stink was out. On the other hand, I have taken 300 pounders that the "Boar" taste and smell was undetectable. I agree that food source, stress and ..... are the determining factors.

[beerswimmer]

I just go by weight.  Around 100-120lbs tops for a boar.  After that they get the urine taste.  Any boars over that just get made into sausage.

[Mad Dog]

I killed a 230 lb. pure russian boar, last weekend.  I guessed him to be about2 yrs. old because of the teeth size.  The meat is absolutely the best of all the hogs I have killed.  And yes, he still had his nuts.

Mad Dog

[TomD]

I agree with beerswimmer. We eat all the parts of the boar up to about 140lb'r. We make ground meat outta the 140lb to 225lb boars. We feed the dogs with the trophys...minus the mount.

You'll know your on the trail of a boar when your down wind and that musky smell curls your nose hairs...thats when the fun begins.

[Chiefgriz]

My friend kills and eats feral hogs quite a bit. He said that the most important thing about preparing the hog is to keep it iced, drain every day until the liquid is clear. Normally takes about a week to drain clear. This is for anysize or gender if you want to get the wild taste out. On the other hand, if a quick kill is made and the hogs have been feasting on your corn for awhile, wild taste is not usually a problem if eaten soon after the kill.

[elmer]

I have killed four hogs. All males. All uncastrated. They ranged from 175 to 200 lbs. We prepared the meat in the crock pot, smoked them, grilled them, or baked them (depending upon the cut of meat) and it was all good.

A coworker's husband went we me last February and his hog was just like mine and they had some of the meat made into brats. Yum! Yum!

I believe the key to it was:

1. They all were killed instantly with one shot to either the head (straight into the ear) or just behind and below the ear.

2. I was careful not to cut the guts, bladder, or musk gland while cleaning.

3. The meat was kept in ice / water for 4 or 5 days. I drained most of the water and added ice until the water was fairly clear.

[elmer]

The last tip should have been.

3. The meat was kept in ice / water for 4 or 5 days. I drained most of the water and added ice daily until the water was fairly clear.

[Chiefgriz]

I talked to my neices husband whos grandfather trapped a bunch of hogs for eating and sold them to outfitters. He said they would always castrate the small bores and release them. Dont know how much it helped with the taste, but I can assure you it doesnt hurt it.

[PEPAW]

Yes, this is common.    On one ranch they clip the tails so the best eating hog is easily identifiable in the herd.

We don't eat the boars any more.   We have no shortage of feral hogs in TX and I always pick a sow for the freezer.    That meat is excellant and does not have to be camoflauged by cooking or spices.

FYI I always make head shots whenever possible on unalerted boars and they still stunk up the house when cooked.  

pepaw

[Lawdog]

What they've been eating and what stress they were under just before death has much more impact than whether castrated or not. Chase them a long time with dogs and they will be full of adrenaline and not taste as good as if taken by surprise. A quick kill also helps the taste.

Totally agree.  We put six to eight in the freezer every year, great eating.  Lawdog

[rockbilly]

We have shot some, and have trapped some and fed them out before butchering.  It makes a world of difference in taste to trap and feed them out.  One local butcher does and excellent job with wild hogs, his sausage and hams are excellent.  I guess its the mesquite smoke that does the trick.  But I have had some that the dogs wouldn't even eat.

As for cutting hogs, just pull the "nads" down and put a rubber band above them, they cease to be after a short period.  We use to do that to all our boars, had a tool to stretch the rubber that actually looked more like a 'O" ring seal than a rubber band.