Author Topic: Best eating size... (Read 2429 times)

Land_Owner · « **on:** June 25, 2007, 06:33:44 AM »

...Saturday morning I got three brothers...1 red-gray...1-chocolate brown...1-light brown...each weighing approximately 75 pounds.

Six hams, six shoulders, six short ribs, and six long cut ribs later and we've got some good eating pork.

These were the first I have shot with my .30-.30 Marlin 336. Usually I let the kids take her out. Saturday I took her out and she was a good "date". All single shot kills and no chasing.

Surprisingly, one of the three factory Winchester 150 grain bullets separated upon impact with either the rib or backbone as two exit holes were made on one of the boars...1 on the off shoulder...the 2nd just forward of the off side HAM (through the guts)!

Zachary · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2007, 09:51:05 AM »

Generally speaking, up to 75 pounds or so is a "good eating" hog.

However, it should also be noted that various factors play a part in this. What I am trying to say is that a 100 pound hog may be better than a 75 or smaller hog. Why? It depends on the following: what they eat.

There are hogs that eat very well - meaning crops of good wild product, such as corn, etc. We have all heard of corn-beef. Well, I have eaten hogs that munch all around corn fields and their meat does taste better and seems softer than those that eat crap. I also know that wild hogs sometimes come within livestock such as cattle, and eat the nutrient enriched food (aka expensive food) that farmers have in bins for the cattle to eat.

In short, you can have two 75 pound pigs, and one may be much better tasting than the other - it just depends on what they eat.

So what is/are the primary food sources in the area that you shot your hogs?

BTW, good job on shootin' 3 pigs in one day!

Zachary

Land_Owner · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2007, 10:15:29 AM »

They were empty and hungry. Their small intestines were empty and clear. I mean totally EMPTY. Usually they eat a lot of palmetto shoots, other green vegetation, grubs, earthworms and dirt. They like my fields for grubbing too. These three had NONE of that in them. They were "clean" and not full of dirt. They had come for the small amount of corn that my feeder places for wildlife. There were nine squirrels, four coons and one hen turkey eating furiously prior to the hogs' arrival. When they left in a hurry, I knew something bigger was "in the house".

Graybeard · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2007, 11:01:29 AM »

I realize it is popular to say that one size or another is best or good and other sizes over some arbitrary number is not good to eat but honestly I don't buy into that theory. I've eaten wild hogs in size from pretty darn small all the way to well over the limit most everyone says is not good eating. ALL were uniformly good eating.

Now I've NOT eaten one chased and fought by dogs as I'm not really into that type of hunting. Any animal taken for food that is pumped full of adrenalin is gonna be less tasty and more gamey than if taken unaware and not having gotten pumped full of adrenalin. Thus one shot and which runs away a good distance before dying is unlikely to taste as good as one taken cleanly with a single shot that dropped it on the spot. Again I've eaten hogs taken both ways and that seems to bare out in reality.

If we assume all hogs over say 100-150 pounds are not good to eat then we're saying that 100% of the hogs sold as food in stores is not good. I'd beg to differ on that. So is it only wild hogs that over some size aren't good then? Nope I don't think so.

I do think that the diet of any animal is going to have an effect on the taste of their meat and that plays a much larger role I think in how it tastes than the actual size of the animal. Whether it got pumped full of adrenalin plays an equal or larger role in the taste as well and also the toughness of the meat. The more active an animal the larger the muscles and suppossedly at least the tougher the muscle tissues should become. A sedentary life helps and an active one hurts the tenderness of meat but I kinda doubt it plays that big a role in the taste. How you cook the meat also plays a large role in both the tenderness and taste.

I think we're kidding ourselves to say one size is good and a somewhat larger is bad in taste. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

SwampThing762 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2007, 01:55:24 PM »

Land Owner,

Great work for one day. I have a question for you. I will ask via PM so as not to hijack the thread.

ST762

379 Peterbilt · « **Reply #5 on:** June 27, 2007, 07:20:14 PM »

The last hog I shot was in mid May, here in Wisconsin. He dressed out at 110#. He was unaware of my presence and unspooked when I shot him using my 338 Win Mag w/225 gr accubond. Lights out right now, no stress from running off hurt.

This boar is EXCELENT tablefare.

S_J_KENNELS · « **Reply #6 on:** June 28, 2007, 01:43:08 PM »

I have ate all size hogs and personally I like the ones in the 125 pounds or less range. Preferably sows. As we have had some rank boars of all sizes. ALso it depends on what the hogs are eating at that time.

BRUTE · « **Reply #7 on:** June 28, 2007, 06:28:01 PM »

As a wild hog gets older it gets tougher... as with any animal that is not pen raised and fed out in a feed lot.

Pigs at the store live in small areas with plenty of water and food near by... no mating. They can get 200lbs and be tender.

Wild hogs because of their diet, fighting, roaming for food and water, and mating get tough very quickly. By the time they reach 150lbs they are well used and stressed.

With that being said... and size hog,, boar or sow,, can be cooked to taste the same in the right hands. The larger stinky boar hogs just need a little more attention and preparation. Your 50-125lb sows are the easiest to get tender,, non-gamy meat from.

Zachary · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2007, 05:32:33 AM »

As a follow-up to my previous post, my parents prepared the estimated 150 pound hog that we shot last week or so. I'm not sure exactly how they prepared it. They took the rear quarters, seasoned it on top, make some cuts in the meat and put in some fresh garlic, and after other things that they did, put it in the bbq grille outside for about 3 to 4 hours.

Let me tell you, the meat was absolutely delicious and tender. Was it as tender as a smaller hog? Well, not really, but it was still very tender. All of our guests (we had a mini party) were raving how great it was.

It should also be noted that when we cleaned the hog, it had quite a bit of fat on it, so it was a healthy hog that was apparently eating very well. Unlike deer, but like beef, pork has a higher percentage of fat infused in the meat. So I guess that we kinda forgot to directly discuss (unless I missed it) that the fatter the hog, probably the better tasting and more tender it will be.

I think that I'm gonna have to make some more time to go out to my friend's place and shoot another hog real soon! Mmmmmm Mmmmmm! I just love hog hunting! (and eating!)

Zachary

BRUTE · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2007, 01:38:05 PM »

Ya we ran dogs this weekend at a buddies. Its around 2200 acres. We killed a 150lb boar hog real close to the MULE so we cut a hind quarter out and took it with us to Bar-B-Q. Cut it thin into slices, onions, seasoning, 1000 Island, ect.. wrapped it in foil and on the pit it went. Throw it in some tortillas with some mustard...

alsaqr · « **Reply #10 on:** July 29, 2007, 02:31:07 AM »

"I do think that the diet of any animal is going to have an effect on the taste of their meat and that plays a much larger role I think in how it tastes than the actual size of the animal."

Totally agree with you on this. i killed a hog in Garvin county, OK. Field dressed, he pegged the 350 pound scales. That hog had been eating under someone's feeder, apparently for a very long time. At the time i got him he was full of corn and wild plums. Gave most of the meat away. Big mistake, it was very good.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #11 on:** July 29, 2007, 02:53:07 AM »

In the late Summer and early Fall (just before deer season) the wild grapes begin to ripen here and fall from the vines. The ones the hogs can't reach on the vine they eat off of the ground. In the hot Florida weather grapes ferment quickly. Once before I killed three brothers of similar size that had been eating their fill of fermented grapes. They were pretty "punch drunk" when they came in to feed. I dispatched them quickly and when gutting found them marinated "on the hoof". That was some of the BEST meat I ever ate.

emsemt911 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 11, 2007, 03:53:59 PM »

I have shot hogs up to 325 and they tasted great. One rule: If I can tell it is a bore, I try not to shoot one over 225. I find large boars have a strong taste.

rickt300 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 12, 2007, 04:37:43 AM »

I kill 5-10 hogs a year and butcher all except for the boars that smell like boiled piss or that have been rolling in or eating some sort of rotten animal. I have never killed and eaten a sow that wasn't good table fare and the last big one I took was just around 275 pounds. All this said I prefer feral hog to deer most of the time.

wsmitty01 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 15, 2007, 04:44:13 AM »

I killed a 90 pound sow a couple of months ago. It might have been run that day, as we ran a bunch of hogs from the buggy along the fence line trying to get a good pistol shot. The sow I shot larer that day was laying under a palmetto and didn't flinch when shot. That sow was the worse tasting chunk of meat I ever ate,,no matter what I did to it. Ended thowing it all away...maybe she was sick or one of the pigs run that morning, but I never tasted anything as rank as that. And we've killed a lot of hogs off that ranch that tasted great. Never can tell till you get it in the cooker!!

pastorp · « **Reply #15 on:** October 20, 2007, 04:28:55 PM »

When I was growing up in Florida we would catch all the little boars we could and castrate them. Best when they reached about 100-125 lbs IMO.

We did not kill the sows back then, only the small boars and barrels of any size.

Graybeard the reason the store pork is good is not only diet. The boars are also cut when very small. Regards, Byron

Wynn · « **Reply #16 on:** October 30, 2007, 05:20:29 PM »

Well, my buddy and I harvested a pretty good combo of hogs this evening. I dropped a 160 lb boar in his tracks with a heart/lung, quartering shot and my friend dropped a 30 lb boar with a head shot. We will grind up the big one for sausage and Bar B Que the small one at the lease this weekend. They have been feeding on citrus pulp and acorns. The pulp tends to be a natural wormer to the extent that we feed it to our cattle in the winter. In my experience, pulp fed hogs are good eating.

hawkenman · « **Reply #17 on:** October 31, 2007, 09:37:02 AM »

I prefer a sow between 75 and 100 lbs.. Or a Barr or some say barow of any size. In this small hamlet of Florida I haven't yet found someone who will eat boar hog. I've tried the small boars with success, between 50 and 75 lbs.

alsaqr · « **Reply #18 on:** November 02, 2007, 10:18:09 AM »

"I find large boars have a strong taste."

Some of them do have: i would not eat any kind of hog that has been chased with dogs and then immediately killed. i have killed two Russian boars that field dressed over 300 pounds. The meat of both was good. One was very old, he may have reached the end of his sexually active life.

Get their testicles off ASAP. It really helps a lot if you wash the field dressed hog both inside and out. We also wrap the hog in black plastic and keep him packed with ice over night. Much of the smell goes away when the animal is packed in ice.

STUMPJMPR · « **Reply #19 on:** December 26, 2007, 07:00:33 AM »

I will shoot a sow up to 250lbs any bigger than that i will pass...not because of bad taste just because it is too big for me to handle....All of the sows i have shot have been good....I'll shoot a boar up to 75 lbs before they really mature. Once they mature when you cook them they smell like boiled piss as someone posted...i did eat one that was about 15lbs lol...it was excellent on the grill

deernhog · « **Reply #20 on:** December 26, 2007, 04:14:26 PM »

I have eaten all sizes, but a 40-50 pound gilt butterflied over a open fire of oak and hickory and then cooked slow was one of the best. I use the sausage for everything and the most so size is usually not a problem.
The smaller ones are just easier and quicker to butcher for me.

rickt300 · « **Reply #21 on:** December 27, 2007, 04:45:06 AM »

I shot one last January that was so big I couldn't lift his head off the ground for pictures. Then after a big struggle I find my camera is froze up! Absolutly no way Way I going to butcher him as the Boiled piss smell was so bad on me for trying to position him I smelled it on my gloves all the way home and they were in a plastic bag in my pack.