processing a boar... need some expertise here please

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hipoint

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I was just given a mature male potbelly pig, pretty good size, I have no way to guesstimate the weight but if I had to, I'd say 100 pounds. Pretty sure he's "intact" meaning uncut. He looks like a wild boar and my guess is his meat will be similar.

I've processed at least a hundred deer in my time, but never once a pig on the hoof.

Being a mature male, will the fat be usable or will it be very "strong" tasting? Any special considerations as far as glands I need to know about? Should I age the meat like I do deer meat in an iced cooler for a couple of days?

thanks in advance :)
 
The way my daddy used to do it on the farm was:
1. Shoot the hog between the eyes with a .22 rifle.
2. Cut it's throat as soon as you can step in and do it..
3. Then hang it in a tree & gut it so it will completely bleed out while the blood is warm enough to drain out.

rc
 
I would keep him around, but the trouble is if he sets foot on this farm alive, the better half will turn him into a pet :uhoh:

if he shows up here dead, no issue :D

I'm mainly curious if I need to do anything "special" since it's a mature male pig as opposed to a deer, the farm he's coming from is only about a mile away so I'm not too worried about getting him home in time, and I guess I could butcher it there, but I think that's why they aren't butchering him, is that he's their pet...

they know full well I plan to kill/eat him though haha, not taking a pet under false pretences.
 
Well, it seems you are in a dilemma!

A hog you chase around and load in a truck and haul home will not be good eating until he calms down and gets all the adrenaline out of his system the next day or two.

On the other hand, your wife will have named him by then, and probably letting him sleep in your bed while you sleep on the couch..

What to do??

What to do??

rc
 
haha, they don't have an issue with me shooting him onsite, and probably ok to butcher there as well, but I'd rather butcher here.

I had thought about giving him a treat to occupy himself with while I do the deed.

He's not too big to load after dead, so no worries there, I know the rule of thumb to load a hog before you shoot it if they're big.

I reckon I'll just go on over there, pop him in the head and chuck him in the truck, shouldn't be 5 minutes after he's loaded until I can get him hanging. I'll just wing it, maybe I'll keep the fat separate from the meat until I know if it's gonna be too strong or not. I'm only thinking that might happen because in the deer I butcher, it's the fat that holds alot of the gamey flavor.
 
Still, I'd pop him and cut his throat ASAP to get all the blood you can drained out of him.

Once that is done, you got plenty of time to get him home and dressed.

rc
 
Like was mentioned, make sure his adrenaline is not up when you kill him and get him hung up and blood draining ASAP. I would let him soak in an ice bath for a few days. Look on the hams between the muscles, there is a small bean looking gland that should be cut out, if eaten will be very bitter. Probably be very fatty so should be good in the smoker/grill or however you plan to cook him.
 
this bean looking gland you refer to being between the hams, are you talking in the same general area as the testicles or is it somewhere else?
 
this bean looking gland you refer to being between the hams, are you talking in the same general area as the testicles or is it somewhere else?

Roughly in the center (back) of the hind quarter (one per hind quarter), it is just a lymph node. You'll find them also in the neck muscles near the bones there.

You can remove them if you like, but they are not 'musk glands' or anything else particularly noxious.
 
boar pigs to me are treated like this. I blead them skin them and smell the meat. If it doesnt stick like piss i bone it off and grind sausage meat.
 
I SURE wouldn't be trying to make meat out of an uncut hog..........at least a mature one that looks like he describes it.

Cut the thing, feed him corn and wait till he fattens up.....pop him in the head with a .22. Hang him by his nose and strip skin him........ie: wash the intact carcass with a fairly strong water stream to get all the mud/sand/grit off that you can.....using a common razor carpet knife cut around the head...just under skin level....at the ears. Make vertical full length cuts about 2 to 4 inches wide from that initial cut to the extremities. pull each strip off separately. Have a 5 gallon bucket under the hog during this process and when you've skinned him open the body cavity and roll all the intestines into that bucket. You can then quarter the animal and finish butcher as you will...............absolutely the quickest and easiest way to dress a porker I have ever seen.
 
I'm no expert but some people are making this more complicated than need be in my humble opionion. I've cleaned several hogs (all of them feral) and just skin/gut/quarter just like a deer. Nothing special about the process.
 
^^^^^^^^^^

What he said. I just skin 'em and get the backstraps and leg quarters. The larger boars wind up as sausage because their meat is usually tough, but I have yet to throw one away.
 
I agree with the last 3, and the ferals we get here taste just like what you buy at the store. I have never hung or aged the meat and never would given the dangers associated with undercooked pork. Can't say i've ever eaten one of those potbelly pigs people keep as pets though... interested to hear if it's any different for you.

The adrenaline thing has me interested, i've eaten plenty of pigs caught with dogs when I was younger and never noticed anything different? It's not exactly a stress-free way to go...
 
I've never eaten a wild hog that wasn't harassed by dogs or upset by me and every one of them was tough and close to inedible unless I made them into sausage. These were not trapped, fed up, hogs.

In my experience, these free-range hogs are a nice diversion but not even a decent alternate choice for a good meal.
 
Patocazador said:
I've never eaten a wild hog that wasn't harassed by dogs or upset by me and every one of them was tough and close to inedible unless I made them into sausage. These were not trapped, fed up, hogs.

In my experience, these free-range hogs are a nice diversion but not even a decent alternate choice for a good meal.

This is a pot belly pig we're talking about, probably someone's pet they no longer wanted. Most likely hand fed like any other house pet like a cat or dog.

One of the reasons feral hogs are on the tough side is that they have to be very active to get enough nutrition to survive. The stuff they eat in the wild doesn't put fat on them like a domestic pen raised hog. Fat/marbling is a natural meat tenderizer. To add to that they are usually always on the move, being hunted and shot at which makes them run more. They are creatures of opportunity and will eat whatever they can find and will turn to being a omnivore when conditions warrant. I actually think genetics play a role in it too as they simply don't add weight like domestic swine does when pen raised and fed a good diet. I have known some folks that trap them and feed them for several months with less than effective results.


One of the biggest problems we have here in Texas is that many folks in suburban areas feed deer in their back yards with corn and then complain when hogs find it and start tearing up the yards. They are not stupid and will eat as much as they can.

Oh well I am ranting now, peace out


OP, I guess you'll need to kill the pot belly pig and butcher it and then let us all know how it turns out!
 
I've never cut a hog but my thought is treat it as any other animal but cut a piece off to cook quick if its good continue but if its tough chunk and grind
 
haha, well, guess I'm gonna go skin porky today... it got put off, but I can't put it off any longer. we'll see how this goes...

and regards to the protective equipment, some may call me a weenie, but I always wear exam gloves and whatever else I feel I need when I skin any critter. Trichina worms are no joke!
 
and regards to the protective equipment, some may call me a weenie, but I always wear exam gloves and whatever else I feel I need when I skin any critter. Trichina worms are no joke!

If you're a weenie for wearing gloves, then so am I. I always wear nitrile gloves when cleaning hogs.
 
well, mr. piggy is on ice now, too worn out to butcher it the rest of the way this evening, besides I have a butcher coming to help me do the nitpicky stuff.

He's quartered into hams and shoulders with an intact carcass all on ice, didn't remove the backstraps yet.

Lessons learned....

I need better knives and butchering equipment! My regular knives are all fine for deer, but I dulled 3 knives doing this guy.

Pig poop smells worse than deer poop, but other than that they don't stink as bad as a deer does... wonder why?

Blazer brass cased semi jacketed hollow point 158 grain .357 magnum is a pretty crappy round... first shot was between the eyes and about 2 inches high, he didn't get up again but he didn't die either, had to do another one behind the ear and neither of them passed through at point blank range.

That "shoulder armor" I've heard about is no joke, that's some pretty tough stuff there!

pigs kidneys like to hide from you, nearly missed them.

lastly, they're not really like cleaning a deer at all, I'll clean a deer any day over a pig hahaha

thanks for the help guys! also, turns out he was actually neutered so no issue there. he died happy, I gave thanks and I'm sure he'll make good meat for us this winter...
 
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