Hog Hunt

[wtilenw]

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I made it back in one piece. I used my TC hawken .54 with a green mtn. barrel. 80 grains Pyrodex Select behind a .530 round ball, my own patching and dry lube. First shot at about 35 yards hit at the point of the elbow on the right side and took out both lungs, broke the opposing front leg and stopped under the hide. The ball was flat and about the size of a quarter. The hog then ran out to about 70 yards and stopped broadside again. The second shot hit about 2 inches below the first and took out the heart. We didnt have a set of scales but estimated it at around 250 lbs. My family and I look forward to some great eating and I enjoyed a great hunt with my friends.
Idaho PRB

 

[Rebel]

Sounds like ya had a great hunt and a good time. What more could ya ask for. Congratualtions. Where were you hunting for the hogs? Sounds like fun.

 

[jgray]

Congratulations on the successful hunt. How was the California weather?

 

[shmrck1]

congrats on your hog and your hunt :applause: :master: :applause: :master: :applause:
snake-eyes eace: :thumbsup:

 

[wtilenw]

Rebel,
I was hunting in northern California near Redding. My buddy has a ranch there. Almost all of the hog hunting is done on private land. I guess the pressure pushes them there, along with the lure of cultivated crops. The weather was WET, WET, WET! There were times when 1" per hour came down.This was the third year I have gone down there in December/January and was invited to return next year. It's a good excuse to go see my Dad and my friends and the kids are on break from school then.
Idaho PRB

 

[KyFlintlock]

Nice job there Idaho! Someday, I hope to try that myself. Did you process him yourself too?

 

[Rebel]

I know where Redding is. Been there a few times. I lived in Klamath Falls, Or. area before we moved here to Sutherlin, near Roseburg in July last year. I know what ya mean about wet. Seems like all it does here is rain. ::

 

[wtilenw]

Yes, we processed it ourselves. I insist on doing all our game ourselves. I made the mistake of having a "Butcher" process some animals for me one year because I figured I was too busy and I ended up just giving the meat away. He didnt bone it or even trim the fat or "skin" off the meat that develops after they hang for awile. Just sawed through the quarters that I provided "as is". It was a terrible loss that I felt very quilty for and I havn't shirked the responsibility I feel I incur when I take an animal since. We soak the meat in a mild vinegar/water solution through 3 rinses before we wrap too and feel that that makes a huge difference in the taste of the meat. I will smoke the hocks for Ham & Beans and was fortunate to take a hog with a little bacon on it this time and will smoke that too. The rest was cut into roasts and the remainder I ground without spices for lasagne or breakfast patty's. Hmmmmmm? I must be hungry! I'm talking about FOOD.
Idaho PRB :hmm:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Sounds good to me. So, does wild hog taste like domestic pork and ham? Never had the pleasure, myself, but it's on the list of "Things To Do In This Lifetime." I was about ready to do a guided hunt just north of here . . . until I found out that the "range" was a fenced five acre woodlot. :hmm: I grew suspicious when almost every "hero shot" photograph in their brochure showed a glimpse of fence in the background.

I am fortunate to have a neighbor who cuts & wraps and does almost as good a job of butchering as I/we do ourselves. But then, it takes me six hours to do a deer to my satisfaction, and I can't make keilbasa like he does. Mmmmmmm.

 

[wtilenw]

Stumpkiller,
The hogs I have killed have been as good a pork as we have ever eaten. The roasts are white when cooked,coarse grained and very flavorful. When smoked, the ham hocks give no clue that they arent domestic.
Idaho PRB

 

[Dances With Coyotes]

Congrats :master: to you thats a nice hog,looks familiar though, :hmm: :hmm: I think you may have shot my ex-wife, :crackup: :crackup: Last week my uncle shot a small hog on our place with a 30-30 and I had the pleasure of helping him skin and gut it, I was looking forward to it as I had never done one before, I got a question though is there a trick to skinning it? It was really tough to skin, not as easy to skin as a deer. I'm itching to shoot one with one of my Hawkens.

 

[wtilenw]

MadJack,
I dont know an easy way to skin the hogs. Its all knife work, no pulling or peeling. When I was a kid, we raised a few hogs to sell and my Dad tells of "Hot skinning" says the pro he hired made it look easy. I dont know if that means when they dip the hogs in hot water and skive the hair off for roasting whole with skin on or if there is another tactic that may heat up the fat enough to pull the skin off? Maybe someone else here knows? By the way, the picture of my hog is no longer visible when I pull up this post. Is there a time limit that the pictures stay or is it just my browser?
Idaho PRB :hmm:

 

[jim gray]

It must be the browser. I can still see the picture.

 

[Rebel]

I can still see it too.

 

[wtilenw]

Its back. Weird. I logged out and came back later and there it was. Thanks People.
Idaho PRB

 

[CrackStock]

Good job on the hunt.

I have never taken one that large, but have taken many that were in the 120 to 150 range. All were very good eating.

About the scalding method, I know a guy that scalds the hair and then scrapes it off of hogs and then cooks them with the skin on. Seemed odd to me, but he says it is good. I still skin them though.

CS

 

Nice hog - should make a bunch of good chops. We shoot quite a few here and have a couple of ways to clean them. The fancy way is to build a steel or wood tripod and put a come-along at the top with a couple hooks at the bottom. You start the peel at one end and put a rock in the hide with a rope around the knot then crank away on the come-along (the legs are over the hooks at the hock tendons). The hide will peel right off with only a little cutting. A deer done this way will skin inside-out like a glove. These rigs are for permanent hunting camps or where the volume is high.

I don't have this setup so I hang them head down, split the skin down the spine and the belly then take it off in two pieces. This helps you handle the gristle plate on the front of the hog. You can skin and boil the head if you want as the jowls and other meat can be shredded for tamales, barbacoa or meat loaf. Wild pig is a little leaner than domestic but quite tasty. There ain't much better than a little 30-50 pound pig cooked whole on a pit - either a BBQ style or in the earth. The country people here often dig a hole and cook it in the ground on coals.

Be careful with the bladder and entrails when cleaning as they are more likely to taint the meat than on a deer. We split the pelvis with a saw before removing the inside parts. A friend of mine is so careful about this that he ties a plastic baggie onto the male organs with a zip-tie so they do not leak while being removed. If you are a sausage maker, the small intestines and colon can be saved and washed for casings.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[WV-Rocklock]

I've never taken a wild hog but have skinned quite a few farm hogs. We used to hang em and cut the hide from top down in strips about 3 or 4 inches wide, then skinned the hog strip by strip. Worked pretty good.

 

[Joel Lehman]

That's a nice hog. Wild hogs are leaner that domestic hogs because they roam around at a fast pace. On my deer lease the hogs trot from feeder to feeder. They are smart and react to hunting pressure by feeding at night. Last year we saw dozens of javalinas and only three hogs. This year we have not seen any javalinas. Apparently the hogs have run them off. I would much rather clean a hog. It certainly takes a sharp knife.

Joel Lehman

 

[Blue Smoke]

Looks like fun :thumbsup:.Me and my Son was suppose to go look for Pigs this last weekend but the roads were a mess. :shake:

Blue Smoke