What Gender And Size Of Hog Has The Best Meat?
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Tom Matiska
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Hormone levels in adult males can taint the taste of the meat. Females or younger ales are best. Older males should be cut few weeks before slaughter, which isn't easily done to wild hogs. Some opinion here.
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2005/11/11/to-cut-or-not/
They aren't that easy to sex. Last year a local hunting preserve gave me a deal on a older "female" that wasn't breeding that turned out to be a castrated male. They forgot more about hogs than I know and got it wrong. Some pics on pages 10-11 of this pdf give you a clue what to look for.
http://www.pigs.org/book.pdf
edited to correct typo
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2005/11/11/to-cut-or-not/
They aren't that easy to sex. Last year a local hunting preserve gave me a deal on a older "female" that wasn't breeding that turned out to be a castrated male. They forgot more about hogs than I know and got it wrong. Some pics on pages 10-11 of this pdf give you a clue what to look for.
http://www.pigs.org/book.pdf
edited to correct typo
Last edited:
Saltydog235
New member
Lots of variables determine what a hog tastes like. Hormones play a big part in it as does size. However a major player in all of them is what their diet is. If they are feeding off of agricultural crops and corn they'll tend to taste better than those living and feeding in a pine forest or deep swamp. Bo hogs tend to get rank the older and bigger they are.
I shoot and eat a lot of hogs here and I would say there is no one correct answer. I've seen 100 lb. sows that I wouldn't feed to my dogs yet ate and enjoyed 200 lb. boars.
The main thing is to kill your hogs quickly so the animal doesn't have big load of fight or flight chemicals in the muscle. We always head shoot our hogs to put them down immediately. Second, fat hogs will be tastier than skinny ones. Third, process the animal as quickly as possible. In the summer I want the animal harvested, processed and in ice within 2 hours at most. In the winter you can go 4-5 hours without problem. Finally, soak your hog in some kind of brine solution for couple days. I normally change the solution every day and keep it soaking for 3-4 days until it stops bleeding out.
In general a fat sow of about 150lb. or less is best to eat.
The main thing is to kill your hogs quickly so the animal doesn't have big load of fight or flight chemicals in the muscle. We always head shoot our hogs to put them down immediately. Second, fat hogs will be tastier than skinny ones. Third, process the animal as quickly as possible. In the summer I want the animal harvested, processed and in ice within 2 hours at most. In the winter you can go 4-5 hours without problem. Finally, soak your hog in some kind of brine solution for couple days. I normally change the solution every day and keep it soaking for 3-4 days until it stops bleeding out.
In general a fat sow of about 150lb. or less is best to eat.
THe determining factors for me are how fast they hit the ground, and how fast they hit the ice.
Push either of those and you end up with gamey pork no matter how big they are. That said the bigger they are, faster everything else needs to happen.
I have had some that bumped 400# that were excellent, and some that were 30 ruined my supper. I just learned as I went and found the faster I can drop them which isn't always in my favor, and the faster I can get them dressed out and on ice or in the freezer the better they eat and I don't pass on many at all.
Push either of those and you end up with gamey pork no matter how big they are. That said the bigger they are, faster everything else needs to happen.
I have had some that bumped 400# that were excellent, and some that were 30 ruined my supper. I just learned as I went and found the faster I can drop them which isn't always in my favor, and the faster I can get them dressed out and on ice or in the freezer the better they eat and I don't pass on many at all.
balderclev
New member
+1 Mike
Also...I seldom keep boars I kill unless under 60 lbs. On the other hand, I've eaten wild boars upwards of 300 lbs that were fine. All of them head shot and butchered with a couple of hours on cold days. Don't really know what the clue is.
I keep my quartered animals on ice for at least 3 days, adding ice and draining water. Then I cut up the meat and soak it for at least 2 days in brine in the fridge.
Then I can grind or freeze. I vacuum pack ground and freeze all other meat in water. Lasts for a couple of years.
Also...I seldom keep boars I kill unless under 60 lbs. On the other hand, I've eaten wild boars upwards of 300 lbs that were fine. All of them head shot and butchered with a couple of hours on cold days. Don't really know what the clue is.
I keep my quartered animals on ice for at least 3 days, adding ice and draining water. Then I cut up the meat and soak it for at least 2 days in brine in the fridge.
Then I can grind or freeze. I vacuum pack ground and freeze all other meat in water. Lasts for a couple of years.
Oh don't get me wrong, the small ones "usually" are more tender, and can have a better taste overall. That said, depending on what any of them are eating at the particular time of year can and does have a big influence on the taste as well. In the river bottoms when the pecans are dropping, most any of them have a great flavor. If the acorns are dropping and they are on them they can also be good, but sometimes not, and they taste just like a mashed up wet acorns smells. When the neighboring places over by my friends property have the corn growing, MAN O MAN they get right then. But if they are rooting around in the muddy bottoms and not on anything that can sweeten them up, well they can taste just like the much they have been rooting in.
On my property they have been sweetened up by my corn and protein feeders which run most of the year. Even the bigger ones tend to have a good flavor. If I drop the corn though they get pretty rank pretty fast, and tend to taste like that sandy loam smells.
fatwhiteboy
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fatwhiteboy
New member
Crap- hold on, let me fix that. Still working on it...