My son constructed a pig trap at the ranch and it works well. Inaugural harvest was a big fat sow and a bunch of younger ones. The sow we cleaned and the rest are feeding the coyotes and buzzards in the woods.

Since it seems like we will be eating a lot more wild pork in the future I figured I'd ask for some ideas and recipes. This one will be pulled pork, chops, and pan sausage but I bet the OB has a lot of other great ideas.

TIA!

To be honest, I think you may find that hogs caught in a trap are not nearly as good as ones (sows/piglets) you shoot. Pork that is highly stressed prior to slaughter develops an "off-taste", and feral hogs that spend a few hours in a trap are highly stressed. Even little striped pigs develops this off-taste. Sure, with enough heat, smoke, and seasoning you might be able to mask this offensive taste somewhat, but those with sensitive palates will often be able to pick it up. Best eating comes from very young, or females killed quickly without much stress.

Www.thehogbook.com

My personal favorite is about 140-180 grains of copper in the ear hole. A dash of dirt and plenty of abundant sunshine.

Salt, pepper, mesquite has always been my go to.

Here's my "go to" recipe for wild pigs.

Start a fire with oak logs. Dig a pit large enough to contain the pig. Place several large stones on the fire. Once the stones get hot, place them in the bottom of the pit. Next place the pig on the stones and cover with the dirt.
Walk away and don't look back. Crack a beer, start the grill and cook a nice steak for dinner.
Note this method does not require skinning or gutting the pig.

Reminds me of a friend's comment when I shot a hog in south Texas. I asked him how to clean it. He answered, "I don't know, the coyotes always clean mine."

Feral hogs really can be good eats if one takes these things into consideration.

1. Realize it doesn't taste like domestic pork, but nonetheless is good in its own right.
2. Boars, even ones only a few months old, should probably be avoided unless the meat is more needed than desired.
3. Avoid any hogs that are stressed prior to death (such as those trap harvested, chased with dogs, or wounded and tracked for extended period of time). Instant or near instant death preferred.
4. Dressed in clean and timely manner much as you would other game.
5. Long term aging is not necessary as with red meat.

OP, as you can already see, you'll get many varying opinions, including mine, on hog as table fare.

Generally, hog tastes better than venison.

Boars, even the bigger ones, that don't have an external stink will eat up pretty good.

Boars, especially the bigger ones, may be tough on some of the unprocessed cuts of meat. But grind it into burger and/or chili, you're good to go.

I tend to keep things simple for ribs (love the ribs), hams, loins, and shoulders. Grill or smoke over mesquite, live oak or a combination of both. In my opinion you can't go wrong here.

Granted, some may not care for the taste of feral hog.

That being said, there are a lot out there who haven't eaten them and will jump on the coyote bait train, well, because it's convenient. Or, and probably more common, they are too lazy to bother pulling the meat from them once they shoot one because the cold Coors Light is waiting back at camp.

Cube steaks and follow the recipe of Denver green chili. We also have round steaks tenderized for CFS. Pan sausage at your preferred processing spot is great too. Guess I'm not the norm but we have always enjoyed our hogs along with our venison. Eaten several over the years and has been fine. Maybe the fact they are almost corn fed and from the hill country helps.

Deep hole.

worcestershire sauce and fajita seasoning. Cook on the grill or smoke it. Anything under 100 lbs is great and trapped may not be as good but still great. I will say that I only keep them in the winter and they've been well fed from the feeders.

I also will fry up the backstrap. I'll add a little sage too.

I think it is better than most wild game but I just hate messing with them when it is hot outside.

I love wild hogs and so does our family! Boars under 80lbs and sows less than 130-140 are my go to.

Only thing I don't love about them is cleaning them… they're the animal I wear gloves cleaning though.

I, and most of my extended family, enjoy wild hog cooked various ways, but most often as BBQ, I have not noticed any difference in trapped, versus shot, meat quality, but I do stick to the smaller (<120lbs, usually 60-80#), when trapped. And at that weight range, boars and sows seem equal.
As mentioned earlier, if a boar hog stinks, it does not get processed....learned that the hard way. Some swear they can make it palatable, too many hogs to deal with that!
Biggest challenge for us to process "shot" hogs, is they are 99% nocturnal, so deciding to skip processing at 11pm is real common....
Two weeks ago I trapped an unlucky 66 lb sow (camera showed a group of 9-10), zero issues with meat quality.

I have made this recipe several times. Never had any complaints from anyone I've fed it to

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I love wild hogs and so does our family! Boars under 80lbs and sows less than 130-140 are my go to.

Only thing I don't love about them is cleaning them… they're the animal I wear gloves cleaning though.

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That hide will dull a knife faster than anything else I've seen.

+ 1 for the hog book

ConfidentAg said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I love wild hogs and so does our family! Boars under 80lbs and sows less than 130-140 are my go to.

Only thing I don't love about them is cleaning them… they're the animal I wear gloves cleaning though.

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That hide will dull a knife faster than anything else I've seen.

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Always thought about making some moccasin boots with hog shoulder skin.

SanAntoneAg said:

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Granted, some may not care for the taste of feral hog.

That being said, there are a lot out there who haven't eaten them and will jump on the coyote bait train, well, because it's convenient. Or, and probably more common, they are too lazy to bother pulling the meat from them once they shoot one because the cold Coors Light is waiting back at camp.

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This is true, but there are also a lot of folks who end up with an off-flavor experience on their first experience with eating feral hogs and swear off wild hog meat thereafter. Studies have shown that about 75% of the population (higher in females than males) are sensitive to the two compounds (androstenone and skatole) that are responsible for "boar taint" in intact males. So a large population can be negatively affected with a less pleasant experience eating feral hogs. This is why I stress taking measures to lessen the likelihood of a bad experience by selecting the right animals to consume, but hey, for those that are not bothered by off-taste, go for it by all means.

ConfidentAg said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I love wild hogs and so does our family! Boars under 80lbs and sows less than 130-140 are my go to.

Only thing I don't love about them is cleaning them… they're the animal I wear gloves cleaning though.

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That hide will dull a knife faster than anything else I've seen.

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One skinning tip I use, is to split the hide down the backbone, then peeling the two sides separately. The hog skin thickness doesn't allow it to sag, like a deer hide, hence the beneficial split.

Any reason why you do backbone as opposed to belly? I always do belly and was just curious.

I've never noticed any difference in flavor between a pig shot DRT and one that was in a trap for a while that we put a bullet in and it was DRT.

The biggest issue with pigs is getting them processed and on ice in a timely manner. You want the meat on ice within 30-40 mins of death. Most folks don't do this, and that contributes more to the "off" taste than anything. Quick kill, then on ice and you generally have no issues with the meat.

Smaller pigs, say under 125-150lbs, generally make for better eating. I've killed several bigger ones that ate just fine as well - big thing is if they have a rank odor or not. If they do, they are buzzard meat. If not, I'll take meat from them without any issue.

Sows are usually a little better than boars, all other things being equal. No matter what, be sure to get the scent gland out of the hams and flanks when you butcher it - if you don't, the meat is going to suck no matter what because that gland will give everything a musky/gamey taste that you can't get rid of no matter what. Don't cut into them when removing, and get all 4 of them.

Wild pigs won't have the fat or the flavor as domestic farm pigs, so trying to compare them isn't going to work. Wild pigs are closer to Iberian style than domestic - the ones we shoot on our place eat mostly acorns, pecans, protein, sweet feed and corn. We dont' have many places where we see them grubbing because we have so much easily available food. The meat has been clean and has a nutty flavor compared to what you buy in the store. But not nearly the fat content, especially the marbled fat content.

Recipes that are slower cooks and call for braising will work better, or ones that use ground pork. Smaller pigs are great smoked whole and shredded for tacos, enchiladas, etc. Slow cooked in a liquid that is reduced to a thick stew for a simple carne y espicias type of dish is really good.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Any reason why you do backbone as opposed to belly? I always do belly and was just curious.

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Oops, the backbone cut is in addition to the belly cut. Very helpful, as the hide gets down to the shoulders.

Pretty much the same way I prepare any pork on the pit. Of course we shoot them in the nuts to keep it legit.

Thanks for all the posts/recipes/advice. We are experienced deer hunters and my oldest son has killed a lot of pigs, but before always by stalking them. This is our first experience with a trap, hence my post.

The trap is actually pretty cleverly designed, and when it is tripped the gate just slowly shuts, and doesn't really make a huge bang, so the pigs don't even realize anything is wrong. When my son walked up on them the other day they just stood up and looked at them. He picked the best looking eater and popped it between the eyes, so she didn't have any time to get the adrenalin pumping.

Keep only the small ones. Gut and skin and cut along the spine. Season both halves heavily with Tony's and course ground black pepper. Get your coals just right then haul the pig out to where you feed coyotes and order pizza.

one safe place said:

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Keep only the small ones. Gut and skin and cut along the spine. Season both halves heavily with Tony's and course ground black pepper. Get your coals just right then haul the pig out to where you feed coyotes and order pizza.

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I've heard for this particular recipe that some old timers substitute Temik for the Tonys and coyotes think it's to die for.

I've tried to make it work but I can't. The last attempt was to cut a small (25lbs) one in half and smoke it. We injected one half and brined both halves overnight. After a 6-8 hour cook it smelled really good. Taste was meh to bleh.

The only thing we do with them now is send the meat to Big Juan so his wife can make tamales. They keep half as payment for services.

1) backstrap pretty much any size sow, boars up to 50lbs or so- cut it into slices, soak in butter milk, bread with cornmeal / flour mixture 50/50, and either pan fry or deep fry.

2) shoulders and hams of 40 lbs or less, smaller the better. Put in a crock pot with orange marmalade and bbq sauce for 6-8 hrs. Pulls just like pulled pork. You can probably experiment with this with all kinds or marinades.

Both of these are kid approved every time.

Any time I've tried to smoke it, comes out tough.

I did one time take some piglets and skin and gut them and roasted whole. Spent a bunch of time basting. Came out ok, but not worth the effort in my opinion. I typically stick to 1 & 2 above.

SanAntoneAg said:

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OP, as you can already see, you'll get many varying opinions, including mine, on hog as table fare.

Generally, hog tastes better than venison.

Boars, even the bigger ones, that don't have an external stink will eat up pretty good.

Boars, especially the bigger ones, may be tough on some of the unprocessed cuts of meat. But grind it into burger and/or chili, you're good to go.

I tend to keep things simple for ribs (love the ribs), hams, loins, and shoulders. Grill or smoke over mesquite, live oak or a combination of both. In my opinion you can't go wrong here.

Granted, some may not care for the taste of feral hog.

That being said, there are a lot out there who haven't eaten them and will jump on the coyote bait train, well, because it's convenient. Or, and probably more common, they are too lazy to bother pulling the meat from them once they shoot one because the cold Coors Light is waiting back at camp.

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I'm definitely going to try this on the next one we process. Do you add any beef fat to it (or anything else?) I would think straight up it might be too lean to make a juicy burger.

Definitely going to do some chili grind too and make a batch of chili out of it.

Drag em to the gut pile.

We have always added a bit of hog to our deer sausage to make it a little less lean.

This past deer season I trapped 7 that I estimated to be in the 45-50 lb range. When I put them to a scale, they all weighed right at 70lbs and took 3hrs to get the cleaned and on ice. good eating. I used these for pulled pork and made about 20 dozen tamales. Still have a bunch ground up for future chili and sausage