And what did you think of it? Is it worth cooking and eating? I'm sure there are plenty of you on both sides of this argument. I'm curious because this year is the first time I have hunted where they have them.

The boars are the best. The older they are the better. Just make sure you take a sip of water after ever bite to enhance the flavor.

Ewww...

Done it. Multiple times. Always thinking I could do better.

What's the quote? "...doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results..."

Oh, and unless things have changes since I left, you're only allowed 2 per year.

Don't waste a bullet on the nasty b@stards! No game animal tastes worse IMHO, unless you want your kitchen smelling like hog pi$$.

Like above, dont waste a bullet or arrow. By far, the most gross thing I have ever tasted.

I'll throw in another opinion. I guy I used to work with cooked one at deer camp one time. Don't ask me how he treated the meat, but there was no off flavor when he smoked/wrapped it. It was pretty decent.

My grandpa shot and killed 1 with #7 shot and said that it smelled so bad he didnt want to clean it.I guess this doesnt have much to do with how it tastes.

I'd rather be lucky than good.

those nasty things have a musk sac located on the top of their rump and when they use it, it reaks, I guess it's part of their defense mechanism. You'd have to be hard up to eat one.

I thought they were on the decline? Maybe I got that wrong, but shoot the f'ing pigs!

I've always heard they are closer to being a rat than a pig. I don't eat rodents.

I've had it as sausage and it was good. Pretty good actually.

I remember the first one I shot. I could smell it before I saw it.

Then after I shot it, it sure didn't smell any better better dead.

And it tasted worse than it smelled.

bam02, they aren't closely related to rodents.

They are in a suborder that includes two other families. Those two families include swine and hippos.

The order includes most deer, camels, and cattle.


Rodents are in a different line altogether. Squirrels on the other hand ... and I love me some tree rat!

everyone say "Musk Sack" ten times real fast.

[This message has been edited by Tree Hugger (edited 10/10/2007 7:32a).]

^
|
|
|
|
Ha ha!

I think you get the general opinion of the board on eating the stinky little bastiges.

If you do happen to shoot one (and you'll get the urge one day when you've seen 30 of 'em and 0 deer), take it through the shoulder, remove the head and boil the skull. It makes for a one hell of an impressive skull.

Because they are so often confused with feral hogs, one may be under the misunderstanding that he is eating hog rather than javelina or vice versa.

I've got three examples/reasons of the confusion:

1. Although not a correct translation, in South Texas, many of the Spanish speakers call feral boars "Javelin" with no "a" at the end - Javelina is reserved for the little animals.

2. My friend killed a sow feral pig and everyone thought it was a javelina until we got it back to camp and I had to explain to them that it was a pig and that there was a difference.

3. Another friend of mine told me that he heard about javelina mating with feral hogs and making a particularly nasty hybrid. I believe that since they are completely different animals that this would be impossible. You can't even mate a human with a chimpanzee even though we have like 98% similar DNA.

I'm no biologist, but I know that javelina were here thousands of years before settlers brought domesticated swine to the new world. Some of these swine escaped and became what we know as feral pigs.

To the best of my knowledge, a javelina is what is called a collared peciary and is closely related to the Rhino and is not porcine in any shape or fashion. However, they certainly look alike with the teeth/tusks and the piggy nose.

One other thing that I thought was funny was at deer camp we were talking about feral hogs and how they can go completely feral in something like 4 or 5 weeks. A friend of mine actually asked out loud whether a human could go feral. People thought about it for a minute and then I said, um no...first, humans are not domesticated animals and second, humans have been shipwrecked on islands for many years without going feral.

As for the taste, I have a recipe for Javelina Jambalaya (considering the foregoing, I wonder if this too is a mixup between the two animals).

This is a javelina





This is a wild hog






On second thought, I see the resemblance.




I've seen a recipe in a major cookbook for Javelina Jambalaya. I have never shot one so, I have never tried to make it. I'm sure it wouldnt be too bad.

Yeah, I had to make the clarification on Javelin and Javelina when I asked my dad about the sausage. He confirmed that it was Javelina. I was a little concerned it would taste like crap, but it didn't to my surprise.

I gut shot a javelina once on the run and he emptied that sack of stink all over the little canyon I hunt it. Sick *******s.

On the other hand, one of the funniest things I ever saw at deer camp,

some old fart dropped a mama javelina, all the little piggies, he said, ran up and buried their noses, trying to get under dear old mama, he went down there with his .45 and collected every one of those piglets and brought them back and cooked up a stew the next day for the entire camp. It wasn't bad.

^
^
^
^
No offense to your father, but that just has to be the saddest hunting story I have ever heard.

quote:

---

...he went down there with his .45 and collected every one of those piglets...

---

And by doing so he broke the state wildlife laws in a big way.

youandwhosearmy, I think I've got a better one.

My uncle dropped a mamma and the same thing happened with the babies. Except he collected them alive. Drove them all the way across tx and raised them as pets.

And I've referenced my family a few times, so this should sound pretty ordinary for them.

And yes his place stank pretty bad before he got them, so no major change there!

And yes, I was the first in my family to get a higher education.

first off,

old fart =\= my father.

This guy was white trash. A drunken slob that hunted on another ranch but shared camp with us (about 30 parties in this particular camp).

Not saying I agreed with him, just wanted to comment that I tried a taste, and that stew tasted alright.

Not trying to offend anyone here. He was a pretty rough character and never knew what you could expect when he would show up after a hunt.

quote:

---

You can't even mate a human with a chimpanzee even though we have like 98% similar DNA.

---

Who volunteered for that study?

I caught my mistake after the post (your father)...but I didnt think of the need to edit.

My apologies on that account and if any offense was perceived on my part.

Personally, I enjoy hunting. I just don't like to see the suffering of any animal. I think that if what happened to that guy happened to me, I would probably have to put the rifle up for a few years. I would be guilt ridden.

Of course, he didnt do anything wrong and he probably made the right decision by taking the babies, who would have probably starved.

quote:

---

Who volunteered for that study?

---

I'm not sure it was a scientific study, but I'm sure you could find a video of it somewhere on the Innernets.

No offense, queso.

I just want to save some face on this board.

Yep, taxonomically they are in the same order, but not even in the same family. So no, they are not creating hybrids.

ursusguy, are you into bears?

We have got bunches of javelina and wild hogs--they do not cross. As a wildlife manager, I will not let my hunters shoot them unless they want to process the meat--feel like they are part of the fauna of S. Texas (we have pens around all of our feeders)..have eaten them before, but only half to three quarter grown..not bad, but not something I would make a steady diet of, thats for sure. If you clean one, you better half short hair and no beard--plenty of fleas to go around, no doubt !! I have never seen a sow with more than two babies--think that anything more would be out of the ordinary. And, "collared peccary" is correct, Queso.

mneisch--Yes, I spent 4 years as a bear biologist (and mt. lion) in NM. After who knows how many interactions (some negative because of idiots) they became my passion. Bear education/ecology/conservation is my hobby. My vacations are normally set in some manner to see bears. Last year when I proposed to my lady, a grizzly sow with 2 cubs was about 150 yards way.

Sorry about the hijack, just replying to mneisch.

Back to javelinas. I am about least picky eater out there and I'm not fond of javelina.

"axe, cow, plow, gun ,and FIRE"--know them and use them

Brush Country offers up sage-like, yet common sense wisdom: If you're not going to eat it (or send it to the taxi), don't shoot a javelina.

Gotcha, I just connected your name for the first time.