Over the decades I have eaten a wide variety of game, and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, the one animal missing from my menu has been wild pig. I have tried it on only a couple of occasions, shot and prepared by an old mate who used to be a butcher. It’s not that I lack the opportunity, I live in a rural area where wild pigs abound. Occasionally, like yesterday, I will shoot a wild pig in the course of my hunting for wild dogs.
At first light yesterday my hunting buddy, Pete, and I were walking along a cattle track on our way to a calling stand for wild dogs. Ahead we became aware of a large boar feeding slowly along in the same direction. We stalked closer until a good opportunity presented itself. I used my Sauer XT101 in 243 Win, firing Fiocchi 100 grain factory softpoints to deliver a carefully placed headshot. Pete caught the moment on video.
The pig flopped to an instant kill and began to slowly roll down the grassy, wet slope of the spur. As we positioned the big hog for some photos we found he was a barrow pig. That accounted for the big size and great condition of the animal as well as clean and odourless state. Wild boars are often rangier in build and always stink of their own body odour and the carrion that they roll in. It is the primary reason for never having elected to butcher and eat feral pigs. Even the smallest wild hogs stink of carrion.
Anyway, presented with a large, clean barrow hog in great condition it seemed a waste to leave it in the paddock. However, a complication was a lack of my usual harvesting kit of knives and plastic bags. Pete and I had a small pocket knife each, so that would have to do. The skin of the pig was much thicker and tougher than I expected; a real chore to cut through with a small, fiddly pocketknife. By the time I had cut through the heavy skin on its back to get at the backstraps I had had enough.
At home I chilled the prime meat, then trimmed and sliced away any sign of field contamination. I vacuumed bags the individual cuts and then placed those in the freezer. After two weeks in the freezer I will extract a bag and decide how I will cook that pork. Pork, whether wild or domestic, carry similar potential risks and should always be well cooked. With wild pork, two weeks minimum in the freezer at -20C, or colder, resolves many other risks as well. I’ll report back on that after my first meal of my wild pork.
For anybody who, like me, has long wanted to try eating wild pork they have harvested, here a few excellent reference articles by folks more knowlegible about that topic than I am.
Dear Don-
I am a big fan of your blog and instagram page, and I have followed it for several years. You inspired me to take up coyote hunting after I saw one of your wild dog posts! I am from the US, specifically south Georgia. About twice a year I hunt feral hogs for their meat. In this part of the world, folk wisdom says the tastiest feral hog is a young sow, or even a piglet.
Here, pigs feed on shellfish, crabs, and acorns (and probably everything in between) which give them a distinctive flavor, very similar to what I imagine a carrion-eating Australian hog might taste like. I have found that even older males can be made palatable if brined in a salt+sugar solution, or if cooked on low heat for a long time.
Cleaning them can be a chore, as you mentioned, due to the smell and mud, so I like to wear gloves and have a supply of soap and water nearby!
I hope your backstraps turn out tasty. Thanks for producing such interesting content!
Sincerely
Hunter (that is my name)
Hi Hunter
Thanks for your comments. It’s good to know I am inspiring fellow hunters – that is what I seek to do.
I agree with you on game animals for the table. I mostly look for a yearling female in any species.
Some male animals can be quite good to eat though. I find Chital (Axis) stags good to eat but would not eat a mature Red stag.
When I lived in the Northern Territory I discovered the old African wisdom was true. That is, the sort of animals you would not want for the table make the best biltong.
I have passed up a lot of pigs that looked healthy enough but had been feeding on and rolling in carrion.
The barrow I blogged about recently was unusually clean and without any odour. He was also in great condition. So, I got out the knife!
After struggling to harvest his backstraps with a pocket knife, I have returned my butchering kit to the backpack.
For decades, I did not use gloves or handwash. I simply wiped my hands on the surrounding grass or rinsed them with a little water.
Luckily, I never contacted any diseases, such as Q fever or TB. These days I use gloves and then wash and sanitise my hands afterwards. I also bone out the animal in the field and drop the meat into plastic bags to protect for dust and flies. Back at home, or base camp, I discard those temporary bags and further trip and slice the meat, then vacuum bag it for aging and freezing.
It is also important to change knives and gloves between skinning and butchering.
Two weeks in the freezer should take care of any potential parasite issues with that wild pig. On 1st May I will defrost a piece of the barrow fillet and cook it up.
I will blog about that when it happens, so stay tuned. I am looking forward to that and thinking just how I will cook it.
cheers
Don
Hi Don,
I just came across your blog today and haven’t left my computer screen for 3 hours! Your insights and experience are greatly appreciated.
Your comment on biltong is very interesting. Would you mind elaborating on that and explaining what animal / cut you would ideally use?
Many thanks
Dan
Hi Daniel
Thanks for the kind words, I’m glad you have found plenty of items of interest on my website.
A good rule of thumb for biltong is that the animals with less appeal for cooking are often the best for biltong.
That means mature bulls and lean old cows. But of course, prime animals can make good biltong too.
For the long biltong strips you want to avoid meat with any connective membranes in it – that will make for very chewy biltong.
So, backstraps and the large hindquarter muscles, like rump, are ideal for cutting into long strips.
The meat from larger animals will obviously provide more and longer cuts.
Now that I no longer live in buffalo country, I cook all my venison rather than biltong it.
When I want biltong I look for a special on bulk rump from the supermarket. Typically, that would be a cryo-vacced whole rump that is getting close to the end of its aging time and is marked down.
Such meat is convenient, cheap and ideal for biltong.
cheers
Don