Nasty tasting hog meat

[Encinal]

No pig that is male and has reached sexual maturity ever makes it to my dinner plate.

That seems to work pretty well.

[Bill]

I've never heard or seen anybody having to put hog meat on ice and let it sit, or why/how the blood coming out would affect the taste. We kill 'em and asap get them gutted to drop the body temp, if we can't skin/butcher to the next morning, put a couple bags of ice in the body cavity, I've wrapped them in old pieces of canvas and put pieces of a sheet metal roof on top of that to keep coyotes and other pigs away from the carcass. Then skin, butcher, wrap and freeze. No problems.

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

I agree with Bill. I have never heard of soaking any meat in water. In fact, I have always been taught the opposite. DO NOT LET The Meat sit in water. If it is cold I leave them hanging gutted just like a deer. I have eaten 300 lb.'ers with no problem. It's all in how you cook it.

[tuthdoc]

You live in Texas, what do you do when it's NOT cold, which is the norm. IF it's rank, leaving it in a cooler won't help. If it's good, then leaving it in an ice chest won't hurt it either. Also, you don't "soak it in water", you cover it in ice and drain the water. Deer, auodad, turkey, whatever the game, get it clean and cold however you have to do it. Water won't hurt it either when you clean it or when the ice sits on it. With the fat that most hogs have, I want it down and skinned as soon as I can. When it's hot, I want them to fall dead in my cooler. Since that can't happen, I don't give them any time after the shot. Find it, gut it, skin it and put in my cooler, cover with ice.

[deerplanter]

I've ate large boars and small boars....never had a bad one....(but I know folks that have)...but, I get them skinned and on ice as fast as possible....I don't let the meat soak in water, place ice over them and keep the drain open..usually get them to the processor the next day or so....

This is also the way I do it, you shouldn't leave the hide on it for 24 hours after you kill it or any meat as far as that goes. A hog will also taste like what it has been eating, if it has been eating a rotten carcus somewhere and they do, it will taste like it.

[woody]

I have eaten several hogs including mature boars that weighed close to 200 lbs and all were absolutely fantastic. I get tehm quartered and on ice as soon as possible. All of these pigs were essentially corn fed from hitting the feeders. I make pork chops and lots of pan sausage from pigs. I know that many people hate them, but i love them as they provide year round hunting and the ones that we shoot have been fantastic. Perhaps it is something they are eating? Woody

[D12]

Tim Hicks has the answer!! It's something that goes on the meat and takes all bad tastes out. So says Tim. So I believe him.

[huntresss]

Much of the meat's flavor is determined by the hog's diet. Since it is so varied, you can have excellent meat from one hog that's been eating corn and grass and rank meat from another that's been feasting on carrion. Typically though, immature boars and sows tend to taste better than a breeding age boar (one sniff of the animal when you're skinning it will tell you that...any animal whose muscles smell like musky sex glands isn't going to end up in my oven!!). That's why domestic livestock are castrated...it really isn't just our way of getting even with those boars, bucks and bulls for being so nasty, well, not speaking for most ranchers anyways (anybody need about 50 goat wethers? I was in a bad mood last week...)

Next time, pass up the boars and shoot for a sow and let us know if there's any noticeable difference. We cook 'em all the time and have yet to hit a bad one.

-Cheryl

[Chew]

You don't soak it in water. You drain the water off while applying fresh ice.

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

You live in Texas, what do you do when it's NOT cold, which is the norm. IF it's rank, leaving it in a cooler won't help. If it's good, then leaving it in an ice chest won't hurt it either. Also, you don't "soak it in water", you cover it in ice and drain the water. Deer, auodad, turkey, whatever the game, get it clean and cold however you have to do it. Water won't hurt it either when you clean it or when the ice sits on it. With the fat that most hogs have, I want it down and skinned as soon as I can. When it's hot, I want them to fall dead in my cooler. Since that can't happen, I don't give them any time after the shot. Find it, gut it, skin it and put in my cooler, cover with ice.

Doc, maybe you misunderstood me. I said I HAVE left them hanging when it is cold with no problems. 9 out of 10 times they are skinned and quartered immediately.

Since you asked.......no ice needed as we built a premier kitchen and meat prep area at our lease. I put a piece of freezer paper on the bottom shelf of the fridge and lay the meat on it until it dries. Then I wrap it in a trash bag and duct tape it and move it to the deep freezer next to the fridge. No ice needed for the trip home either.

[TimHicks]

Game Fix is the answer

https://www.getgamefix.com

[trailboss]

I think it has a lot to do with what they've been eating before you kill them. I know a couple years back at BAO, we had a group of little piglets that were hitting one of the feeders daily. There was a big mudhole under the feeder and the pigs would get in there and eat the corn, mud and all.

One of our hunters killed one about the size of a squirrel and brought it back to camp. We skinned it, split it down the middle like a chicken and put it in the oven with some b-b-q sauce and cooked it til it was falling apart.

We each took one bite and threw it out the back window of the trailer. Even the skunks wouldn't eat it! Tasted like a dang mud hen!!!!

Trailboss

[bobo]

trailboss, what exactly is a mudhen? Never heard that one...

[trailboss]

trailboss, what exactly is a mudhen? Never heard that one...

That's country for a coot!

Trailboss

[COPPERHEAD]

Alot of the time it depends on what they have been eating.