I'm starting to get a bunch of hogs on my place, mostly at night. My question is if I shoot a hog at 11:00 PM with my bow, how long until the meat expires with this Texas Hill Country heat. I watch TV shows all the time that shoot a hog before dark wearing t-shirts and come back and get it in the morning. I normally clean game immediately, but I hate tracking big pigs by myself at night. Thoughts or experiences?
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Last edited by timeTOwreckEM; 05-14-2016, 11:50 PM. -
Right now? I wouldn't eat one that's been out all night. If it's a "big pig" like you're saying, the meat eill be bad enough to begin with... -
I wouldn't let one lay all night unless it's winter.Comment
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Need to be cleaned asap, cannot leave over night this time of year.Comment
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This time of year- If I don't have it on ice in a few hours it goes to the gut pile.Comment
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Don't believe anything you see on a tv show. I guided a tv hunter that shot a hog. He goes on and on talking about how it will be excellent table fare. When the camera quit rolling he drug it in the brush.Comment
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Below 40. Should be ok. But you will know. If it was to warm or not. If it was the hog will be bloated. But if I don't find one in about an hour I just leave it.Comment
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It take a heck of a cold night for me to leave a hog all night in the winter. Those things start swelling quick after they die. They have a thick layer of fat so even when it's cold they stay warm for hours. If you track late at night, and your shot was questionable, lead with a pistol or shotgun.Comment
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Part of pig hunting at night is trailing them at night. Unless you made an obvious bad shot, you shouldd start looking for them. If you don't want to do that, then IMO you are not hunting them for meat.
I have tracked deer and hogs at night. I don't understand why people won't go looking at night, especially if it is warm out.Comment
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I love tracking hogs at night!
I kill more hogs than I can eat............so I'm pretty specific about the ones I eat. I prefer to eat pregnant sows that are killed cleanly and processed timely. Morning after isn't timely enough for me.Comment
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I've had some hogs start spoiling at this time of year within 4 or 5 hours of being shot. Most recent was a hog shot on a turkey hunt at dawn, hunted 'til noon, and then brought it back to the house to process, and meat had already started tainting.Comment
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I agree with y'alls comments 2-3 hours max this time of year. As far as hunting them at night it just sucks it's really thick brush and recently I shot one in the lung and still it ran 250 yards. I don't have cell signal where I hunt so if something does happen I'm screwed.Comment
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I'm curious how many big pigs you have ate because I have ate many boars over 200#s(4 so far this year) and have never had a bad tasting one. In fact, I prefer boars over 200#s for eating. A big boar almost always has a good layer of fat on them and the fat adds a lot of flavor to the meat and they are the only ones we eat the ribs off of. I just don't get when people say the best hogs to eat are sows under 150#s. I have killed way over 100 sows under 150#s and almost everyone of them were so drawn down from piglets sucking on them or pregnant that they had almost zero fat on them. Because they are so drawn down a 150# sow will only have about half the amount of meat on it that a 150# boar has.Originally posted by Ham Slammer View Post
Basically what I'm saying is, if you kill a big hog, don't just throw it away because you heard people say big boars are no good to eat. Try it for yourself and decide.
I do a ton of night hunting from April through August and many times I didn't have the meat on Ice or in the fridge until 4+ hours after it was dead and never have had one spoil. Now sitting outside in the sun for 4+ hours will spoil one. With this said, you should always get the meat cooled down as fast as possible.Comment
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