Hog hunt - what to do with the meat
 

I hope every has a very merry Christmas and gets to spend some great time with your family.

I am going on my first hog hunt this up coming weekend and I hope to put some meat in the freezer. I have a couple questions for the group.

1. What have you guys used to store your game meat? Do you just wrap it in butcher paper and place in the freezer?

2. Do you guys do anything special to the meat prior to cooking?

thank you in advance for any responses

We kill many hogs on our farm in alabama. We make a lot of sausage, we break the meat down and put in gallon freezer bags for grinding later.

Merry Christmas to you also and good luck

We don't have hogs here in NJ, but I do get several deer a year.

Butcher paper is fine for short term storage, 3 months to 6 months should be plastic wrapped.

For long term storage use a vac-sealer, but I use the vac-sealer for all freezer storage short or long term. Just so much easier to handle and manage.

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I always vacuum seal any game I kill.

Going on a hog hunt in a couple of weeks myself. Can't wait. Been a couple of times before, and always took it to the processor. That guy makes some great sausage with it. Also like the cutlets breaded & fried. I was suprised that it really wasn't much different than farm-raised meat. I was expecting it to be gamey.

It really depends on where you are in the world, but in most cases, shoot a small one. The bigger they are, the worse they taste. If there is someone to show you how to process it, just vacume bag what you get. Best thing to do with wild hog is make sausage.

Hey IamMAdMan ther are feral hogs in the Clayton Franklinville area and they are legal to hunt during deer season

My buddy in Florida hunts them hogs many times a year.
They take them to a professional wild game processor and they cut them up, wrap and freeze them. Then they bring them home and toss in their freezer.

Good luck with your hunt!
I've not hunted hogs but I hunt deer. I cube some, grind some with pork fat for burger, cut back strap steaks and leave some back straps and roasts whole. Then double bag and freeze.
Hope to hunt hogs some day. :-D

Where are you heading to hunt? I ask as i've been wanting to go hog hunting myself and was searching around in SoCal for a good place. I recently found a ranch in San Jacinto that offers upland game bird hunts as well as hog and coyote.

As far as storing/preparing game meat as well as any store bought meats/poultry and fish, try to get yourself a foodsaver if possible. I have vacu-sealed meats for six months to a year with no issues. If you belong to Sams club or Costco they both offer foodsaver starter kit that come with bags for around $100.

I have taken many wild feral hogs in TX. I agree with Scooter B, the bigger they are, the worse they taste. Look for 150 lbs or smaller for eating and put hogzilla on the wall. Wild hogs don't fill out like a domestic hog, but they are very good eating!! I freeze my game in ziploc freezer bags.

Make sure you stay allert during the hunt. Wild hogs can be very aggressive. I hade a pig charge me after I shot him. I had only seconds to finish the job with a second round.

Happy hunting!!

Good call on harvesting the smaller ones for consumption.They are good eats.Butcher ASAP,put the meat in ice water,in a clean cooler,drain daily and keep it iced for a few days.This works well with venison too.The more you haul it around in the back of the truck,(in the daily replenished cooler of ice and water)sloshing around,the better.(do not let all the ice melt before adding more).If you want to make sausage,just cube,vac seal and bring it out when ready to grind.If you want hams,shoulders,loin,etc. just cut them as you normally would.If you do not have access to a vac sealer,I would wrap the cuts completely in plastic wrap then "correctly" in freezer paper.Good luck!

P.S. For the larger cuts I would highly recommend brining before smoking/ grilling/cooking.Just my $.02.

Be careful what you hunt out in that area.I THINK they have a lot of javelin in that area and they are not pigs,they are large rodents,not that there is anything wrong with that.:shock:

if you are going to grind and make sausage, be sure to add plenty of PORK back fat as wild hogs are very lean. I would recommend a 70/30 ratio of meat/fat for sausage and certainly not anymore then 80/20.

Wrong, the best thing to make with hog is Tamales.:-D

Good call... That's what I planned to answer.
Older hogs benefit from a couple days in an ice chest with ice. No smell.
Save a quarter for smoking. Outstanding.
BTW: I've never had hog last long enough to get freezer burn.
I mostly smoke it, but save the small scraps to put in things like beans.

Check out this post.
Pork Butchery,, A Visual. An Awesome Visual.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forums/s...d.php?t=145042