.308 for Hogs

[budlight]

I use an AR-10 for all my pig hunting. For spot and stalk, stands and feeders, or just plain old road hunters of America.

The 125 gr. TNT varmint 308 are just a hog killer round. Very destructive. Any angle or even face on. Helicopter hunting is the best where 40 - 50 a day is normal although I have used 175's when we are out on trough type feeders and trying for bragging rights about the most killed with a single round. In my circle of friends 10 is the record with a 338 LM prone shooter all in a row with their heads down eating in a trough.

I always try for the two for one shots even in an open field.

 

[Veteran]

Wow, infilade fire 10 w 1 shot...

 

[middleofnowhere]

Old nasty stinking boars are still good eating. I took a dominant monster that was with a whole bunch of sows. The old guy stunk bad. He had been shot at least several times before me, he had a scared up broadhead and multiple bullets in his hide. This is SoCal, so not real hunters in the area. I ground the whole pig and made well over 120 pounds of chorizo. Friends and family said it was the best chorizo they ever had. I wet aged the meat in plastic bags on ice for 10 days before o ground it up. I used a 70 quart ice chest under the grinder to hold and mix the meat.

 

[budlight]

The best eaters are the feral pigs in the 80 - 200 pound class. Easy to deal with. They are really lean up through March. Generally we just keep the 4 legs and back straps. I inject with pink ham curing salt, brine, and smoke. Beautiful hams and the white back straps.

 

[middleofnowhere]

The best eaters are the feral pigs in the 80 - 200 pound class. Easy to deal with. They are really lean up through March. Generally we just keep the 4 legs and back straps. I inject with pink ham curing salt, brine, and smoke. Beautiful hams and the white back straps.

I agree with you 100%, just would say that if you harvest the 300# nasty boar, the meat is still delicious.

 

[budlight]

I agree with you 100%, just would say that if you harvest the 300# nasty boar, the meat is still delicious.

When I was young we used to go get the biggest nasty Russian Boars. I know people that just shoot and leave them. They are a plague and wardens tell you to shoot as many as you can.

 

[Texas Speed Bump]

When I was young we used to go get the biggest nasty Russian Boars. I know people that just shoot and leave them. They are a plague and wardens tell you to shoot as many as you can.

You can have 'em. I got no use for the stinkin' things other than feeding the buzzards.

 

[Peter Morton]

There's a chef in Austin. Jesse Griffiths, that wrote a book on cooking wild hog, including boar. I've prepared enough hog now to feel like I don't need his advice, but I've stopped short of eating a 300lb boar. This comes from a trusted friend that went against the general rule of not eating a big boar. He said it made him sick and he could smell ANY pork for a year or more without his stomach flip-flopping. YMMV.

 

[Veteran]

One of the best wild boar dishes I ever enjoyed was at a West Houston establishment named Rotisseree for beef and bird. They had a dish of wild boar in plum sauce. My wife still talks about it to this day.

 

[CBH Australia]

In Australia we used to have buyers for wild pig that went for Human Consumption export.
My understanding was they paid premium prices on bigger pigs on a scale of weight range.
We always thought the bigger boars etc were getting top dollar for the bigger older smellier stuff as it was Wild Boar they wanted.
I think Germany was the main market.
Not sure if there are still buyers, there may be in Queensland.

 

[WildRose]

The best eaters are the feral pigs in the 80 - 200 pound class. Easy to deal with. They are really lean up through March. Generally we just keep the 4 legs and back straps. I inject with pink ham curing salt, brine, and smoke. Beautiful hams and the white back straps.

Honestly having eaten a whole lot of them over the years I'd say the best eating are a big ole fat pregnant sow just before she's due.

Also the most effective target for controlling the population.

 

[WildRose]

In Australia we used to have buyers for wild pig that went for Human Consumption export.
My understanding was they paid premium prices on bigger pigs on a scale of weight range.
We always thought the bigger boars etc were getting top dollar for the bigger older smellier stuff as it was Wild Boar they wanted.
I think Germany was the main market.
Not sure if there are still buyers, there may be in Queensland.

We have a very big market for them in the US live on the hoof but I don't know of any buying them on the rail.

The big problem is that pigs are darned smart and they learn to avoid traps pretty fast.

 

[JustMe2]

May just be a coincidence that I butchered boars that didn't stink, but I never used to pay attention as to whether it was a sow or boar -ate them all. Then I shot about a 200 lb boar that stunk. Butchered it and couldn't eat anything except the sausage it stunk so bad. Soaked the chops, etc for 48 hrs in lemon juice and vinegar and, after cooking, it still stunk so bad I couldn't eat it. Gave it to 3 neighbors who said they were farm girls and knew how to cook it. They threw it away also.

 

[WildRose]

May just be a coincidence that I butchered boars that didn't stink, but I never used to pay attention as to whether it was a sow or boar -ate them all. Then I shot about a 200 lb boar that stunk. Butchered it and couldn't eat anything except the sausage it stunk so bad. Soaked the chops, etc for 48 hrs in lemon juice and vinegar and, after cooking, it still stunk so bad I couldn't eat it. Gave it to 3 neighbors who said they were farm girls and knew how to cook it. They threw it away also.

My experience is once they get sexually active and are running with girls the only way to get away from the smell is to make spicy sausage.

I hate to waste anything edible but with so many hogs to kill I can't pick them all up anyhow so the old boars just get left for us to come back and shoot coyotes off of at night.