Her First Hog

[wedge40]

The larger hogs sometimes go to 300 lbs, average about 175/200. The small ones he feeds them out to at least 100 lbs. He as a deal with a local dog food manufactures and he buys their rejected food. I think I remember him saying somewhere between $2 & $3 per pound. He is an FDA approved receiving station so other trappers in the area bring him their hogs for shipment to the processor in Dallas.

Here is a link to his info - Wild Pigs Menace U.S., Whet Appetites in Europe - ABC News

With Hands and Hounds, Stalking Feral Hogs in Texas - New York Times

Some very rough math. That's around $1M. Not to shabby in this economy
Wedge

 

[MoKelly]

One trapper that I hunted with this winter sent over 8000 head of wild hogs to market. Most of the meat is set to Europe where is is sold as "organic pork" @ about $9.00/lb. To do this they need to arrive at the processing plant alive.

At those prices I am a bit suprised trapping and selling these things isn't bigger business such that the population would be declining.

MoKelly

 

[charliepff]

Hey everyone,

Are they good to eat or do they have a real strong taste to them? Never ate wild hog before. I would definately like to try hunting them.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hogs are very good to eat when the weather is cool and they are not too big. Ideal size is about 40 to 80 pounds. At a hundred pounds, they are already starting to toughen up, but still decent to eat. After that, you are taking your chances on how good it will be. Of course, compared to deer, it's very tasty. You don't need to hide the flavor by seasoning or marinading it. Just take the backstraps or cut a steak off of it and grill it. The meat is different then pork. It's leaner and more flavorful. If it's a young pig, it's very tasty.

Her pig was boarderline, so we grilled the backstraps and pulled the hams for a friends. The rest was coyote bait. Usually I can kill one or two coyotes off of a pig gut pile, but we cut this one up so much while playing doctor, that they had it eaten down to bright white bones the next morning. We saw one coyote for half a second, and nothing else.

It's getting close to that time when the does start to drop their fawns, so I like to kill as many coyotes as I can to keep the pressure off of the fawns. Of everything out here, the deer are the ones that I want to see more then anything else.

Eddie

 

[EastTexFrank]

Eddie you sly old dog. Most guys would use a puppy to lure in the ladies, pigs and guns is a new one on me, but hey it worked. Good one on you! Glad to see you happy again, you deserve it!

Everything that he said.

 

[mikim]

It's getting close to that time when the does start to drop their fawns, so I like to kill as many coyotes as I can to keep the pressure off of the fawns. Of everything out here, the deer are the ones that I want to see more then anything else. -------------Eddie - here's a shot of my deer I took on the 11th. There's 8 altogether. We have 3 fawns we haven't seen yet. At least we had 3 does that had really big bellies and they still show up but a lot thinner. There's 1 buck we've been feeding since he was just out of spots. He's almost tame. I took this pic while at the dining table. We eat, they eat, and we watch each other.

 

[Redbug]

Hi Mike...I believe I would put up a feeder like what Eddie has. You can set the timer to go off in the morning. It will do all the work while you all are getting up and before the coffee is ready.

 

[mikim]

Hi Mike...I believe I would put up a feeder like what Eddie has. You can set the timer to go off in the morning. It will do all the work while you all are getting up and before the coffee is ready.

I would but I've got a really stupid dog that won't take training to NOT chase the deer. He figures deer and rabbits are fair game. Hasn't caught either yet. Doubt he'd know what to do with whatever he caught once he did get hold. My luck will be the first thing he catches will be a skunk. We lock him up in the carport just before supper then feed him, the deer, and the family in that order. Leave him out - especially on a moonlit night and he barks at shadows all night. Lock him up and he eats then settles down for the night. I figure he feels safe in the carport and scared to death out at night.