Butcherng a pig.

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How to Identify a Saltwater Redfish | eHow.com and Red Drum Fish - Chef's Resources

FWIW...I am relying on my professional/commercial experience in the seafood industry...not from what is on the Internet...I have literally cut thousands of pounds of Red drum and I rarely if ever found worms...
However as a disclaimer my experience is from Gulf of Mexico fisheries and not the Eastern seaboard fisheries...

 

[creekbend]

FWIW...I am relying on my professional/commercial experience in the seafood industry...not from what is on the Internet...I have literally cut thousands of pounds of Red drum and I rarely if ever found worms...
However as a disclaimer my experience is from Gulf of Mexico fisheries and not the Eastern seaboard fisheries...

Dear Sir: PM sent.

 

[Redbug]

Hi there George,

We kill a good many hogs at my club along the Congaree River. One year...just during deer season...we logged close to 400 hogs, (and that was just what was dragged back to the club house). We hunt them all year round. This year is going to be another of those years, I can tell. No recent flooding to thin the numbers out.
Anyways...

My personal opinion is that dehairing is a lot more work than it is worth. We just skin them out and be done with it. Mostly we take the carcases to a meat processor and have sausage, chops, hamburger, roasts, and cube steak...just like you do with deer. To do a big one for the grill, I take a sawzall and split it in half along the backbone. Then it goes in the freezer or on the grill.

A processor has to be inspected by the state to do hogs. That's because of the diseases hogs can carry. To process deer...does not require inspection. So, not anyone can do hogs.

Brucellosis is another disease you have to be very careful of. One of my friends caught it and one of the processors I take my hogs to...got it. All from wild hogs. Gloves are in order when cleaning one. And don't forget proper care when cooking...just because it was frozen does not make the meat "clean". Be careful handling it when putting it on the grill or oven.
Brucellosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have used Morton sugar smoke cure on some hams/roasts, and they turned out pretty good! You can find some of the meat cures at Food Lion, etc. by the salt section...sometimes. It's not a high selling item and not everybody stocks it. The book Morton sells on curing is worth getting. I bought a copy years ago and still use it since my memory comes and goes...
Morton Salt | Meat Curing FAQs
Morton Salt Online Store

Hunting will not get rid of your hogs. I would recommend getting some hog/goat panels and making a corral with trap door. Bait it and get them conditioned to going in it. Once they get used to it, you can set it and get most of them in that group at one time. Once you get hogs, you need to remove 70% or so to keep them at an even level each year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTIxox-46Aw&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwym-2Jjb2k&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg764J2K-w0&feature=relmfu

We like hog meat better than deer meat, now. Especially the hog hamburger. Very mild. And remember...wild game is not pumped up with hormones, antibiotics, etc.

Sorry for the mind dump...

 

[Uncle Doug]

We always hauled any wild hog killed on our place back to the barn for processing where we have water and electric. We always started by power washing the hide, not to remove hair but to remove ticks, fleas and mud. It made the job much easier. Most people in this are just skin them out.

 

[dmccarty]

... And don't forget proper care when cooking...just because it was frozen does not make the meat "clean". Be careful handling it when putting it on the grill or oven.
Brucellosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

Great info. I did not realize all of the names for Brucellosis. I have heard/read quite a few of the names listed in the link but never realized they were for the same illness.

Later,
Dan

 

[N80]

George, domestic gone wild = ferel. Domestic is not ferel.

I'm having a hard time making myself clear. The sow (small, plump, gray in color, sweet light colored meat) = feral. Domestic stock gone wild, thus domestic colors (they often have spots) and domestic conformation. The big boar in the picture = totally wild. (Black, stinky, all head and shoulders, little hams, thick wiry black hair.) We have both. They don't look like they belong to the same species. The feral ones have escaped domestic farms or are simply part of the rapidly spreading feral pigs. The feral ones are much more suitable for the table. The wild ones, which are probably of Russian stock, were known to be released in the area (totally illegal) for hunting. Even though they are wild they have probably been bred as hunting stock. The wild ones make a much more impressive 'trophy'. I doubt I'll ever shoot another one for any other reason but extermination.

And thanks for the recipe. Will try it for sure.

 

[RobertBrown]

Sorry for the mind dump...

Whoa!
You forgot to mention hog sausage. Feral......wild....they all make great sausage :drool::drool:
Use "Leggs" sausage seasoning. :thumbsup:

 

[N80]

Well, I hate to admit it, but even as a physician I do not get too worked up about game related diseases. I've spent my entire life cleaning and eating game and even though we are meticulous about not contaminating the meat (clean instruments, butchering area, etc) we have never used gloves and such. And I don't plan to in the future.

Why would a doctor say such a thing? Well, first, I'm not making a recommendation for others, I'm just speaking for myself. But a lot of it comes from our inherent inability to process and understand risk. The incidence of diseases like tularemia and brucellosis is extraordinarily low. In twenty years of medical practice (in the rural south) I have never seen a single case. In fact, I don't know of anyone who has, though surely the referral centers and university hospital infectious disease guys do on occasion. As far as trichinosis, it is not an issue in factory raised and processed pork. And it can be cooked slightly rare and for my money there is no reason to spend money on a pork loin or tenderloin if you are going to cook it until it is a rubbery dry lump. Yuck. Also, trichinosis IS killed by freezing. Three weeks in a standard freezer, much less time at lower temps.

Back to risk. Your risk of potentially lethal infectious disease is much higher doing normal things like: having a child in daycare, going out of your home during flu season, going to any restaurant, owning a cat. So why don't these things scare us? The same reason getting into a car doesn't scare us even though it is one of the most dangerous things we do. Or eating bacon....heart disease is by far and away the biggest killer in the US....the risk is huge. What are your chances of contacting brucellosis, even if you process your own game? Tiny to the point of being trivial. So why all the hoopla? Its because a case of brucellosis is an exemplary case. It is notable and it is unusual and it is always unexpected. It makes the local paper, Field & Stream, hunt club gossip. Etc. It scares us because it is unpredictable. Anything wrong with taking precautions? Not at all. Even though the risk is low (at least around here) it IS still a risk. Do those precautions rise to the level of significance of washing your hands during flu season, putting on your seatbelt or staying in shape? Not even close. And for me, they just aren't worth the effort. Kind of like the guy on the bus in New York City throwing pieces of newspaper out the window. Another rider asks him why he is doing it. He tells him that it keeps the elephants away from the bus. The other rider tells him there are no elephants in New York City. "Exactly", comments the man.

Rebug, my Dad used to hunt on the Congaree when he was a kid. Green Hill, Big Pond I think were some of the property names. His uncle, Dr. Smiley Burnside owned a big chunk of it. They killed HUGE Russian boar down there...300-500 pounds. I still have some of the tusks, mounted in the jaw.....4-5 inches long! They ran them with dogs.

Anyway, I am hoping to cure some of this wild meat, which will still have a potential, but low risk for trich. For that reason I will freeze it for the recommended time before I cure. Will do some whole muscle curing and maybe even some salami.

Getting the hair off really does sound like a huge pain. Can't even imagine doing it in warm weather. Maybe if I get a small one on a cool February morning I'll make a project out of one.

 

[N80]

Rebug, about 3 or 4 years ago some guys across the creek from me set up huge, purpose made traps and that kept the pigs off my place until just recently. But I agree, hunting pigs is not going to do much. I'll enjoy the sport of it and hopefully the eating. I think it just makes my B-I-L feel better to whack a few of them.

 

[N80]

Whoa!
You forgot to mention hog sausage. Feral......wild....they all make great sausage :drool::drool:
Use "Leggs" sausage seasoning. :thumbsup:

I made Italian sausage with fresh herbs out of the little sow. It was amazing....and even better in a ragu that I made out of the sausage....I'm into Italian cooking. I've made my own pancetta out of domestic pork belly. Very easy. Very tasty. :licking: