Advice needed on flavor/size ratio for hogs

T

Tanngrisnir3

Inactive
I'm just about to start hog hunting again, and under extremely favorable circumstances. My family has a large cattle ranch in very rural California. A major CA river out of the Sierras runs through it for several miles in one area, and there is a very dense and lush river bottom area where there have been severe problems with wild pigs. Ranch hands have reported seeing, at times, upwards of over 200. They usually take about 40/year, but it doesn't even dent their population, as it's a working ranch and there's a lot to do.

The family member who owns and runs it, has been granted by the state of CA some sort of special dispensation (I don't remember the legal name) that allows him and those he chooses to kill pigs at any time of day or night, using any manner, with no license (though I have one), no tags, no limit/day. Basically, no holds barred pig festival.

That being the case, I have heard very frequently that larger, older, tougher pigs make for comparatively lousy eating, and I'm all about the flavor and good meat. I have 100% zero interest in trophies, mounting heads, etc....

I need advice on what potential kills, at what potential age/weight, are actually going to provide for the best meat for cooking, smoking, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. What I have for hunting are .450 Marlin (seems a bit large), a 25-06, a Remington SP-10 and a 22-250.

T3
 
The 450 Marlin will work well .A 300 gr nosler at 1900 would be my choice and would work to 200 yds.
150-200 lbs would be a good weight .
 
Personally, I would go with the .450, mainly because I have a lot of confidence in my 45-70 Marlin and I know it will get the job done out to 100 yards without fail. The 25-06 would work OK too if you think the shots would be longer. But you can usually get close enough to pigs so that long shots aren't necesssary. I wouldn't use the 22-250 personally, although I know people down in TX swear by them and .223 for hogs. I've never hunted anything with a shotgun other than birds so I don't know how the SP 10 would work.

Just grab the Marlin and don't give it another thought. But thrown the 25-06 in the truck too just in case something isn't working right.
 
Go with the 25-06. Most of the hogs out there are in relatively open, hilly ground. You could easily find yourself needing to make 300 yd shots but probably won't be in a defensive position where you would need the extra shopping power of the .450.
 
Thanks for the quick replies, guys.

I should have also noted that this is going to be in up-close-and-personal heavy riverbank underbrush, with likely nothing over, say 75 meters, so it's the Marlin, methinks.
 
I'd go with the 25-06.IMO the best to eat/easy to clean/easy to get in the truck stay around 80-120lbs.that way you can shoot 3 or 4 at a time if u have cold space.dont worry about the 2506 it will do the job near/far.Sounds like ya'll need to do some heavy duty killin.good luck they are a pain to get rid of.:D
 
BBQ, roasts and stews w/red wine reductions, smoking my own bacon, etc....

I'm more of a chef than a hunter, so this is going to be like a candy store for me.
 
Hoof weights...
30-50 pounds is a great whole roaster size.
50-150 is good for cut and wrap.
150-200 is good to cut and wrap for folks with nothing better to eat or to have ground into various sausage.
Over 200 is fine for sausage.
150 and up also makes good smoked "hunk" meat for use in recipes such as bean soups, chili and the sort.

To be quite frank, I do not consider any pork inedible. When we use dogs, the boars may be "musky" due to the adrenaline and testosterone dump they get while in battle with the dogs. We keep them penned and fed corn for 3-7 days and shoot them with the .22 and that is not an issue.

I have had ham from a 250 pounder and it was just fine to me.

LITTLE TO NO BACON ON WILD SWINE!!! A well fed "barr" (barrow) will develop bacon meat since it ain't lookin' for sex from a sow or caring for babies if a sow.

Brent
 
LITTLE TO NO BACON ON WILD SWINE!!!
Click to expand...

+1 on that. Wild hogs are LEAN unless they have been penned up and fed grain. I have to save up normal hog fat from the butcher shop just to get enough fat content to make good sausage.
 
Sounds like what is called a "Depredation Permit" from the California Department of Fish and Game. They are issued to land owners that are having problems such as your relative. They can be issued for any animal causing property or crop damage as long as it isn't on the Endangered Species list.

If the pigs are down in the thick stuff use the heavier round. If you can shoot at them over 200 yards, use the .25/06 with a sturdy bullet...

I used to have my pigs cut into chops, hams, etc. Now I keep the loins whole and the ribs. The rest gets chunked and and ground into sausage. I mix the wild pork with store bought pork to up the fat content. Unbelievably good to eat...
 
Size and weight aren't as important as what the hogs are eating. The ranch I hunt is full of oak and pecan trees along with youpon holly bushes. The hogs love the nuts and the youpon berries. The 300 lb hogs don't taste much different than a 60 lb hog.

I have hunted where wild onions are the main food supply, and a 50 lb hog is inedible.
 
If your going to shoot alot of hogs, heck I would use all three rifles. If I had to pick one, I would go with the 25-06. It will work fine at both long and short ranges. I've shot quite a few hogs in the 200 lb range with a 22-250 and it worked fine. But most of those were shot in the ear, so just about anything would work. Most of the boars that we shoot get left behind. They make good coyote bait. Down here in south Texas the hogs are a real problem as well as in other areas. Without shooting the hogs, it gets out of hand really quickly. I usually look for the 50 to 70 lb sows for the freezer. A friend a few yrs back shot a boar pushing 300 lbs and it came a great, surprisingly. That's not usually the case though.
 
Thanks again for all the replies, folks. I knew this would be a great place to ask.

And, yes, Fat White Boy, it IS a depredation permit. The exact term escaped me at the time. And your tips on the meat are well noted.

I heard from the ranch earlier this evening, and there's a 7 1/2" .41 mag available for me to use up there as well, so I might be trying out handgun hunting for the very first time.
 
Do a internet search of Spanish Hams focusing on the cured ones. What will pop up are a bunch of articles revolving around how in certian areas of Spain hogs will be basically free to roam oak forrests untill it is time for them to be processed.

Also look up "hog fat". That will bring up a bunch of articles discussing the DIFFERENT types of fat on a hog, most important how the fat of a wild hog is significantly different from that on a domestic hog.

And it's different not just in volume but in nutritional composition. It is a VERY big difference.

Here is a place to start:

http://woolypigs.com/_austrianmeattheory.html

Deer may have the status.....horns and all that......but when the meat hits the table a healthy wild hog wins every time.
 
For close up, defensive, fast work, and out to 50 yards, can anything beat an accurate and reliable semi auto shotgun loaded to the hilt with 2 3/4 soft shooting slugs like Hastings Laser Accurate Reduced Recoil ones (in rifled barrels; choose foster slugs in smoothbores, usually) and either a bead or rifle sights, that swings like a bird gun?
 
Well, the only shotgun I have is the SP-10 and, although it's not a problem for recoil and the thumbhole makes for nice, controlled quick shots, I have shot Federal slugs through it, and a .10 slug seems to have really big 'atom bomb' potential. IOW, sort of a high chance of destroying meat if the shot isn't perfect.
 
Many people disagree with me but I think eating wild hog will gag a dog off a gut wagon.

Sounds like you are interested in the sport of hunting them. But if you want to kill lots of them build a hog trap and bait it with corn. This way you can kill the big ones and feed-out the little ones until they are fat. But I still wouldn't eat them.
 
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