Lactating sows don't taste good?

U

Unlicensed Dremel

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Shot a small wild sow pig in April (about 80 lbs). It was lactating. Gave it to my friend. He was supposed to cook me some dinners with it, but he said it tasted terrible, so he had to throw it out, and it was put on ice quite quickly, AND he even let is soak in ice and lemon juice and salt water for 3 days.

Is this normal / common? Better to just stick with boars only if'n you want to eat them, to be safe? After all, aren't sows almost constantly lactating?

By the way, 100 gr SP .243 win to the head at 40 yards dropped it, but still had to pump two more into the neck to stop the kicking - that's pretty tough for an animal that size.
 
I think this is one of those myths about hogs that people believe religiously, but if given a blind test, would not know one way or the other, along the lines of not eating old boars, big boars, etc.

She may have tasted bad, but my guess is that your friend would not know the difference between the taste of a lactating sow and a non-lactating sow of the same approximate size and diet.

I would be willing to bet it was so yummy that he just ate the whole thing, or he prepped it wrong. :D
 
The meat of fat lactating sows tastes very good. A few lactating sows are almost devoid of fat.

A skinny hog is not fit to eat.
 
If he soaked it in lemon juice he might have ruined it by cooking it that way. Lemon juice is acidic and will start things cooking. Fish can be cooked entirely by lemon juice. Mind you, a lactating pig would be full of hormones assorted too.
"...two more into the neck to stop the kicking..." Totally unnecessary. Head shots will do that.
 
So the lemon thing could have backfired?

It was a fairly skinny pig - definitely not fat anyway - just "normal" to thin looking for its height. Though it didn't feel skinny carrying it out a half mile through a swamp and such.

Yeah, our guess had been "the hormones done it."

He actually said the chorizo sausage from it was good, but steaks tasted like crap, so he tossed it.
 
I've never seen a "fat" lactating wild sow. But then again, all my hog hunting was in SW FL where the lack of high-fat natural food keeps them lean anyway. I know that in domestic hogs, a lactating sow needs lots of calories to keep any kind of fat on her.
 
Shot a small wild sow pig in April (about 80 lbs)
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Since you shot it in April, where wild onions growing nearby? Hogs that have been feasting on wild onions do taste nasty. If that's not the problem, I agree with everyone else, your friend screwed up.
 
Am I the only one who disaproves of shooting sows with piglets?

you already have a hog problem, a bunch of piglets running around without a lead sow equals more problems, not to mention that they might starve to death
 
I have to agree with the thought that maybe the prep would be to blame. I normally don't keep much other than the hind legs and an occasional backstrap, but any healthy looking sow tastes like any other one. I keep the legs off of boars up to about 100 lbs. and leave the rest to the critters. I have found a strong smell coming off of larger boars when they are cooking and just shy away from them.
I have a couple legs in the freezer now that I am going to cook up to feed the bunch at our next muzzleloader meet next month, and there won't be any to bring home. Those legs came off of a sow about 130 lbs or so.
 
not to mention that they might starve to death
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That is not a bad thing. I don't know about where you are in Sweden but here in the US, wild hogs are an invasive non-natural species that destroys habitat. We want them ALL dead.
 
Am I the only one who disaproves of shooting sows with piglets?
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If you were in Texas, the answer would be, YES.

you already have a hog problem, a bunch of piglets running around without a lead sow equals more problems, not to mention that they might starve to death
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Afraid the piglets might starve? Not likely unless very young and then nature just takes its course.

Piglets without a sow to protect them are piglets more likely to be picked off by coyotes and bobcats. This makes them less of a problem, not more. Piglets are able to eat solid food at 2 weeks of age. Piglets without a sow will remain as a sounder group. The "lead" sow is something of a myth. While there are lead sows, pigs are not lost without a lead sow and control of the group is quickly assumed by another.

This is a piglet sounder. It is comprised of the piglets from at least 3 sounders from which we have removed all of the adult hogs over the past 10 weeks, several of which were lactating sows. This aggregate sounder is doing just fine, unfortunately. The largest hog in this group is on the right and is about 70 lbs in size. We removed the other two "large" hogs and piglet last week, the large hogs being 65 lbs and 75 lbs.

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I cant say how he prepped it but I have most of a 140 pound goat in my freezer. It stinks when I cook it even by slow cooking but the meat tastes fine so I slow cook it and de bone it and drain off the grease. I suspect your friend simply does not know how to cook.
 
I haven't eaten a bad tasting pig yet. must be in the way it was prepared.

skin, gut, hang in cooler for three days, cut as desired.

precooking is a 3 or so hour marinade in black pepper, soy sauce, lawry's season salt. smoke'em all day and eat all night.
 
I make it a point to not kill anything I intend to eat during hot weather.
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I used to have those thoughts grwoing up in Ohio, but after living in southern CA for 5 years i quickly realized that if that were the case, how much of the country would be off limits to eating game any time of the year.
 
Am I the only one who disaproves of shooting sows with piglets?

you already have a hog problem, a bunch of piglets running around without a lead sow equals more problems, not to mention that they might starve to death
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I really enjoy what I learn about other countries and cultures in these kinds of posts and questions.

Hogs are viewed as an invasive species, and most exist only after failed attemps to erradicate them. A few of our states have given up and tried to manage them as game animals, but most have open season year round, no limits, with the intentions of wishing them completely gone.

Most areas of our country have also seen an explosion of predator populations, mostly coyotes, that we also cannot control, so killing a sow, and leaving her piglets to feed predators instead of them eating game animals is a double bonus. The only real starvation we see is overpopulation of animals too large for area predators, such as deer that must compete with hogs for food and habitat.
 
Sometimes orphaned pigs will join another sounder.

Pigs running without adults are at risk. Over a period of three evenings i killed all 14 of the offspring of three sows that i had previously killed. Pigs ranged in size from about 25 pounds to 75 pounds.
 
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