So I'm new to pig hunting, and haven't yet harvested one. i plan on getting a few dropped in the next week or two and was talking with a co-worker about my plans of attack. He cringed when i mentioned cutting a backstrap and throwing it in the cooler. Is it a big no-no to eat pigs killed in the summer? or his he just paranoid?

He is paranoid, nothing wrong with eating summer hogs. Get them cold as soon as you can and they will be just fine.

IMO, paranoid. Just get it on ice as quick as you can.

so throw in the ice chest PRONTO. That was my plan. I also read to let sit, draining and refilling ice for a day or two. any other tips?

He prob cringed bc he is a vegan.

Man, I kill more hogs in the summer than any other time of year. Like others have said, ice them down fast and you'll be good to go. Your coworker sounds like a hippie.

hahaha hes actually an older guy that has a VERY enviable gun collection but i think he only hunts deer. he was concerned about how quickly bacteria starts to set in on the meat, but i was like, "yeah it'll be put on ice immediately" as i was trying to get back to the point of my story at that instant. then i started thinking about his interjection on the way home.

You will be fine, and while many stress getting on ice quickly, and I would say sooner is better, you still have a little working time.

^ lol exactly. Not to be repetitive but you will be fine. Best of luck!

You're on track, but take the hams and shoulders too. Get the meat on ice pronto in hot weather.

Only way i would is IF it was a sow under 100lbs that had no sign of hair loss and was good and fat... and don't stink... and that's still a maybe.... and im not one to be picky about what I eat

This. And worst case scenario leave it in the freezer for a month or so before you eat it.

my folks ate meat back in east Texas during the depression
throughout the year. most of what pigs they put up were
killed in the winter and canned or cured and smoked, but
they did eat fresh meat in the summer too and lived to tell
about it. they also didn't have electricity back then and
no refrigerators or deep freezers to store food. the indians
before them killed and ate game for centuries year round.

get your game cleaned and cooled down quickly as posted^ ^ ^
and cook it properly and there should be no problem.

nope nope nope there is just better things to eat this time of year

I no longer eat wild hogs but if I wanted to consume one this time of year I'd be stripping the back strap within minutes. No way would I attempt to clean a whole hog in 100 degree temps. No offense to anyone who feels otherwise. JMO

Backstraps only was my thinking just to get it on ice quickly. As my wife doesn't care for pork it'll just be me eating so i dont need to harvest whole hams.

My grandpa always butchered and smoked hogs in the winter in south Texas back in the 60's. Made his own smokehouse preparing the hogs in an old German tradition. Asked my grandpa one day why he only butchered hogs in the winter. The answer was very simple.....FEWER FLIES.

The hogs are back at my place. If I can just drag my lazy self out of the bed and go hunting, I'm sure to get a couple. I'll hang em by the back legs and take the back strap and debone the hindquarters. Put it on ice for a couple of days and drain off the water from time to time. Adding salt to the ice soak took the stink right out of a recent small stinky male. Meat was not gamely at all.

But yes, get it on ice promptly.

I have washed pigs off really good and gutted and cut the head off so it would fit in my ice chest so I could clean it the next day. Pack ice in and around and it cools down real quick. Ain't nothing wrong with wrong with wrong with me so far.

summer sausage

Even if I'm not eating them I'm still killing them

Yeah I wouldnt NOT go out to pull the trigger if everyone said to not eat em.

I still kill them every chance I get, I just won't eat them any more. An old cowboy I know said he rode up on a dead cow one time and some little pigs came running out from inside the cow. Said it was the nastiest thing he ever saw. I just can't get that picture out of my mind.

yeah I know they will eat just about anything

Is there some that "DON'T STAANK"???

Same here, is there something in particular your watching out for in the summer? I always try to make sure the feral hogs we butcher look healthy, just curious if I need to be looking for something else.

a lot depends were ya hunting ? my ta go to place was WMA... When hunting for (any type) warmer the weather faster on ice, main reason did the Jan. Feb. & March hunts... Key word in OP cooler... people get hung up on grammer...

have cooler & ice on hand, don't pass up hams & shoulders, easy way to do,you don't have to skin the whole hog

I've got over 100lbs including brats,breakfast sausage and italian sausage of hog in the freezer,(its now dog food). Make sure like has been mentioned they are small 80-100 pounders and sows! Me and mama cannot get past the smell when its cooking. Weirdest thing though is it doesn't bother my son and daughter in-law!

Oh I have no intention of harvesting big smelly boars. They can feed the buzzards and other critters.

I kill hogs year round and smoke the hams and backstops and have never had an issue regardless of time of day or year. Get then iced down quickly and wear gloves in case they have trichinosis.

What do the big commercial hog processors do in the summer? Close doors until fall?

indoors, they keep temps down..

People who like to justify killing pigs and not eating them usually like to spread rumors about how nasty the meat is. The pigs we shoot taste just like store bought pig just without as much fat. Now, anything over 200#'s, I wouldn't eat. But the smaller ones are delicious. Some people are narrow minded.

See that's extremely narrow minded to me. Elk stink like hell but they are one of the Tastiest wild game animals. Fish stink. Cows stink. Sounds like something a little girl would say

I dont even bother to justify it to anyone, shoot every one I see and let 90% of them rot away. No obligation to harvest meat in my mind.

I've never seen a slaughter house keep their live animals in the AC. They kill them and start cooling immediately, what's the difference? Kill it, get on ice ASAP and enjoy. Lots of folks make lots of excuses to not clean an animal, they just wanna kill and tell their buddies. Ive killed hogs from 50 pounds to 250 in July and they are all just fine if put in ice within a few minutes. All hogs smell on the outside I don't care what the temp is but I don't eat the outside.

I eat most pigs I shoot. If there is a sow in heat around the boars will stink and I don't mess with them.

You just need to get busy as soon as you shoot one. You can't go driving around and leave it sitting a long time. If you get to work within an hour after killing it you'll be fine...no rush.

Man I highly recommend throwing a cup of baking soda and a half a cup of salt in with your quarters. This brines the meat and tenderizes the meat. Really helps with the flavor in the end.
It's hard work cleaning pigs. Most guys would rather shoot them and use the excuse they are nasty. And some people really need them off their ranch. No judgement there.
In my opinion most guys are just lazy or not educated on how to take care of them. When done right wild pork is the best eating thing you can hunt. Pm me is you would like some cooking instructions I can give you a few flawless recipes that will make you want to keep every hog you kill.

its nothing about being close minded... iv skint and ate coon, armadillo, field rat, skunk pig, bobcat and plenty of more... which all taste better or about par of any wild pig I have had... and i keep plenty of wild pig in the freezer... there are plenty better things to be eating in the summer than pig... but more power to you lol

]

lol funny my freezer stays stacked full of it and other meat... just not enough room and too many pigs to shoot... buzzards gota eat too

I like shooting hogs most of them I give away

I don't eat those nasty things anymore. Pork is cheap...........but I do shoot everyone I see

could be because he heard of that poison their using ta control hogs...
Seen it on FB, or maybe a hog had that tick they discussing in section... ..

its nothing about being close minded... iv skint and ate coon, armadillo, field rat, skunk pig, bobcat and plenty of more... which all taste better or about par of any wild pig I have had... and i keep plenty of wild pig in the freezer... there are plenty better things to be eating in the summer than pig... but more power to you lol [/quote]

Pics of the skunk pig?

Pigs are hot animals and will start to rot from the bone out if not cooled down really fast.
I would debone one as fast as I could and get it iced.
If it is a wet sow leave it. If it is a dry sow eat it up.
Don't just cut off the back strap, cut the hams out. Just skin it back and cut it off the bone. No need to gut it either.

Pics of the skunk pig?[/quote]

Hey no judgement if you don't eat them, i understand they are a nuisance. Just don't go around telling everyone they are not good to eat and too hard to clean. I can quarter a pig in less than 30 minutes with my benchmade knife. I understand the big boars can be nasty but the smaller ones are pretty dang good, atleast where I hunt. I personally feel weird about leaving good meat to waste, I'd rather give them to charity then let them rot.

Never said they were hard to clean... that's no issue... and they don't go to waste.. lots of wildlife get fed by them

I understand the importance of getting game cool as quickly as possible, especially in summer. I don't eat summer killed pigs because of what is available for them to eat, which being summer, isn't much. I tend to see pigs eating grubs under cow patties, and eating crawfish from overturned mounds. They will eat a fawn or litter of rabbits if they find them. There are very few feeders full of corn or protein in my neck of the woods. There is no mast in the summer either. I just can't get past a summer hog's diet enough to enjoy eating it. YMMV.

he probably supported bernie

At my lease they eat CORN. hah. That's why they taste so good. I keep my feeders full year round.

For the last year and half have killed lots of hogs and ate every one of them. Most was made into sausage. From the males to the females to piglets all tasted fine. If a hog taste bad its probably because the 2 glands on hind legs were ground into the meat.

I eat summer pigs. Usually just the backstraps. I just make sure to get them on ice quickly. Never came across any worms or anything in them before.

BUT if its a big stinky boar I'll just leave it alone and let the buzzards and coyotes have it.

regarding eating feral pigs...

I had a processor tell me to carry some vinegar with me and splash some around inside the cavity after gutting to cut down on bacteria. Another good thing is an ice slurry. Ice, salt and water mixed to form a slurry. This mixture will actually get below freezing. Good luck to you.

get it on you and it will burn you via chemical reaction.

Gutless method is what I do know and I'll never go back to gutting them.Weekend before last took a sow that I know what carrying piglets. She was right around 130 or so. The meat is absolutely fantastic. She had so much fat on her I made Brats that are close to being as juicy as any from the store. Small portion of hind quarter was cooked in the crockpot with only Garlic salt and pepper and again it was excellent. My wife who is sometimes picky when it comes to wild game loved it. Didn't even taste like pork it tasted like a beef roast.

As for skunkpig, I've taken one and will never take another. Brined the hindquarters for 2 weeks and turned it into summer sausage. It was ok but the initial stink(bad body odor mixed with a horse)when I processed the thing has made me never want to shoot another!

Summer pig.

So do catfish! What part of the year do you not eat them!

I prefer bass year around over catfish