Javelina

So, educate me on javelina. Say I want the typical Texas mount of an open mount javelina. (I know they're not that ferocious, but it's kind of a tradition.) How do I cut/cape it? Do I save the backstraps? Edible? Some say kick it in the brush. Some say I need to be related to, or at least close personal friends with an undocumented democratic voter to learn how to cook it. Some say just cut the glands off the middle of the back and keep the hair away from the meat.

There's plenty at this new lease and I've never been around them for this long of a time.

All help appreciated.

(Move this to the "hogs" section if you have to, but I do know they're closer to a dog than a hog.)

Javelina are the most unimpressive bad tasting game animal I can think of. They do make good shoulder and euro mounts.

It is a game animal and falls under same regs. You must save the edible portions just like on any other game animal. They can get pretty dang nasty if you hit one and it squeals. You could be in trouble if the herd comes at you with them sharp cutter teeth popping. Seen a dog or two ripped up by them. Most will run away from you though if given the chance. I have eaten several of them and they make good table fair if cleaned right away. I skin them first and do not let the hair side of the hide touch any portion of the skinned carcass. I wear rubber gloves and do not touch the scent glad at all. I usually killed the younger ones to eat. I chicken fried the backstrap like venison.

Pretty sure the law says if you kill one you must eat it.

As far as skinning for a shoulder mount, I'd treat it like a deer. Cut around the torso aft of the front legs and seperate hide from muscle up to the head, tubing the legs.

You at least have to put the meat in a cooler and act like you are going to eat it. If the meat 'accidentally' goes bad on the way home, it just can't be helped. A friend had some guests down from Canada and they shot some for mounts the first year the law changed. GW saw capes in a cooler and asked where the meat was. Said they threw it in the gut dump like always. Several tickets written.

Best recipe I found... get a big bucket of cow poo. Field dress the javalina and stuff the cavity with the poo. Throw it in a pitn in the ground over hot coals and cover with dirt for about 10 hours. Then dig it up. Scoop out the poo, throw away the javalina and eat the poo.

I tried it once and it really had a BAD skunk after taste. Id eat it again...if I were starving, havent eaten in about three weeks, and could find any grasshoppers, cockroaches, or grubs to snack on.

They're interesting animals to watch, they can be entertaining.
I ate some once. We disappeared for a week and a half out in the country and the rule was that we were not going to town unless medically necessary. We took no meat, we were to kill our meat. Well we ran out of Twinkies and made up a wilderness stew. We had quail, a duck (we did not know what kind it was, just dead) coon, rabbit and a javelina. We quickly learned what meat morsels were jave' and pulled them out, terrible an tough. We drank a little and forgot about the stew, we left it on the fire overnight. The next morning I woke up starving. Surprisingly the jave' had cooked up quite nicely overnight, it was great, better than the coon.

Hmm not sure on skinning, that gland would detur me from skinning for a mount.

Im white conservative square head and Ive cooked several that even my wife ate without complaint.

Despite their stature they can be very aggressive and with teeth like those I think ill pass on testing their follow through.

For a shoulder mount skinning the gland is too far back on the animal to be of concern. Cut around mid belly and tube towards head. Leave as much brisket and leg skin on as possible. Separate head from spine once you skinned it to the back of the head. Leave the head in. Taxidermist will take care of that part. Do not cut up the back or front. Wall pedestal mounts look really nice. We've done lots of those. Nice thing is you can also have the skull cleaned as the mount will use an artificial, yet realistic looking jawset.

Some are too friendly.

That is too funny TurkeyHunter.

Did it ever leave camp or just hang out with you guys?

Was not me in the video. I just remembered it from a few years ago. Thought it would be humorous to share. Imagine something like that at your hunting camp.

They're cool animals, as others have said they can be pretty funny to watch. They fight and bicker about each other like kids and will chase each other around in circles which is comical since they are chubby little things.

They are pretty vicious when they are cornered/injured or have babies. I've had a few dogs killed by them because they've ran into some big groups. I've never eaten them (don't think I want to), but usually give the meat to some of my friends from mexico who seem to like it. They stink to high hell when they get older though. The big boars can be smelled at 100 yards probably. ALWAYS use rubber gloves to touch them if you can, otherwise you're going to have some stinky hands for the next couple of days.

As far as trophy hunting them goes, boars usually kick other mature males out of the group so sometimes you can find some big suckers wandering around alone. Usually though, the real monsters are the ones with the females. Dark hair and you can see the testicles hanging off the back like you can with pigs. Idk how big they can go, but the biggest I've gotten was 55 lbs field dressed and he won the contest that year down here in Laredo. I've got a decent herd of them with "trophy genetics" on my smaller farm so I usually harvest a big one every year to keep things fresh.

Fun animals to hunt! Lots of spot and stalk opportunities in a single morning on the right spot... mean little critters to if you get into a pack or corner one.... As far as cleaning them make sure you wash them off with dish soap well before putting a knife to them... stay away from the gland.. these are the two main factors of people saying they taste bad.. I cleaned an old boar this year and ran out of meat quick... tasted similar to rabbit and pork imo and turned out great.. the care put into the meat from start to finish will be the key... id love to get a full body done one day but they were talking a lot of money even for a shoulder.. I just did a euro and liked how it came out

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll give it a go, if I see a decent boar.

I like the way you roll Nav!

Fun to hunt.

I think Javi's are cool and would rather have them than feral hogs on my property. I'm on the north eastern edge of their range but they moved out back in the '90s when the feral hogs moved in. I did see two in my yard during the middle of the day back in January of this year. Really strange & nice to see them. I wonder what happened to them?

When I was in Jr. High, my best friend found a young one and raised it like a dog. It was an awesome companion.

Back in the '90s I was really into wildlife photography, non-digital cameras, and started spending a lot of time extremely camo'd & scent free directly under feeders. One feeder I used had a resident herd of Javis and it got to where I did not need to be camo'd as they just started to accept me. I would be sitting flat on the ground and they would walk rub on me like they do each other, they are actually mixing the groups scent into one common scent, so they were including me in their group. I had a couple that would just lay down against me. It is weird to have one walk up, lay down against you, and rest their head in your lap so you will scratch behind it's ears! Early on, I got to the point where I stopped taking pictures and just enjoyed what was happening. The experience was worth the transfer of the fleas I guess. The feral hogs changed all that.

We have Javi's on the big ranch but they are on the do not shoot list, I like to see them. As far as eating goes they taste just fine, they're much more picky about what they eat then a damn feral hog.

That's what gets me... the meat was very tender and much milder flavor than a wild pig... if you eat feral hog you will dam sure like this.

I was told the females are the only ones worth eating. Most people don't realize it but you are only allowed the following in most counties:


Bag Limit 2 per license year.
Possession Limit 2

what counties get more than two?

I assume none... But did not want to check regulations for all counties.

It's kind of like armadillo. If you can get past the smell of cleaning them, they might be edible. I suggest GIGing them. Gutting, icing and giving.

I for one have lost my allure for them. Shot one when I was a teenager and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I absolutely hate them now. They scare deer off just by the noise they make. If they see one it's like the 400yd dash in the Olympics. To me they serve no purpose and shouldn't be recognized as a "game animal". They do make a cool mount, and it's something I don't mind the kids learning to shoot at before moving on to deer. For this reason alone I would love to have 30 guys on my lease to thin the herd but I am in a two county restriction as well. Just have to make my feeder pens large enough that no excess corn gets slung outside of the panels. They essentially just pass through now and then. CR, I couldn't tell you how to cape one. It's the only animal I have immediately froze, guts and all, and dropped at the taxi. I am sure he cussed me as I walked out but I was a teenager then and didn't care. Haven't done it since of course. I have more respect for my taxi now. Lol.

Shot a bunch, ate a bunch. Not a bad little animal, do have their own flavor,,, beer helps.

Yea Like a Keg or Two ......

Got one a while back and it was last one I'll ever shoot. I was meticulous when I skinned and quartered. Front legs can't be used there is just nothing on them, rear quarters are also very small even on a large one. The smell to me is a cross between horse and skunk and someone with body odor. I deboned mine brined for a week and made summer sausage. It was good and nobody could tell the difference. However it was a lot of work. Tried frying a bit of the backstrap and after tasting it it all went into the summer sausage.

Did you wash it off before cleaning it?

You'd be surprised how many fellas up north want to come down and shoot one to take home. You can even charge!

I didn't if I ever want to mess with one I'll take your advice for sure.

When I drove the truck to pick up my superfreak cull (or "management" or "damaged in velvet" or whatever) buck, the feeder had gone off and I could have shot a big ol' boar in the group. But, I know my limitations and decided that'd be too much work for one night. 'Gonna try and hold off shooting one until next year or later and let my taxidermy budget recuperate. I will use the Dawn dish soap suggestion.

You'll probably see him next year too.

Javelina don't wander too far from what I've seen and usually run the same routes daily. Only time one gets lost is when he's kicked out by a stronger male. Females stay with the herd 100% of the time. They're very territorial.

Works well with wild hogs too. Mainly what happens is all the funk that's on the skin is put into the meat with the knife.. washin them off with dish soap works like a charm

Here's a nice link for you all to look at. Good info.

http://www.javelinahunter.com/trophy_javelina.htm

Your taxidermist can put bigger teeth in the mount if you want it to look meaner.

We had our taxidermist do a full body mount and think it turned out really well. This has been a few yrs ago and I don't remember if they swapped out the cutters for a larger set. I want to say it was around $500 so not too bad considering. That same day we shot 2 fallow as well so we got lucky and the taxidermist came out to cape all of them for us.

I need to find a place to hunt these suckers!

Cool site. Thanks for posting.

they can also put a bigger set of antlers on a deer you kill too...