Javelina

I'm a retired disabled soldier. I live in East Texas and hunt hogs a lot. Went to Twin Buttes by San angelo with my brother looking for javelina but there are none there. Anyone know where some are on state land? Thanks in advance

You aren’t gonna eat one of those things are you?

Sure, chili powder, lemon juice, other powders.....taste like javelina, lol....

Lake Meredith. Not sure if that county has year-round season or not.

You can make chili out of anything. That's what it's for.

Do they not taste good. Wild hogs are good to eat

They can have a pretty strong flavor similar to their smell. If you’re not familiar with their smell… they are one of few animals I have hunter that I smelled before I saw.

That said have eaten some young ones and female javi that were very good.

My wife shot her first Javi a couple weeks ago at a friends ranch near Laredo. I had to do a euro mount of it, she was pretty proud of her 150 yd shot. Fun little buggers to chase around.

Apparently the little toots are edible if prepared properly:

https://levergunscommunity.org/viewtopic.php?t=87294&sid=ff2bde3a7b7152acc149a603147263c9

The key is in the skinning and butchering. You MUST stay away from the gland on top of their rump and change knives as soon as you finish with the skinning or any time you think you might have touched the outside of the hide before ever cutting into the meat. Once you get the hide off, the meat smells just as sweet as any other freshly killed red meated animal you have eaten. Don't be confused about them being called pigs though, they are actually related to the skunk and smell just as bad.

I couldn't agree more. They definitely have a funk to them, but if you use some common sense you can get some decent meat. Wear some gloves when skinning and try not to touch any exposed meat with your hands or you’ll transfer some of that funk on to the meat. That musk smell is all over the hide. Once you’re done skinning either change or take the gloves off and process the meat as usual. We also clean our knives once skinned to again minimize any transfer to the meat.

I'd probably have to be in a survival situation to consider eating one of them. I'm sure it's possible to choke it down, but their funky smell is enough to lose my appetite.

Congratulations !

I’ve often said that Javelina are inedible, basing that on my Cajun buddy not being able to cook one we could eat. I figured that if he couldn’t make it worth eating, nobody could. Since then I got that new neighbor, who lived in Bolivia for 13 years, and he says he cooked it, ate it, and liked it. All in the prep he said. The guy can cook, so I believe him. That said, you guys eat it. I’ll pass. It’s a rodent.

I'm a firm believer that most bad or gamy tastes in all game come from hair, dirt, glands or too much heat.

Bone marrow never cut through the bone.

Just for the record, collared peccaries/javelina aren't even in the same order as rodents, being artiodactyls along with deer, cattle, bison, giraffes, hippos, etc. -- although some may consider them "rodents of unusual size" ...

Makes a cool euro mount and pretty good as carne guisada.

I don’t think it’s touching the meat that gets a taste or smell on them. Processed several the same way with the same care some were great some were gross. Just like feral hogs in my opinion. We have an abundance of them and shoot them often. My son got one on his first hunt this year, looking forward to cooking it up.

Putting feral hog meat on ice for 4 or 5 days or so and letting the blood come out of the meat works so well to remove gamey taste that we now do it for deer. I wonder if that would work as well on Javelina. I’d sure do it if I planned to eat Javelina meat.

Funny how this topic turned into another topic. Point was to hunt some javelina not on how they smell or taste

Sergeant, I apologize for being part of that problem, and hope you connect with a hunting opportunity ASAP.

there are several 'lottery hunts' for Javelina. In fact, I'll be at one next week at the Chapparal WMA, but they are all by draw.
But most also have standby positions and the odds are definitely in your favor to get picked. For example the Javelina hunts at The Chap don't have near the standby applicants that their deer hunts do.
You need to check with the individual WMA for that particular hunt, not all have standby positions. I've hunted at The Chap and James Daughtrey WMA javelina hunts by standby positions.
Go to the TPWD website under Hunting --> Public Hunting --> drawn hunts then scroll thru the Javi hunts.

No problem

I didn't think they were legal on a lot of public land.