anybody ever butchered and ate a boar?

[Birdguy]

We cut a couple big ones growing up, my Dad would not waste ANYTHING! The largest one we cut dressed 554lbs minus hide, head too. We guessed over 850 on the hoof. At the time the neighbor guy bought all the "rocky mountain oysters" I could get for $2 lb. I think I got $16 for that pair! After cutting them feed good for 4-8 weeks and then slaughter. Never had any tainted or stinky meat.

Good luck on the boar, a couple hundred ponds of sausage is never a bad thing  .

[Blackjaw]

Bleed him good and hang him and you should be alright.

[nwwanderer]

Should be fine.  Fry a little flank for a test before you put time and money in it. 

[PolarBear]

The worst hog we ever raised was a boar and we wound up throwing it all away.  It was fed really good feed but it still had an awful taste.

[Jonathan_S]

I butchered a 3 yr old pot bellied boar this last summer.  Yeah, yeah it's a pet - whatever 

I'm telling you what, our pot bellied pigs are pastured with lentils and a few other grains as supplement.  That is the best tasting pork I have ever had 

[villageidiot]

I've raised hogs and still do for 40 years.  I've eaten many boars up to 900 pounds.  What makes them taste bad is being around sows. Their testosterone level gets up and they  get stinkey.  Two things you can do.  One is completely get them away from sows for at least a month.  The other is to castrate them.  Even if you do butcher him and he's around sows his meat is ok but stinks when cooked.  The smell is similiar to pig manure or stinkey boar but for some reason the meat tastes ok.  I don't recommend making any pork chops, bacon, roasts or hams because the meat is a little tough.  I would only make sausage.  The seasonings help mask the smell a little. I hired a vet about six weeks ago to castrate a big boar and the boar died an hour later.  I don't recommend a vet.  Do it yourself with no sedatives.  A real stout wooden crate works but it better be stout.  Those boars have lots of strength in their nose.

[Jonathan_S]

I hired a vet about six weeks ago to castrate a big boar and the boar died an hour later.  I don't recommend a vet.  Do it yourself with no sedatives.

Wow.  What was the story there?  He died from reacting to the sedative?

[KFhunter]

or blood loss, shock combined with sedative?  Interesting, I would have thunk having a vet sedate and do the job would be the least stressful on the animal.  Curious if the vet clamped off the blood vein to the nuts or let it bleed out.

I built the hog box out of 1/4 inch 3x3 angle iron then ran 2x6 wood slats inside so it's hell for stout. 

[buglebuster]

So far so good!

[Bean Counter]

You can get a biopsy punch and use it to cut a plug off the boars back fat to see if it has boar taint
...

explain this boar taint

[Jonathan_S]

 

[buglebuster]

Well got him all finished up! No smell and tastes great! I have half to my father in law and kept half for myself. Just finished up today. I ended up with 22 thick pork chops from the back strap, packaged the loin whole, 20lbs maple breakfast sausage, 20lbs regular breakfast sausage, 16lbs bacon burgers, and 5lbs of ground pork.

[carpsniperg2]

Glad it turned out good for you.

[KFhunter]

You can get a biopsy punch and use it to cut a plug off the boars back fat to see if it has boar taint
...

explain this boar taint

A combination of bacteria and hormones that make the meat have an off smell, most describe it as strong urine or ammonia especially when cooked.  Most common in pen raised boars kept near sows where they have the full brunt of feces contact (skatole) and constant interest in sows (Androsterone) in the next pen over.

Androsterone is also found in celery, thus the old wives tale "never feed celery to a hog" has some truth to it.

[KFhunter]

15 day wet brine bacon and loin.

I made bacon out of boar, it is very tasty.   I was told not to bother with boar bacon but I'm glad I did, super meaty and thick. 

Also made loin in the same bacon brine, injected so the brine went all through the meat.  Smoked 4-6 hours and raised to internal temp of 150 degrees it's also super tasty.  Sliced thin for lunch meats.   


Takes a healthy slicer, mine is too small.


note:  On super thick boar belly I had one spot on the thickest belly that brine didn't penetrate.  Suggest poking brine with an injector in anything thicker than 2.5 or 3 inches thick.  You can see the color change where brine didn't fully penetrate.