Thread: Gamey boar?

Hey folks.

I shot two young (1 yr old? guessing about 30kg) boars the other day. Both the same size and in good health and both together, but one has really nasty strong tasting/smelling meat. The other is a little strong but more like shop pork.

So a couple of questions. What would cause one to taste so strong that it's almost inedible? I did make a mess by gut-shooting that one, and in all the excitement (and noobiness) didn't bleed them properly. I read mention of some musk gland on boars that makes the meat taste awful if not dealt with properly. Also occurred to me that it could be poisoning or disease, although the DOC pesticide summary shows the last pesticide operations (last year) should have cleared and the organs and skins looked normal and healthy. Also the bad one doesn't taste like toxic chemicals, but just like the good one only much, much stronger, so I think I can discount poisoning.

So assuming the meat is safe to eat (I've had some... needed more garlic and herbs than meat) I'll just try currying it. But I'm keen to hear any more ideas about getting rid of strong flavour (soaking in milk? never tried it) and any thoughts on why one might taste so bad, and if it's OK to eat.

By the way I've shot and eaten a few deer and goats (hinds and nannies, no bucks) so I'm OK with gamey meat in general... got quite a taste for it now and shop meat just tastes dull! The pigs were the first male game I've tasted though so maybe I just don't know what to expect.

Any comments would be good to hear.

Cheers

Gut shooting is never good especially if you end up spreading it around
Did it die quickly?
Did you remove the glands round the Arse?

Yeah not ideal, it was moving around and I'm too slow / must be a lousy shot.

It was a bit messy inside but cleaned up fairly well. I saw worse on a deer once. I put one through the head not much later so yes pretty quick, not instant unfortunately... Felt really bad for the poor beast too. I like the hunting and eating but really hate the killing part, especially when it's not instant.

>Did you remove the glands round the Arse?

Now I think about it the bullet headed through the abdo cavity and toward the back end totally ruining the back quarters and probably vaporising the glands in the process... I've long known my 308 was overkill for most of the hunting I've done!

That the pigs were shot together it is likely they were from the same litter and had been eating the same food sources so different food (which does influence the taste of the meat) is unlikely to be the explanation. Even though you say you cleaned it up, I think the most likely reason for the difference is some degree of tainting of the meat as a result of the gut shot. Were the gut or intestines burst by the shot? Did you gut/clean the other pig before this one?

Did both pigs cool down properly ? ( bone taint ? ) .

Not sure I saw anything even resembling guts so yeah definitely burst... Even the back steaks taste funny though (haven't tried fore 1/4s) so I'm guessing it's in the blood. I gutted the clean-shot one first so it wouldn't get contaminated, so the other probably sat for 30 mins.

I think so, they were the same anyway. I gutted them both there and then and carried them back to the car. It was a cool day, and I was butchering them just a couple of hours after shooting. I haven't seen bone taint before but the meat looks fine around the bones. Not discoloured, all looks fine.

If it makes you feel any better iv done everything right on a 100 pound pig and it was still completely inedible, the dog wouldnt even touch it
sometimes you just get real bad ones and other times they are beaut

Originally Posted by Bill999

If it makes you feel any better iv done everything right on a 100 pound pig and it was still completely inedible, the dog wouldnt even touch it
sometimes you just get real bad ones and other times they are beaut

Anything to do with what they are eating do you reckon?

Im not sure mate, could be internal and hormonal, could just have been a really average diet
I had another that was tough as can be and was like chewing an old boot once, given to me by a pig hunting friend(dogged) and that was allmost impossible to chew into small enough pieces to swallow, dog wouldnt eat it either, and she eats all sorts of rotten shit.
the next leg from the same person was mint eating

Originally Posted by Toby

Anything to do with what they are eating do you reckon?

some times you can have a really lovely lady with good levels of hygiene and cleanliness and her lady bits still smell like week old squid

Originally Posted by Bill999

some times you can have a really lovely lady with good levels of hygiene and cleanliness and her lady bits still smell like week old squid

That analogy is pure gold Bill999.

Were they litter mates? ie the same looking pigs or different colours , generally pigs together would be feeding on the same diet

If it is strong but still edible bone it out and try making sausage or salami with it
Bone taint in this heat is common , unless you want the heads take them off and split them down the brisket, hang them up with a bag of ice in cavity or frozen water bottles