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