What to do with all this wild boar?
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My property is located near Bailey, Texas. They are very destructive to the crops so I trap them as often as I can. There are at least 20 more in a sounder that roams this area. And there may even be more. I’ve got my freezer full with more sausage and hams than I and my family could ever eat. I usually donate brats to the police for community cookouts. But with this COVID going around they haven’t been holding them this past year.
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Build a salt box and pack it full.
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My understanding is that you need to keep the salted pork refrigerated. if that’s not true please educate me on if there is a way to pack the meat in salt without refrigeration.
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we have had good luck dropping off at a hunter for the hungry program market… they accept donations for them to cut and wrap and they in send to shelters and the like. There are also places that will buy them ( your not going to be rich…) and they send overseas etc. decent meat but just too many of em!
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From the Hunters for the Hungry website “Due to state and federal health regulations, Hunters for the Hungry is not able to accept donations of feral hog.” I know about selling them. And as you said there is not much money that you get for them. They also want you to bring them to their location alive. That would involve way too much time and cost on my part to mess with.
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I have heard of controlled shooting where landowners charge for folks to come in and shoot feral hogs. Hosting people to come shoot on your property also raises a host of other legal concerns you would need to be aware of such as liability waivers, etc.
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Right now I don’t need help killing them. I’m just looking for alternate ways to use/cure the meat that does not involve refrigeration.
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have you thought about canning the meat in jars doing it in this manner you can leave it on the shelf the way our ancestors did
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have you thought about canning the meat in jars doing it in this manner you can leave it on the shelf the way our ancestors did
craigrice Hunter-Steve - great idea. can even just put raw meat in a quart jar, add 1 teaspoon salt, and can at 20 pounds pressure for 75 minutes. Could also season it with herbs, spices, and vegetables to have a ready to eat stew. Ready to use whenever needed. I have, as an experiment, kept it for 3 years with no loss of flavor at all.
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Right now I don’t need help killing them. I’m just looking for alternate ways to use/cure the meat that does not involve refrigeration.
Hunter-Steve I can meat all the time. Guess we have to many ducks and rabbits. lol Just clean all the fat off you can. I pressure ours at 15 psi for 90 minutes. We usually use it for stews, casseroles and soups. Canning it tends to make it a bit mushy I think.
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Now I had not thought about canning. I need to look into that. Thanks
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My understanding is that you need to keep the salted pork refrigerated. if that’s not true please educate me on if there is a way to pack the meat in salt without refrigeration.
Hunter-Steve, 'tis true. Better to begin during cooler weather but if gotten on quickly and covered entirely in salt without meat touching one another or the side of box meat can be preserved in 90° weather. 2" salt layer on box bottom, pack salt around all sides, 1" salt between layers. Top layer should be covered with minimum 2" salt.
Drill holes in box bottom (for liquid drainage) and cover with a clean fabric before adding salt. Lid can be one piece but i prefer 2, split in middle. Have someway to secure lid or critters will get into it.
May want some sort of catch try for the drainage. Sit box on 4x4’s to keep off ground. -
when I do beef canning it comes out very tender it will make its own juice that I put into the skillet when heating the meat [the meat is basically fully cooked at a boil inside the jar when canning } then I add cream of mushroom soup and sour cream to make stroganoff over noodles but the uses are up to you imagination
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I would recommend using quart jars as pints are not enough for two
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@Razorback Hillbilly, I’ll try that. I have access to 50# bags of non iodine salt. I can make a box out of wood that I cut from Cedar trees with an Alaskan Chainsaw mill.
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@Razorback Hillbilly, I’ll try that. I have access to 50# bags of non iodine salt. I can make a box out of wood that I cut from Cedar trees with an Alaskan Chainsaw mill.
Hunter-Steve other supply options are TSC and Orschlens (e eve. n used water softener salt from WalWorld for like $5.60/bag . 99.98% pure sea salt. I guess the other .02% is fish-poo.
Can even be ground for kitchen use. Wayyy better $ per #. -
@Razorback Hillbilly, I’ll try that. I have access to 50# bags of non iodine salt. I can make a box out of wood that I cut from Cedar trees with an Alaskan Chainsaw mill.
Hunter-Steve nice looking cedar boards. I have one of those AK chainsaw mills, works great for softwoods, hardwoods you better have a good saw and some sharp chains. It is still better than other options.
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Hunter-Steve nice looking cedar boards. I have one of those AK chainsaw mills, works great for softwoods, hardwoods you better have a good saw and some sharp chains. It is still better than other options.
YooperDog yep… I have a Stihl MS291 and I use a crosscut chain. I sharpen it after doing two logs typically. Amazing how fast it cuts and how much wood you get.
Another load that I cut thick for moving. I’ll make them thinner later
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I did some more reading about using sea salt and water softener salt and they are not a good option.
I went to my local Sam’s Club at lunch and they had 25# bags of non-iodized salt for $4.98 a bag so I picked up 200#'s of that to keep on hand for the next time I trap a group of hogs.
I’ll build a big box to put the hams and shoulders in next weekend.
They are forecasting really cold weather this weekend here in north Texas. With wind chills going down to -15 degrees and blizzard conditions. So the only thing I will be doing out at my property is making sure all the feeders are full. And bring back home an extra generator. I would hate to loose heat when it is that cold!
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I did some more reading about using sea salt and water softener salt and they are not a good option.
I went to my local Sam’s Club at lunch and they had 25# bags of non-iodized salt for $4.98 a bag so I picked up 200#'s of that to keep on hand for the next time I trap a group of hogs.
I’ll build a big box to put the hams and shoulders in next weekend.
They are forecasting really cold weather this weekend here in north Texas. With wind chills going down to -15 degrees and blizzard conditions. So the only thing I will be doing out at my property is making sure all the feeders are full. And bring back home an extra generator. I would hate to loose heat when it is that cold!
Hunter-Steve my brother has a place a couple of hours or so due west of you and none of the ranchers or local folks are happy with them. Tearing crop fields up and destroying watering holes. We have a lot of invites from neighbors to come and dispatch as many as we like. But like you there is only so much storage space and my brother has plenty of them to deal with on his place. Looking at doing a cool bot set up or something similar especially for the warmer months. Best case is a walk in, but no one I know wants to part with that much $$$. The salt box should be a good way to go, overall investment is small.
I did read about an enterprising set of brothers I think in the SE, who set up an operation to trap hogs on their property and on neighboring properties and then had the hogs processed and sold to local restaurants. Probably more work than you want.
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