Lardering wild boar?

Adamant

Well-Known Member
I've got the chance of taking some pigs in the West Country next week - however, we need to take all of the carcasses away as part of the arrangement. I'm OK with rifle, FAC clauses, shot placement etc but I don't have a clue about what to do with a pig carcass beyond gutting it.

Do I need a Trichonella test kit - received wisdom seems to say that the UK wild boar population is safe as it's made up of animals escaped from farms. I know I can get one from the FSA as part of the voluntary scheme but do I need to bother?

- Am I right in understanding that wild boar are skinned rather than scraped like hairy domestic rare breed pigs? Is the skinning process similar to deer? It has been suggested that the carcass should be scorched with a blowtorch rather than skinned, but given the thickness of a boar's pelt, I've got visions of 200lbs of flaming pig in my garden - not to mention the stench of burning hair...

- Should the carcasses be hung in the skin for any length of time - I rarely hang deer in my chiller for more than 7-10 days. I have my own 6'x4'x2'6" chiiler at home but have access to a commercial one if something really big appears in my crosshairs!

I'm using .270 shooting 156gn Sako Hammerheads and I'm confident it will be up to the job, although I'm nervous about the fact that Mr Davies favours a Blaser .375H&H as his tool of choice...

Cheers,

Adam.
 
Hi,
First.
Get the carcass hung up in a well ventilated and cool place, then prop the chest cavity wide open plus make a cut under both of the armpits to get the cooling working faster over the maximum carcass area.
The carcass must drop down to a max temp of plus 7 degrees within 24 hours.
Skin it then afterwards say about 30 hours after shooting by taking the fat under-layer off together with the skin as one layer use a sharp knife and lift/pull the skin away and work the knife between meat and the fat layer to seperate them away.
If you then vacuum pack the meat leave it in a fridge for one week (not a freezer) to get the best aging process.
Trichinosis is an extremely serious illness and if you intend to sell meat to the public I feel it is not worth the risk of not testing it first.
With boar hunting the fun starts after the shot has been taken.
Martin
 
Quite a few years back, I had a shooting buddy now long since passed over,(the big C), he had a friend that had shot two wild boar, field gralloched them, butchered & then vacuum packed some joints, a few of these joints came my way & I duly transferred them to my freezer as they were absolutely solid, no signs of defrost at all, on removing one from the freezer at a later date, I noticed a slightly greenish tinge to the whole of the joint, note that it was only a slight hint of colour, so into the oven & given the full heat treatment, on discussion with all present it was decided to allow only the dogs to eat a small morsel of the meat, they were quite ill the next day, so all of the other stored meat was taken to the tip. I have always wondered what this had been, was it poor hygiene at point of gralloch or something more obscure?Both the freezers that these pieces had been in were operating correctly at around minus 17c. Anyone had similar happen?
 
I think a Trichonella test is absolutely mandatory. I heard that some say that UK population is safe, but bear in mind that this can easily change. Other animals can carry it, and wild boar can eat dead fox or badger and catch it. Your other option is to deep freeze the whole meat for a month or so. I think Americans do that and dont bother to test the meat.

Finnbear, dogs dont like wild boar meat. I found they often vomit after eating it.

Greg
 
In my limited experience of dealing with Boar (3 animals) which I came as a result of some trips to south Sweden, the policy on lardering was to get the whole animal hanging up and then get a wheelbarow under it before opening up, the barrow needed to be emptied twice.
We then went on to skinning while still warm, the kidney was sent to a local vet for a 'health check'.I was told that cold skinning is very hard.

Just one tip, shoot well forward aiming to shoulder the animal as the deer method of 'up the back of the front leg and half way up the thick bit' will result in a gut shot.

Good luck
 
Boar

I've never shot a wild boar but I have skinned four. The best advice I can give is to get someone else to do it! It took me literally all day to do those four (they were huge ones), it is more a matter of carving a layer off rather than skinning. My second peice of advice is have several knives ready as the hair and skin is tough as old boots. My third peice of advice is get several mates to help with everything otherwise it will become a major chore and that will take the fun out of your trip. Just a thought, if you plan to shoot more than one, could you do a deal with a gamedealer to give him one in exchange for preparing the other? JC
 
{Finnbear, dogs dont like wild boar meat. I found they often vomit after eating it.}

If you got to hound kennels you will often see dead pigs in the skips. While the hunts will pick up pigs as part of their fallen stock arrangements they will never feed them to hounds. Too much to go wrong in terms of the assemblage of bacteria that pigs have (very similar to our own) and very fatty so not good for the hounds digestions or the results in kennels...
No kennels I have known have ever fed pig flesh, even when very short of flesh for the hounds.

On exception I think was that the Quorn (or Grafton, I can't remember which but can remember the conversation with the kennelman) was fed on pork pies for a while during the foot and mouth outbreak! Desperate times!
 
Hi,
My vet pal in Germany did a Trichonella test on boar muscle that had been kept in a freezer at the agricultural authorities lab for 3 months and the worms were still alive , so cooking at over 80 degrees is the only surefire killer of this life form.
martin
 
zaitsev said:
{Finnbear, dogs dont like wild boar meat. I found they often vomit after eating it.}

If you got to hound kennels you will often see dead pigs in the skips. While the hunts will pick up pigs as part of their fallen stock arrangements they will never feed them to hounds. Too much to go wrong in terms of the assemblage of bacteria that pigs have (very similar to our own) and very fatty so not good for the hounds digestions or the results in kennels...
No kennels I have known have ever fed pig flesh, even when very short of flesh for the hounds.

On exception I think was that the Quorn (or Grafton, I can't remember which but can remember the conversation with the kennelman) was fed on pork pies for a while during the foot and mouth outbreak! Desperate times!

Zaitsev,

I believe that the Hunts can no longer feed the dogs fallen stock, many still provide the service to farmers as part of the hunt 'deed' to them, but l'm sure you'll find that everything goes for incineration/disposal.

At least thats what the B&W have said to me,

Tom
 
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