Feral Hog and Deer

[Dale Nichols]

I have a freezer full of hind quarters and shoulders. Anybody had any luck with them? They are so lean. Looking down as I write this,it's time for me to get on there cardio program.

 

[Dean Torges]

A freezer full of hind quarters and shoulders is a treasure trove indeed. Unless you purchase a barding needle and lard them, you won't be happy barbecuing game such as feral hogs and deer for just the reason you mention. The exception is feral hog ribs. Save them, no matter how spare they look, and barbecue them on the WSM. They are so much more flavorful than anything domestic that you'll want to run into the countryside and start tearing down hog fences.

Do you have access to a smokehouse, or can you cobble one together? I have a friend who routinely smokes venison shoulders and swears by them. I don't do that, preferring instead to bone and grind them for burger. He doesn't have access to the feral hog hunting I do, so he makes his ham thataway.

Here's a photo of a feral ham from a 150 lb hog that just came out of the smokehouse last week. You can see how lean this meat is. Did not trim a speck of fat off of it before smoking it, either. Pigs grown on mast and rootings rather than dometic grains offer an altogether different culinary experience. Stuff in hoglots is a pallid cousin.

 

[Dean Torges]

I should add that I've never tried to bbq a feral ham or shoulder, that decision based upon the lean appearance of the meat and my Southern buddies who only do so if they've live-caught some pigs and pen-fattened them first.

Have made bacon, too. It's delicious. Very meaty. Also makes great fresh side simply fried in a skillet. If a feral pig has any fat, that's where it is.

Killed a large fallow sow once just larded with fat. 260 lbs. Interestingly, though, the fat was all piled on top of her meat, and the meat itself was about as lean as any feral hog's.