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Last Saturday am I shot 3 wild hogs while deer hunting. We have had them on our property for several years but never really had a chance other than with my bow to shoot one.
Anyway I had never eaten wild hog, we eat deer at the house all the time, so I took one of the hogs(60 lbs to a local processor that does hogs. For some reason my regular processor only does deer and DHEC(SC Health Dept) has different requirments for hogs and this processor does a full service on everything from beef and pork to deer and wild hogs.
Anyway I have had some of my deer done in sausage over the years but never been too impressed with it.
Really had no idea what to expect but this stuff is great, I guess the trick in sausage is the person making it but I will assure you I will try and get a couple more this year to put more sausage in the freezer.
__________________ 210 CC Sea Pro
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 HEMI
Pretty tough to beat....not sure about your area but around here its CHEAP to have made too.
Not really that cheap I don't think, $40 for 14 packages of 2lb ea but well worth it
I am told by those the shoot a lot of these that the pigs 100 lbs and under are best. They tell me the big boars(200lbs plus) make a good mount but the rest is for the dump
__________________ 210 CC Sea Pro
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 HEMI
Piss-off you lucky dog you. .....I'm still dreaming about the day I can harvest wild game from my own property. At present I'm only good for Canada geese and a handful of squirrels.
Try having your butcher mix some of your wild hog with your venison ......yum, yum.
Wild game is the only meat you can count on these days to be naturally grazed and hormone free. Definately healthy. I have never tried wild hog. We dont have them here in DE. Tried wild Turkey for the first time and was surprised it was not at all "gamey" in flavor. We have a limited Turkey season but not many birds here yet.
I am having a jinxed season. Have only jumped one deer so far and have been hunting hard....Still waiting to fill my 1st tag of this season... Someone please send me some good juju so i at least get a shot off this year! The rest i can handle....
Have only jumped one deer so far and have been hunting hard....Still waiting to fill my 1st tag of this season... Someone please send me some good juju so i at least get a shot off this year! The rest i can handle....
No wonder you boys move SOUTH, pretty much shoot a deer whenever we like during the season. There are a few times I will go and not see anything but that is VERY unusual, mostly we hold out for larger bucks but every now and then your trigger finger gets itchy
I will normally put 2-3 deer a year in our freezer, which we consume, and if will always have nonhunters that want one as well and they will pay processing fee in fact had a guy call me this am and ask if I could shoot one for him and one for his Dad
__________________ 210 CC Sea Pro
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 HEMI
Like most landowners who have dealt with feral hogs, James Belcher carries a grudge against the wild swine population that has over the past two decades exploded and swarmed like furry locusts across the Texas landscape.
They've pillaged Belcher's 115 acres in Cherokee County, ceaselessly rooting his pastures and timberland and turning them into rutted messes. They destroy wildlife food plots and deer feeders, or seize control of those feeding areas to the exclusion of other wildlife.
But the 76-year-old Tomball resident's reason for antipathy toward feral hogs goes deeper than just the damage they do to his land and the wildlife on it. Feral hogs have significantly damaged his health, and he wants other Texas hunters to learn the simple steps they should take to protect themselves from similar experiences.
“People need to know that they should be cautious when they handle those pigs, and always wear gloves,” Belcher said. “I wouldn't want what's happened to me to happen to anybody.”
Belcher contracted brucellosis while cleaning a feral hog, and has been battling the disease's debilitating effects for months and faces many more months of treatment and health challenges.
“It has been a nightmare,” he said.
Belcher's experience with the bacteria-caused disease is a cautionary tale for hunters and others who handle some of the estimated 1.5 million to 2 million feral hogs infesting Texas.
Brucellosis is one of several transmissible diseases feral hogs can carry, and is fairly common in the animal's population
Research indicates about 10 percent of Texas feral hogs test positive for brucellosis bacteria. But in some pockets of the state — East Texas in particular — brucellosis infection rates as high as 20-25 percent have been documented.
Brucellosis bacteria is found in bodily fluids, concentrating in reproductive organs, milk and viscera. Brucellosis in animals generally causes spontaneous abortions and other health-related problems.
Feels like the flu
In humans, the bacteria causes severe flu-like symptoms — fever, chills, aching muscles, intense joint pain, nausea and fatigue. And it can progress to chronic conditions — infections, arthritis, lung and liver problems to name a few.
Belcher has suffered all of that, and more.
His painful journey began this past March when he and his son butchered one of the many feral hogs they have shot or trapped.
Health officials and wildlife managers have for years strongly recommended hunters wear protective gloves — latex or heavy rubber gloves — when cleaning feral hogs to help prevent getting blood or other bodily fluids on hands or arms. They also recommend wearing protective eye wear.
The brucellosis bacteria can enter one's body through slight nicks, cuts, abrasions or other breaks in the skin.
“I never used gloves when I cleaned hogs,” Belcher said. “I sure wish I had, now.”
Brucellosis can have a long incubation period — as long as two months or sometimes more. Belcher had no immediate symptoms, but they came on like a freight train a couple of months later, as he recovered at home following major surgery to address an aortic aneurysm.
“All of a sudden, I had (a) fever — 103.5 degrees — chills, sweating, shivering, every joint hurt, and I couldn't be still,” Belcher said. “The pain was incredible. That first week, I honestly can say I didn't care if I lived of died — it was that bad.”
It took doctors five days to diagnose brucellosis. Luckily for Belcher, a doctor at the hospital he went to had experience with brucellosis in South America, where most human cases of the disease are caused by consuming dairy products — milk and cheese — from infected animals.
“He asked me if I'd been around any wild hogs,” Belcher said. “I told him I'd cleaned a wild hog back in March.”
Blood tests confirmed brucellosis.
Massive intravenous doses of antibiotics helped. But Belcher spent more time in the hospital, and also nearly a month in a long-term care facility before he could return home.
Soon afterward, he was back in the hospital after the brucellosis had somehow slipped from his bloodstream and triggered an infection on his spine.
The infection is not easily attacked with antibiotics, and, doctors told Belcher, surgery to remove the infection would be difficult and potentially dangerous.
Belcher is taking multiple daily antibiotic treatments and pain medication when needed. He has lost almost 40 pounds. Pain in his joints, particularly his hips, keeps him from sleeping and makes it hard to walk.
“Shuffling is about all I can do,” he said.
Belcher said his prognosis remains unclear; doctors are hoping to somehow knock out the infection and avoid a decision on the dangerous surgery. Regardless, he faces many more months of treatment.
Odds low, but wear gloves
Admittedly, Belcher's experience is very rare. Texas health officials document only 10-40 cases of brucellosis a year, and, if promptly and properly diagnosed, infections can be fairly quickly controlled with antibiotics. Human fatalities from brucellosis are extremely rare — 2-5 percent of cases. But chronic problems are not uncommon with those contracting the disease.
(Despite brucellosis being a mandatory “reportable” disease under state and federal rules, there is some suspicion that some human brucellosis cases are underreported or misdiagnosed as the flu.)
Considering Texas hunters annually field-dress and butcher hundreds of thousands of feral hogs and the state sees only 10-40 brucellosis cases a year, it's obvious that odds of a hunter being stricken with the bacterial disease are quite low.
But that's of little consolation to those who do contract the disease.
Avoiding contracting brucellosis is very easy: wear protective gloves when handling, field-dressing or butchering feral hogs, and properly dispose of the gloves after the chore.
The thin latex medical gloves work fine; some extra-cautious hunters double-glove their hands. The heavier “dishwashing” rubber gloves may offer better protection but reduce dexterity.
“I'd recommend the heavier gloves; I just don't trust those thin ones not to tear,” Belcher said. “But whatever they do, no one should clean a wild hog without wearing gloves. I'm proof of that.”
That is why we really did not look to hard for the 3rd one, I had my 13 yr old nephew with me and the day before he shot twice at a doe, that morning I shot a nice 7 pt right at daylight(we stayed in the stand since it was cold and so early) and about an hour later my nephew shot 2 more times at a doe(we got to really work on his shooting). I have never had this happen but after all that and shooting 3 hogs I had NO MORE 270 shells in my bag, had 7 mag's but no more 270's. Never in my life have I run out of ammo on a deer stand anyway when we got down we went to the deer and nephew went and got atv and we loaded up the first hog, second one was gut shot and guts hanging everywhere (heard that about hogs that is previous post about handling hogs so we left it alone) and looked a little for the 3rd one but he ran down in a thicket and since I was out of bullets was not too sure about pursing him for that reason. Those rascals do not bleed like a deer when shot and are hard to track
__________________ 210 CC Sea Pro
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 HEMI
Heard that on a radio show a while back, in fact the guy that processes my deer has a local radio show and that was why he said he did not process hogs
__________________ 210 CC Sea Pro
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 HEMI
Wild game is the only meat you can count on these days to be naturally grazed and hormone free. Definately healthy. I have never tried wild hog. We dont have them here in DE. Tried wild Turkey for the first time and was surprised it was not at all "gamey" in flavor. We have a limited Turkey season but not many birds here yet.
I am having a jinxed season. Have only jumped one deer so far and have been hunting hard....Still waiting to fill my 1st tag of this season... Someone please send me some good juju so i at least get a shot off this year! The rest i can handle....
Naturally grazed and hormone free?
That explains the 5 legged buck with antlers on one side.... must be that chem lawn diet.
That explains the 5 legged buck with antlers on one side.... must be that chem lawn diet.
Little OT but we have draw hunts here in SC at the Savannah River Nuclear Site(Bomb Plant as we call it) and when you kill a deer/hog down there(they dog drive them on certain days and you have to draw a tag for a specific day) they do gut the deer for you but the also check it with a geiger counter not kidding
There are some big deer/hogs that come out of there every year
__________________ 210 CC Sea Pro
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 HEMI
I killed a 180# hog on the PeeDee a few years ago. Didn't make sausage but we cut the ribs off and went straight to the grill, it was great. The rest was good too. I too have never had any deer sausage that was as good as from the groc store. Chicken fried backstrap or stew with deer ham meat is hard to beat though.
Wild Hog sausage for breakfast this am 
.....I'm still dreaming about the day I can harvest wild game from my own property. At present I'm only good for Canada geese and a handful of squirrels. 
......yum, yum. 
