Any good advice/references for a family of first-timers to learn how to dress out pigs (shoats?) for meat?
Hunting & Fishing porcine butchery
- Thread starter Nukes
- Start date
I have been hunting wild boars and butchering them here in TX for 2 decades and I can tell u how I like to do it.
Tools: decent fixed blade hunting knife, sawszall or hand saw. 500 lbs rated animal hanger, rope and some pulleys if they r real heavy. A gut hook, tree pruining loppers, vice grips, and latex gloves are optional, water hose, ice chest with ice, knife sharpener, beer
1. Very important. Make sure pig is completely dead. They r tough. They will surprise u at times. During this step have loaded firearm in hand.
2. Take dead pig to under a tree or other support beam. You can gut them on the ground but I find it easier to do it with them hanging a few feet off the ground ass up.
3. Use the game hanger and cut the back legs by there hoves to insert the hanger into each leg. Lift pig with rope till its ass hole is about a foot lower than your eye level.
4. Core the asshole. Use a sharp knife and cut thru the skin all the way around the asshole so that when done the asshole is just the end of a shit hose. Pull the asshole up using medium pressure and cut as much connective skin around the shit hose and the rest of the animal.
5. Open up stomach cavity. Take the knife and cut thru the skin where the sternum ends. Cut about an inch deep and long. Now take a gut hook insert it in the hole and pull down as close to the hole around the asshole as possible and avoid the pissing device and bladder.
6. Break open pelvis. With knife cut groin to the pelvis you will go thru some red or pinkish meat. again try to avoid piss system. Once u get to the pelvic bone carefully use Sawzall or hand saw to cut pelvis bone all the way through.
7. Shit piss and milk system removal. Right where you cut the pelvis you should see the shit and piss tubes. Cut the connective tissue that holds them to the spine area of the animal. Gently pull on the tubes and cut where they are still connected to the carcas. When you can pull the shit and piss tubes out of the pelvis from below you can continue to pull them out of the chest cavity and cut any connecting tissue. If it's a sow you can use your knife and cut the skin around the teets off.
8. Organ and gut removal. From the pelvis on down grab the shit tube and guts and cut away any tissue that still connects it to the spine and back of carcass. Be careful not to puncture shit tubes, stomach, piss tubes or parts of stomach, or else it will stink and you will need to wash it out later with the hose. The tubes will look white and the stomach parts will look like greenish bags. The stomach should start to flop over the sternum and outside the carcass. Continue to work farther down grabbing organs pulling them up and out and cutting any tissue that holds them in place. In order you will free the liver lungs then heart. When you get to the heart I cut all tissue holding it farther down. You should now be able to grab the organs and guts and flop them out of the chest cavity. If it was a deer the heart and liver can be god eating, I haven't tried them from a pig. Use the hose and spray around the area you just worked to get some blood out of the chest cavity and to help start cooling down the carcass.
9. Skin it. Now farm pigs they remove the hair and keep the skin. I don't do that with wild pigs so I remove the hide. Starting at the back legs I use the knife and gut hook and start to cut the hide off the back legs. It helps if knife is razor sharp and also to pull hard on the skin. Young pigs you will get by with less cutting and more pulling or yanking. Once you have the hide coming off both back legs it is easy to push down hard on the hide by the spine as you cut points where it is hung up. As you get farther down you can use your boot. Going around the front legs can be tricky but once you get the hide down to the neck level you are good. If hide is wet or you have trouble with gripping or holding the hide vice grips or pliers can help.
10. Remove hide and head. Now unless I'm gonna use the head for barbacoa I now use my knife and Sawzall to cut the hide which should be draped over the head and the head itself off the carcass. Once the hide is off I spray it all over to get as much hair and dirt and blood off as possible. No matter how good a job you do skiing there always seems to be some hair stuck to the carcass. Hose it off and most of the hair will come off, hair is bad for flavor.
11. Split ribs and cut off front hoves. Use saw and cut ribs down the middle. Use knife and or saw and cut the hoves off the front feet. The last 5 to 6 inches of front legs are hard to pull the hide off and don't have much meat so feel free to cut them off unless you wanted to eat pigs feet. Tree loppers are great for cutting off the hoves.
12. Removing meat. There are many ways to eat a pig. Some people might smoke the whole thing, and on the other end of the spectrum you may have limited freezer or ice chest space so you cut all the meat off the bone and put in ice chest. Here is the middle of the road method. Use the knife and remove the front legs. No saw is needed. Inside the carcass by the spine will be the tenderloins. Cut straight down the spine on each side. Grab each tenderloin and gently pull it away from the carcass and cut around it with the knife to set it free. Don't pull so hard you tear the meat and try to get them as big as possible by cutting as close to the bone all around it. Outside the carcass by the spine is the back straps. These end up being like giant tenderloins and removal is the same. Cut down the spine until you hit bone both high and low then gently pull the back strap out as you cut it free. Now use the saw and cut down the spine to make two racks of ribs. You probably have a mess on the ground so try not to drop any piece of meat as you are cutting it off. If u do just rinse it off with the hose. Cut any decent sized scrap off the neck and rest of spine. Finally cut down the spine by the pelvis and you will split the rear legs. Cut the hoove off each one and you now have two back legs which are great for roasts. I often smoke the spine and feed it to my dogs.
13. Meat prep. With wild pigs I have found that getting the blood out of the meat reduces the gamey taste. I do this by taking all the meat I cut off, wash gently with water hose, and put in ice chest with a little water and a lot a ice. For the next few days I drain the water and add more ice. When you drain the water you will notice the color goes more clear every time. Once it's pretty colorless the meat is ready to be frozen or bbq'ed or dry aged or salted or whatever makes you happy. I find that wild pig tastes best smoked, it is the least gamey of wild meat I have eatin. using this method the meat comes out tasting much more like roast beef than farm raised pork. Also wild pigs are far more lean than farm raised animals and care should be taken when they are cooked to make sure that the meat doesn't dry out.
I am not a butcher and I am sure there are better ways and more knowledge able people. using this method I can get all the work done in under an hour alone or under 30 minutes with a buddy. Every animal you butcher you will learn something and your speed will improve. I hope this helps. I'm sure there are YouTube videos as well. For taste and meat safety the faster you can transition the pig from alive to meat cooling in an ice chest or meat locker the better.
Studies have shown that the less fear or suffering a butchered animal endures the better the meat will taste. If you are shooting farm raised pigs I recommend at least a 357 magnum. I have good results shooting them from the side with the bullet hitting in between the eye and the ear. Pigs are super smart I would not shoot one in front of others if you have several, they will never look at you the same and will be much more difficult to handle. That is my experience and opinion after having a 300 pound pet potbelly pig and raising two small groups of wild pigs for meat.
I sure hope this helps
Tools: decent fixed blade hunting knife, sawszall or hand saw. 500 lbs rated animal hanger, rope and some pulleys if they r real heavy. A gut hook, tree pruining loppers, vice grips, and latex gloves are optional, water hose, ice chest with ice, knife sharpener, beer
1. Very important. Make sure pig is completely dead. They r tough. They will surprise u at times. During this step have loaded firearm in hand.
2. Take dead pig to under a tree or other support beam. You can gut them on the ground but I find it easier to do it with them hanging a few feet off the ground ass up.
3. Use the game hanger and cut the back legs by there hoves to insert the hanger into each leg. Lift pig with rope till its ass hole is about a foot lower than your eye level.
4. Core the asshole. Use a sharp knife and cut thru the skin all the way around the asshole so that when done the asshole is just the end of a shit hose. Pull the asshole up using medium pressure and cut as much connective skin around the shit hose and the rest of the animal.
5. Open up stomach cavity. Take the knife and cut thru the skin where the sternum ends. Cut about an inch deep and long. Now take a gut hook insert it in the hole and pull down as close to the hole around the asshole as possible and avoid the pissing device and bladder.
6. Break open pelvis. With knife cut groin to the pelvis you will go thru some red or pinkish meat. again try to avoid piss system. Once u get to the pelvic bone carefully use Sawzall or hand saw to cut pelvis bone all the way through.
7. Shit piss and milk system removal. Right where you cut the pelvis you should see the shit and piss tubes. Cut the connective tissue that holds them to the spine area of the animal. Gently pull on the tubes and cut where they are still connected to the carcas. When you can pull the shit and piss tubes out of the pelvis from below you can continue to pull them out of the chest cavity and cut any connecting tissue. If it's a sow you can use your knife and cut the skin around the teets off.
8. Organ and gut removal. From the pelvis on down grab the shit tube and guts and cut away any tissue that still connects it to the spine and back of carcass. Be careful not to puncture shit tubes, stomach, piss tubes or parts of stomach, or else it will stink and you will need to wash it out later with the hose. The tubes will look white and the stomach parts will look like greenish bags. The stomach should start to flop over the sternum and outside the carcass. Continue to work farther down grabbing organs pulling them up and out and cutting any tissue that holds them in place. In order you will free the liver lungs then heart. When you get to the heart I cut all tissue holding it farther down. You should now be able to grab the organs and guts and flop them out of the chest cavity. If it was a deer the heart and liver can be god eating, I haven't tried them from a pig. Use the hose and spray around the area you just worked to get some blood out of the chest cavity and to help start cooling down the carcass.
9. Skin it. Now farm pigs they remove the hair and keep the skin. I don't do that with wild pigs so I remove the hide. Starting at the back legs I use the knife and gut hook and start to cut the hide off the back legs. It helps if knife is razor sharp and also to pull hard on the skin. Young pigs you will get by with less cutting and more pulling or yanking. Once you have the hide coming off both back legs it is easy to push down hard on the hide by the spine as you cut points where it is hung up. As you get farther down you can use your boot. Going around the front legs can be tricky but once you get the hide down to the neck level you are good. If hide is wet or you have trouble with gripping or holding the hide vice grips or pliers can help.
10. Remove hide and head. Now unless I'm gonna use the head for barbacoa I now use my knife and Sawzall to cut the hide which should be draped over the head and the head itself off the carcass. Once the hide is off I spray it all over to get as much hair and dirt and blood off as possible. No matter how good a job you do skiing there always seems to be some hair stuck to the carcass. Hose it off and most of the hair will come off, hair is bad for flavor.
11. Split ribs and cut off front hoves. Use saw and cut ribs down the middle. Use knife and or saw and cut the hoves off the front feet. The last 5 to 6 inches of front legs are hard to pull the hide off and don't have much meat so feel free to cut them off unless you wanted to eat pigs feet. Tree loppers are great for cutting off the hoves.
12. Removing meat. There are many ways to eat a pig. Some people might smoke the whole thing, and on the other end of the spectrum you may have limited freezer or ice chest space so you cut all the meat off the bone and put in ice chest. Here is the middle of the road method. Use the knife and remove the front legs. No saw is needed. Inside the carcass by the spine will be the tenderloins. Cut straight down the spine on each side. Grab each tenderloin and gently pull it away from the carcass and cut around it with the knife to set it free. Don't pull so hard you tear the meat and try to get them as big as possible by cutting as close to the bone all around it. Outside the carcass by the spine is the back straps. These end up being like giant tenderloins and removal is the same. Cut down the spine until you hit bone both high and low then gently pull the back strap out as you cut it free. Now use the saw and cut down the spine to make two racks of ribs. You probably have a mess on the ground so try not to drop any piece of meat as you are cutting it off. If u do just rinse it off with the hose. Cut any decent sized scrap off the neck and rest of spine. Finally cut down the spine by the pelvis and you will split the rear legs. Cut the hoove off each one and you now have two back legs which are great for roasts. I often smoke the spine and feed it to my dogs.
13. Meat prep. With wild pigs I have found that getting the blood out of the meat reduces the gamey taste. I do this by taking all the meat I cut off, wash gently with water hose, and put in ice chest with a little water and a lot a ice. For the next few days I drain the water and add more ice. When you drain the water you will notice the color goes more clear every time. Once it's pretty colorless the meat is ready to be frozen or bbq'ed or dry aged or salted or whatever makes you happy. I find that wild pig tastes best smoked, it is the least gamey of wild meat I have eatin. using this method the meat comes out tasting much more like roast beef than farm raised pork. Also wild pigs are far more lean than farm raised animals and care should be taken when they are cooked to make sure that the meat doesn't dry out.
I am not a butcher and I am sure there are better ways and more knowledge able people. using this method I can get all the work done in under an hour alone or under 30 minutes with a buddy. Every animal you butcher you will learn something and your speed will improve. I hope this helps. I'm sure there are YouTube videos as well. For taste and meat safety the faster you can transition the pig from alive to meat cooling in an ice chest or meat locker the better.
Studies have shown that the less fear or suffering a butchered animal endures the better the meat will taste. If you are shooting farm raised pigs I recommend at least a 357 magnum. I have good results shooting them from the side with the bullet hitting in between the eye and the ear. Pigs are super smart I would not shoot one in front of others if you have several, they will never look at you the same and will be much more difficult to handle. That is my experience and opinion after having a 300 pound pet potbelly pig and raising two small groups of wild pigs for meat.
I sure hope this helps
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Thank you!
Thank you. I am in your debt for such a detailed, thoughtful, and helpful guide! A thousand thanks!
Thank you. I am in your debt for such a detailed, thoughtful, and helpful guide! A thousand thanks!
+1000 for Step 13. I do the same ice/water exchange for about a week before cutting up and freezing
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