Knowing it could only be a large boar I expected to smell that characteristic stinky boar smell. Walking up to it I couldn’t believe how large it was. It had to be between 275 – 300 lbs. With my time running out I put a rope on it and tried moving it. It barely budged and there was no way in heck I was getting it back to the truck.
Nice cutters
By now I’m realizing that I’ve overextended myself with a lot of unplanned work as I had not yet packed for my 2 day backbacking trip that I was leaving for in 3 hours . There was no way I was moving this hog and knew I had no choice but to butcher it where it lay. Had I had more time I would have liked to cape it out and take the head to a taxidermist but there wasn’t enough time. I quickly texted a couple of friends to see if anyone wanted to take this hog and then started to work. As I was positioning it I then noticed that it didn’t have any testicles and that it had been barred! No wonder why it was so big and it didn’t stink.
As I started butchering it I was impressed with the thickness of its fat and that it did not have a thick shield covering the shoulders like other boars I’ve killed. This was the fattest feral hog I’ve ever butchered.
Thick fat
Working quickly it didn’t take too long to remove both hams, front shoulders and the backstraps. Before I packed the meat out I tried moving the carcass to a more remote spot as I plan on coming back after a few months to retrieve the skull and lower jaw as it had pretty nice tusks. I struggled 20 yards before I abandoned that idea as moving just the carcass alone was difficult.
Skinned out and first shoulder removed
Port side ham & shoulder
By the time I got home my buddy was there and waiting and he took the hog home to get it made into sausage. With 35 minutes remaining I threw everything together plus the backpacks in the truck and my son & I left to go pick up some scouts.
Saturday morning
Cumberland Island National Park, Ga.
Son & I
Life is good!!
Parallel Trail Cumberland Island
Hoo Yah!
Brian
