i'm a city kid - i've never lived in the country, never raised livestock, and i've never hunted. until last tuesday, when a friend and i went out to find and murder some feral pigs. i've been interested in hunting pigs for a long time, as i'm generically curious about the whole process, and i've specifically wanted to take meat from start to finish. i mean...you can take tomatoes from seed to salad, and it's worth doing at least once. why not meat?
so, after walking around very quietly (think elmer fudd here) for about an hour, a group of pigs were spotted. we maneuvered to get a bit closer, the pigs headed our way, and my hunting friend took aim and dropped a small-to-medium sized hog. i aimed at a piglet, not wanting to us to have a pile of large dead pig flesh, and missed (not once but twice), something i didn't find at all surprising.
 
we dragged the hog that had been hit over to a group of trees, and threading a branch through it's hind legs, we hung it on a branch before cutting it's throat to let the blood drain. then, after a lengthy trip back to the car for a cooler, we had some debate about what exactly should be done next. i'm obviously close to useless in these situations, and my friend had never shot a pig before (only deer). city boy instincts took over, and we consulted the iphone for help. the instructions said to gut the boar by cutting a slit from the hind legs to the forelegs and pulling the organs out. we then beheaded the ex-hog and skinned it strip by strip, just like mr internet said to. skinning was made more interesting by the incredible number of ticks crawling on the carcass; every itch i felt for the next few days had me checking my skin compulsively.
once the skin was off, the carcass looked like the pig i roasted a few years ago - familiar meat territory. we ended up completing our amateur butchering on my back porch, removing the shoulders, butts, and backstraps. i braised a butt which will be used in some green chile pork enchiladas tomorrow night.
final thoughts on the experience are that hunting is a ridiculously expensive way to get meat (if you look at it from a cost per hour standpoint), but one that i'm glad to have done. i'll do it again hopefully, but not too often. and next time i'll bring more gloves (the organs are a bit disgusting, as are the ticks), a knife (we only had one knife between the two of us), and a gun with a sight (though i'll probably miss regardless).
Entered on 03.06.2010 at 11:39
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