How do you skin wild hogs?

People "How do you skin wild hogs?"

Us "With a sharp knife"

So I have been doing research around the internet and watching some video footage of others' attempts. I'm not writing this post to criticize others, in fact I'm  glad to see others out there skinning pigs. Wild pigs are wonderful to eat and can make many tasty meals. But I have found several key issues or common techniques that could be done better.

Field Dressing or Gutting a Wild Pig 

  Don't. It is not only easier skinning the pigs before gutting but more sanitary. Wild pigs have the unlikely possibility of  carrying brucellosis which will be greatly reduced with proper skinning.  The safest method we have found is to leave the pig ungutted hanging and then remove the hide. Remove the front legs. After that start the gut removal slowly from the top down so everything comes out in a controlled manner. 

Using the "X" Belly Skin Cuts to Start

  This method is so common. In fact, it was the method my father taught me. But there is an easier way, the "Y" method. While hanging, cut a Y down the hind legs and down the middle of the pig. Skin from the top down and then when you're working the belly your knife naturally falls in the right position to skin the front legs making the job so much easier. 

Removal of Head Last

  It is so much easier to remove the head first by slightly raising the head adding weight with the rest of the body. Let gravity be your friend and help pull the head away as you cut with your knife. Just a tip: this actually works on all animals. 

Removable of Legs and Ribs with a Saw

  The more sawing you do the more damage you do to your ice chest and packaging. Sharp bones can go through more than you think. Ribs can easily be done with a clever or hatchet. Legs can be removed at the joints. It is a difficult skill to master, but worth the effort to learn. 

We have a video available that teaches all these techniques, methods, and more that make pig skinning as quickly and easily as possible.

Check out our pig processing video by clicking here 

The best caliber of rifle for the knocking down pigs

  So I think we finally found the perfect caliber for knocking down pigs.  A great rifle for knocking them unconscious so then we can go ahead and cut the jugular, opening the throat to bleed out before we process.  I will actually call this an upgrade, because prior to this we were using the 22 rifle which didn't work as well as we had hoped or anticipated. So we decided to step up with a higher velocity rifle.

  The 17 HMR.  The particular one that we upgraded to was the Ruger American and so far I have been very impressed.  With mobile slaughter all of our shots are extremely close up, the livestock are in a small area of  confinement decreasing the chances of missing.  So it was a little tricky to adjust the sites to compensate for this short range.

  What I did was take the iron sights that were on the Ruger American which have the Ruger butterfly system they have been using for years and we actually flipped it around.  There is a set of two screws of the iron sights and I flipped it over to the other side.  This way it operates as a standard iron sight gun instead of the Ruger factory set up. 

 Most of the time we only shoot within two three feet for the animal, but we definitely need to know exactly where that bullet is going. With this new Ruger Rim Fire American 17 HMR we have enough velocity to get a really good knockdown and we're placing the rounds right on in the target zone. Which is always in the forehead right above the eyes.  This is a difficult place to shoot especially if the pig is moving its head around, but this placement is ideal to have the least amount of damage done to the meat. 

  This rifle did come with an adjustable trigger pull from 5 lbs to 3 lbs making the adjustment down to 3 lbs has really helped to make a quick shot on the moving target. Now of course this head shot placement during longer range hunting will rarely present itself for those out hunting  wild hogs, but I still think this would be a great caliber for hunting.

  Shot placement is going to be very important during hunting, because you are not going to get a bunch of long range knock down with this caliber.  With that all being said I think the 17 HMR would be an excellent caliber for kids just starting to hunt, because it has a powerful enough long range knock down with no kick. I think a BB gun has more kick than this thing. 

  If you do happen to get one of these rifles out to the field for pig hunting and are successful in bagging you a pig 🐗 to place in the freezer. Give our pig skinning video a watch to learn our tips and tricks making skinning a pig easier and manageable by oneself.  It will also teach you the final cuts that you will find in the store like Boston butts, pork chops, and ribs all without the use of any high dollar equipment. A high place to hang it and a sharp knife  🔪 is all you need. 

 Click Here for Pig Skinning and Processing Video Class 

  In our mobile Slaughter unit this has definitely become our go-to rifle and an upgrade that we much appreciate. 

Replacing the sink in a mobile slaughter unit

  Today we need to replace the sink for the mobile slaughter unit. The reason why we are replacing the sink on the mobile unit is, because we had to replace the floor. There was little bit of rot that had occurred underneath our division wall that separates between the back half of the unit where all the slaughtering is done and the front part where all of our meat processing happens.

  The front half of the mobile unit didn't really have that much rot on the floor as the back half which is understandable. The back half is where the skinning and gutting of all the calves, pigs, and goats so naturally it gets the soaking day after day washing out all the gunk. The front stays relatively clean where just the final cuts of steaks, chops, are produced and everything is packaged up. So last year, we replaced the floor in the back half and so glad we did with all the mobile slaughtering we did. This year was the front half's turn to get replaced. 

  We took last week off due to the weather and had to do some rescheduling. Now we have about 3 weeks of catching up.  So we're going to be on the road a lot in the next 3 weeks with cows, pigs, and  I think we even have a few sheep scheduled on the books. We need to get this sink back in so we can get the unit back in working condition. 

  During this latest maintenance break down, there was one improvement that I'm so happy that we got done. That was rerouting the trailing in the inside of the unit instead of under the trailer frame.  We were continuing having an issue with tearing out the wires because the wires ran underneath the trailer. Every weekend, I was repairing those darn trailer lights. It is exciting to think that now this issues should be repaired for good.  

  The final thing we need to do before we are ready to roll is to fill the water tanks that had to be reinstalled after the floor upgrade. Our mobile slaughter unit is fully self-sufficient with everything we need to roll up on location and get right to work slaughtering and processing livestock all over the state of Texas. She is all put back together now and we're going to hit the ground running. There is hard week of work in front of us, but we're looking forward to it.