Posted on 04/28/2020 4:08:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Wyatt Walton is busy right now. The founder of Lone Star Trapping has set up shop in south central Texas, but makes his living capturing feral hogs across the state.
Trappers have expanded company to help provide food Want to provide knowledge on consuming meat On top of the traps and late nights collecting the animals, Walton and his partners have branched out, launching Texas Specialty Meats--processing wild boars and shipping the meat all across the country.
"You know, these feral hogs were brought to America for meat," said Walton. "Well, when the stock laws came, and you had to fence everything, these wild herds of hogs that they used for a resource over the years just went wild. That's where we got to where we are now." And where we are now, is an abundance of hogs amidst a global pandemic.
But Walton thinks he's in a perfect position to help.
"In this pandemic, in the shortage, we piled our resources and made it available. There was kind of like an overnight demand, people asking for it," said Walton.
He says the most difficult thing is convincing people that wild boars are good eating, especially in Texas, where more people have seen them running along the road, rather than being put in the oven.
"I've got to take some hogs over to the processor this next week that we've sifted through, and I'm going to get my cameras out and show a lot of that process, just because people don't know, and people not knowing is the biggest hold back," Walton said.
At the end of the day, Walton is a businessman, and hopes this venture goes as planned. But he's also aware of the situation we're currently in, and was the first to get involved and give back.
"We're partnering up with Feeding America, so portions of the box or portions of the meat are going into the hands of the needy that can't provide for themselves," said Walton.
It's the way he's seen this business going since he started it, and now that it's taking shape, he's hoping it's something he can hang is hat on.
"If [they] can say, 'that guy was a steward, he did something. Not only was he removing them and impacting Texas, but he impacted the long-term fight of this epidemic by creating a market.' I think I'm going to be proud of that if we can get there," said Ward.
For more information, log on to texasspecialtymeats.com or lonestartrapping.com
Had some backstrap steaks off a 190# boar last night and sampled some breakfast sausage just now. Shot this one last weekend and he didn’t go down easy, had to chase him down and shoot him again. Never had a big boar that didn’t eat good. Ain’t saying those people who say they aren’t edible are lyin, I just haven’t ran across one in many years of shooting hogs. Always heard that restaurants serving wild boar always wanted those around 200#, so it never made sense that those are the ones that taste bad!
I wouldn’t mind sow or young male hog, but a full grown boar has testosterone in the meat and smells like a man’s sweaty t-shirts when cooked.
Feral hogs are hunted and/or trapped in rural areas/communities like this one all the time-they tear up your property, eat your garden and livestock feed, can kill livestock, etc otherwise-and they are some mean dangerous mofos, too-I avoid hiking where I see their tracks. Somebody is always getting a hunt together for them and everyone shares the meat or the live hogs for those who want to pen and feed them for awhile before butchering-some people who raise hogs get trapped young ones to interbreed with their hogs to produce leaner pork that is popular with a lot of natural diet people-I’m one.
This coming Fall I intend to be on the 1st hunt, along with my best friend whose business I manage I’ve never hunted hogs, but I’ve hunted deer since my early teens-my deer rifle is a 270-I’m pretty sure it will work for hogs-I sure don’t want to get closer than I would to a deer-I’m actually afraid of hogs-domestic or wild-and I was raised on a ranch-I’m less afraid of running into a mountain lion-or even a bear than a wild hog...
pressure cook and/or long slow cook over a smokey fire
Not many can cook it right...but a good back strap cooked right is excellent...!!
That sounds like something my 1st hubby would do-he liked to hunt them on foot-no dogs-just him and a .44 magnum-my uncle-who hunted with him-said he was totally insane and that I’d be a young widow-didn’t happen...
I have a box of Remington Hog Hammer .223 cartridges - box says they are Barnes bullets. Picked them up when ammo was scarce but have never fired one.
Your .223 is FINE for hogs up to 100 pounds or so. - We use JSP or JHP for that hunting. = You husband’s K98 is FINE for ANY feral hog, using ANY of the standard 8mm Mauser factory loads.
(Fwiw, my very petite lady shoots a REMINGTON Model 7615 pump carbine in 5.56NATO/.223 & does WELL with it out beyond 150M.)
“Wee piggies” that dress out to about 60 pounds are like ambrosia, dressed out & put on the pit whole.
More to the point, killing feral pigs is a SERVICE to your State. ====> DO NOT WORRY about “killing too many”, as they reproduce about like rabbits & DESTROY more than they eat.
Btw, the BEST “TEXAS RED CHILI” that I’ve ever had is called INVASIVE SPECIES CHILI & made with half feral pork & half Axis deer.
(IF you hunt Whitetail deer OR are like me & are given so much venison that I need NOT hunt them, MIX IN HALF feral pork with the venison for grilled hamburgers. = Most venison is too lean for my taste.)
Yours, TMN78247
You need a setup to trap them all.
Texas Parks & Wildlife has plans online for building various types of Pen Traps.
*** “.223 isn’t recommended” ***
I have my (2) go to outfits ... .357 Mag (Carbine and Revolver) and my 44 Mag (Carbine and Revolver) but I hunt on the ground ... if I was in a Stand .223 coming out of a Semi is plenty good unless you want the meat because the .223 doesn’t drop them right away and I tend to add a few more rounds just because I can.
*** “I’m less afraid of running into a mountain lion-or even a bear than a wild hog” ***
Hear ya ... Old guy I knew hand some kids tell hum there was an Alligator in his Tank (Pond) so he and his Wife drove out to check it out... Wife stayed in the AC (Car) and he walked over the berm... he told me as soon as he crested the berm a big Boar charged him and sliced his leg ... 20 minutes passed and his Wife is all “WTH is he doing?”
She found him and helped him back to the car ... 30+ minute drive to the nearest Dr... (they were both in their 80’s)
TEXAS! P.S. There was an Alligator (120 miles inland, might as well be a Desert)
This guy’s kinda forced into it. He works through A&M (I think) and the state furnishes him a pickup,a 4-wheeler but only .22 and shotgun ammo. He may carry a sidearm but in his words the ammo’s too “spendy”.
Yep.
I thought boar meat was seriously tainted (as in rank as a billy goat)
I saw a wild hog lazily grazing next to I95 outside of Savannah, GA yesterday. I didn’t see anybody puling over to claim it and put in on their dinner table.
Unless there was a swamp or similar terrain with a river or creek nearby, I’d be inclined to think that alligator was an unwelcome “gift” from someone...
Those 60 pounders make good grillers.
Watch the YouTube video showing what 7 lbs of tanerite will do to a sounder of hogs.
I have taken down a lot of pigs with a .223. Shot them in the ear canal. Bullet goes into the skull and bounces around. They drop right where they were standing. Also I take down coyotes with the same round. Head shots work best.
Yep.... blowed up real good.
5.56 is plenty of gun if you do your part in shot placement. I have 3 AR10s in 7.62 now but many moons ago all I had was a DPMS in 16” 1:7 twist with irons in the 90s. We hug hogs down here for sport they are a nuisance no closed season ,no bag limits, and no license needed. Do not use any of the varmint polymer tipped rounds this is where the myth you need Xx sized gun comes in. I can’t count the number of sounders of hogs that have meet their doom to me and my Former Marine’s 5.56 using core lok bullets. We make a weekend out of it beer, nighttime hogs with spot lights and dogs and now we use NVGs and dim lasers.
These are the proper rounds for larger game. They are absolutely deadly on hogs and deer too for that matter. In a fast twist they punch through both sides I have never recovered a round ftom an eating size hog 150_250lbs we only eat the females the males get left for the Yotes. Hey Yotes gotta eat too.
https://www.a3gmunitions.com/product/remington-223-62gr-core-lokt-ultra-bonded-box-of-20/
Cheers
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