Hey Dusty!

[Ed in Tampa]

I wonder if javelina aren't like the wild hogs we have here in Florida.

What the "Good Ole Boys" do is find a litter of wild hogs and go in and castrate the piglets when they are still very young and then wait until they grow up and shoot them for food. Day and night difference in taste.

Castrated wild hog tastes good, old bore hog shot in swamp stinks so bad I can't imagine being that hungry that I would want to eat it.


I'm told the exciting part is keeping the Momma hog away from the piglets while you are castrating them. The common way is to get the fastest runner to torment Momma and while she is chasing him everyone else jumps in and does the piglets. If the runner is fast enough it all works if not Momma usually mauls him and comes back and cleans everyone else's clock. That I'm told is where the fun comes from. Running for your life with a mean old very mad Momma hog on your tail.

[frank81]

I wonder if javelina aren't like the wild hogs we have here in Florida.

What the "Good Ole Boys" do is find a litter of wild hogs and go in and castrate the piglets when they are still very young and then wait until they grow up and shoot them for food. Day and night difference in taste.

Castrated wild hog tastes good, old bore hog shot in swamp stinks so bad I can't imagine being that hungry that I would want to eat it.


I'm told the exciting part is keeping the Momma hog away from the piglets while you are castrating them. The common way is to get the fastest runner to torment Momma and while she is chasing him everyone else jumps in and does the piglets. If the runner is fast enough it all works if not Momma usually mauls him and comes back and cleans everyone else's clock. That I'm told is where the fun comes from. Running for your life with a mean old very mad Momma hog on your tail.

Testosterone harms the taste of most game...the reason you should never make a person's first experience with venison a buck.

I was reading up on the javelina and apparently the whole species tastes terrible, cajones or not. I would question why anyone would hunt them, but then again we gig carp in the winter and after plenty of beers have a 1 am shore lunch of fried carp tacos with LOTS of hot sauce. Carp is if you're lucky...you stab it you eat it or you turn in your man card. If we had javelina here my guess is they would meet the same fate.

[Gene Howe]

Actually Ed, javelina are Peccaries. Somewhat distant relatives to swine.
They are raised for food in some latin American countries and I'll bet they too are castrated before adulthood. Then again, some cultures have tastes unlike ours.
I'm not sure, but I think the javelina usually do not have large litters. Mostly just one or two at a time.
I've heard that javelina skin makes great glove material. I've never seen any for sale, though.

I wonder if javelina aren't like the wild hogs we have here in Florida.

What the "Good Ole Boys" do is find a litter of wild hogs and go in and castrate the piglets when they are still very young and then wait until they grow up and shoot them for food. Day and night difference in taste.

Castrated wild hog tastes good, old bore hog shot in swamp stinks so bad I can't imagine being that hungry that I would want to eat it.


I'm told the exciting part is keeping the Momma hog away from the piglets while you are castrating them. The common way is to get the fastest runner to torment Momma and while she is chasing him everyone else jumps in and does the piglets. If the runner is fast enough it all works if not Momma usually mauls him and comes back and cleans everyone else's clock. That I'm told is where the fun comes from. Running for your life with a mean old very mad Momma hog on your tail.

[Ed in Tampa]

Testosterone harms the taste of most game...the reason you should never make a person's first experience with venison a buck.

I was reading up on the javelina and apparently the whole species tastes terrible, cajones or not. I would question why anyone would hunt them, but then again we gig carp in the winter and after plenty of beers have a 1 am shore lunch of fried carp tacos with LOTS of hot sauce. Carp is if you're lucky...you stab it you eat it or you turn in your man card. If we had javelina here my guess is they would meet the same fate.

Be careful with what you say about carp. Long story short many people love the taste of smoked carp.

When I lived in Cleveland we would fish lake Erie and often caught freshwater drum (nice way of saying cousin to a carp). When we came back to shore we found the kids would get in the water to load the boat on the trailer of we gave them our Fresh Water Drum. Up until then we would stab them and throw them back as chum. We thought we were smart trading our Drum for them loading our boat. One day their Daddy was there and said are you guys stupid? We asked why he said we are giving away good fish. Of course we all looked at each other and laughed cause we knew what Drum tasted like. Well next week he was there again only this time he had a plate of smoked Drum.

Man oh man that was good eating.

Now living in Florida there are many fish people won't eat. Like Mullet, Tilapia, Bowfin(mudfish), Shark, and others. However I have found if you know how to prepare them most fish are good eating.

Also it depends on butcher too. My daughter had a friend that was a professional cook and knew how to butcher deer. When she finished her magic an old buck that ran himself to death tasted good.

[frank81]

Be careful with what you say about carp. Long story short many people love the taste of smoked carp.

When I lived in Cleveland we would fish lake Erie and often caught freshwater drum (nice way of saying cousin to a carp). When we came back to shore we found the kids would get in the water to load the boat on the trailer of we gave them our Fresh Water Drum. Up until then we would stab them and throw them back as chum. We thought we were smart trading our Drum for them loading our boat. One day their Daddy was there and said are you guys stupid? We asked why he said we are giving away good fish. Of course we all looked at each other and laughed cause we knew what Drum tasted like. Well next week he was there again only this time he had a plate of smoked Drum.

Man oh man that was good eating.

Now living in Florida there are many fish people won't eat. Like Mullet, Tilapia, Bowfin(mudfish), Shark, and others. However I have found if you know how to prepare them most fish are good eating.

Also it depends on butcher too. My daughter had a friend that was a professional cook and knew how to butcher deer. When she finished her magic an old buck that ran himself to death tasted good.

Drum are the Cadillac of carp! We have those here, but your lucky to gig one. What we normally pull up are smallmouth buffalo which even for carp is rough tasting and bony. After the mandatory taco the rest goes to the dogs or chickens. The goal is suckers but they are tough to spear some nights. Gar are the most fun in my opinion.