I’ve heard folks say they eat everything on a hog but the oink, but eating the shitt is ridiculous.

Hey BOFF,you mind telling us about the knife in the pic ?

I’ll be cooking a small whole one tomorrow or Friday.
I’ll try to post some pics

Good bullet testers and food. Yes they eat fine.

I heard a biologist from Texas say that if you live in the South and don't have a hog problem, just wait. They will find you.

I have also heard you need to kill about half the population every year to keep them from expanding. With their intelligence, mobility, and ability to move at night, they will be here forever.

Personally, I like shooting and eating them. Couple of glands in the hindquarter that need to come out, but a whitetail has the same glands. They look like some alien bug in a pig, just look like a fat chunk in a whitetail. Regardless, if you ever smell one, you'll remove it from every critter that you process from then on.

That's made by one of our own on this site, Skullworks.

Here's some of his last work posted:

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4063679#Post4063679

God Bless,
David B.

Most here know I work in the woods - I’ve come across hundreds upon hundreds that were killed somewhere on the property, then dumped at a gut pile location or just beyond the gate on the side of a woods road. Most of time they just lay there for weeks, months, depending on the time of the year, and rot naturally. Coyotes, buzzards, wild dogs, other hogs - nothing eats any piece of it. Won’t touch them. Why? Heck if I know - but I decided that’s probably nothing I want as table fare.

I use to have the opportunity to question a real close relative about the old days and hogs. One that lived through the great depression in the country and who's family farmed to eat. Lot's of folks would release hogs into the wild. Each hog had a certain notch in the ear of the person owning it. If it wondered off the person would contact the owner if they knew them and ask for them to come get their hog. There was one hog that wondered off about 10 miles that they had to retrieved. Having large farm families and using meat from these wandering hogs was a way to survive. There would be a date to butcher and all would help out. The older gentlemen and another brother both had smoke houses and smoked the meat. Both of the smoke houses still exist today. Most folks didn't have cattle and the hog population was not that large. If you cut a bore hog when it's young it is a bar. The meat becomes better as it matures and doesn't have a rancid smell or taste or smell as strong as uncut hogs. Also, the glands on hogs have a bad odor and should be removed prior to cleaning. A sow hog in heat can have a strong odor. Some people actually really don't care about the taste, but for others there can be a noticible difference in the taste.
Personally, the best bacon I ever had came from a small gilt of about 150lbs that was trapped as a piglet in a pen and raised on corn mash and water. The worst meat was some off off a large wild boar that was not cut. My understanding of tasting the meat and listening to the old timer is they usually cut the boars young and ate the sows only if not in heat. Also, we had a local guy that raised hogs off discarded food from local grocery stores and the meat tasted bad. So, I personally don't want one local raised that way.
The way the meat is processed can make a difference just like any other meat. Just some things to keep in mind when eating the next hog. Folks that live in the backwoods know the process to make the meat better and some survive off of what they get from others. If you hunt in the rural areas ask the processors or locals of anyone needing meat, cause some of those folks could really use it.

Leave em laying. You will be glad you read this.

Most woodland critters are afraid of them. I too have seen whole hogs left on a road sit for up to a couple months without being eaten. But if you take the extra step of opening the hide somewhere visible that is rarely the case.
As for table fare, they can be quite good. I prefer sows and males under about 80# but we killed one boar that weighed over 325 and he was surprisingly tasty. Others far less so. Diet has some to do with it. My locals are eating as much or more corn than the deer are. I mostly make sausage with mine.