France 2020/2021 hunting season

[DaavG]

Great write-up Methos, lovely photos! Well done on your hunts.

[Methos]

Tayls

When we get back to the hunting cabin boars are emptied and then gets chopped in half using a meat cleaver. At the beginning I thought they were mad! But now I'm getting the hang of chopping animals in half using a cleaver. Skin stays on - It is up to each person to skin their part at home. Big pig halves gets chopped into 3 and small pigs into 2.

This is one of my favourite recipes.

https://www.gunsite.co.za/forums/sho...20#post1398520

I also make boerewors, jalpeno wors, mince meat, cabanossi etc.

[Tayls]

Tayls

When we get back to the hunting cabin boars are emptied and then gets chopped in half using a meat cleaver. At the beginning I thought they were mad! But now I'm getting the hang of chopping animals in half using a cleaver. Skin stays on - It is up to each person to skin their part at home. Big pig halves gets chopped into 3 and small pigs into 2.

This is one of my favourite recipes.

https://www.gunsite.co.za/forums/sho...20#post1398520

I also make boerewors, jalpeno wors, mince meat, cabanossi etc.

Oh, wow. Good to know, thanks!

[treeman]

Methos, do you have pictures of the meat cleaver process and or the end result?
Could you please do a detailed write on that part, how it is done ?
I assume animal is split length wise?
If not how is it decided who gets rump and who gets for quarter?
If length wise do they chop along spine or split spine?

How do you divide a animal into 3?

I really did not think when seeing your post header that I would find value or interest in the Re: France 2020/2021 hunting season

Now I wish I could phone you for a half hour, this boar you guys hunt, is it like warthog, bushpig or domestic pig ?
Some say feral pigs crossed are more like mutton/lamb than pork - would you call these thing pork or venison?

[Methos]

Treeman

I don't have any pics at the moment cause normally my hands are all full of blood when we do it. Will try. And take some this weekend if we shoot any.

How it is done: boar gets suspended by one leg from a hook/pulley. You start at the arse end and cut through the middle of the spine. The first one I did I slipped to the side and chopped the ribs from the spine. A French oomie yelled at me . Now I just go straight through. Practice helps.

Animal gets cut intonhalf lengthwise. Then split into primals. Shoulder, belly and leg. The way we do it is I use a box cutter with removable blades. Cut through the meat and skin from the flesh side and then when you get to backbone it gets chopped with the cleaver axe.

As for deciding who gets what it all depends on how many boar gets killed and how many hunters there are. In one hunt that I went to only one was killed and we were 7 people that wanted meat. Parts of the boar would go into numbered bags and 1 To 6 would be written on pieces of paper that gets thrown into a hat. You pick from the hat and that is your piece of meat.

In our hunt we kill upto 120 boars per year between 30 hunters. Some people don't like boar meat. We usually just pick and choose which pieces we want. Sometimes I wouldn't take any boar for 2 or 3 weeks and next time I just say I'm taking a whole one. Everybody at the hunting club are reasonably well to do (except me ) so nobody is hurting for meat.

The meat of older boar have a strong smell. The meat from younger boars are really more like goat meat. Paler in colour and not a lot of fat. Older animals, the meat is blood read. Definitely more venison than pork. You can get a lot of fat on the boar depending on the season it was killed in.

The boar that we hunt isn't feral pigs. It is European wild boar. If you want to have a chat illnsend you my phone no on WhatsApp via pm.

Cheers

Sent from my SNE-LX1 using Tapatalk

[treeman]

Quote- Methos:
The meat of older boar have a strong smell. The meat from younger boars are really more like goat meat. Paler in colour and not a lot of fat. Older animals, the meat is blood read. Definitely more venison than pork. You can get a lot of fat on the boar depending on the season it was killed in.

The boar that we hunt isn't feral pigs. It is European wild boar.
*************************
This is almost payable for information to me, its like discovering things - the input value is thrilling to me.

I am of the opinion that pork as we know it is a abomination, I used to eat pork in quantity, but some where between reading, learning and just the feeling I got handling smelling pork, I went totally off pork. I still eat bacon when its dished up, but never buy it. I never put bacon in any food I make to flavour it.
My venison is often in craft meat form or processed, but all my butchers know NO PORK FAT. My butcher is still paying off a large batch of meat he put pork fat into and I returned it.
Last Xmas I got sick eating Gammon this year I ate a piece and was alright, I feel very uneasy when people braai pork, the smell turns my stomach rather severely.

I trust my senses and there fore pork is no longer a food consideration to me, but why?
I started to read up on pork and wild boar - warthog etc
bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus)
The wild boar (Sus scrofa)
common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)

All are pigs, but none are domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus .

I was interested in the meat and it characteristics, because of my interest in how adulterated the domestic pig "is" or is thought to be by me.

I eat all the wild versions, but the domestic pig gross's me out big time, it stinks (as in smell)with big letters to one like me.

Reason for interest, I ate wild domestic pig in the mountains while catching trout, it was nice, I kinda thought of Astrix and Oblix when I ate it, kinda understood their love for it - far, fkin far from the fat greasy thing we get in the shops.
Yes goat, venison - perhaps turkey (dry white meat) came to mind.

[treeman]

I was lucky enough that Methos understood the depth of my interest in things new and foreign. I got a message asking for cell number and he would send me vids in small sections of the hunt.

It was very interesting to see the photo's pre-hunt and do as I do, analyze the background - my favorite thing with photo's from other worlds.

The smoke out the hunt lodge chimney at 08 in morning, that the plastic crates there are the same as ours, but the warning signs are a different shape.
The dogs are still in the same sad cages.

I was able to see his hunt and understand the build up, better realize what he means when he sais he heard one coming, I saw the brush, Rosemary, and the quarts stone ground they hunt on.
Two things I realized, this hunting requires a whole different level of shooting skills - maybe our for fathers, fresh off the boats really did shoot springbuck running at 300 yards. Secondly, where he is this time, ricochets must be a real realistic concern.

The " how to" video regarding splitting a pig in two was a bit disappointing - its so simple. (well, at least it looks so simple)-(or do you just make it look easy?)

How high is the tower you in?
What caliber do you shoot"
Bolt or S/L/R, single shot or magazine fed ?
Do they ever walk and stalk in those parts?

Metho's, thanks for reaching out and sharing with me - you need to paint that wall boet, some day when you not hunting maybe