>>2830773No, it’s not true. Some carry zoonotic diseases like Brucellosis, so you need to be Blood Safe while cleaning and butchering them, and they tend to have some parasites, while farmed pigs have almost none, so it’s important to cook them to above 160°f (70°c), but the parasite load is generally less than bear or mountain lion and both of those are very good eating (assuming your bear didn’t live at the dump).
Feral hogs have a bad reputation as table fare for 3 main reasons.
The first is that since they are a “bad” invasive species, instead of a valuable game animal, many hunters aren’t careful about taking humane shots. Gutshot game much worse than cleanly killed game, not just because of contamination leading to spoilage, but because slowly dying animals have a ton of stress hormone dumped into their systems and a bunch of lactic acids buildup in the meat. This makes them taste more bitter. Lots of feral hogs get shot 2 or more at a time while on the run instead of being carefully singled out. It’s not impossible to get good hits doing this, just much harder.
The second is that because they don’t have a season, people tend to hunt them when other game is out of season, which means that the weather is hot and the cover is thick, so not only do you have less time to get the meat on ice before it turns, it’s harder to get the meat on ice fast.
Third, people compare it to grain raised young pork, which is basically tasteless, so any flavor is unusual and confronting.
Leave aside actual bad flavors from eating a hog that visits the dump or forgetting to take the scent glands out or whatever, they are excellent eating, even at large size or advanced age. Just cook them slow.
