One time I was around when a tame boar was being bar-b-qed. It smelled bad while being cooked and after it was cooked it still smelled bad and wasn't fit to eat. I may be wrong but I would think a wild boar would be the same way. At home we never killed a sow when in heat but I was always told the meat would not be any good but since I never tried it I don't know for sure. I am sure about the boar. Larry
I can give you the low down on this- and most things hog.
Yes, a sow in heat is very likely going to have a lot of estrogen in her, and she will be on the nasty smelling side. Some are much better, some are much worse in smell.
I have taken pregnant hogs which were spectacular eating, and some that smelled acrid and acidic. Wet sows are usually excellent eating; if you see a sow running with piglets, take her out. She will be good eating. (Do not feel bad about the piglets; any sow in the area will pick them up and carry them. And, coyotes don't mind doing a little dirty work every now and then.)
As a side note on this; ANY piglet you can take..... by all means, TAKE the shot. You think veal is good??? Or maybe a nice plump rabbit? Then you will absolutely flip over a young piglet. I mean...... 3lb is not too small. SERIOUSLY.
Any pig from 3lb to 75lb will be good eating almost without fault. They will be tender, and have not gone into season usually if they are a sow.
Boars. If they are on a ranch where they are managed, you might get to shoot some shoats. A shoat is a castrated boar/ like a steer. They do not fight as much. They do not get testosterone running thru them, so they do not have any strong acid/ ammonia tastes. They tend to have more fat at a younger age, and tend to be larger because they still EAT like a pig, but it all goes to growth rather than to sexual organ production. They tend to be round fat buggers. Great eating.
Big boars: Any boar up to about 150lb is prime eating. If there is good water and feed, then that number can go up to 200lb. At that point, you are slow cooking, making pulled pork, pressure cooking and smoking to keep the hog tender.
Another hint; for boars, the opposite of cooking a sirloin. You might actually cook it a touch more; the backstraps and pork sirloins can be stringy when not heavily cooked, yet they will often be easier to deal with when completely cooked.
Flavor of hogs is predicated by diet and environment: If you have a swamp hog, they tend to eat lots of worms and roots. They will taste stronger, and have more natural smell to the hog, to the meat, and when you cook them, you can smell them being a little different.
When a hog is on completely natural forest diet, they will be decent to pretty good. Pine cone seeds, acorns, brush, grasses and lots of snakes, bugs and the like make for pretty good eating hogs. These rank #2 in edibility.
When a hog is on a desert diet, ala the NM hogs which have been mentioned; they tend to be dry, and their meat is usually leaner, and a little stringy. Your best bet for great eating desert hogs is to find hogs near an ag section. If they are raiding alfalfa, lettuce, and vegetables, they will be really good eating; maybe still a bit stringy from the desert heat.
When a hog is at its' absolute finest is when you are doing depredation hunting, and the hogs are on fields of Almonds, pistachios, pecans, peanuts, apples, and vegetables like zucchini, radishes, squash, rice, barley, wheat. Hogs on a nut grove are beyond reproach in flavor. With the only possible match being hogs in an apple orchard.
East Texas has great eating hogs. Break them down beyond quartering them, and flush them in a large ice chest for 4-6 days before butchering and freezing. Cover completely in ice. Throw in a half cup to a cup of salt. let the ice melt, and daily in the afternoon drain the water and add more ice. GOOD BYE heavy flavor, and the meat is aged and much easier to deal with, and much more tender.
I do this to all hogs, regardless of location where I shoot them.
