Newbie questions

[canadagoose]

Hi All,

I took up duck hunting a bit over a year ago, and liked it enough that I'm now thinking about going after hogs. I have a buddy who is in the same situation.

I've been doing a lot of reading here, and have a few questions. Some of them I think I know the answers to already, but since I've only hunted ducks and geese so far it would be good to get confirmation from people with more experience.

Most of what I know at this point just comes from reading so I'm looking forward to finding out how it translates to the real world. Sorry if some of this comes across as "bookish", but that's all I have to go on right now.

First off, my buddy owns a number of rifles (7mm, 30-06, ...) so we're covered on that front. I also have a Beretta handgun in .40 S&W that I figured I'd bring along in a holster just in case. For the Beretta, what I've read about balistics says hollowpoints wouldn't penetrate a hog enough to be effective and FMJ would be a better choice. I'm not sure whether to go with smaller/faster or larger/slower bullets. Any advice on this front would be appreciated.

Also, if I'm wearing a jacket it's going to hang over my waist and conceal the handgun. That's completely legal here in California as long as I'm actively engaged in hunting, right? It would really ruin my day to get ticketed for concealed carry and have my gun confiscated.

Okay, so let's skip past the hunt itself to when we've actually been successful and need to field dress a hog. Gutting it out should be done immediately at the kill site and looks pretty straight forward. Do people usually do that with the hog laying on the ground or should it be hung from a tree?

I've read conflicting advice about burying the entrails vs. leaving them for critters to clean up. What do people typically do at Fort Hunter Liggett (since that's where we'll likely go)? Depending on how far we are from the truck, it'd be a pain to carry a shovel around with us.

Should we go further than just gutting it in the field, or is it okay to move somewhere more convenient before skinning? I've read that FHL has a skinning area next to the checkin station, so it would seem people take their game back there to skin it. Is that correct? Is it normal for pigs? Is there some sort of hanging apparatus there?

Part of why I ask is the warnings I've read about gutting and skinning pigs quickly so the meat will cool down and then icing it as soon as possible to avoid spoilage. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure what "quckly" and "as soon as possible" mean in an absolute sense. I understand it's variable depending on how warm of a day it is, but it would help to get a feeling for how quickly people typically take care of this.

One of my cookbooks says meat tastes better if it is allowed to go through rigor which should occur above 60F and pork will spend 1-6 hours in rigor. It says that rapid chilling before the meat goes into rigor causes it to be tough. It also says that hanging is important to stretch out the muscles before rigor sets in since that also improves tenderness.

From all that, it almost sounds like if it's 40F out the pig would cool down more quickly than is ideal and could end up beng tougher. It seems 65F is ideal pig hunting temperature and we should have on the order of 6 hours before icing the carcass.

At higher temperatures like 80F or 100F, I really don't have any idea how long we can take to get the carcass on ice. I suspect the trick is to get it gutted and skinned ASAP, and then watch for it to go into rigor and come out again before icing. Is that a good approach? How long does it take at those temperatures?

The last area I'm not sure about is what all to discard and how to go about it. Is there any reason to keep the hide? Should we remove and discard the head and hooves before icing and transporting? Is there someplace to dispose of stuff right by the checkin station and skinning area?

Thanks in advance for any feedback anyone can give me. I'm really looking forward to having a go at this.

 

[Blackknights154]

Hey Canada, Well good questions, first off, the hand gun, I dont carry one, just a good bowie knife. depending on where you go, some side arms are Illegal to carry. I know that the CA law you mentioned is correct, but look into side arms where you are hunting. Anytime i have ever gutted an animal, such as a deer or a antelope, i have always let nature get another meal for some animal, I woulnt bury anything. And i always gut right there. When gutting, if its a huge hog, like 200+ (

)<---- no offense! hang it and gut it, anything like the ones we'll get, i do all the gutting on the ground. As far as the carcass and temperature, I know Leggit has a good area out there to cool em down, but I would say as soon as you can drap the pig back to the truck, go right for the ice. I always quarter em up, cut the head, hooves , right before the knee. then proceed to quarter it like you would any other big game.

There's mine but alot of other guys are more knowledgeable. Good luck and have a ball.

 

[larrysogla]

Canadagoose,
If I have to carry a handgun while hunting(where it is allowed by the County, Township or Federal land, if at all on Federal land), I make it a point to carry the hunting sidearm in an exposed holster. I have read and re-read the Calif. Atty. General Calif. Firearms Laws booklet and I cannot specifically pinpoint the regulation that allows CONCEALED CARRY while hunting. I could understand from the booklet that carrying a loaded handgun while hunting is allowed during the hunt but it does NOT specifically spell out that CONCEALED CARRY is allowed. So I just play it safe and carry my hunting handguns in exposed holsters.
Concerning hog meat care, I have shot a 150 sow in Houston at 4:00AM and did not go down from my treestand until 6:30AM and at 7:30AM we found the sow 100 yds. from where I shot it. We dressed and skinned and butchered the sow and finished at about 8:30AM. The early morning temperature was around 60F. The sow turned out to be very tender and luscious deliscious. We have also hunted with Frank Morasci and killed the hog at 6:30AM and dressed the hog at about 8:00AM. We did not have ice with us so the hog stayed dressed but with it's skin intact until we got it to the butcher at about 2:00PM. The daytime temp. was around 50-60F. The hog was also luscious deliscious. I ate the heart and the liver and they were deeeeeliscious. My buddy also shot a buck at Fort Hunter Liggett in August 2005 at 10:30AM. The daytime temp. was around 85F. He dressed it about 12:00PM. We were able to skin it and ice it at about 7:00PM. My buddy butchered it at his house at about 3:00AM and then stuck it in the freezer. The venison he cooked and the jerky he made were deeeeliscious. So far we have been lucky with meat preservation. 'Nuff said.

 

[canadagoose]

Blackknights, Larry, thanks for your responses. Those sorts of real life timelines are what I was looking for, and give me more confidence in my sense of what constitutes "quickly" and "as soon as possible".

Larry, you said you couldn't pinpoint the regulation concerning concealed carry while hunting. Here's a great link: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate...action=retrieve

Specifically, section 12025 covers all the things you can do that are considered concealed carry and illegal, but then you get to 12027 which says "Section 12025 does not apply to, or affect, any of the following: ..." and if you scroll down you get to "(g) Licensed hunters or fishermen carrying pistols, revolvers, or other firearms capable of being concealed upon the person while engaged in hunting or fishing, or transporting those firearms unloaded when going to or returning from the hunting or fishing expedition." So my read of that is we don't have to worry about concealed carry while hunting. Still, even if it's not illegal it really depends on whether or not the particular law enforcement officer you bump into knows it's not illegal. Sigh.

Does anyone have anecdotal information about law enforcement discovering you were carrying concealed while hunting and not issuing you a ticket? These damn gun laws make me nervous. I tried asking a friend who's a city cop the other day, and her response was "Gee, I really don't know what all the gun laws are, because I'm a cop and they don't apply to me".

 

[larrysogla]

Yup!!!!! Your LEO friend told the truth. The localities can issue a different set of rules i.e.for example the City of Los Angeles requires fingerprinting the buyer of ammunition, Riverside/San Bernardino/Los Angeles Counties have shotgun only zones therefore even if hunting one cannot carry a holstered/loaded pistol because you cannot hunt with it in the first place, etc. Even if we are on the right and we are issued a citation incorrectly, still, we have to hire an expensive lawyer to set the record straight before the judge. It all becomes an expensive hassle, even if we win. 'Nuff said.

 

[bpnclark]

My advice is to leave the handgun at home and go on a guided hunt. The handgun will just be added weight to carry in the field. A good guide will teach you everything you need to know, especially if you and your friend have never field dressed a large animal. It’s defiantly worth $400 to $500 and you’ll almost be guaranteed a pig. Good luck.

 

[sidepass]

Bpnclark has the right idea.Using a guide the first time sure shortens the learning curve.I too read everything I could find on the subject and then went on a guided hunt for hogs the first time. Glad I did and learned a whole lot more .Money well spent. Good luck and keep us informed.

sidepass