I have a small-medium (about 90 lbs) female feral hog as of last night....I skinned her last night, just roughly, am going to get back to her this morning, finish rough fleshing her, then freeze her until my STOP-ROT comes in next week. I am wondering if the females have the shield like the males do, I didnt really spot anything on her that looked too rough, but she is fairly young. She looks more like a raccoon on the inside, fat fat fat! But, she is a pig after all :)
Anyone know about female hogs? Are there any special considerations with them? I am planning on doing a lifesize mount, she is such a cutie, I hope I don't screw her up! I read in the archives that Noonkester has the best forms, is this still true?
Thanks SO MUCH as always!
Christina :)
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Female hogs do not have shields like the males do. On a boar hog that small I doubt you would have a sheild at all. I've skined young boar hogs weighing 150 lbs and they don't have hard sheilds yet. MichelleW
Christina,
Here in California I do more hogs than any other animal. I work on hogs from 50lbers to a few that were over 550lbs. The little guys from 220lbs down will have a fatty mass on the shoulders, but nothing horrific. I use a razor blade to get rid of it. By the time you are done it should feel like butter. On the other hand, the 500+ boars have 5 inchs if shield that resemble cutting through granite. I have found bullets, broken off tusks from other hogs, and other strange things lodged in the shield and never went all the way through. For those guys I uses my ulu knife. As for forms, I use ONLY Joe Coombs Classics hogs. He offers the best fitting most anatomically correct pigs in the business (in my opinion). They fit great, do not look frog eyed, and have more detail than any of the other guys. I am not sure if they are offering a full body as of yet. I am doing a sow for competition and I am using their smallest form - 7.5 n-e. I highly recommend his hogs. Good luck to you!
Thanks, both of you so much for the knowledge! The fleshing is going so much better than I expected, the fat is just rolling off, leaving the nice golf ball texture! My husband is in the kitchen grinding meat for sausage..LOL...nice role reversal! Have a great day!
Christina :)
Yeah, there's no armor plate on a sow. But degreasing will be necessary. Hard to find lifesize mannikins that small though. Bondo ears work great on hogs. * The skin on a hogs belly is different from skin elsewhere on his body and different from the skins of any other creature. Use a good two part epoxy hidepaste. Water-based hide pastes will saturate the belly skin changing it 5 different shades at once as it dries. I'd turn the mount on it's back as it dries as to have fluids drain away from the belly if any fluids should occur. Want the hair on the back to stand up? This works often (but not always it seems?) As you brush the hair on the back toward the direction of the head, drop saw dust down in between the hairs until it fills up level with the hairline. The hairs will stay standing in the saw dust. Keep it like this until the mount dries up completely. You may have to add more dust and brush periodically if you live (like me) in high humidity and the mount takes long to dry.