I’m new to hog hunting and I’m going this weekend. If I’m successful, I plan to process the hog myself, and I’ll use the “gutless method.”

I know hogs have glands or lymph nodes that need to be removed, but I can’t find a good diagram or video of where they are.

Any advise?

Thanks

Decent vid

I know you said you're going to use the gutless method, but I'll throw this out there just in case. Boars have kind of an "external" bladder underneath the skin right in front of the penile sheath. I say external because it's on the outside of the belly between the muscle and skin. I think they use it for marking, but I'm not sure. If you push on their belly right in front of the pecker, you'll feel it. DO NOT CUT INTO IT!!!!! The stuff inside smells awful. When I skin one, I'm extremely careful in that area and separate that bladder with the skin away from the belly. I've seen very few people mention that when talking about processing hogs and it makes me wonder if that's the reason so many people say boars aren't good to eat.

I have watched at least 7 videos on YouTube and the only similarity between all of then was cutting the hide around the shanks.

After that.....

How I do it:

Make 4 cuts for skinning. Belly, spine & sides. Peel it like a banana. No need to fight the whole hide at once.


Pull the hide down just below the shoulders.


Pull the front quarters off. There is no bone connection, just work under it. Whittle the backstraps off.


Work the plumbing loose and tie off with a string, then pull it through the pelvis.


Whack the spine with a sawzall and split the hips.


Wear good surgical gloves.

Don't ring the hocks before you make your long cuts down the hide. Just make a little cut to start your skinning hook. Keeps the skin tighter and you won't have to fight it.

Before you cut the spine, open up the body cavity and get the tenderloins...if you want them. I usually don't mess with them on smaller pigs.

The plumbing on boars is a little different. I pick n choose and usually only clean sows.

The more you do it, the easier it gets.