I killed this hog this past weekend and chose not to take the meat as the animal had a pre existing gunshot wound to the lower jaw:
The previous gunshot wound to the lower jaw severed the tongue and smashed the jaw and left a gaping hole that exposed the interior of the mouth.
The wound appeared somewhat healed and was probably a week or ten days old.
When I first saw him in the pond I was about 50 yards away standing on an embankment about 20 feet above him and he appeared to be gaunt and sickly and he was either soaking his wound in the cold water to relieve the pain or trying to drink water through the open hole in his lower jaw.
Being above him I couldn’t see the wound in his jaw but I could tell something was wrong with him.
After eyeballing him through the scope on my rifle (4 power weaver scout scope) I decided to drop the hammer and sent a hand loaded 300 grain Remington JHP at a skosh short of 2000 fps through the bridge of his snout (between his eyes) flinging him in to the sweet by and by.
Needless to say that 45/70 round nailed the coffin shut permanent and he slowly sank into the water/mud.
When I reached him in the pond I was greeted by a horrendous stench, not your normal boar pig stink but a rotten flesh smell that was somewhat overpowering and then I noticed his lower jaw had an old wound.
I drug him out of the pond and snapped a quick pic but left him for the coyotes (he stank something awful) and I figured he wouldn’t be fit to eat.
Was I correct in assuming that the meat was ruined or did I waste a perfectly good pig?