Bygone Era: Old Fashioned Hog Killin'

[Wolfdog91]

So trying this again. Lil tedious trying to up load so many pictures but hopefully I can get it to work. Anyhow I wrote this , story ? Article ? Whatever you may call it for another site I'm on but figured some of y'all might enjoy it. So :


So , probably three or so years back I post some pics of my uncle and some of the old heads making sausage, crackins' n the like. Talked a lil about how it was a microcosm of what we used to do.....some things I remember being a Lil kid growing up round here ,and alot of folks found it interesting. Well somone inboxed me a month ago asking about if we still did the big ones and I said no but I said I'd do my best to find some pictures, my grandma was some kinda bad about her picture takin and her photo albums....now I know why..... And honestly,wish she took more ,or at least I could find more. So I looked and looked. Bugged my mom and dad a bunch finally was going though a ole zip up bad full of these Lil photo albums found old pics of me my parents wedding just genral this that pics from my dad when I was still in the army then I found this...
( Not sure if this is gonna up load right but the first two pictures)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/ffd0fb97519b839560a042f6fc03ee90.jpg

Honestly didnt know what it was till I opened it up
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/e04ebb992e64ae2545c4089b1fd88685.jpg

You know, this was a few years before I was born ( 1997) but most of these faces the sights ,I can smell and hear every one of these pictures. Alot of these older guys in these pictures where still around when I was coming up. And they held this Lil backwoods community or whatever you'd call use on these back roads they call the Causey Quarters together.. they did this every year. Tradition, honestly I think this goes all the way back to slave times...but I'm not sure
But yeah it's almost all the same. I remember being 7 or 8 waking up and hearing mom or dad or grandma if I was at her place say "Get your coat and gloves on we're going up to the camp". I remember loving and hating it man lol. Yeh them old heads would watch the weather like hawks and they would pick the coldest days to do this so the meat wouldn't spoil. We had deep freezers and coolers and all but ,that's just the way they did it. "Cold made you a man " they said. But yeah I'd bundle up hop in the car and we'd head to the camp up on the hill. The camp ,well best way I can describe it was a larger multi purpose building for the area. Many many get togethers ,cook outs, reunions ,trail rides , and Killin' went on up there. Remember one of my favorite parts what's tole old pool table they had in there. Was coin operated and the old guy would sit in there an smoke telling stories about huntin' fishing life and would grin ear to ear when one of us would as for some quarters so we could get the balls out and play with them mangled ole pool cues...
Somtimes you could hear guns being shot off the back porch off into the cow pasture at a bucket or bottle. Guys making bets and showing off how they where crack shots. The whole area was surrounded but big ole oaks and pecan trees hickernuts too . And down past it on the back side you could see " Uncle T's pond" . Honestly wasn't a late pond as was a medium sized lake. Boy it was massive. When it was dig all the trees they cute where stacked on piles before they filled it making virtual islands in the middle. Lots of talk about there being world record catfish living in there..... Remember going fish there as a kid seeing the big alligator snapping turtles cruise by in the murky water by the bank , might as well have been a sea monster lol.

But the main attraction was the hogs. Eveyone chipped in and the hogs where bought and raised by certain individuals who knew how to feed and tend to them so they had the best meat and they got big. I remember getting there early enough one time to see that big ole red goose neck cow trailer coming up the 1/4 mile long road up to the camp. The way that ole deisel was pinging in the early morning, that sound has greeted me many times over my life,but that was something special. And they would climb up the side of the last thing with a ole .22 long . And "pat pat pat pat" drop em all like a sack of brick. Right between the eyes. Then they haul em out hang em and bleed them out before gutting. All of this was usually don't before the main group of folks came with the kids.

Then once most everyone showed up folks would start working the carcasses. Eveyone had their own specialties. And not much went to waste at all. The heads where cut just right and carted off to be sectioned for hog head cheese. The intestines were handled with the utmost care and cleaned out for sausage casings or chitlines . I remember this was my grandma and her group of women's specialty. I remember her saying " Boy imma need alot if tooth paste tonight after this !" Apparently it was one of the best ways to get the smell off .
Remmber walking past and seeing guys pluck and scrap the individual hair off the hides occasionally rising it off with scalding water. Then they singe it over a bed of coals and scald it again and it would be lilly white and ready to be turned into crackings.
The trotters would be cut off and sent to a guy who was gonna clean them up and prepare them for pickling. And on and on and on it went. The carcasses was then sawed length wist then cut into chops. Scraps of that being sent to the large table where they were diced and prepped for sausage making. The meat was all had seasoned with special mixes known only to the creators. Plain mild hot. Eveyone had their own little spin that made it all work. Eveyone got there share
I honestly cried a lil bit looking though all these ... remembering how it used to be, I hate to say but this is a bygone Era now..... With the passing of all these older guys so went these traditions , the love , the community........ I can walk to jaut about eveyone of these area I talk to in less then 15min ...... But their not the same anymore.... The camps still there ...but it's a husk of what it used to be...where there used to be loud story telling ,drunken laugher, a sense of real community. It's gone . At least for me and everyone who still really remembers. But we still try to carry on a little of the tradition ,now where near what it used to be....but it's not gonna die. So as to a tribute if days gone past a bygone Era ... I wrote this and posed these pics.... Only wish I had more....
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/69e13a20c5f12eb758bfc6f584f61021.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/011046909864a7cc86d56e8c0ddb72ed.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/d4f0c01719c9b00929409e697778ea55.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/4fcf73c9944a38af6ddceda62dee3e7d.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/4c5fff152164af1ad2825be9326ed601.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/bf83db9b13f767994114db269e4992dd.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/747ad686078370cab390f0c275a8b039.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/ecc96c64b63e1eea3976fb13c100ba70.jpg


Hopefully this posted half decent like

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[Wolfdog91]

Sorry realized some of the pictures were sized too small and had some more to add. This app limits me to 10 [emoji28]
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/9c1e58f24a7b3748bf6ac5f374b6e225.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/2433ceaf2b25dd9eade405955984ce33.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/c50aac1931510cfd4de2dae38c8dc9ef.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/d105b73a538f7ff1a75e64642034bae9.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/5be372579d2cd65d075c1b570f0a4c0f.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/64894d9d958792acbc0a5a4a4dc749df.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220212/697027f0fccab64412fe80b580ec9826.jpg

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[hawkenhunter50]

Pretty cool story and neat old pictures. Sounded like a good time.

[M-Tecs]

That would have been the late 60's and mid 70's for me. They were great times, but if you think it's sad looking at them now, wait another 40 years, unless it winds up that someone else is looking at the pictures thinking we sure do miss him.

[1Papalote]

Bygone days........we butchered everything we ate in the 60/70/80s. Beef, deer, hogs, rabbits, sheep, goats, quail pigeons, chickens, turkeys, squirrels, ducks, geese. Not so much anymore. Deer and a few squirrels only these days. Hog killing was an event!! Great time for the family to gather.

[Thundarstick]

Boy o boy, does that bring back memories! My mom and dad's families where both having hot killings into the mid 70s then they started hiring it done. One of my jobs was to cut all that fat back into small pieces to render the lard from. I can remember how sore I'd be from dragging a big butchers knife through pounds and pounds of meat, but it was fun stirring that big black kettle and plucking out cracklings with a little meat on them as they cooked.

[JimB..]

Well done.

Funny how things happen at different times in different places. Family comes from central IL, their last hog killing was the late 1950’s. Lots of “community” has been lost over the years.

[Finster101]

That was Thanksgiving weekend for us when I was a kid. My dad had a friend at the Cooperage plant where he worked who had hogs and we usually paid him to raise a couple for us. The plant was closed for 4 days, Kentucky was usually cool enough in November, so it became a ritual. A good time with lots of hard work. Sadly, for me most of those people are not around anymore. Thank you for posting.

[sharps4590]

Oh my goodness!!! Absolutely wonderful to take that walk down memory lane, thanks Wolfdog!!!!. Our last "family hog butcherin'" was in the early 60's.

[Bodean98]

Thank you for that!
Like others here, that stirred up some fond old memories! Haven't been to a hog killin' for over 50 years.
I feel sorry for the city folk who never got to experience such things!

[GhostHawk]

I was lucky enough to get in on a couple of those old fashioned hog doings. Two days of hard work for a bunch of people, but it ended with a whole lot of good food in a bunch of freezers.

First one I was there when the guy stuck the pig. He had a stainless steel bowl half full of snow and a wisk.
The next morning when I walk in I'm sat down to a plate full of blood sausage. Was good, but it did not bother me like it would some.
I don't know what all was involved in the process. But the end result was sliced about a quarter inch thick, fried quick both sides on a griddle, put on a plate and pour some maple syrup over it all.

[rancher1913]

did that several times as well, the best part was the shine, tasted like warm peach water but boy would it knock you on your ass, course this was after the hogs were done.

[ohen cepel]

Did that every year around Pearl Harbor Day in the 70's and 80's. Grandfather lost a ship at Pearl Harbor so I guess he was making a bit of a statement with that date selection.

I remember when I woke up in Kali my first December in the Army and how happy I was that I didn't have to stick hogs and butcher for days. Miss it now of course.

He had some hard men come down out of the hills of WV to help. Start drinking Busch beer around sun up, shine later in the day. One would check the sharpness of a knife on his tongue as his hand were like bricks so he couldn't feel an edge with his fingers. Both his sons went on to be very successful doctors in WV.

Thanks for taking me back for a bit.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Nice pics! We raise and butcher a hog every year. We usually have a few friends over for the killing (winter), then a large family bbq in the fall. This was from this year’s hog…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8b7xlbBL8Q


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8b7xlbBL8Q

[memtb]

Wolfdog91, Thanks for the story and the photos! You brought back memories of a great time in my life!

I was only involved in one hog kill’n, many years ago at my grandparents home in Central Louisiana. Pretty much everyone involved has long since passed! The memories aren’t vivid....but, good memories all the same! Thanks again!

So.....have you ever cut sugar cane and made syrup? Those are some memories of a time a bit more recent....though, with most of the same folks! memtb

[Cosmic_Charlie]

That is some real Americana there! Thanks much.

[Beagle333]

Great pictures! That was also like us in the 60s-70s. It was a family event and everybody's freezer got stocked.

[sparky45]

Last butchering I recall was in 1962 at my High School out the back of the Voc/Ag building. It was part of 4H and Ag "classwork". The Teacher also had a small farm and we were guided in the fine practice of off the hoof to the freezer. It included the .22 to the head of the Hog to the gutting to the boiling of the Hog to remove the hair, ect. Made a lasting memory for me.

[contender1]

I, like so many here truly enjoyed the sharing of your memories. And,, like others,, it brought back memories of my own.

Locally, there was a "family" unit,, all living in one area,, all related,, and all working together on many things. And every year,, Thanksgiving,, was "hog killing" time. Usually a couple of days for sure. Lots of hard work, yet,, the final results were enjoyed by all. As a kid,, I was always in awe at the way the whole bunch worked together so well. As I grew,, I understood the hows & whys.

Sadly,, this family finally quit the tradition about 12 years ago. The elders were passing,, and the younger ones,, well,, they weren't all living there,, nor wanted to work that hard. It wasn't too long ago,, I was talking to one of the last survivors of this clan's ways,, and lamenting the passing of that tradition. He's a few years younger than I, and while he misses the family unit,, he also didn't miss the hard work.
A family hog killing & processing like that is slipping away from our culture.

Oh,, in this family,, no drinking,, as the senior elders were seriously non-drinking Baptists. But,,, after it was over & done with,, and away from the family,, some of them would enjoy a bit of moonshine to "unwind" a bit. Usually on Saturday night after working on Thursday & Friday on the hogs.

I miss that whole thing. Finest sausage you could ask for.

[owejia]

Hog killing was a community thing where I grew up. We all went from neighbor to neighbor and even had a flat bed hay wagon with the kettles and scalding vat to carry from one killing to the next. Hard work for sure but a great tradition. Remember the salting and sugar curing, hickory smoking, of the hams and middlings [bacon] hog jowls, cooking the lard off and always had popcorn to throw into the kettle when finished.

[Dusty Bannister]

Thank you for this great kick in the memory. We did not do the large animals on the farm because my Dad had some difficulties after suffering a stroke. We did a lot of poultry though. In later years after moving to the city, I at least got to help cutting up hogs that were already killed and gutted. This continued after that in helping process deer. For those that have never shared these experiences, there is the Fox Fire series of books about plain living. I think it might be time to read through them again. Thank you for the reminder of simple living in the not too distant past.

[redriverhunter]

great read and thank you for sharing with us. I wish I could be part of an Old Fashioned Hog Killin'.

[Winger Ed.]

In years gone by, my favorite uncle in the Hill Country still did all his own processing.
In his later years, somehow he ended up doing it about the time at least one of us nephews visited.

We were glad to help with the heavy lifting, since us city kids had never been around doing it before.
He'd coach us through the process and tell us various bits of Geezer wisdom such as,
"Yeah, I could do that faster---- but you wouldn't learn nearly as much".

And when skinning these 4-500 pound hogs, he'd say,
"The objective here is to leave as much of the hog as possible---- on the hog".

And we were 'allowed' to help make a run of our Grandfather's sausage recipe.
I can't remember all of what was in it, but it called for: One cow, and two hogs.

Great times, and good memories.

[Alstep]

Great old story, what rural America used to be.
A couple of neighbors here still raise hogs & beef, but since another farmer went out of business and set up a butcher shop, that's where all the butchering happens now.
We used to do the same with chickens. My dad would get a couple hundred baby chicks in January, raise them under a brooder stove for warmth. Then about June, we would butcher off all the roosters and fill the freezer for the year. Kept the hens for eggs.
Sadly, most of the farms around here are going under, and the city slickers are moving in, bringing all their city ways with them.
Last year a friend had a lame cow he wanted to butcher. Couldn't get it on the trailer. So he shot it and loaded it on the trailer with the bucket loader. It was all downhill into town, but pulling out of town it was uphill and the blood started pouring out onto the road. Somebody sees all the blood in the road and calls the Sheriff about a murder in town. Of course, a deputy has to come investigate, and follows the blood trail past my house to the butcher shop. Investigation closed, but if you knew the guys involved it was a comedy. City slickers have no sense of humor.
A couple of weeks later, same guy has a another beefer he's trying to load on his trailer and it gets loose in the road. Calls a couple of neighbor guys for help. Why not kill it like the last time? Now you've got to picture this; it's about 7:30 in the morning on a busy county road, and the road's all blocked off with this cow situation. There's a school bus full of kids. And here comes one guy with a gun and another with a butcher knife. The kids are screaming and getting traumatized. Well, they finally get this cow loaded without killing it in the middle of the road. Later he gets a call from the school for upsetting kids. Years ago, the kids would have gotten off the buss and helped with the situation.
It's a different world now. But to local folks around here, PETA means "people eating tasty animals"!

[KCSO]

I started doing that when I was 6 turning a hand cranked grinder to help make sausage. We y=used everything but the oink. Pickled pigs feet, cracklings, head cheese ect.

[M-Tecs]

For us it was a family event twice a year. In the spring it was hogs and steer or two. In the fall it was just hogs and always right after deer season since the venison got mixed into the country style fry sausage. Everything was cold smoked in a smokehouse the size of a medium sized room.

After the parents and all the aunts and uncles passed, we stopped getting together. We used everything except the blood. The hides got sold. I miss the people the most, but of the products I miss lye soap and liver sausage and of course (since was the shooter) I miss shooting the hogs and steers. That started when I was 7 or 8. Traditionally my uncle Ray did that but when I was 7 or 8 he couldn't see the front sight very well so I took over that job.

My aunt had six kids and she raised about 300 chickens a year. Normally she just chopped the heads off to butcher, but she would let us shoot the head off if we were really good that day. I remember as a kid thinking I better not do that or I won't get to shoot the head off the chicken. If you weren't the shooter you had to catch the flopping headshot chicken so it wouldn't bruise the meat flopping around. And yes headless chickens can fly.

[Winger Ed.]

. We y=used everything but the oink.

How wasteful. You could have used it for making oinkment.

[Thundarstick]

Yep, my Granny said we use everything but the squeal, and if we could catch it, we'd use that to!

[M-Tecs]

How wasteful. You could have used it for making oinkment.

Good one! I did forget that shortly after I started helping we went to commercial casings so we didn't have to clean intestines for sausage casings. I only remember have to turn them inside out and clean a couple of times. We never made chitlines from the intestines or cracklins from the hides but we did make cracklins from the solids left over from rendering the lard. They are kind of like bacon bits only way better. Use to love them on toast.

Like this but on a much larger scale


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-CVLJkMyU

[Winger Ed.]

about 300 chickens a year. Normally she just chopped the heads off to butcher,.

A life long friend told stories of going back to his Grandparents farm.

One time they had a rooster that was meaner than a sack full of snakes.
It'd fly up, attack, and try to spur the kids. Grandma thought that was about the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

Later that day, it did it to her....... Quick as a cat----She caught it by the head in mid air,
swung it around a few times, and it was in a pot on the stove before its body heat had left it.

[M-Tecs]

A life long friend told stories of going back to his Grandparents farm.

One time they had a rooster that was meaner than a sack full of snakes.
It'd fly up, attack, and try to spur the kids. Grandma thought that was about the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

Later that day, it did it to her....... Quick as a cat----She caught it by the head in mid air,
swung it around a few times, and it was in a pot on the stove before its body heat had left it.

Rooster usually are kind of tough and are best in soup or stew.

A friend of mine that is borderline lib was shocked when her 94-year-old Grandma came over for Easter and was attacked by a Tom Turkey. One swipe with her cane broken it's neck. The kids said they would quick get a garbage bag and throw it away before anyone got into trouble. Grandma said "the hell you are, quick get me a knife so I can bleed it out". After Easter dinner Grandma sat in the garage and scalded and plucked it. The Grandkids and Great Grandkids were horrified but they didn't learn something that day.

[Electrod47]

Thanks kid. Brought back strong memories of my grandfathers backyard circa 1949. Big hog spit right down the middle. Big rendering vat in the yard. My Mother and grandmother canning sausage paddies in lard. It was a big deal even made soap. My people share cropped cotton and corn near Blytheville Arkansas. We lived next to one
another on the farm my dad and granddad shared after he came home from the war. And yes we only had outhouses.

[MOA]

Great story wolfdog. Really appreciate you taking the time to share something so personal with us. As long as even one of us who reads this post will mean that memory you have and shared will continue to go on into the future. Yes, pure Americana. Again, thanks for the share. Sounds like a great time...except that it was so cold.

[gwpercle]

Thanks for the wonderful post and all the photo's ! AWESOME !!!

Brought back some wonderful memories of the days when refrigeration was scarce and Freezers were scarcer . My Uncle raised the hogs , had a big smoke house and the family would gather for a full day and a half of processing pork , making sausage , boudin , cracklins and getting hams ready for the long smoke in the big smokehouse . Us kids thought it was a big family holiday and had the most fun ...
I don't know why but few if any photo's were taken ... I had a little Brownie Camera but never took any photo's ... didn't think about a simple everyday way of life would someday pass and should have been recorded .
I'm glad you had the photo's and appreciate the posting .
In Mississippi it is a Hog-Killing ... my elders called it a Boucherie ... which is Cajun French for ... Hog-Killing .
Gary

[Gator 45/70]

Oh yeah baby Wolfdog!!! Good deal, Went to my first Boucherie couple of generations ago.
I remember the boiling pot, Men pouring hot water on the hanging hog, A special knife was used to scrape the hair off, Seems it had 2 handles?
Locally boucherie's still take place, Mostly at fairs.
You can still catch it in the town of Basile La. Swine capital of La.

[fixit]

That sure brings back memories. Worst job of butchering was always scraping the hair off after scalding the pig..... Which means the kids got to do it! It was always a good day when the pig went flop at the shot, especially if there were more pigs than one...... They get kinda testy when the first one starts pitching a fit. Cutting up the fat and skin was always a pain, too.

[Three44s]

Glad to see so many folks that know where food actually comes from!

Thanks Wolfdog91!

Three44s

[shooterg]

Wish I had pics from the 60's on Gramps place . 50-60 hogs, 110 Angus, 1400 chickens . Every kid should experience the meaning of "running around like a chicken with it's head cut off " - 2 every Saturday to feed the family on Sunday . Loved the country cured and smoked hams . Never did like making lye soap or using it !

[koger]

Thanks for sharing all of this, brings back memories of when I was growing up in the 60s and 70's, a lot of folks raised their own gardens, hogs beefs, and chickens. We used to order up 100 chicks and raise them up, killing 50 one weekend, and 50 another one, bagged them and froze them. I have canned pork, sausage and ham cut up.The wife and I still process our deer and some of the neighbors bring theres over to help us and get theirs processed also. I am glad to help them and teach a new generation. I am considering raising my own hogs and kill 2 next winter. Thanks again for sharing.

[M-Tecs]

I remember the boiling pot, Men pouring hot water on the hanging hog, A special knife was used to scrape the hair off, Seems it had 2 handles?


Most hog scrapers that I have seen look like this https://www.amazon.com/Millers-Carbide-Saw-Service-Butchering/dp/B07NP5C2GY/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3S6DTCRV53FBW&keywords=hog+scraper+tool&qid=1644718096&sprefix=hog+scraper%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-4

My uncle had a modified draw knife with both handles welded on backwards. Looked like this https://www.amazon.com/Flexcut-Ergonomic-Leather-Included-KN16/dp/B000ZRV5MK/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3R5MY034TBG9Y&keywords=draw%2Bknife&qid=1644718268&sprefix=draw%2Bknife%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-6&th=1

Normally they are dull since you are pulling the hair out of the follicles that have been opened by scalding.

[elmacgyver0]

Wolfdog91, you have a knack for telling a story that holds the attention.
It is a skill if nurtured I believe could really go places.
Anyway, I really enjoyed your story.

[1hole]

... And yes headless chickens can fly.

Yeah, but they're really odd to watch because headless chickens can't fly straight. And they can't fly very high either 'cause they don't know which way is up.

But, with self supplied chickens, cows, hogs, fish, corn and roots, country boys and their families can survive.

City folk can rob each other and eat, at least until the last city boy runs out of (packaged) food. Then they'll have to sit down beside themselves and cry until their light goes out.

It's sad that virtually all of America's once self-sufficient family background has been lost. (Biden & team will probably say that loss is all Trump's fault.)

[M-Tecs]

Yeah, but they're really odd to watch because headless chickens can't fly straight. And they can't fly very high either 'cause they don't know which way is up.



The flapping proves the lift and the body weight helps with the balance. My aunt needed 6 chickens once and we were tasked with chopping the heads off. We threw them in the air so all of them would fly but we also knew if they hit the ground and got bruised we would be in trouble so we would catch them out of the air. Headless chickens spray a lot of blood. When we brought them in my aunt thought we got into an axe fight. Needless to say we only did that once.

[Hogtamer]

Me and Bulter woulda got along just fine. Scraping scalded hogs was never my favorite though.

[Wolfdog91]

Wow kinda wasn't expecting this big of a response [emoji28] been ripping and running all day and come back on the what? 40 something replies [emoji2962] sorry I have been here to respond to Everyone

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[Wolfdog91]

Oh yeah baby Wolfdog!!! Good deal, Went to my first Boucherie couple of generations ago.
I remember the boiling pot, Men pouring hot water on the hanging hog, A special knife was used to scrape the hair off, Seems it had 2 handles?
Locally boucherie's still take place, Mostly at fairs.
You can still catch it in the town of Basile La. Swine capital of La.Think your referring to either a draw knife or a fleshing knife. It's crazy but I remember most of them guys using with a single or double side razor blade like what would come out if a box cutter to do all the work. They where meticulous to say the least

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[Winger Ed.]

Some phases of the limited amount of processing I've done always reminded me of
Hans Solo in "Star Wars" when he was freezing and cut open that monster.

When all its innards came popping out he said, 'And I thought they smelled bad on the outside'.

[buckwheatpaul]

Great post....we process a lot of wild hogs that we trap and shoot and when we do we set up an assembly line of sorts....we have one that keeps the knives sharp while we skin, gut and process the carcass. With the cold weather we like to hang them from the front loader of a tractor in a shed or quarter and put in an old refrigerator if it is warm. Then the cutting up and grinding and then the final product of sausage or brats....makes your mouth water when you see the final product!

[curdog]

I can remember when i was a kid back in the late sixties I would go to a friends who lived on a farm and they would butcher a hog in the winter. I would help them render lard and they would make blood sausage and head cheese. Blood sausage is good fried with scrambled eggs and head cheese is good with crackers.hot sauce and of course a cold beer. Thank you for the very cool post and pictures, brings back memories.............................Curdog

[Bulldogger]

Wow kinda wasn't expecting this big of a response [emoji28] been ripping and running all day and come back on the what? 40 something replies [emoji2962] sorry I have been here to respond to Everyone

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

Thanks for sharing your story Wolfdog91. Clearly you struck a chord with plenty of folks here, me included.

Why not write up some more stories?

Bulldogger

[contender1]

Yep,, this thread got to a lot of us. Shows were all aren't totally lost.

Heck,, it got me to thinking,, and I got down my FireFox book. Book #1,, had info on hog killing & processing. Some pics too. brought back more smiles, as I re-read that chapter. Especially some of the quotes from the older folks.

And I also had to chuckle,, as I brought this up with my wonderful better half. Miss Penny put it quite bluntly; "We aren't going to start raising hogs & butchering them. I've scrapped my last hog,, UUGGHHH!!!!!!!! "
She too remembers such events. :D

[white eagle]

I know the feelings you have and share them
I have the same trouble with time we can not stop it time goes by people leave us and it is left in our hands to carry on
weather we do or not is up to each of us that is the hand we are dealt
like you I long for the good ol days with the people that shared them with me
thanks for sharing your story although I have never done what you did I have the same fondness of the memories that were given
carry on young man

[JWFilips]

Great thread! I have what I have been told is an old "Hog Dispatcher" very simple single shot .22 rimfire...very strange little gun...no sights!
Pics below:
296259

[1Papalote]

I remember my mother cleaning the stomachs at a table made of a 55 gal drum and a plywood top. Stomachs were emptied, rinsed, scrubbed, washed, bleached etc until clean enough to hold head sausage. Later years we skinned the hogs.
My grandmother (b. 1904) told me they'd put the hams in a salt box, on angle to drain, for nine days, then smoked.
Seems we could never get enough cold weather anymore to spend a week killing hogs. Been a while since we butchered, last beef was 20 years back, hogs even further .

[MT Gianni]

i enjoyed reading about your memories. We rarely raise a hog over 250 lbs here, most get slaughtered at 225. Nice lean meat but you don't get the massive cuts you do with large hogs.

[farmbif]

my taste b buds are salivating thinking of fresh cracklings, maybe with some file gumbo and fresh smoked boudin.

[Frosty Boolit]

Great thread, these things are not lost forever. I know you will do something like this one day wolfdog because it is in you. Younger guys have a primal desire to carry on whatever dad or grandpa did. I know I do.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

As a boy in the 1940s I watched many hog killings. I remember one that did not go well. Problem being hogs are hard to dispatch. The man shot the pig in the head with some rifle he had brought back from the war. The cartridge looked small to me, and it was. The pig just shook his head and laid down. They decided to stick the pig with a large butcher knife. We have all heard the expression, he screamed like a stuck pig, well I know first-hand what that means. I watched for a while longer and went home. The next day I asked my friend who was there if they finally killed the pig? He said they had to shoot the best again. When my dad killed a pig, he hired a man with a gun large enough to do the job. After killing the pig, they would they lower into an oil drum, actually two welded together. After a few minutes they pulled it out and started scraping hair. I have no recollection of then cutting the pig up. I well remember one very large sow my father had who was mean. She would even chase him when he went in to feed her. He secured a ladder to a fruit tree just to get away from her. When she started feeding, he could come. When it came time to kill the beast, he called the man to do the job. She weighed about 400 LBS. When the man shot, she took off running around the back lot. My brother jumped on her back and tried to ride her. He soon fell off. The man shot her when she stopped running. I have no recollection of what happened next. I do know I was glad to see that hog from hell gone.

[M-Tecs]

22 Longs and 22LR have been dispatching hogs and steers since the 1880's. That would be hundreds of millions if not billons. I've personally killed 450 pound hogs with one shot from a 22LR. Yes, you have to hit the spot but the 22 LR is more than adequate if the shooter is. The spot is different between hogs and steers and I am not sure how much larger the spot is than a quarter, but I do know if I hit a quarter sized spot it drops them like Thors Hammer. On hogs it's an X from the bottom of the ears to the eyes. On a steer it's an X from the horns (or where the horns would be) to the eyes.

Most people shoot first than bleed. If you have lift equipment sticking without shooting or stunning will bleeds them out better. Some of the major knife makers still make sticking knives. You hang the hog by the hind leg and stick straight in. Entry point is just at the front of the breast bone. The target is the veins and artery's going into the heart but not the heart itself. Bleeds them best and the hog is dead within seconds. Sticking the heart prevents it from pumping properly and they don't bleed out as well.

Morton Salt used to produce an excellent guide called "Home Meat Curing made easy". Still can be found used. For anyone doing their own hog I highly recommend it. Sticking starts on page 7 Digital version here: https://archive.org/details/HomeMeatCuringMadeEasy1941/HomeMeatCuringMadeEasy009.jpg You have to click through each page to view.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

M-Tecs maybe you are right about how easy it is to kill a pig with a .22. I guess that's the reason the men down in Texas who fly around in helicopters are shooting Ruger 10-22s. Come to think of it, they were using ARS in .308 caliber. I guess they just grow a tougher pig in the Lone Star state.

[M-Tecs]

M-Tecs maybe you are right about how easy it is to kill a pig with a .22. I guess that's the reason the men down in Texas who fly around in helicopters are shooting Ruger 10-22s. Come to think of it, they were using ARS in .308 caliber. I guess they just grow a tougher pig in the Lone Star state.

Shooting a hog or steer in a pen for slaughter is not remotely the same as shooting wild hogs out of a helicopter nor was any part of this thread about anything other than slaughtering livestock as a family event.

As to being right the hundreds of millions and possible billions of hogs and steers slaughtered with a 22 between the 1880's and today is a pretty good indication that the 22 Long and 22 LR was up to the task.

Starting in the 50's safety requirements moved the large packing plants away from 22's to other stun methods but the smaller operations still use 22LR today. For a while they were required to used 22 Shorts but the 22 Short was not ideal and that limitation was removed (to the best on my knowledge). For Bolonga Bulls a 22 Mag is recommended since some of those go over 2,000.

Yup a 22 totally is not up to the task...................


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2oI4ei6NWc

Would I helicopter hunt wild hogs with a 22LR? No. Would I use a 22 on live trapped wild hogs? Definitely

[marshall623]

We butcher every year, used to be twice a year around Thanksgiving helping a lifelong family friend and then Dad always 2nd Sat in Dec . Dad has got to where it's hard for him getting around plus after having a Quadruple bypass he doesn't need a pile of hog meat . We just help our friend every year . This is this past Nov , Dad is on the right 296404

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[owejia]

We always used 22 shorts to kill hogs with. The 22 short would do the job with one well placed shot. They would drop down on the ground and the stick man would roll them on their side to expose the jugular vein and make one insertion and they would bleed out. We also saved the brains[after removing the 22 short lead particles] to have with scrambled eggs the next morning. Remember the old saying about hog killing that the only thing we didn't use was the squeal. Man that was some great memories.

[JWFilips]

We also saved the brains[after removing the 22 short lead particles] to have with scrambled eggs the next morning. Remember the old saying about hog killing that the only thing we didn't use was the squeal. Man that was some great memories.

When I was young I loved Brains and Eggs fo breakfast! My Mom made them for me!
Now you can't even find a place that sells them! No more Kidneys No more Lungs, No More Brains & no more blood sausage! The best parts have been taken away from us Americans!

[M-Tecs]

I never cared for Brains and Eggs. Dad really liked them. I do like head cheese with brains. We never saved the blood but friends would make blood cake. Their version looked like a brownie. It was not my thing. What I miss the most is homemade liver sausage. I still have friends that do a lot of home slaughtering and I get a ring here and there but not nearly enough to keep me satisfied. I still occasionally do a hog but no large family get-together's and I don't have a large smoker. The family liver sausage was lost and I have not found one that I like as much. Most of them produce product much more like Liverwurst.

[762 shooter]

Cool beans.

We butchered 7, 275 pound hogs last weekend.

Old school.
762

[762 shooter]

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?266462-Hog-Butchering-Weekend

[762 shooter]

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?266462-Hog-Butchering-Weekend

This from 2016.

[shooterg]

Every brand of .22 single shot was called a pig gun, cause that's what all of 'em were killed with . Never cared for the brains myself !
Loved those hams rubbed down with brown sugar and salted for a week or so, then hung in the smokehouse with hickory smoldering -wish I'd paid more attention to what Gramps was doing 60 years ago ! All those parts you can't find anymore - they're in the hot dogs and boloney at the grocery store ..

[PULSAR]

There is a local to me outfit that has a Facebook site called Meadow Museum. It is located in Meadow north carolina ..Bunch of good ole boys, a little long in the tooth who have a l country museum dedicated to old time farm life
They do a traditional hog killing every year. If you search for it there is a ton of pictures on the various steps involved . I don't know how to post a link


Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[marshall623]

My personal favorite out of the pudding kettle is the tounge. Kidney and heart are OK. I wish I more pictures of when Dad was butchering. Butchering day is one of the best family and friends get together that I know of and probably the hardest work you do all year . We just help our friend every year , his son and grandkids do the shooting , but I'm still the sticking man . My Old Hickory 6" boning knife does a good job , still keep my eye out for a sticker .


Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[Dusty Bannister]

The link to Meadow Museum

https://www.johnstoncountync.org/listing/meadow-museum/2436/

[PULSAR]

The link to Meadow Museum

https://www.johnstoncountync.org/listing/meadow-museum/2436/Thanks

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[country gent]

Butchering, Barn raising also houses, grinding flours and grains, clearing fields were all at one time community projects where everyone came together. Its a rel shame they are gone. Hard work yes but a good time and brought the community together in a positive way.

Where the pld time barn dances originated from.

Very few farms had all the equipment needed for some chores so they came together and got er done using what everyone had as a group. ANother is butchering isnt a clean neat job so when doing it 1 animals or 10 the mess isnt much different. Families worked together kids women men all had their jobs and tasks. I can remember chunking up meat and fat trimming for the meat grinder making sausage with hogs or hamburger with cattle. One of the neighbor girls was there mixing spices and seasoning for each batch beside me.

[762 shooter]

Mmmmmmmm!

Pudding.

762

[JWFilips]

No Part of a pig is inedible ! Some may need more courage than others ..... but it all tastes good!