Newbie question - wild game animals?

[justKate]

Okay please don't flame me, I admit my ignorance.

My basic question is whether it is "safe" to feed my 14 month old wild pig meat. It might be a stupid question. My husband shot three of them and is taking them to the butcher today--the plan is to get loins, roasts, some ground, some sausage, etc. They were wild but corn fed by feeders on the ranch where they were shot. DD eats what we eat. Is there any reason not to let her eat this pork?

Again, I apologize if this is a silly question--where I grew up deer and quail were the only game animals we ate. TIA!

[mamadelbosque]

Not that I know of. In some ways I wish we had wild pigs around here, just so we could hunt them!! But, most of me is very glad we don't We hunt and eat lots of deer though!!

[CookiePie]

IMO it is much safer and healthier than any factory farmed meat. Just be sure it is cooked properly. I have also heard to freeze any wild meats for 2 weeks prior to ccooking and consuming becuse it will kill certain potential bacterias. Lucky you to have gotten some great, wild natural meat!!!

[hildare]

i would say that it's totally safe if properly and thoroughly cooked.

[justKate]

Thanks!

CookiePie (or anyone) what's the reason for freezing for 2 weeks? Does it make a difference if its a deep freezer or a regular attached-to-the-fridge freezer? We have both but I'm hoping to put most of the pig in the deep freeze in the garage...

[mamadelbosque]

I have no idea what the freezing for 2 wks thing is... we typically eat the tenderloin and/or heart as we're butchering deer

[ChocolateNummies]

The only thing you might want to think about is that if your dh doesn't do so already, he might consider switching to lead-free ammo when harvesting wild game in the future.

The following study indicates that the bullets fragment and scatter throughout the carcass not just around the entrance and exit wounds.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/lead/index.html

There's a presentation link at the bottom of that page that is quite dry to listen to (think teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) but is informative nonetheless.

I don't know that I would not eat what you've already harvested (plenty of people have been eating game harvested with leaded bullets for ages) but its definitely 'food' for thought for future game.

Hope that didn't scare you. We've just recently run across this info and it's been on my mind so makes me want to share it with others.