Hunting Javelina

Hunting Javelina

The javelina is not a swine. It’s a peccary. People in the Southwest currently seem to consider it no more than, as a friend in Tucson said, “ a big hairy rat.” It apparently has no culinary interest at the present time.

We spotted one last week, resting at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.



I’d eat that.

What this beast got me thinking about was Cochinita Pibil, now made with pig, but as pig was brought to the New World by the Spaniards, what did pre-contact Maya, for instance, use for this earth-cooked dish, if not javelina (or some similar relative in the same family)?

This speculation was confirmed in Oxford Companion to Food: “Ancient Maya consumed a boar-like mammal called a peccary… which look something like a small wild pig, and are sometimes so called, but which belong to a different family, Tayassuidae. This family is the New World counterpart of the pig family in the Old World. The peccary is...also called musk hog. The range of the peccary is from S. Brazil to Arizona in the USA. It is eaten locally but is not accounted as a delicacy. For the Maya people, however, it was a food resource of some significance. The region of C. America which they inhabited was not rich, in pre-Columbian times, in edible animals."

One of the reasons people may think poorly of javelina is that they allegedly smell rather bad: they’re sometimes called “skunk pigs.” Also, they’re kind of aggressive and have canine-like teeth so it may be difficult if not impossible to domesticate them, thus rendering them uninteresting to large scale producers.

According to Foods America Gave the World, "Peccary meat is far superior to ordinary pork, being much more delicate and with a richer, wild game flavor."

So…I want to eat javelina.

P.S. Years ago, the subject of the javelina came up, with linguistic roots discussed at length by the inestimable Antonius and Cynthia.

Well, David, you missed the AZ hunting season but if you schedule your trip a little earlier next year it looks like these guys can help you achieve your goal of hunting javelina.

Kman wrote:Well, David, you missed the AZ hunting season but if you schedule your trip a little earlier next year it looks like these guys can help you achieve your goal of hunting javelina.

Hunting with handguns. That sounds like big fun. .357 is my favorite piece, ever. You really feel like you're holding a weapon (unlike the wussy Glock, with all the heft of a Wii game controller, a lightweight for lightweights: bad shots who need a full clip to hit a target).

What I was actually thinking about was hunting down a place that would cook and serve the beast to me.

David Hammond wrote:What I was actually thinking about was hunting down a place that would cook and serve the beast to me.

In that case, you can expand your search a bit to include Louisiana and the oft overlooked Nutria.

stevez wrote:

David Hammond wrote:What I was actually thinking about was hunting down a place that would cook and serve the beast to me.

In that case, you can expand your search a bit to include Louisiana and the oft overlooked Nutria.

Nutria. Now THAT is a big hairy rat. Of course, I'd eat it.

David Hammond wrote:

Kman wrote:Well, David, you missed the AZ hunting season but if you schedule your trip a little earlier next year it looks like these guys can help you achieve your goal of hunting javelina.

Hunting with handguns. That sounds like big fun. .357 is my favorite piece, ever. You really feel like you're holding a weapon (unlike the wussy Glock, with all the heft of a Wii game controller, a lightweight for lightweights: bad shots who need a full clip to hit a target).

What I was actually thinking about was hunting down a place that would cook and serve the beast to me.

.357? Who would use a wussy gun like that? Ruger Super Blackhawk, 44 Magnum . . . single action, none of that sissy semi-auto stuff. If it can drop a wild boar (and, trust me, it can) then those desert rats should be easy.

As to the nutria . . . I await your feedback as I'm in no hurry to try it.

Kman wrote:.357? Who would use a wussy gun like that? Ruger Super Blackhawk, 44 Magnum . . . single action, none of that sissy semi-auto stuff. If it can drop a wild boar (and, trust me, it can) then those desert rats should be easy.

Does this look like semi-auto to you, motherf*cker?

David Hammond wrote:
I’d eat that.

According to Foods America Gave the World, "Peccary meat is far superior to ordinary pork, being much more delicate and with a richer, wild game flavor."

So…I want to eat javelina.

P.S. Years ago, the subject of the javelina came up, with linguistic roots discussed at length by the inestimable Antonius and Cynthia.

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You can. Most people in the Rio Grande Valley will NOT eat it.

With the huge feral pig problem in Texas and all the other SW states, why would you bother with a javelina?

In many states, feral pigs can be shot on sight in or out of season:

http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/animal ... t-em-sight

jlawrence01 wrote:With the huge feral pig problem in Texas and all the other SW states, why would you bother with a javelina?

Why would I eat it? Because it's there.

As far as over-population of the animal, isn't that one of the reasons hunters hunt: to control populations?

David Hammond wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:With the huge feral pig problem in Texas and all the other SW states, why would you bother with a javelina?

Why would I eat it? Because it's there.

As far as over-population of the animal, isn't that one of the reasons hunters hunt: to control populations?

And that is why they have hunting restrictions on javalinas and none on feral pigs.

jlawrence01 wrote:

David Hammond wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:With the huge feral pig problem in Texas and all the other SW states, why would you bother with a javelina?

Why would I eat it? Because it's there.

As far as over-population of the animal, isn't that one of the reasons hunters hunt: to control populations?

And that is why they have hunting restrictions on javalinas and none on feral pigs.

Now I see what you meant. I'd eat a feral pig, too, though I'm guessing there may be some health issues with those creatures.