Gland question

ucfireman

Senior Member
So I have never killed or cleaned a wild hog.
I hear there are a couple of glands that you need to get that are in the rear legs.
I have watched a few videos, but nothing like the real thing. I don't really see where the glands are or what your cutting out. Can you feel them in the muscle?
My question, is it really necessary to get the glands? Does it make the meat taste bad if you don't get them?
I don't plan on shooting a huge pig but if I do I want to know so I don't waste the meat.
 

Todd E

Senior Member
Yes, you need to remove the glands. There are more than two. The two along the rear ham frontal curve are the easiest to locate, remove, and learn what they look like. Lemme see if I can find the vid.

A great hog processor knows where they are and knows to remove them.
 

Hillbilly stalker

Senior Member
The other 2 are in the hamstring area between the muscles. Oblong gray looking. I always cut them out.
 

Todd E

Senior Member
I think all together, it is like a total of eight glands. The ones along the spine are more like a string of em. Screenshot_20220904-131333.png
 

Alexander

Senior Member
Yes, you need to remove the glands. There are more than two. The two along the rear ham frontal curve are the easiest to locate, remove, and learn what they look like. Lemme see if I can find the vid.

A great hog processor knows where they are and knows to remove them.
The other 2 are in the hamstring area between the muscles. Oblong gray looking. I always cut them out.

So you guys do this even if you intend to smoke a hindquarter whole? I was told by a butcher that gland removal on younger pigs wasn't an issue if you were whole smoking and personally have yet to have an issue. I have only done this a handful of times, so maybe I have just been lucky.
 

Todd E

Senior Member
@Alexander
Yes, always. And the hog processor I use for brats, sausage, etc knows to ditch them all too.
They are there in a small hog. More pronounced the larger the hog.
 

Hillbilly stalker

Senior Member
So you guys do this even if you intend to smoke a hindquarter whole? I was told by a butcher that gland removal on younger pigs wasn't an issue if you were whole smoking and personally have yet to have an issue. I have only done this a handful of times, so maybe I have just been lucky.
I’ve never smoked one. But I take them out of everyone i kill.
 

Alexander

Senior Member
I have two hindquarters in the freezer I was saving to smoke during football season. Will have to pull them out and get those removed before I move forward with cooking them. Thanks for the info guys!
 

bany

Senior Member
I’ve never dug into a whole hindquarter before smoking or bbq. Never had a bad one.
I probably remove plenty extra stuff and glands when making ground products
 

chrislibby88

Senior Member
They are easy to find, in between muscle groups, some between hide and meat, they look gray, or slightly darker than the surrounding fat and connective tissue. You’ll see many while skinning, and several more of you separate the muscle groups. You can leave the hams whole, and still get down and remove the glands once you learn where they are. Deer have a few in the same locations. I don’t think they are “scent” glands. Scent glands are located in or just below the skin, with ducts to the outside of the body. Makes no sense biologically speaking for scent glands to be located down in the muscle. The intramuscular glands are part of the lymph system. Not appetizing either way, and I still cut them out.
 

Luvntheoutdors

Senior Member
I smoke shoat pigs all the time. The gland is irrelevant on them imo. I was always told if you walk up on a rank boar hog to just walk away leave him for the critters.
 

j_seph

Senior Member
Never heard of this, just always cook the meat
 

bfriendly

Bigfoot friendly
I smoke shoat pigs all the time. The gland is irrelevant on them imo. I was always told if you walk up on a rank boar hog to just walk away leave him for the critters.
I’ve only killed one pig that was truly rank and it was a shoat. I’ve honestly never looked for them, but never had a problem with pork. I guarantee I’ll be finding them from here on out!
 
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