Expert: John Langenfelder - 3/9/2010

Question
A few friends and I killed a 80lb wild hog. We skinned her, left her whole, and put her in the freezer.I want to put it on my smoker but I haven't seen any methods on the best way to do that. All the methods I've seen still have the skin on. Should I wrap her up in foil like a butt or just apply rub and put her on "as is"? Any ideas would be appreicated, thanks.

Answer
It's too bad that you removed the skin as that helps keep it moist as it is cooking.  With domestic hogs, there is a process of removing the hair and not the skin.

How much fat is on the hog?  If there is a good fat layer, I would season with a rub and cook it like that.  In any case, apply a rub and cook 'er "AS IS".  I would not cover it with foil for at least halfway through the cooking process. I would cover the feet and head with foil and then remove it halfway through the cooking process as these will cooking too quickly.

An 80 lb hog probably dressed out to about 55-60 lbs, so figure about 1 hour per 10 lbs plus an hour at about 250-275. So figure about 6 1/2 to 7 hours Add an hour if the air temp is between 50-60 degrees.