How to Split a Wild Pig

Uncle Randy, head guide at Mike Stroff’s Southern Outdoor Experience, is always fast-walking somewhere. About 5 feet tall, with a big cowboy hat and Yosemite Sam mustache, he ran a tight Axis-deer camp last month in Sonora, Texas. Boot spurs clanking with each step told you Uncle Randy was coming—and that it was time to go, time to eat, time to cut meat.

I told him I wanted the young pig I arrowed skinned and split—two halves that’ll fit in a small cooler, then my smoker. He nodded and kept walking. I’d like to video it, too, I told him. He kept walking. I hadn’t done it myself, but saw this thing online if he…. He stopped walking. “Son, I ran a North Carolina hog operation for 15 years. I’ve probably skun 4,500 hogs in my life.” Then he started moving again. So, this is how Uncle Randy does it. Watch and learn. The man knows his business. And please, stop asking questions.