It's not often we have good news about feral hogs. But Tuesday night in Fort Worth, one did a whole lot of good. A 100-pound sow was used to feed about 80 homeless veterans at the Patriot House shelter, all while cutting down on North Texas’ feral hog pest problem.
You don't need fancy ingredients to make a feast.
"If it tastes like chicken, it's not wild pig," said Chef Scott Leysath. "There's all sorts of love in this pig back here."
That goes a long way with the crowd he was feeding.
"We're being catered to, that's always a great thing," said Carlton Powell.
Powell and the other deserving diners are all veterans, who fell on hard times.
"I had a drug problem, and from my drug problem I ended up homeless," said Willie Flennoy.
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He’s among the 32 men rebooting their lives at the Patriot House for homeless veterans.
"We still have our pride,” said Powell. “We still have our pride from having served our country, so we're not looking for handouts, but a hand-up is great."
That's where Tuesday’s free meal comes in. It’s part of the Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks’ Hunt, Fish, Feed campaign. Two hosts of Sportsman Channel TV shows were on hand. “The Sporting Chef” Scott Leysath made wild hog chile verde from a 100-pound sow that Brian “Pigman” Quaca shot in the wilds of North Texas.
"There's people that really need this. Patriot House is the key, and we're getting rid of pigs. Pigs cause hundreds of millions of dollars of destruction in the state of Texas every year," said Quaca.
The Hunt, Fish, Feed campaign travels across the country, teaching how natural resources can be used to fight hunger and donating to shelters along the way.
"What we do is connect hunters and anglers with shelters,” said Leysath. “There's a lot of hungry and homeless people that could use a good, sustainable, high-protein meal."
Because if you give a man a hog, he'll eat for a day. Teach him to hunt, and a whole community can feast.
"It's always a big blessing in that and I just thank God for that," said Flennoy.
If you want to try cooking your own wild hog, make sure to cook it thoroughly, at temperatures reaching at least 160 degrees, the experts say.
