The Traditions Hog Derby 2026
SEASON 26 | EPISODE 08
Quick Summary
- What happened: The whole crew heads down to the Kempfers in Florida for a week of competitions, and it kicks off with the Traditions Choice Hog Derby. Teams pair up, the new Traditions NitroBolts get sighted in, and everybody hunts hogs against the clock. Cattle pastures, feeders, the Bone Pit, and a scale in the meat shed that settles it.
- Best takeaway: A derby changes how you hunt. Weight on the scale is what counts, so you are picking great big-ole management hogs instead of just filling a freezer, and it makes for a fast, competitive week with the family.
Hunt Information
Wild Hogs
Ralph, Vicki, RJ, and Aubrey Cianciarulo with the Kempfer family
The Traditions Choice Hog Derby, hunted in teams and scored by weight at Kempfer's Wild Game Processing meat shed.
Driving and glassing cattle pasture, checking feeders, and putting on spot-and-stalk moves when hogs turn up
Outfitter Information
Osceola Outfitters
Central Florida
Working cattle ranch, hunted by permission
Don't forget to let them know who sent you! The Choice Crew
The Kempfers have been family friends for years, and their central Florida outfit & cattle operation is hog country in every direction. Pasture edges, timber, & feeders all hold pigs, and the ranch runs them hard because hogs and cattle do not mix. It makes for the kind of place where a week of competition hunting actually works.
Episode Breakdown
A week of competitions at the Kempfers, starting with the Traditions Choice Hog Derby. Teams, muzzleloaders, and a scale that settles every argument.
Getting Sighted In
The trip down to Florida is the easy part. Before anybody hunts, the new Traditions NitroBolts come out and get sighted in, because a derby is no place to find out your gun is off. Everybody shoots, everybody confirms, and the teams get set.
The Hunt / Competition
Spending the teams time checking pastures, fields, timber lines, and feeder, they're all in search for some big-ole heavy boar hogs! With their NitroBolts ready to rock, they are in search to let them do their thing!
The Meat Shed
End of the night, everybody hauls their hogs to the meat shed and puts them on the scale. This is the part that decides the derby, and there is no arguing with a number.
Location & Conditions
The Kempfer family ranch in central Florida, a working cattle operation with pasture, palmetto, and oak edges.
Open cattle pasture broken by palmetto thickets, oak hammocks, and cypress heads, with feeders and the Bone Pit as reliable draws.
Florida hot and humid, with mornings and evenings doing most of the work and the middle of the day going quiet.
Hogs feeding pasture edges early and late, holed up in shade through the heat, and hitting feeders and the Bone Pit when they think nobody is watching.
Animal Descriptives
Wild hogs are built to be hard on a place and hard to hunt. Nose first, and it is a good one, so wind is the whole game. Their eyes are the weak link, which is what makes a stalk possible at all. A mature boar carries a shield of gristle over the shoulder that thickens with age and will stop a poorly placed shot, and the shorter, more forward vitals mean the deer-hunting hold you are used to sits too far back. They travel in groups, they are loud when they feed, and they are gone the second something feels wrong.
Shot Placement & Tips
Forget where you aim on a deer. On a hog, come up the front leg and hold tight to the shoulder, more so than you're use to on Whitetail! Broadside or slightly quartering away is what you want. With a muzzleloader you get one shot that counts, so get closer than you think you need to and wait for the hog to stop. In a group, pick your pig early and stay on it, because they mill and overlap and it is easy to lose track of the one you wanted.
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FAQ
What is the Traditions Choice Hog Derby?
A team hog competition at the Kempfer ranch in Florida, hunted with Traditions muzzleloaders and scored by weighing the hogs at the meat shed at the end of the night.
Who won?
The _____... You'll have to watch to see who wins & the final weights! 🤣
What were they hunting with?
The new Traditions NitroBolt .50 Cal with the 100gr Firestick, sighted in before the derby started.
From the Field
Make it a competition and all of a sudden everybody is hunting a little harder. That is the whole point of a week like this.Ralph Cianciarulo
Bring It Home: Citrus Mojo Florida Spring Hog
Sour orange, garlic, and live oak coals — a young spring hog cooked the way Florida has always done it.
Ingredients
- Hog
- 1 spring hog hind quarter or shoulder, 4–6 lbs (bone-in)
- 2 tbsp lard or bacon fat
- Kosher salt & coarse black pepper
- Mojo Marinade
- 1 cup sour orange juice (or 2/3 cup orange + 1/3 cup lime)
- 1 whole head of garlic, cloves smashed
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- Swamp Cabbage Slaw
- 4 cups shredded green cabbage
- 1/2 red onion, shaved thin
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 jalapeño, sliced
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- Salt, to taste
Recipe
- Whisk together all the mojo ingredients. Score the hog quarter about a half inch deep in a crosshatch so the citrus can drive in, then submerge it in the marinade and refrigerate 12–24 hours, turning once.
- Pull the hog out, reserve a cup of marinade for basting, and pat the meat dry. Let it sit out 45 minutes to take the chill off.
- Build a two-zone fire with live oak or citrus wood and hold it around 300°F. Rub the hog with lard and season with salt and pepper.
- Set the quarter on the cool side, fat cap up, close the lid, and cook indirect for about 3 hours, basting with the reserved mojo every 45 minutes.
- While it cooks, toss the cabbage, red onion, jalapeño, lime juice, and salt together. Let it sit at room temperature and fold in the cilantro just before serving.
- When the meat reaches 170°F, wrap in foil with a splash of mojo and keep going until a probe slides in clean at 195–200°F — roughly 1–2 hours more.
- Unwrap and move the quarter directly over the coals for 3–4 minutes a side to crisp the outside and set a char on the citrus glaze.
- Food safety: wild hog carries trichinosis and brucellosis — the meat must reach 160°F minimum. This cook clears it well past that, but check anyway.
- Rest 20 minutes, then pull or chop. Pile it on with the slaw, a squeeze of lime, and warm tortillas or Cuban bread.
Chef Tips
- Spring hogs are the ones you want. A young sow or 100-pound boar taken in spring is milder and more tender than a big fall boar — and it needs far less doctoring.
- Score the meat before it goes in the mojo. Wild hog is dense and lean, and the citrus won't get past the surface otherwise.
- Sour orange is the real thing, but orange plus lime gets you close. Skip bottled mojo — it's mostly salt and filler.
- Always wear gloves field-dressing hogs and cook to 160°F+. Both matter more with hogs than any other game animal.
- Florida heat is brutal on meat. Get the hog on ice within the hour or the whole cook is already lost.
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