Montarias in Portugal

ileso

Well-Known Member
Season is now in full swing, last weekend staged an awesome event in the north of the country.

The final tally was:

13 boar KIA
5 dogs KIA
3 boar MIA
1 dog MIA
7 dogs wounded
30-40+ boar escapees.
1 fox escaped

IMG_20161119_171641.jpgIMG_20161119_171517.jpgIMG_20161119_165434.jpg
 
Sounds Epic

Id be a bit miffed if someone shot my dog
Perhaps the boar were the cause of the woundings, they market dog vests made from the fencing sport protection amarid material in germany they are not cheap but cheaper than a new dog.
 
no dogs were shot or wounded by the participants... all done in the heat of battle. I personally saw one dog (looked like a podengo\dogo cross) being chased down a dirt track by a very large boar and a friend saw a beater carrying one of the woundedoff the battlefield with its innards out... (i wont post that here)

The boar kept pacing back and forth in the brush nervously very close to where I was standing, It was pretty worked up, breathing heavily, grunting and breaking branches, so I kept very quiet waiting my chance and expecting it to come out. but it never did for over 30min. Instead it held its ground in the safety of the thick cover, but very close to the track, maybe 5m away from me, I could hear it breathing.. As you would expect the adrenaline rush was out of this world. Then after a while a large dog came bounding down the track, it stopped and sniffed the air where the boar was pacing back and forth making a racket as it broke branches. Then the dog barked once or twice and then bolted for its life when the beast charged at it out from amidst of the brambles and gorse. I watched them both disappear down the track without any chance of a safe shot because of the dog... However it was exciting a fk.

boar hunting is a bit of a battle when the boar are wild and the dogs are crazy.
When the beaters have over 20 dogs each vests and gear for all of them could be pushing it... though one of them had gps trackers on all his dogs which is very expensive. he was the beater that lost the 5 dogs by the way. there were 3 groups of beaters with about 20 dogs each

to tell the truth this hunt was a bit on the wild side. Never seen such carnage amongst the hounds either.
dogs being stitched up is quite normal though when there are large boar.
All dogs are covered by insurance. (however I wouldnt like to lose a good hound either... )
 
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On a side note and thinking about boars, I am curious though for a comparison, this year was a very bad acorn year. but it was a good chestnut year. how was it in the rest of europe?
(the fat layer being under what I consider normal for this time of year)
 
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Hi Ileso,

Due to the generosity of another forum member (you know who you are!) I've been fortunate enough to enjoy extended shooting trips to Portugal for the past two years - mainly arranged locally with hunting associations, not through agents - so understand how the Portuguese monteria works, and didn't for a minute think that hunters were involved in the dog losses and injuries.

Thanks for the excellent back story, it's rekindled the on-peg excitement I've previously experienced and set me up a treat for next week's mini-expedition to your country (our big road trip/safari will be in February). :tiphat:

Here are some of the results of a big day we participated in last year - 60+ and still coming in as we left the venue:

View attachment 76688

BTW. No as many acorns as usual in my locality this year, but chestnuts are as expected.
 
so understand how the Portuguese monteria works, and didn't for a minute think that hunters were involved in the dog losses and injuries.

No, I think that's normally attributed to the Spanish hunters :cuckoo:

I was in Hungary a few weeks ago, and the woods were littered with the biggest acorns I've ever seen.


Ileso,

Good story, can't wait to get back out there. Keep your eyes open for the "English", we're bound to bump into each other at some point :D
 
I will look out for them. Do "they" frequent the northern part of the country?

There are going to be some good ones coming up i think. Though not open country like in the south. Better for shotguns than rifles. Up close and personal

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I will look out for them. Do "they" frequent the northern part of the country?

There are going to be some good ones coming up i think. Though not open country like in the south. Better for shotguns than rifles. Up close and personal

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We seem to be all over the country, a few areas I have noted, but we arrive, and get driven everywhere. Santa Susana; Castelo Branco (Nisa I believe); Alegrete ; S. Savador da Aramenha; Alqueva.

Do you know Luis Tavares ?
 
No I don't know Luis Tavares.
You guys seem to get around and know about half the country already. Thats pretty cool as I am willing to bet some of the locals know less of it than that, hahaha.
I might be going to another this wkend but an unsure as I just arrived back from a work trip and might be cutting it tight to get a peg...
 
Saturday I will be going to another one in the same region as the first, lets see how it all goes!
 
This year is going to be really bad, Nisa is on fire, so there may not be any wildlife left in the ashes .. also my hunting areas up north are also on fire... massive forest fires that destroy hundred of thousands of hectares...

bad bad bad...

makes organising anything impossible.
 
This year is going to be really bad, Nisa is on fire, so there may not be any wildlife left in the ashes .. also my hunting areas up north are also on fire... massive forest fires that destroy hundred of thousands of hectares...

bad bad bad...

makes organising anything impossible.

Bummer, and heartfelt sympathy for those personally involved in the conflagrations.

As Lateral posted last year there are places in those areas we've visited a few times now - Marvao, Castelo de Vide, Alegrete, Monforte da Beira, Idanha a Nova - many fantastic hunting areas and hopefully not all affected.

My youngest daughter is in a villa at Ponte de Lima at the moment and hasn't mentioned any issues in that area.
 
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