The spread of Wild boar

Jagare

Well-Known Member
I went to a very interesting meeting a week ago. The meeting was a Jägareförbundet (Sweden’s largest hunting org) and LRF (Swedish NFU) talk on the spread of wild boar in our area.
Sweden is 10 years ahead of the UK in the spread of boar. One thing of interest was the number of boar shot . From the early 8o’s up to the year 2000 the numbers of boar shot stayed at a very slowly rising numbers. From the early 2000s the number has dramatically increase.
It was predicted about 4 years ago that we would be shooting more boar than moose by the year 2011 (90,000 ) This number would have been surpassed but for 2 very cold winters that set back the boar. 2 more normal winters since have got the boar population making up for lost time. 80,000 boar shot 2011
Boar numbers double every 2,7 years. 90-95% of boar are killed by hunting. Only 20% of boar make it over 2 years old. RTA’s involving boar rose from about 400, year 2003 to 4500, 2011.
Sweden has yet to reach the boar explosion yet. We are lucky in that we can use dogs to hunt boar but that is only one hunting method used here.

​So for all you people who can’t wait for the boar to arrive on your patch in the UK. Be very careful what you wish for.
 
Interesting read but,I assume we are starting from a very much lower population figure.How do you calculate 10 years behind??
 
I went to a very interesting meeting a week ago. The meeting was a Jägareförbundet (Sweden’s largest hunting org) and LRF (Swedish NFU) talk on the spread of wild boar in our area.
Sweden is 10 years ahead of the UK in the spread of boar. One thing of interest was the number of boar shot . From the early 8o’s up to the year 2000 the numbers of boar shot stayed at a very slowly rising numbers. From the early 2000s the number has dramatically increase.
It was predicted about 4 years ago that we would be shooting more boar than moose by the year 2011 (90,000 ) This number would have been surpassed but for 2 very cold winters that set back the boar. 2 more normal winters since have got the boar population making up for lost time. 80,000 boar shot 2011
Boar numbers double every 2,7 years. 90-95% of boar are killed by hunting. Only 20% of boar make it over 2 years old. RTA’s involving boar rose from about 400, year 2003 to 4500, 2011.
Sweden has yet to reach the boar explosion yet. We are lucky in that we can use dogs to hunt boar but that is only one hunting method used here.

​So for all you people who can’t wait for the boar to arrive on your patch in the UK. Be very careful what you wish for.

It was interesting meeting you on the dogs for deer day and discussing the wild boar issue with you.
I passed on your words of wisdom about not shooting the lead sow to a guy I met the other day who says the boar have just arrived at a golf course he looks after.
Sadly as I said to you at the time, I think the spread will be slower in the UK. Partly because they are not protected by any season and partly because of the wide use of night vision and increasingly thermal imaging. Both of those are not allowed in your country and I believe they are also protected by a season?
There is always a fear of the unknown and farmers (as has been seen on a recent thread) do not want boar. It is a pity as I am sure that any sporting revenue will far outstrip any cost of putting the land right.
I think the boar are spreading slowly but that is probably due to mis-management as much as an increase in numbers
 
Interesting read but,I assume we are starting from a very much lower population figure.How do you calculate 10 years behind??
They Started here in the mid 70's just the same as in the UK with boar that escaped. So they did not start with great numbers.

teyan1 The boar population were mismanaged here as well in the begining. Its been a learning curve and many lessons have been learned and are still being learned.
Its like the spread of Muntjac. First not many then knee deep. Boar are smarter than munties and learn very quick. The UK must have the ideal climate and habitat for boar. How is the UK controling the spread of Munties?
Glynn, remember what I've said about boar in 20 years time;)
 
Yes, be careful what you wish for. New Zealand has no rules or seasons to take pigs, yet we have a major pig problem here. Last year we took 76 off wild pigs off our farm, and this year already we are up to 57. Every pig gets shot on sight, yet we are not winning the battle-they breed at an astronomical rate.
 
Pigs are abundent on the land that I own. The major problem with pigs down here is not so much the pigs but the illegal pig doggers who poach them & the associated criminal activity. I'm happy to manage the pigs as a hunting resource,but when I have multiple groups of poachers hunting with dogs on any given night ,& then add the associated stock losses from lost dogs & the threats from the poachers I dob in to the police. Can you see why pigs are seen as a problem.
I hate 1080 but its better than having pigdoggers poaching & 1000 times more effective at removing the pigs.

Cheers Sharkey
 
Pigs are abundent on the land that I own. The major problem with pigs down here is not so much the pigs but the illegal pig doggers who poach them & the associated criminal activity. I'm happy to manage the pigs as a hunting resource,but when I have multiple groups of poachers hunting with dogs on any given night ,& then add the associated stock losses from lost dogs & the threats from the poachers I dob in to the police. Can you see why pigs are seen as a problem.
I hate 1080 but its better than having pigdoggers poaching & 1000 times more effective at removing the pigs.

Cheers Sharkey


Sorry for my ignorance but,what is "1080"???
 
The way neighbouring land owners are marketing a night out on the boar i should think theyll be extinct again before long here in the UK...

Too many greedy buggers in the UK making a killing while theres one to be made on Boar imo
 
Some interesting facts Jagare, thanks for posting them up.

Although there's a few being shot in Norway in the east, it's just a matter of time before they break through and become established. As you rightly say, it's very easy for hunters to wish for the boar but having seen the damage first hand and spoken with the landowners, they're a huge problem.

I'm off to Sweden (Skåne) later this month so I hope to do my part for your countrymen and try to make a slight reduction in their numbers :D

Hilsen
 
Although there's a few being shot in Norway in the east, it's just a matter of time before they break through and become established. As you rightly say, it's very easy for hunters to wish for the boar but having seen the damage first hand and spoken with the landowners, they're a huge problem.

I agree with you Jonathon, they will establish themselves eventually (much to the disgust of NINA)but I dont think it will be soon. As per instructions the Norwegian enviromental agency has ditated a shoot on sight policy seen as the pigs are undesireable aliens , ironic as they were here a few hundred years ago. I think that we are looking at at least a decade before boar are shot in reasonable numbers in kommune other than those that border to Sweden.
I think that there is a lot to learn from the Swedish history of boar reintroduction and that we don't necessarily need to re-invent the wheel as regards boar management.
I hope that my son will have the chance to shoot wildboar in Norway when he is old enough.

Good luck in Sweden later this month, keep me posted....
Toby
 
does that mean that it does not kill anything else

It takes a much larger dose to kill some natives.

It's not the most humane method to kill animals, but its very effective on pigs.

Pigs are a pest, but the greatest problem for me is they attract illegal pig doggers. It's not unusual for me to have two different groups of poachers on the same night.
The last time time (just after Christmas) that pig dogs got into my breeding enclosures I lost 4 red deer hinds & 10 calves, 5 Hungarian fallow does & 10 fawns & numerous chital. Illegal pig dogging costs me a wee bit in dollars, but I cant measure the emotion. I do shoot all the dogs I can, but laying bait keeps pig numbers down & if it also kills the odd pig dog, what a pity.

I'm a strong advocate for game management, but due to the illegal behaviour of many pig doggers, they just aren't worth considering for management down here. If we could change the culture of some of the pig doggers then game management could be an option, but I will never allow pig dogs on my land. Ever!

Be careful with the emerging populations of pigs, it's more important to create a good hunting culture around them than just making them more abundent.

Cheers Sharkey
 
:tiphat:Hi Jagare!
Somehow I am still a bit surprised, about the "warnings" or even outcoming results about the boar population going to "explode".....
There are other countries, like e.g. Germany, who had this development about 20 years ago!
If somebody would have asked or would have realized, how big the difficulties which a quick rising boar population are, how much damage on farming ground may appear, how high the risks for pig breeders are, how easy boar adopt new, even rural habitat, you could have avoided a lot of problems in your country....

I explained this, our experiences with boars about 15-10 years ago, also to my Swedish friends (who came over to our places at that time to join driven boar hunts), but what I saw afterwards was really different and special, and I know areas up in Sweden where it is still this way:

Massiv feeding, I mean really massiv feeding, attracting boar to get resident in new habitats, even in areas where there is almost no natural food for them (e.g. pure huge sprue forest blocks, offering shelter but no food)....:doh:

Now I see a pretty similar development in the UK...

As you said: All hunters be prepared- To manage a still increasing boar population is difficult and much more work than many of you may imagine right know. The discussions with the farmers, our partners, will raise and get on the daily shedule.
You will get more road accidents, more boar in rural areas (its lovely to discuss with Mrs. Smith about boar in her garden, digging out her fresh planted roses and having an absolutely incompetent stalker around her area :cry:), and sooner or later your roe deer population will show the effects of the constant disturbance by boar: The quality will go down!

Its an interesting game species, I love to hunt them, but it may be a pain in the a.. to keep them somehow under control....
 
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