Horses and dogs get frightened by boar so wild boar are going to be shot

Heym SR20

Well-Known Member
Half of wild boar face cull in Forest of Dean amid concern over dog attacks and spooked horses - Telegraph

Frankly a few mutts chasing boar and other wildlife and having the tables turned on them -well so what - might stop then chasing things. As for horses getting spooked aren't riders taught properly over here. Admittadely I was taught to ride horses in Africa, and was taught that horse knows that it is fairly low in the food chain and thus likely to spook at a pice of paper, rustling grass or whatever. Most importantly it's the rider who should nt spook - if you are nervous then the horse will be more so.

Horse will always spook and riders need to manage accordingly. What do they do in Europe where there are many more things running about in the woods???
 
Last edited:
What do they do in Europe where there are many more things running about in the woods???

Perhaps they don't perceive their countryside as a weekend leisure centre to which health and safety laws should be applied. Apologies for the sarcasm.
 
Some of the comments below the article are very amusing.

I know a B&B owner on the edge of the Forest. She often gets complaints from guests about the boar chasing their dogs when they are out walking.
 
I suspect that there's a good few horse riders that I've encountered in the Forest of Dean who would have cyclists added to the cull list as well.

I know I'm preaching to the converted but isn't it so ironic that in an write up about culling animals the last sentence of the article is ''The boar roaming the Forest of Dean are the descendants of animals that escaped or were released from farms by animal rights activists a decade ago.''
 
Well at least they don't intend to kill them all.

Here on the Isle of Wight the Forestry Commission seem to want to wipe out all of our deer. Having previously acknowledged that there are wild deer present on the island and that the term "deer free" that they use is only relative to the "minimal numbers" of deer here compared to "significant populations on the mainland" they now claim that:-

"Because the Isle of Wight enjoys deer free status our approach is not about managing a wild deer population to which the best Practice Guides published by the Deer Initiative relate, but maintaining the current status."

Good luck to the people in the Forest of Dean that cherish the presence of Wild Boar, in my opinion I am not at all sure that the Forestry Commission are best able to act as guardians of our national biodiversity.

atb Tim
 
My .308 is conditioned for Boar and I'm about to trial some heavy rounds..... Does this mean I need to get my spitroasting kit out of the shed early this year....:cool:
 
Half the population of wild boar in the Forest of Dean may have to be culled amid concerns they are attacking dogs, spooking horses and causing severe damage to people's gardens.

How do they know which half are causing the problem? :-|

High seats are dotted throughout the forest and used as places to leave bait to lure the boars in.

Boar that can climb into high-seats? They're more dangerous than I thought! :eek:

What they should be doing is leaving the boar alone in the forest where they should be allowed to peacefully bring up their children

:cuckoo:
 
The boar don't go looking for trouble and lay up in the quietist and least disturbed parts of the woodland. Generally they shy away from people and their pets ( dogs and horses ) and will only defend themselves if threatened. We all know that the pets and more importantly their owners should obey the rules of the countryside. Unfortunately some don't and incidents happen but probably much less than the media would have us believe. Yes the boar can cause damage to farmland and gardens and yes they do need to be controlled but not by reducing the population by half. Anyway from my experience of boar they are intelligent and wary and will be difficult to cull in substantial numbers. I shoot on ground in the north of the Forest of Dean and I haven't noticed that the boar numbers are getting out of control.
 
Not convinced FC are very good at estimating numbers and they never ask local stalkers what they have taken so how can they plan an effective cull? Like Andy, I don't see any increase on my ground, if anything less than recent years and do not think they bred that well last year but after a big mast fall last autumn suspect a better breeding season this year may be on the cards.

Most of these will be culled using cage traps which I find a shame but guess getting the numbers they are after in woodland with open public access is not easy.
 
The boar don't go looking for trouble and lay up in the quietist and least disturbed parts of the woodland. Generally they shy away from people and their pets ( dogs and horses ) and will only defend themselves if threatened. We all know that the pets and more importantly their owners should obey the rules of the countryside. Unfortunately some don't and incidents happen but probably much less than the media would have us believe. Yes the boar can cause damage to farmland and gardens and yes they do need to be controlled but not by reducing the population by half. Anyway from my experience of boar they are intelligent and wary and will be difficult to cull in substantial numbers. I shoot on ground in the north of the Forest of Dean and I haven't noticed that the boar numbers are getting out of control.

Unbelieveable how smart they are... These pics are from a local wildlife park (fenced), but the hogs are untouched except for controlling numbers. We go just about every sunday for a walk around.... And I take acorns and hazelnuts for my friends.... They take food easier than most dogs do and with the one in the picture, learned to just open her mouth and let me put the nut in. The one next to her takes it from you without even touching a finger. Took less than a minute to teach them both that sunday morning. Sooner or later, I'll have one sitting when I tell it ;) ..... Had one young one a couple weeks ago standing on it's hind legs to take a nut after a couple minutes.


pig1.jpgpig4.jpgpig3.jpgpig2.jpg
 
There definitely appear to be less boar around in my immediate area this year. We have have never had what I considered to be a truly resident population but come January / February we would always have an influx of sows with followers and requisite attendants, this year I have seen 2 sows with followers. I speak to others further into the FOD and they are seeing a few good groups of 20 plus! I don't think anyone can give even close to an accurate figure to numbers and although a few boar have made their way to pastures new the predicted explosion into other areas clearly has not happened, which maybe points to there being less about. Although damage can be substantial, 2 or 3 boar can make short work of a paddock or verge. I have heard of 2 people in the last month who have had some very expensive vet bills for stitching their dogs back together, not good but this one is always going to be an emotive issue, even more so when there is always going to be unrestricted public access.

ATB

T
 
these are only two lactating females so far this year, i have a newer video on the laptop of this group and over a week or so them younguns have grown a fare bit...

 
FC want them gone and doing what the public want suits them. I wonder how many they have shot in the name of the public lol.
 
FC want them gone and doing what the public want suits them. I wonder how many they have shot in the name of the public lol.


VERY soon insurance companies will chase owners of boar shooting rights in the UK , the biggest damage are car accidents & crop damage ....


dogs and horses ??? not sure boar is feeding on it
 
If some dog owners had their way, cows would be banned from the countryside too. What might we be left with if the risk averse, health and safety nuts got their way? Trees? No, they can fall on you. Grass? No, it harbours ticks. Looks like just open sand beaches will be left - provided donkey rides are banned in case they walk over sunbathers.
 
I suspect that there's a good few horse riders that I've encountered in the Forest of Dean who would have cyclists added to the cull list as well.

I know I'm preaching to the converted but isn't it so ironic that in an write up about culling animals the last sentence of the article is ''The boar roaming the Forest of Dean are the descendants of animals that escaped or were released from farms by animal rights activists a decade ago.''
It is ironic but untrue. The FoD boar come from two sources, firstly a number of boar escaped from a farm at Weston under Penyard around 1990 and for a long time stayed pretty close to the point of release around Ross on Wye and were not in the main Forest of Dean in any numbers. These were of Eastern European origin which explains their maximum size of over 200kgs.

Then around 2004 another group were released near Staunton on the other side of the forest but these may have included some crossed with domestic pigs to increase litter size. They were unlikely to be released by activists as there are no boar farms on that side of the forest and they were more likely transported and released. These two groups eventually met up and also spread outside the forest, over the river into Wales and down the Wye Valley as far as Chepstow.

The estimate of a population of 800 is about as laughable as the estimate of <50 in 2005, they will never achieve a 50% cull, an of course if they cull in the main forest they'll create a void that the boar in the outlying woods will fill back in.
 
FC want them gone and doing what the public want suits them. I wonder how many they have shot in the name of the public lol.


VERY soon insurance companies will chase owners of boar shooting rights in the UK , the biggest damage are car accidents & crop damage ....


dogs and horses ??? not sure boar is feeding on it
You can easily find out, just send the Forestry Commission a Freedom of Information request.
 
Back
Top