liongeorge
Well-Known Member
If you have a sounder in front of you and you have time to observe which one do you shoot? For example 3 adults with perhaps 6 attendant little uns ?
Sounder advice please
- Thread starter liongeorge
- Start date
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
Any but leave suckling/lead Sow to last
8x57
Distinguished Member
Ask a friend of mine and he will say always go for the smallest.
The friend was confronted with a choice of three boar some months ago. One was clearly what you would call large. One was what he though was quite small, and the one in the middle was just the right size or so he thought. He shot the mid sized one only to find that it was a fair bit larger than he thought. He ended up phoning for reinforcements just to get it out of the field and into his car.
Two other friends shot a large boar the one night and despite them both being large lads failed to move it and had to wait for the landowner to bring the telehandler in the morning to recover it.
liongeorge
Well-Known Member
Thanks guys, 8 x 57 I specifically mean a sounder with females and young. I know what you mean about big uns. I have only seen medium and large males on my bit but a sounder has turned up but the last thing I want to do is shoot the milky sow , the youngsters are only the size of small badgers.
How do you identify the lactating sow?
How do you identify the lactating sow?
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
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liongeorge
Well-Known Member
Thanks,will the udders be vissable in winter coat and with night vision (quite close)? One of them seems a fair bit bigger is it possible for a male to be in with them?
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
Yes the udders should be visible at short range, it depends how good your optics are. Size is a relative thing and a well nourished mature Sow can be larger than an immature Boar. If you look at the picture link the male on the left is chunkier about the head and shoulders than the female.
Penyard
Well-Known Member
At this time of year with heavily pregnant and lactating sows I leave them alone unless 100% certain there is a male in the group I can take out. Whilst there is no season, I try and cull hardest in the autumn when there are less young about. Having said that I shot a young sow this week but she was on her own, no young about and I considered her suitable to take out. 4 very small fetuses on board.
Are you under pressure from the land owner to shoot them? If not, leave them until the followers are big enough to take.
ATB
Penyard
Are you under pressure from the land owner to shoot them? If not, leave them until the followers are big enough to take.
ATB
Penyard
liongeorge
Well-Known Member
I think I'll probably leave them unless there is an obvious male there, I'd hate to shoot the lead or the lactating sow. There's no pressure particularly from the land owner. The little ones seem pretty small possibly small munty sized.
mereside
Well-Known Member
As above really, if your not using night vision feed maze and place wide strips pointing to your opposite your shooting position this is very light and the way they feed you can easily see which to take, also gives a perfect broadside opportunity often when feeding boar move forward and backwards in the same manner, Atb wayne
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ileso
Well-Known Member
Males can be easily identified by the "camel hump", penis hair and the way other boar interact with it, they generaly are solitary or accompanied by a younger male
Pregnant females by their bellies that hang low, and lactating females as previousl y mentioned by their longer teats
Enviado do meu ALE-L21 através de Tapatalk
Pregnant females by their bellies that hang low, and lactating females as previousl y mentioned by their longer teats
Enviado do meu ALE-L21 através de Tapatalk
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Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
Or, the same with most species - the males are much thicker around the shoulders, in the neck etc, whereas the females are bigger at the back end.
Best advice is watch them with binoculars or on videos and you will soon get to know which is which. The same as with deer - after a well you can tell its a Roe buck or doe just by the way it moves etc and you don't need to see the annul tush etc. - indeed we have a strain of Roe deer in Fife and up into Angus / Aberdeenshire where the does don't have the tush.
Best advice is watch them with binoculars or on videos and you will soon get to know which is which. The same as with deer - after a well you can tell its a Roe buck or doe just by the way it moves etc and you don't need to see the annul tush etc. - indeed we have a strain of Roe deer in Fife and up into Angus / Aberdeenshire where the does don't have the tush.
If there are two identifiable sows with a small group of followers don't be afraid to take one sow as the followers will follow and feed from the other sow, if you get chance one night to watch them feed you will notice the followers feeding from different sows.
We sat and watched 3 sows with a group of followers and two sows started to feed the followers and the third sow actually started to farrow right in front of us.
This went on for several minutes until a fox started calling on the edge of the woods and all 3 sows got up and ran off chasing the fox leaving all the followers in the field.
You will never kill your shooting by taking sows but you will lose it if you don't keep the landowners happy by showing you are taking some off the land.
We sat and watched 3 sows with a group of followers and two sows started to feed the followers and the third sow actually started to farrow right in front of us.
This went on for several minutes until a fox started calling on the edge of the woods and all 3 sows got up and ran off chasing the fox leaving all the followers in the field.
You will never kill your shooting by taking sows but you will lose it if you don't keep the landowners happy by showing you are taking some off the land.
Penyard
Well-Known Member
I beg to differ!
On which point
Bavarianbrit
Well-Known Member
A help tip with IDing them is to make up a wall about 1 metre high x 2 metres long of scrap horizontal silver birch branches leaning at 70 degrees and located behind the feed lot (further away from the shooting position) so that they are easier to see against the lighter background.
Penyard
Well-Known Member
In my opinion and experience you simply cannot cull a mature sow out of a sounder with dependent young at foot and assume that another sow in the group will be lactating and able or willing to foster all of the dependent young you have just orphaned.
Yes, sows may foster or, at least, feed another sows young but you are a better man than me if you can tell this is going to happen by looking at the group through a thermal, nv scope or lamp.
We owe our quarry sufficient respect and do our best to cull effectively and ethically.
I have orphaned piglets before and did not enjoy having it on my conscience.
Jagare
Well-Known Member
Well said, If you shoot the lead sow younger gilts will come into season and produce young. There's a reason why through out Europe that they don't shoot sows with dependent young. It's that its bad boar management. Managing boar is not like managing deer. Strange how people are so keen on shooting boar and know so little about boar habits, breeding and group dynamic.
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