Over culled?
- Thread starter mudman
- Start date
Probably the most expensive meat in the UK, but has to be shot with Lead Free, so you won't be included in the stalkWonder how much the game dealer will pay per Kg?
Probably the most expensive meat in the UK, but has to be shot with Lead Free, so you won't be included in the stalk
It's OK, I'll just send the dog
Jeez. if you have a dog that will bring down a Moose I won't be trespassing on your land!!!It's OK, I'll just send the dog
Remember, it's Scotland, a moose is a mouse !Jeez. if you have a dog that will bring down a Moose I won't be trespassing on your land!!!
Jon P
Well-Known Member
You joke but I was shooting for a friend last season and game dealer condemned a front shoulder of a fallow because of teeth marks below the front knee from my dog.It's OK, I'll just send the dog
Scipio
Well-Known Member
Is the worry is that the boar has been overly reduced in numbers, which i dont know if they have, i think a natural question to ask is how big should the population be to start with?
Let us remember that wild boars are a pretty invasive bunch, who are unfortunately mono gastric too meaning that they can eat largely what we eat, including what we grow in our crops. And they tend to spread and multiply quite quickly as well, if the food rescource is available. Which again in a farming country it often is.
As for the fear of their numbers growing to low, have no worries, if you leave them alone for a few seasons with ample food available, their numbers shall likely soon explode, with signifcant damages to crops and fields to probably follow.
Maybe the boars will even start going into towns to forage trash etc, if they feel safe. A bit like what is seen in parts of italy these days.
That will likely see the discussion return to the first question i asked, - how many wild boars do you want in a country like england?
Let us remember that wild boars are a pretty invasive bunch, who are unfortunately mono gastric too meaning that they can eat largely what we eat, including what we grow in our crops. And they tend to spread and multiply quite quickly as well, if the food rescource is available. Which again in a farming country it often is.
As for the fear of their numbers growing to low, have no worries, if you leave them alone for a few seasons with ample food available, their numbers shall likely soon explode, with signifcant damages to crops and fields to probably follow.
Maybe the boars will even start going into towns to forage trash etc, if they feel safe. A bit like what is seen in parts of italy these days.
That will likely see the discussion return to the first question i asked, - how many wild boars do you want in a country like england?
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
I believe that the 400 target population numbers for the FOD is based on the estimated population density of Boar in the Bialowieza forest, so spread that density across the entire area of suitable Boar habitat in England to get the desirable stable population number.
Scipio
Well-Known Member
Hello mate,
Well i meant the question rethorically , but it is good to know that they have set a number, as that hopefully indicates that they have given population size and control vs the habitat due consideration.
If they get their will, i guess we shall see, but wild boars are tricky and reslient animals, they tend to find a way to surprise you, and if food is available spread and grow in numbers.
have no worries? Several once solid populations in England have been totally shot out, gone, all killed, no more left, others are on the verge of disappearing through over shooting. Just look at the replies to adverts on here for boar shooting, seemingly every man and his dog wants to shoot one (or more). The future for boar in the UK is incredibly bleak.
Good.
Scipio
Well-Known Member
Hello friend,
May i ask if you read the context of my "have no worries" comment?
My intent was not to ignore or deny the very real danger of shooting a species to extention, if no control and protection at all is present, but rather to indicate that you dont need to maintain large base population of boars to be able to later on expand on it.
If you start out with a quite smallish base population that is (hopefully) controllable and it goes well, and if experience also suggests that the population can be allowed to grow without creating to much havoc for society, well then that small (but protected) base population can become larger very quickly, should your governing bodies so desire. Have no worries about that (which is how i meant it). I hope the clarifies matters.
But again, it wouldnt surprise me if it turns out controlling even a small population, and keeping them in the enviroment intended, turns out to be signifcantly more difficult than intially thought, and a plan for control by hunting will be intiated. But only time and experimentation will tell either way, of course.
And by control i mean that it's regulated, exactly so species arnt shot to extention without that being the intention.
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Once solid populations?
They were extinct in the 17th century, then re-established themselves due to escapees from farms or released by the animal rights mob in the 80's.
It's not as though these are century's old populations, they aren't popular with farmers and landowners due to the damage that they cause, and because we don't have the large wild areas we had when they were a truly native species, there is a always going to be a conflict between Boar and agriculture.
Farmers in Scotland see wild boar pulling apart and eating sheep
The population of wild boar in Scotland is damaging livestock and land, say farmers.
www.bbc.co.uk
I thought that the oostvanderplassen experimental 'reserve' was a fenced area?
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
“Maybe the boars will even start going into towns to forage trash etc, if they feel safe.”
Plenty of precedent for that in Europe:-
Plenty of precedent for that in Europe:-
Scipio
Well-Known Member
Yep, the''re doing that in Rome as well, and likely more cities/towns too. My point is not that they should necessarily be eradicated, but rather that before choosing a given target size for the boar population, one would do well to study the experiences made by other countries in the last 25 years or so. Especially countries with habitats and agricultural sectors not too dissimilar to your own. Until then keep the base population alive but quite small.“Maybe the boars will even start going into towns to forage trash etc, if they feel safe.”
Plenty of precedent for that in Europe:-
I think boars might surprise a good few regarding how fast they can reproduce and spread, and how crafty they are.
Yep, they are monogastric, so they eat largely the same as us, and thus also the produce we grow. And the way they do it is quite harmful to the crops as well, often causing it to die, i believe. And If you combine that with an ability to increase in population size very quickly, as long as the (agricultural) food rescource is there, well then a fairly big rise in their numbers could happen in a agriculturally developed yet non boar prepped country. That is if they're not managed very carefully and their numbers arnt kept low.
And you dont have the wolf either, whom, bothersome as it might be to farmers on other walks of life, at least also takes a good few of the piglings each season in for example italy.
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timbrayford
Well-Known Member
Wildlife and agriculture might perhaps be more accurate?
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
Correct , for an intellectual Frans Vera made a remarkable error of judgement. Whilst correctly claiming that starvation & disease are natural events he absurdly overlooked the fact that herds of large herbivores mitigate these effects by migrating to new areas when their preferred forage has been exhausted, totally impossible in a fenced reserve!
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