Re: English Boar
WAYNE DAVIES said:
Hi All
Rob the one I shot with John DM ( the Gold) was a heavier boar than this one, tusk and body wise but unfortunately we never got to weigh that one. I would like to here some of the body weights of some of the Dorset/Sussex Boar got to be someone on the site involved with them ?
Paul you seem to know a bit about the History of the Boar in this area, I would like your opinion on the Boar in the trophy room have a look at picture DSC00425 this boar was shot on the same ground as all the others. As far as I know CSL/Defra say these are pure bred, I personally think this Boar is a cross he looks much more pig like and hasn't got the wool like under coat just the long top hair. The Glous population is not a great distance away I think this boar has moved in from that area.
What do you think?
Wayne
Wayne,
I'm no great expert but from what I know the boar where you shoot (I'm assuming that apart from John DM's old ground you are shooting pretty close to it, maybe over the hill) are, as you probably know, originally escapees from the farm at Weston and are thought to be pure East European stock and their size and tusks support this view.
The Forest of Dean stock that are spreading up from the south of the forest are in my view not so pure bred. I've seen photos of some that have very piggy characteristics.
With specific regard to the photo that you directed me to I actually don't think that this looks too piggy and given that the south Dean boar probably haven't reached your area yet, I would say its more likely to be pure boar. I would personally regret the boar in your area being diluted by the other boar in the area but it's going to happen sooner or later.
As I said, I'm no expert but I look at the colour and texture of the skin/hair and the shape of the head and snout and nothing about that pig looks too wrong for pure boar although I admit I'm not entirely happy about the thin hair covering.
The other thing that makes me think that it might be pure is that the animal must be at least three years old, if not more, and that means the crossing with the other boar population would have been four years ago and that is probably too early for any chance of piggy cross breeding from the other population as they definitely were not up that far then and have only actually been on the loose for a couple of years.
If you have no objection I could lift your photo and let Dr. Martin Goulding have a look - he is the guy behind the British Wild Boar website and an ex-DEFRA scientist.
In terms of comparative weights I'm not sure how pure the Sussex boar are but I have been told of a Sussex boar that went 465lbs clean but in the skin and of course the big old boy in your area will probably be at least as big as that. The only other current medal (Bronze) that I know of is from Dorset.
I think that John told me that he thought your Gold medal boar was around 325lbs and another of 350lbs was taken on the ground. I was out with him last year and saw one in this class at about 10 yards range, unfortunately I was carrying the 30-06 and couldn't find it in the scope before it ran off, had I been carrying the .458 Heym I might have got it.