Boar and Moose hunting on the continent.

Shabz

Well-Known Member
I thought I'd start a new thread rather than derailing the UKSHA thread.


I just wanted to ask those that know some questions about what goes on (dog wise) at these hunts. I've absolutely no experience of any form of hunting on the continent(I don't even think I've ever seen a wild boar and I've certainly never seen a moose!) and wondered how they do it. Do they use 'beating' dogs to push the animals to the guns? I've seen videos where it looks like they're using dogs as what I would describe as a lure (for moose)? Is that what happens? What size of an event is it? How many tracking (and other) dogs do they have present? What sort of area of ground are they working? Is it a productive way to hunt these animals?

I'd quite like to know about other dog work too, I saw a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever demonstration at a game fair once and thought it was fantastic! I managed to get out a couple of times with the lurchers (before the ban) and enjoyed that too. So I'd love to hear if anyone has an unusual breed of dog that works in a different way.
 
In my albeit limited experience the dogs are not used as lures, rather they track their way up to the moose. When they get there either the moose stands still at which the dog barks so that the handler can approach and shoot the moose, or the moose starts moving and the dog follows. The dogs have radio tracker collars so can be followed from a distance. Other than the dog handlers, most of the guns are sitting in high/low seats or on logging tracks surrounding the area where the dog (and hopefully moose) is located.

I am sure more experienced Site members will be able to give a better informed answer.

willie_gunn
 
As Willie says we used dogs with garmins and tracked the dogs their range was around 2-3 kilometres now some of the dogs were not specifically trained and flushed game and it could be hare, deer or moose and boar but the team I was with had specific dogs for moose and boar they didn't flush deer.
we went to our driven areas and the dog men set up and we then looked for sign once a trail was found we put the hounds to them and off they ranged.
we then followed with the garmin once the dog got close they barked to let us know they were on live animals and this is when it gets real interesting the two dogs I was with were very experienced dogs and very powerful and on boar they would move them towards the driven line but not all boar want to and they do not back down once cornered the barking stops you know you have to get in quick one boar had gone for the dog and the dog held the boar by the nose till we got there to dispatch. boar often just move so far in front of the dogs and get into cover.
The moose were very hard to drive towards the driven line they just tended to plod along all over the place and they are huge and was pretty much luck of the draw were they turned up.
I was fortunate last trip as I saw seven moose and had a real nice bull moose we tracked no shot was taken as the tags for bulls had gone but was great to see all the same, To me working alongside the dogs was far better than the driven line and would definitely urge anyone given the chance to have a go grab with both hands, atb wayne
 
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This is the type of dog that was used on my trip:

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And on this photo you can see the GPS collar (and the moose :D)

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Ok here go's, The dog in Wille_gunns photo is a Jämthund a Swedish breed of Hound bred for moose hunting, second in popularity after the Norsk Gråhund. They are used to hunt moose and boar not lure them. You just loose them off in the forest and the will pick up the scent of the moose and drive it and try and bring it to bay. They should drive moose in silence and only bark when they have the moose bayed. They dog handler follows the dog often at quite a distans. They don't drive moose to the guns. The guns are placed out at places that the moose or boar are likely to pass. Its about knowing your hunting ground well.
They should not attack the moose or boar they are hunting. Its not allowed in Sweden to have a dog that will attack game whilst hunting. Dogs that are to sharp can be trained for tracking instead. In Sweden we have dogs for hunting almost every thing from birds to moose.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^

What Jagare says.

When I told the others in the hunting party that sitting in the high seat and hearing the dogs bark was exciting, they told me that instead I should get excited when the dogs are silent, as that's when I was most likely to see a moose!

willie_gunn
 
Thanks for the replies, I really like the way that hunting works in Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries, I think I'll probably be going over there for my next dog.
 
Thanks for the replies, I really like the way that hunting works in Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries, I think I'll probably be going over there for my next dog.
Me too, in fact 6 years ago I picked up this little fella, but here in the UK! He's a Norwegian Elkhound (grey) as mentioned by Jagare.
IMG_0043_1.jpg
They have a very strong hunting instinct, but also make a great companion. Highly recommended! :thumb:
All the best, Ben
 
Very good video of dogs on typical driven boar from the point of view of the dog men. I won't comment on the shot, I wasn't there.

 
I think there is a little confusion about the sort of hunting that dogs do on the continent.

The pack dog hunting, Spanish Monteria, driving game to a line of guns that is typical in France and Germany etc.is completely different to the scandinavian style of one dog, that hunts a single animal.

Hunting with a dog pack generally means moving game towards guns, off their normal preferred game trails.

Hunting with a single dog, the game animal decides the route mostly and stays on their known paths and trails and guns need to go to them if the dog brings the game to bey or to position themselves on a known escape route/game trail, to get a passing shot. Many game animals will move in a large circle if hunted in this way and it is just a matter of waiting before they come round and offer a chance of a shot.

This is perhaps a bit of a generalisation, but having done both I can tell you they are every different hunting days. My preference is for one dog one animal type of hunting, Jagare and I have spent a lot of time cooking coffee and sausages over an open fire listening to a Stovare hunting a white hare or a Taxen hunting a Roe. It is the best sport I know.
 
Hunting with one or two dogs that are well trained and under complete control is a great bonus. I have added pics of two of mine at the coal face and although not moose or boar I can say that they would do the same job on that game also.

A couple of older pics,here is one of my current pair.....Mr B intent on the quarry one early dawn in a light wisp of fog that didnt help any photography.




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And his litter sister also intent on the game.The young spikey is only seven metres away and we were all shivering in excitement at the closeness. Her bro Mr B is on right locked on out of camera shot,I took some excellent facial shots of this young stag too plus some 'pretty good' video.


taggberryholding_zps86ab6f40.jpg
 
Generally we hunt with either single or two dogs. We check for fresh marks on any of the fire breaks. Then release the dogs down wind. Generally they'll wind scent and start the hunt. When they find the moose the Elkhunds will start barking. The moose will either bail up or do a running bail. If they are bailed up we try to sneak in downwind and get a shot. Otherwise its a running bail as we know the areas we know where to go to cut them off. The moose can also outrun the dogs if it has enough head start or can swim big swedish rivers that the dogs can't. Its exciting way to hunt, very similar to sambar hound hunting in principles and now people are using the elkhunds to hunt sambar legally down here. We managed five moose in four days so pretty good hunt, although I was lucky and managed to stalk mine with dogs.
 
Very good video of dogs on typical driven boar from the point of view of the dog men. I won't comment on the shot, I wasn't there.

Looks like the boar stumbled just as he took the shot and he missed, but it moved fast back into the bush. My guess is it saw the cameraman. Just another second and he would have been fine.
 
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