Boar have moved in

[boar & deer]

Pc brigade? I have been managing boar in east sussex for 8 years and have never had to shoot striped piglets to keep the farmer happy having said that the farmers on whos ground i shoot on are very layed back and dont pressure me to much and i will always take the young pigsbut always big anoth to get a good feed off☺

 

[sika]

why cant they be on my permission id love to have a shot at a boar

 

[Penyard]

Never had to shoot piglets or sows with dependant young and wonder if this really was strictly necessary unless eradication first, ethics second is your philosophy in which case that is your call. Even my most adversely affected farmers don't want them wiped out, just managed. Do not be fooled by apocalyptic predictions of mass boar explosions, our forefathers managed to wipe them out 200+ years ago without night vision, lamps and centre fire rifles.

 

[mereside]

penyard most european country's have tried very very hard to stop boar and are failing I believe something must have helped the demise of boar back then I believe we will see a huge influx of boar in the next ten years like it was predicted throughout europe and the numbers have far exeeded the predictions,atb wayne

 

[smullery]

Never had to shoot piglets or sows with dependant young and wonder if this really was strictly necessary unless eradication first, ethics second is your philosophy in which case that is your call. Even my most adversely affected farmers don't want them wiped out, just managed. Do not be fooled by apocalyptic predictions of mass boar explosions, our forefathers managed to wipe them out 200+ years ago without night vision, lamps and centre fire rifles.

Penyard,

The difference than and now is the Hunters. In France and Germany the law dictates how they will be hunted. Lack of young hunters means lack of "production". Hunting Societies/Clubs are enshrined in Law. They are exclusive in that it's a commitment They also have to pay Farmers damages for their failure to control, perhaps the lack of new blood signing up to a debt....

In the UK most so called "hunters" want introduction of alien species so they have something to shoot....

Just look at the rape of the UK by Muntjac (sponsored by Ivor Williams).

Stan

 

[SussexFallow]

Unfortunately they will never establish themselves in great numbers without a season. People can buy a nightscope capable of downing a boar for 400 quid . Pure greed will keep numbers down. Where I live seeing boar used to be an almost nightly occurrence when lamping foxes or driving at night. The local lads were out shooting 5+ a night. Numbers are a lot lower here now as they moved out under all the pressure. Their range has increased and slowly the numbers will increase but greed will always be their demise. I have a sounder of 25made up of 4 sows 15 piglets and 6 boar. Later in the year I will pick off 5 or 6 .
Id like to see a close season for boar maybe shooting only permitted October through to the end of January. Without it we will never see boar in great numbers.
Atb Steve

 

[Solwaystalker]

I agree with Penyard and SF , You have to go steady and pick the right ones too shoot if you want to keep them around your ground , shooting sows with young will just cause problems . Its easy to spook them by shooting a feed station too often or shooting the wrong ones , they will just move on to a place they think is safer where the same thing will probably happen again
Dont be fooled into thinking you,l be swamped by boar running everywhere , if its anything like my area everyone is after them and most shoot what they see, its around 12 years since we first saw them and there still aren,t that many around

 

[Jagare]

Penyard,

The difference than and now is the Hunters. In France and Germany the law dictates how they will be hunted. Lack of young hunters means lack of "production". Hunting Societies/Clubs are enshrined in Law. They are exclusive in that it's a commitment They also have to pay Farmers damages for their failure to control, perhaps the lack of new blood signing up to a debt....

In the UK most so called "hunters" want introduction of alien species so they have something to shoot....

Just look at the rape of the UK by Muntjac (sponsored by Ivor Williams).

Stan

The Boar in Sweden have had at least one good effect in that it has bought more young people into hunting. Whilst the boar are still spreading and in new areas collonised their numbers are still growing. In areas with established population it appears that the boar numbers have been brought under control.

 

[Dan Gliballs]

I can see the argument for not shooting through all the ranges if you are trying to manage them, unfortunately this is not what I'm after.

the estate next door has been absolutely DESTROYED by Boar, to the point that the gardens of the estate lodge have been dug over and the sherperds are having to fix fences are repair damaged to fields on a weekly basis.

Being the west highlands any grazing to be had is like gold, there aren't masses of fields and lovely beech woods, its all peat, rock and commercial forestry so the pigs home in on anything that has decent soil.

We have greens up the glen that we look after to give the deer a fresh bite in the spring, these are now trashed.

going out tonight to see if I can get another.

 

[Solwaystalker]

Thats fair enouigh Dan , still best to take males or youngsters , if you leave young without their mother they are more likely to feed anytime of day , breed out of season etc etc
Il post a couple of pics of land damage we had recently , i sat out with my mate but nothing showed , they tend to be moving about a bit this time of year View attachment 46289View attachment 46290

 

[Rhinoshot]

Penyard,

The difference than and now is the Hunters. In France and Germany the law dictates how they will be hunted. Lack of young hunters means lack of "production". Hunting Societies/Clubs are enshrined in Law. They are exclusive in that it's a commitment They also have to pay Farmers damages for their failure to control, perhaps the lack of new blood signing up to a debt....

In the UK most so called "hunters" want introduction of alien species so they have something to shoot....

Just look at the rape of the UK by Muntjac (sponsored by Ivor Williams).

Stan

Its very unusual for any hunt club or group responsible for the local area to ever have to reimburse the local farmers. It is very, very unusual for the farmers to insist on it in most EU countries. Some reimbursement from the government is given in other countries and eastern EU countries. The responsibility is shared and often not a burden to the club members. I lived in Czech Rep for 5 years and there at least it seems to be that hunt club membership and involvement seemed to very much run in families. If younger family members do not follow suit nowadays to a lesser extent, I believe it is a sign of the modern times and less follow in your fathers footsteps for instance. Hunting/stalking is a growing fascination in the UK as it is perhaps new to many and puts people back in touch with the countryside which all humans need! At least in Czech Rep there is perhaps less need for people to find a connection with mother nature as country they have not moved so far away from it. A very good although in-depth read in this is 'Ungulate management in Europe, problems and practices' Rory Putman et al.... Looks at each country. Regarding Wild Boar. It looks like they are here to stay and wild boar populations Will be as successful as Muntjac most probably!!! Buckle up and watch this space... and keep your dog and you safe when you go to check what you have shot or decide to follow up!!

 

[jubnut]

Thats fair enouigh Dan , still best to take males or youngsters , if you leave young without their mother they are more likely to feed anytime of day , breed out of season etc etc
Il post a couple of pics of land damage we had recently , i sat out with my mate but nothing showed , they tend to be moving about a bit this time of year View attachment 46289View attachment 46290

I don't understand the problem with Dan's approach.

Surely the idea then is to shoot the young AND the mothers where possible in Dan's case where he doesn't want ANY boar?

Does leaving the young without a mother spread the litter or do they stay in the same area? Surely then if you are on the ground you would catch up with them and shoot them as well.

How difficult is it once a sow is shot to shoot piglets as well? I suppose it depends if they have weened.

I have absolutely no experience of boar, but I do find it interesting the management issues and ideas that come with them.

These questions are out of interest not argument.

 

[Solwaystalker]

What i tend to do is set up a bait station and shooting tower on a rough bit of ground and feed it everyday starting early August they usually find it quickly , if you shoot any too soon they will see it as a place to aviod and move on usually rooting up good ground so id feed and watch until im certain whats in the group then usually mid Sept id shoot for the first time . If the lead sow is shot the group will often break up , feeding during the day sometimes or in smaller groups causing more damage. If a youngster is shot , carry on feeding again for a month before shooting that seat again , they will return if its not shot too often
I have 8 seats so easy to rotate where i shoot without scaring them off completely
Ive done it the other way when i first started , (shoot the biggest one that turns up) , the boar still havent returned after a long time , they went further over the forest and root up good silage fields at night
Not saying right or wrong but works for me

 

[Dan Gliballs]

That's another one of the young males in the larder tonight. I was guessing they were around the 40kg mark, I wasn't far off, it was 35kg.

They have been coming to the barrel religiously every night between midnight and 1am, I arrived tonight at just after 9 and at 20 past they came wandering out, too dark for the scope so the night vision it was.

i sat and watched them for a while before shooting the one that kept looking straight at me, he knew something was up so best he goes.

After 15mins his buddies appeared back but that was enough for one night, if I had shot again I'm guessing the single one left might've buggered off completely, didn't want to take the risk.

Chess not chequers.

 

[Dan Gliballs]

A couple of pictures I have of the damage, it doesn't look half as bad in the picture, feckin acres of it.

Also note the feed drum, that is about a week of feeding, they do very little damage when they are getting the maize out the drum, no rooting up, they just pick away at maize.

 

[Dan Gliballs]

Tonight's little fella.

 

[Solwaystalker]

A good one to take Dan , well done , one of last years young (just over year old , the young males go it alone) , how many were in his wee group?

 

[Dan Gliballs]

There used to be 4, I've whittled them down to two. Going by the camera image they all look like males.

i found that constantly powering up the NV to check if they were at the feed was hard on the battery. I set up a PIR light so that it comes on when they are about, the pigs can't actually see the light as it points skyward but I can see it from the high seat.

You can see where they have been rubbing at the Stockholm Tar I've plastered at the bottom of the tree.

 

[diverdave]

Please leave just one for next week!

 

[Dan Gliballs]

Please leave just one for next week!

They are all yours Dave. Need to give them a rest for a few days anyway.

Better bring a BIG bag of patience with you.

im hooked on the NV. Got the go ahead from the boss this morning for purchasing our own stuff, pretty healthy budget too so il be ordering an Armasight Drone Pro x10 and trimmings first thing tomorrow morning.

I went up to the feed this morning and the remaining 2 pigs had been back and emptied the feed drum after being shot at! I couldn't believe it when I saw the drum was empty. Brave little things.