As soon as relaxation of movement was extended to the stalking fraternity on 21st May 
I started planning my next wild boar trip. My previous two outings in the Forest of Dean were utterly brilliant and I was in a mood for a hatrick. I first contacted my shooting association, the SGA, to make sure I was interpreting guidelines correctly and was assured of same. Next I contacted the Forest of Dean police station and had them confirm that stalkers participating in the Defra approved management of boar in their neck of the woods also had the green light from them. Yes, with one proviso: operate solo. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Weather most of last week had been scorching and dry. Right up to Friday when I was driving down to my overnight high seat! On that day, the weather was blowey but held until I was in the dry high seat around 16:30 after I had strewn some apples mid field, between 30m and 40m distant from the seat.
. A 20 min shower then washed the field. I opened the highseat shutters on two sides, left and front. That gave me a good 160° arc of view of the field up to the forest edge but prevented me from being skylined as I remained in the shadows. From previous trips, boar often emerge from the forest at lower left. But not on this Friday...
Around 16:30 I needed a pee and opened the door at back of the box and took one step down, left hand holding onto the door frame, right hand directing operations. Note to self: when decending steps in the morning, if there is dew on only one side of the ladder, it probably is not dew. Shaking the drops I looked up and could not believe that there were two huge boar just 63m away grazing under a tree!
I had failed to spot those because I had kept the right side shutter down. I crept back into the box and raised the rhs shutter. The wind was steady from their direction to myself and so they had neither heard nor winded me. They fed up the hedgerow of the old high seat before entering the field in front of me above Barry's grain hopper. The grass was about 50-70cm and I only had glimpses of their backs. It was not until they stepped onto a ride that I could see that it was not two boar but rather 12! It is just that 10 of them were not much higher than a brick. Both sows teats looked to be distended and in use, so no candidate here. But great to see. And it bode well for the night.
About 19:30 a buzzard flew low through the air just above the trees to the right. In its talons were some deceased prey. It was the longest payload I have ever seen hanging from the undercarriage of a buzzard. My best guess is it was a rabbit or perhaps a rat. That nest was going to eat well tonight I thought.
The sun seemed to linger in the clearing sky with sunset seemingly reluctant to bow out for the day. In that golden late evening light my eye caught a movement out the right periphery. Glad I opened that right side shutter now... 21:10 a 4-pointer roe started to pick its way across the field from right to left. Darn! I had forgotten to clear roe quarry with Barry in advance, so raised him on the 2-way radio as quietly as I could. By the time I had the OK to shoot, the buck was at 35m and the click-crackle of my radio had his attention. Too late...he stomped, stared and then strutted back the way he came. Beaut to see though.
This was turning into a good night.
All was quiet for two hours and the tableau changed from its day hues to the shadowiness that is night. At 23:00 the two sows and humbugs returned. But they were not foraging, just transiting. Steady pace, no drama, entered right of field and exited into forest at left. Probably to bed there. Ah well perhaps no chops this trip...
Then at 23:40 two shapes emerged from the forest near where the sows had disappeared. Initially I thought it to be the sows returning again. But then I realised that these two were differentially sized. And the larger one had a darker pelage. They made steady progress to the apples I had left. Where the sows and humbugs were only interested in the maize Barry had left out, these two fancied Granny Smiths. As they stepped onto the ride their full shape including pizzles became obvious. Powering the PARD 008 up, and donning ear muffs I became aware of my pulse rising in speed and amplitute. Steady now... Image in the optic was excellent. With focus fine tuned, I allowed 2cm poi differential for the short distance [31m to target, 100m zero'd] and waited for the bigger dark one to present. Squeeze, bang, flop. His tan coloured chum disappeared in a blur.
I reloaded and covered the twitching beast that had not left the spot at which he fell. No need for a second shot. I unloaded and waited for 10 mins before dropping down to do the gralloch. In many ways, going out onto a field frequented by huge boar in the black of night is the edgiest part of a hunt like this. In a very real sense, once you are on the ground it is a level playing field. Apparently hunters have been charged after decending from the high seat. When I got close I realised this was a good size beastie. [Barry declared 85lb] I quickly identified that I could use the ground's slope and the shower-lubricated grass to drag the boar to the base of the tower. In that position, I could gralloch with my back to one of the highseat's steel stanchions. Plan worked a treat. I had the boar eviscerated and cooling in the spatchcock position by 00:10.
Overnight there was frost on my car, so the boar would have cooled well. This had turned into a great night.
The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, but no bad thing. It was, as ever, a great balm to the whole of my being just being awake and alert for the whole of a night. To witness the passage of time, light and beast unnoticed by them. A great blessing indeed. I hefted the carcass into a deer tray in the back of the pickup pre-dawn. I inserted frozen water 2l containers in and around the body to maintain cooling now the sun was coming up...
I started planning my next wild boar trip. My previous two outings in the Forest of Dean were utterly brilliant and I was in a mood for a hatrick. I first contacted my shooting association, the SGA, to make sure I was interpreting guidelines correctly and was assured of same. Next I contacted the Forest of Dean police station and had them confirm that stalkers participating in the Defra approved management of boar in their neck of the woods also had the green light from them. Yes, with one proviso: operate solo. I wouldn't have it any other way.Weather most of last week had been scorching and dry. Right up to Friday when I was driving down to my overnight high seat! On that day, the weather was blowey but held until I was in the dry high seat around 16:30 after I had strewn some apples mid field, between 30m and 40m distant from the seat.
. A 20 min shower then washed the field. I opened the highseat shutters on two sides, left and front. That gave me a good 160° arc of view of the field up to the forest edge but prevented me from being skylined as I remained in the shadows. From previous trips, boar often emerge from the forest at lower left. But not on this Friday...Around 16:30 I needed a pee and opened the door at back of the box and took one step down, left hand holding onto the door frame, right hand directing operations. Note to self: when decending steps in the morning, if there is dew on only one side of the ladder, it probably is not dew. Shaking the drops I looked up and could not believe that there were two huge boar just 63m away grazing under a tree!
I had failed to spot those because I had kept the right side shutter down. I crept back into the box and raised the rhs shutter. The wind was steady from their direction to myself and so they had neither heard nor winded me. They fed up the hedgerow of the old high seat before entering the field in front of me above Barry's grain hopper. The grass was about 50-70cm and I only had glimpses of their backs. It was not until they stepped onto a ride that I could see that it was not two boar but rather 12! It is just that 10 of them were not much higher than a brick. Both sows teats looked to be distended and in use, so no candidate here. But great to see. And it bode well for the night.About 19:30 a buzzard flew low through the air just above the trees to the right. In its talons were some deceased prey. It was the longest payload I have ever seen hanging from the undercarriage of a buzzard. My best guess is it was a rabbit or perhaps a rat. That nest was going to eat well tonight I thought.
The sun seemed to linger in the clearing sky with sunset seemingly reluctant to bow out for the day. In that golden late evening light my eye caught a movement out the right periphery. Glad I opened that right side shutter now... 21:10 a 4-pointer roe started to pick its way across the field from right to left. Darn! I had forgotten to clear roe quarry with Barry in advance, so raised him on the 2-way radio as quietly as I could. By the time I had the OK to shoot, the buck was at 35m and the click-crackle of my radio had his attention. Too late...he stomped, stared and then strutted back the way he came. Beaut to see though.
This was turning into a good night.All was quiet for two hours and the tableau changed from its day hues to the shadowiness that is night. At 23:00 the two sows and humbugs returned. But they were not foraging, just transiting. Steady pace, no drama, entered right of field and exited into forest at left. Probably to bed there. Ah well perhaps no chops this trip...
Then at 23:40 two shapes emerged from the forest near where the sows had disappeared. Initially I thought it to be the sows returning again. But then I realised that these two were differentially sized. And the larger one had a darker pelage. They made steady progress to the apples I had left. Where the sows and humbugs were only interested in the maize Barry had left out, these two fancied Granny Smiths. As they stepped onto the ride their full shape including pizzles became obvious. Powering the PARD 008 up, and donning ear muffs I became aware of my pulse rising in speed and amplitute. Steady now... Image in the optic was excellent. With focus fine tuned, I allowed 2cm poi differential for the short distance [31m to target, 100m zero'd] and waited for the bigger dark one to present. Squeeze, bang, flop. His tan coloured chum disappeared in a blur.
I reloaded and covered the twitching beast that had not left the spot at which he fell. No need for a second shot. I unloaded and waited for 10 mins before dropping down to do the gralloch. In many ways, going out onto a field frequented by huge boar in the black of night is the edgiest part of a hunt like this. In a very real sense, once you are on the ground it is a level playing field. Apparently hunters have been charged after decending from the high seat. When I got close I realised this was a good size beastie. [Barry declared 85lb] I quickly identified that I could use the ground's slope and the shower-lubricated grass to drag the boar to the base of the tower. In that position, I could gralloch with my back to one of the highseat's steel stanchions. Plan worked a treat. I had the boar eviscerated and cooling in the spatchcock position by 00:10.
Overnight there was frost on my car, so the boar would have cooled well. This had turned into a great night.The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, but no bad thing. It was, as ever, a great balm to the whole of my being just being awake and alert for the whole of a night. To witness the passage of time, light and beast unnoticed by them. A great blessing indeed. I hefted the carcass into a deer tray in the back of the pickup pre-dawn. I inserted frozen water 2l containers in and around the body to maintain cooling now the sun was coming up...
to open the door. Besides, it is useful to periodically open the door anyway to hear if the boar are moving in the forest behind the highseat.
