UK Driven Boar

[Jagare]

We are restricted to just two dogs. In smaller stands of woodland I am sure it would work but once you get over, say, 40 acres a handful of deer and boar will give two dogs a right runaround.

We can't hunt with a pack of dogs and dogs that attack arn't allowed. Its surprising what a dog handler with a good dog can push out of a woodand and how much ground a good dog will hunt out. Roe hunting with a teckle is great sport.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

We can't hunt with a pack of dogs and dogs that attack arn't allowed. Its surprising what a dog handler with a good dog can push out of a woodand and how much ground a good dog will hunt out. Roe hunting with a teckle is great sport.

All of mine, when hunting singularly, pretty much latch on to the trail of one deer and will hunt that one deer, by scent, for ages - we do have roads to worry about once they leave our small woods and cross a few fields. However, when it comes to driving a number of deer (or boar in the OP's case) or in woodland holding maybe 6 roe (perhaps two trios) and perhaps as many muntjac, in my experience, the deer do give a single dog or even a pair a bit of a runaround.

 

[Border]

We can't hunt with a pack of dogs and dogs that attack arn't allowed. Its surprising what a dog handler with a good dog can push out of a woodand and how much ground a good dog will hunt out. Roe hunting with a teckle is great sport.

Or a drever

 

[Jagare]

View attachment 320500
Or a drever

Drevers always have a look in their eyes that they are going to bite you.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

Actually, just thought! I've never pushed deer to Guns, just let them hunt live trails/drive to assess them. I guess if they drove a deer out to a Gun and it was shot, they would probably go back in to find the next one? In that case - yes, just one or two could work well - we would have to just make sure any deer driven from a wood were shot - otherwise my dogs would just keep going!!

 

[Border]

Actually, just thought! I've never pushed deer to Guns, just let them hunt live trails/drive to assess them. I guess if they drove a deer out to a Gun and it was shot, they would probably go back in to find the next one? In that case - yes, just one or two could work well - we would have to just make sure any deer driven from a wood were shot - otherwise my dogs would just keep going!!

The beauty of, especially dachs/teckels is that they don't drive the deer fast enough to spook them usually. As long as they don't get wind of the waiting hunters roe will often travel in rings/loops in the terrain. The biggest issues I can see with Scandinavian style hound hunting in the UK( if even legal?) is too much infrastructure, roads and railways.... The dogs live a dangerous enough hunting life over here what with wolves, winter and frozen lakes/rivers beside the aforementioned factors.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

The beauty of, especially dachs/teckels is that they don't drive the deer fast enough to spook them usually. As long as they don't get wind of the waiting hunters roe will often travel in rings/loops in the terrain. The biggest issues I can see with Scandinavian style hound hunting in the UK( if even legal?) is too much infrastructure, roads and railways.... The dogs live a dangerous enough hunting life over here what with wolves, winter and frozen lakes/rivers beside the aforementioned factors.

Totally agree regarding safety - maybe parts of Wales or Scotland would be okay but in many areas a dog doens't have to run for many hundreds of metres before it's crossing a road. I know I've looked at my Garmin and seen 200,300,400 metres in a certain direction thinking - he'll soon be crossing a road - and then 500,600,700 - and another road. Luckily I've only got small, quiet roads around me but it only takes one car.

The same is true for the mounted Hunts in our area.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

View attachment 320500
Or a drever

What weight is that Drever? looks pretty big compared to that buck

 

[NullMac]

As I understand it there are estates that have fallow cull days where deer are moved to waiting guns. Seems that driven munti has been tried but was plastered over the media. I get the feeling that resistance to UK boar shooting comes more from inside the shooting community than from outside it.

There are, and the ones I know of are like the wild fookin west. Somebody is going to get a 308 in the chops and that will be the end of that.

 

[Border]

What weight is that Drever? looks pretty big compared to that buck

He's just big boned

 

[Koenig]

The chap you were talking to was probably the same fellow who always headshoots foxes at 700 yds....
If the truth be known, he was only in the shop to buy airgun pellets.

Hilarious VSS…and all too true. The number of utter tools loitering around gun shops dispensing their ‘wisdom’ never fails to make me laugh. I remember some tool telling everyone within ear shot how he could regularly hit Fig 11’s with a 9mm Browning out to 400m. Silly old fool.

 

[Bowland blades]

We are restricted to just two dogs. In smaller stands of woodland I am sure it would work but once you get over, say, 40 acres a handful of deer and boar will give two dogs a right runaround.

it was pretty pathetic when we stepped back from a full pack to two hounds in forestry for fox with the gun pack

 

[Jagare]

He's just big boned

I was out hunting roe with a old chap from work who had a drever. The drever carried a bit to much weight and I said to Englund that the dog was fat.
Englund replied. Nej , Nej, hunden är bara kraftig .

 

[finnbear270]

Your two pups would love a session at 'driving' deer Steve

Hmmmn, without radio collars I reckon recall to be about a month

 

[Keith Edmunds]

Hmmmn, without radio collars I reckon recall to be about a month

As long as the Guns shoot the quarry - the dogs will stop

 

[Mr. Gain]

Not boar, but I’m surprised that driving muntjac hasn’t taken off as a legitimate control technique.
I was thinking shotguns rather than rifles, similar to fox drives.

I once did an informal fox drive with some friends and acquaintances. I didn't see a fox, but the chap to my right had some shooting, so, at the end, I went over to see whether he had hit anything. With great satisfaction, he pointed to a patch of brambles where there was a bend in the ditch and where I could see a fair bit of ginger through the gaps. Knocking the brambles out of the way revealed 3 muntjac almost piled up on top of each other. The gun had heard something coming up the ditch towards him, seen it was ginger, and given it both barrels the moment it rounded the bend ... Three times over! Couldn't believe his luck. He claimed it was the first time he'd seen a muntjac. A salutary lesson in identifying your target before pulling the trigger.

 

[KimE]

Never shot driven boar but have a lot of friends around the globe who use their dogs for driving on a very regular basis. I think the style can vary a little from country to country depending on topography and size of woodland blocks driven.

It is not unusual to be out of eye contact with your dog for an hour or so. Close range teckels are those that naturally hunt within 200 metres of the handler whereas those independent, tenacious types are happy to be 1km from the handler for long periods at a time and of course, there are a whole heap that work somewhere in the middle of that. I am referring here to multiple dogs working together as opposed to the Scandinavian method where a single dog drives a single hare/deer/fox. I can absolutely see a place for the solo dog method in the UK but our laws will not allow effective use of packs.

In sweden we have both single dog hunting like dachhund for roe, Stövare (related to foxhound) for hare, bailing dogs for moose, boar and reddeer. This type of hunting may be done by a lone hunter and a dog.

In the south driven hunts can be made with both beaters and/or dogs. In the hunts I have participated in for roe,fallow, reds and boar two shortrunning dogs are released and the doghandlers walk through the area of maybe 50-100ha. If the dogs are out of the hunted area more dogs can be released. Its a lot of space between shooters so the animals can often pass through unseen.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

In sweden we have both single dog hunting like dachhund for roe, Stövare (related to foxhound) for hare, bailing dogs for moose, boar and reddeer. This type of hunting may be done by a lone hunter and a dog.

In the south driven hunts can be made with both beaters and/or dogs. In the hunts I have participated in for roe,fallow, reds and boar two shortrunning dogs are released and the doghandlers walk through the area of maybe 50-100ha. If the dogs are out of the hunted area more dogs can be released. Its a lot of space between shooters so the animals can often pass through unseen.

That's interesting Kim, the way I understand it from my Scandinavian friends is that the one dog method is mainly for one dog to find, flush and drive one deer and to stick to the trail of that one deer - is that correct? What happens if you have 6 or 8 roe - does the dog swap from one to the other or just stick to the first one that he found. Our density of roe here can be very high. The last roe session I had I counted 14 roe in an area of around 300 acres.

In my part of England we rarely have woods of 50 acres, never mind 50 ha. Here in Suffolk a 50 acre wood is a big wood and we have far more 5-10 acre plantations surrounded by arable fields. I think we could drive the small woods with just a couple of slow dogs but it would only be minutes before the deer left the wood and were hightailing it across the arable fields - dogs following. All considered, I think most UK deerstalkers simply prefer high seats or just quietly stalking on foot.

 

[KimE]

Small dachshund or beagle usually just follow one roe track and stick to it, some dogs can change deer if they feel more exited by it maybee coming in sight of the dog. My father had a mixed breed between Norwegian elkhound and Wacthel, on roe she run about 10 minutes she kept the animals she passed in her head so after she tracked on roe for 5-15min she came back to take a different one. Small ground can be hunted with pushing dogs who only run for a minute or two or you may have several dogs to release after the animal and dog are out of your hunting area(you are only allow to release your dog if it most of the times stay on your ground). 100 acres are considered suitable to be enough to release one small dog here. I just became member of a hunting area of 20000 acres here but its not many roes. Roestalking are done in august-september here and dogseason beguinn in octobe. Roe are counted as a smallgame here so its often hunted in similar way as hare and fox, much of the traditition of hunting with driven dogs are an influence from Britain adapted for Sweden.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

Small dachshund or beagle usually just follow one roe track and stick to it, some dogs can change deer if they feel more exited by it maybee coming in sight of the dog. My father had a mixed breed between Norwegian elkhound and Wacthel, on roe she run about 10 minutes she kept the animals she passed in her head so after she tracked on roe for 5-15min she came back to take a different one. Small ground can be hunted with pushing dogs who only run for a minute or two or you may have several dogs to release after the animal and dog are out of your hunting area(you are only allow to release your dog if it most of the times stay on your ground). 100 acres are considered suitable to be enough to release one small dog here. I just became member of a hunting area of 20000 acres here but its not many roes. Roestalking are done in august-september here and dogseason beguinn in octobe. Roe are counted as a smallgame here so its often hunted in similar way as hare and fox, much of the traditition of hunting with driven dogs are an influence from Britain adapted for Sweden.

Thank you for the information - fascinating!