Safety at the hunt

[exile]

@Bayleaf , we have some wild boar bred in captivity near here but these are bred for the table not for the hunt. There are enough wild wild boar to keep the hunters busy. The problems that can arise are that wild boar are intelligent and very hefty beast and keeping them enclosed can be a problem - especially when the farmer is trying to raise them in natural condition - so woodland or at least an area with extensive cover.

[Quiksilver]

I was very anti hunt before I moved over here but after wild boars turned my field into a reenactment of the Battle of the Somme I was happy to hear the sound of the shotgun. I do think though there should be one hunt free day a week. Just one that's all. One day when the rest of the world could go about their business without fear of getting mistaken for game. That's not too much to ask surely.

As I understand it, each commune's chasse set their own preferred days. Ours is just three days a week. This info might be useful? (Other départements are available ). https://www.chasseurdefrance.com/pratiq ... e-du-gard/
https://www.chasseurdefrance.com/wp-con ... _signe.pdf

[Antonia]

That's very true but we have a couple of 'lone gunmen' who go into the woods on their day off. Probably with permission of the owners. Put it this way, I'm more than happy for anyone to tackle the wild boar problem we have in this area. I just wish there could be one day a week for all the other countryside pursuits. Last summer I took a trip up to Brittany and, wanting to kill time on a Sunday, took a signposted nature walk only to hear the sound of dogs half way. Not knowing the area I turned round and went straight back to the car.

[Hotrodder]

Is it true that in some areas, deer and boar are bred in captivity to keep the numbers up? Only then to hunt them when they become too numerous.

Call me old-fashioned, but I see a flaw in the logic here!

Edit - just been informed that if bred in captivity, they have to remain in captivity, for private shoots. It is illegal to release them into the wild....

So they are only bred to satisfy some sort of blood lust. Sick.

[Quiksilver]

That's very true but we have a couple of 'lone gunmen' who go into the woods on their day off. Probably with permission of the owners. Put it this way, I'm more than happy for anyone to tackle the wild boar problem we have in this area. I just wish there could be one day a week for all the other countryside pursuits. Last summer I took a trip up to Brittany and, wanting to kill time on a Sunday, took a signposted nature walk only to hear the sound of dogs half way. Not knowing the area I turned round and went straight back to the car.

I know that there has been lobbying for Sundays to be hunt-free. Good in principle, but no doubt those hunters who work all week would disagree, and the Federation of Chasseurs would argue that it'll sound the death knell of the Chasse, already struggling to interest younger people. Our village chasse folded a couple of years ago. Net result? The 'lone gunmen' still tramp around looking for easy prey like rabbits and hares but there's a real problem with chevreuil decimating the crops and trees, let alone boar damage. The remaining neighbouring chasses can't keep up with the demand for battues. The government's contribution to solving the problem seems limited to hiking the cost of a permis and tightening arms regs. There's a surprise

[exile]

Is it true that in some areas, deer and boar are bred in captivity to keep the numbers up? Only then to hunt them when they become too numerous.

Call me old-fashioned, but I see a flaw in the logic here!

Edit - just been informed that if bred in captivity, they have to remain in captivity, for private shoots. It is illegal to release them into the wild....

So they are only bred to satisfy some sort of blood lust. Sick.

Yes I can see why that is a natural reaction - and frankly for creatures that are already common it does seem very sick.

However consider this. How many pheasant do you see in France? I think I have seen around half a dozen at best in 20 years. In the UK they are very common. Why? Because they are bred for the shoot. The same goes for red-legged grouse, which according to some ornithologists, would be all but extinct but for captive breeding for the shoot.

Things are not always black and white.

[tagh]

Loads of pheasant and grouse round here, probably released originally; sometimes one has to even stop on the road to let them get out of the way. I enjoy watching them. And the deer too which dont seem to be too abundant but often make an appearance.

[Quiksilver]

It depends on your point of view, doesn't it? Agriculteurs and arboriculteurs mostly don't appreciate the deers' contribution to Nature's stacking of the odds, which are increasingly difficult to offset.

[exile]

I fully agree. In much of France deer and wild boar are a natural problem and not just for the farmer but for the environment as a whole. There really does need to be some control of numbers = chasse.

[Char]

We don't see any boar round here, but have plenty of pheasants, Partridges, Hare (never seen a rabbit round here) and the occasional Fox - lots of deer though in fact one decided to jump in front of our Daughter's car yesterday evening, not a lot left of the front of her car.
But I think controlled culling is better than these drunk old men wandering around waving their rifles here there and everywhere. I really don't agree with them going into schools trying to recruit kids to join up though.