Last day of hunting season for Winter 2023/24 today?

[Headers]

Hunting season is over. We have a battu administratif in the commune this weekend due to the enormous number of sanglier.
On the fishing subject OH was taken fishing when we first moved here. First day of the season, off he trooped at 5 in the morning with a French guy. They stopped at a tiny brook. He settled in and at 6 the season opened. By 6:15 he had caught his first fish. It was a young trout. Then another then another. He became suspicious and asked how the brook could be so full of these lovely specimens and was told the fishing club had released a tankful about a mile further up the road that morning.
He packed up his stuff and came home. He considered the whole thing a ridiculous situation and hasn’t really fished since.

[Bayleaf]

On the fishing subject OH was taken fishing when we first moved here. First day of the season, off he trooped at 5 in the morning with a French guy. They stopped at a tiny brook. He settled in and at 6 the season opened. By 6:15 he had caught his first fish. It was a young trout. Then another then another. He became suspicious and asked how the brook could be so full of these lovely specimens and was told the fishing club had released a tankful about a mile further up the road that morning.
He packed up his stuff and came home. He considered the whole thing a ridiculous situation and hasn’t really fished since.

He's not wrong! The Fishing Fraternity were stocking up the rivers here just a couple of days ago - supposedly with baby fish. I hope they find somewhere good to hide!

Back to the subject of animal hunting, I've heard over the years that deer and sanglier are bred in captivity in some areas, to then be released into the wild for hunting down later. If the numbers then become a problem, erm, why carry on breeding them in captivity? Smacks of those places in the UK that breed pheasant just for the toffs to shoot them at expensive weekend retreats.

[Loup-garou]

just for the toffs to shoot them at expensive weekend retreats.

You weren't paying attention - Andrew told us it was just an ordinary shooting weekend!

[Hotrodder]

We have a battu administratif in the commune this weekend due to the enormous number of sanglier.

Clearly the oft-quoted reason for continuing the hunting tradition isn't working.

[Quiksilver]

Round here it's not working because the local hunts are having trouble getting sufficient numbers of hunters together for a battue. When two or more communes work together, no problem. There used to be a law defining which animals could be culled, IIRC females and marcassins were exempt. The numbers are so high now that the law has been scrapped. It's the same story with chevreuil. La Chasse had to purchase a 'bracelet' or 20 and each animal hunted was tagged to prove that it was an authorised kill. Nowadays, there are certain periods of the year when anyone (with a permis) can take a deer. If the cheeky little so-and-so's stripping my garden don't watch it, I might just apply for a permis myself