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Wild boar in the uk


Beagle boy
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The thread starts about the current status of wild boar in the UK and quickly derails into a ' what is the best calibre to kill them?' thread, which always happens when wild boar are mentioned.

 

The question should be what is the best way to ensure their survival as a sustainable quarry species ?!?

Edited by scolopax
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Scolopax is right. If we want to carry on having boar as a quarry then management has to be thought of. It has already been mentioned on this thread that some people practice close seasons alongside the deer. Me and my shooting partner use the same seasons as fallow for them. It may not be the best as they seem to breed through a lot of the year down here, but it seems sensible to us.

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I was enjoying the posts about calibre for boar as I don't rely know and awfull lot about them and it's interesting to see different county's views on calibre and conditions of certs.

But scalolopax and Sussex boy are rite as this is where I intended the thread to go.

I do think a deer like approach to boar would be good and an asset to many estates but like I said before I know little about boar movements and management really so if anyone could shed any light on this for me I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for the reply lads

Cheers rob

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The thread starts about the current status of wild boar in the UK and quickly derails into a ' what is the best calibre to kill them?' thread, which always happens when wild boar are mentioned.

 

The question should be what is the best way to ensure their survival as a sustainable quarry species ?!?

Its hard to see them ever being a truely sustainable quarry species in Britain when they are potentially too aggressive to roam in the wild

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Its hard to see them ever being a truely sustainable quarry species in Britain when they are potentially too aggressive to roam in the wild

Are they, do they actually attack folk? I've never really looked for it but have never seen anything saying they have made an unprovoked attack on anyone ?

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To Survive long term they need:

 

a: enough shooters to value them as a quarry species and not just a meat cheque

b: some form of close season, even if just for sows

c: restrictions on night shooting i.e a ban on thermal and night vision (personally I would like to see a ban for all live quarry shooting)

 

I doubt the latter two will ever happen, the goverment/ DEFRA want to see them gone due to pressure from the farming lobby NFU etc. But there would be an uproar if they publicly endorsed an extermination policy it, so by having no restrictions whatsover, bar calibres (purely on humane grounds), they hope the shooting community will do their dirty work for them. And unfortunately some folk are.

Edited by scolopax
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Are they, do they actually attack folk? I've never really looked for it but have never seen anything saying they have made an unprovoked attack on anyone ?

I don't know about in UK but in the German forests they have a very healthy respect for them. I have no personal experience of them attacking anybody, I think they can be a bit of a Jeckel and Hyde creature, but an ordinary domestic pig can kill you if it gets the hump with you bad enough.

 

I think the key thing is they can go on the attack and they are a fighting animal, those tusks are not for decoration.

Edited by Vince Green
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I don't know about in UK but in the German forests they have a very healthy respect for them. I have no personal experience of them attacking anybody, I think they can be a bit of a Jeckel and Hyde creature, but an ordinary pig can kill you.

 

We have them here in the garden most evenings at the moment- digging for roots.

When I leave for work at 03.00 they sometimes give me a startle as they start snorting, then running around bit have never had one come for us.

My neighbour on the other hand says otherwise as he has had a couple of nasty encounters.

 

Saw some a few weeks ago around dusk- wanted to grab one of the rifles but the Mrs was standing next to me going' oh look, they are so cute'

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Are boar dangerous, I don't think so, they do an awful amount of damage in a very short time, and its only damage as us humans love to see large areas of well mown grass. Natural England have a healthy tolerance for them in the reserves I manage, they do clear a lot of under canopy growth such as bramble to encourage new growth. One thing a lot of wanna be boar hunters don't take into account of is what to do once they have a dead boar at their feet, they ain't nothing like deer. Hunting driven boar abroad is a different game were they are set up to retrieve the carcass and deal with it. When your out on your own and have a boar on the ground on a dark winter night, you grab a leg and pull and nothing moves, getting it in the truck is just the start of it. Then what are you going to do with the meat, to put back into the food chain you will need to test for trichenella, not a difficult process but you will need the kit and address of where to send 10grams of diaphragm. Woodland boar stalking is heart pounding stuff, highseat shooting over a bait point will need a lot of time and patience and on a scale of one to ten in difficulty of carcass handling, say a fallow deer is 5 out of ten then a boar would be 15.

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To Survive long term they need:

 

a: enough shooters to value them as a quarry species and not just a meat cheque

b: some form of close season, even if just for sows

c: restrictions on night shooting i.e a ban on thermal and night vision (personally I would like to see a ban for all live quarry shooting)

 

I doubt the latter two will ever happen, the goverment/ DEFRA want to see them gone due to pressure from the farming lobby NFU etc. But there would be an uproar if they publicly endorsed an extermination policy it, so by having no restrictions whatsover, bar calibres (purely on humane grounds), they hope the shooting community will do their dirty work for them. And unfortunately some folk are.

That seems a bit extreme ! I can understand it perhaps for boar if you are attempting to sustain a viable hunting population but it would be impossible for many folk doing large scale rabbit control on rough terrain where lamping is ineffective and daylight shooting equally so.

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That seems a bit extreme ! I can understand it perhaps for boar if you are attempting to sustain a viable hunting population but it would be impossible for many folk doing large scale rabbit control on rough terrain where lamping is ineffective and daylight shooting equally so.

 

 

My thoughts too, but then I suppose how you look at your shooting, its either sport or pest control, for pure pest control its about numbers,, so to be the most effective you need to be ahead of the game to keep your permissions. Or you loose your perms and the chance of your ticket. If its just for sport or the pot then OK why the need to go down the NV or Thermal. save yourself thousands and just shoot 1 rabbit a year in the middle of summer on a bright sunny day

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