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New hunting seaon in France

1K views 12 replies 12 participants last post by  Methos 
#1 ·
The long wait is OVER! Hunting season has started again here in France. I’ve already been on 5 driven hunts and had some luck a few weeks ago.

I woke up at 6 o’clock and I arrived at the clubhouse at 7h. I was very glad to hear that the area that we were going to be hunted was in the mountains and very big. I was a bit less happy when I learned that my post would almost be out of the hunting area and it would be my job to close both sides of the ridge. That is one of the things of driven hunts, sometimes you get a good spot and other times it is less good. I walked up the mile to my spot and saw that I can block the road in front of me a lot better if I moved around 200m forward. I phoned the line-boss and asked him if I could move forward and he said yes.

I installed myself on a rock and folded open the bi-pods of the Marlin 308. I estimated the range to where I felt the pigs would pass and thought it was around 300m. Think it is around 330 yards. Then I went onto Google and checked how much the Sellier&Bellot 180gr bullet would drop at that distance. I got a distance of 15 inches.

Normally we aren’t allowed to move during a driven hunt but I were told to check both sides – so I walked up to check the other side, around 100m and then I walked back to my post. I just took my seat and were opening my backpack to have a drink of water when I saw a wild boar (sanglier) arriving from my right hand side. I dove down onto the rock in front of me hard enough to skin both my elbows and my hip.
She had two choices – she could continue straight toward me or take the road to my left. If she went left she would still be visible for another 20m and then disappear from my view. She took the road running to my left and then between 2 trees she stopped. There was a breeze coming from my left to right as well. I aimed 15 inches high and around the same distance to the left of the boar’s shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The shot went off and… nothing – not a speck of dust, No reaction from the animal, nothing. I reloaded and shot again. The boar jumped up and folded in the middle and ran off. I reloaded and then aimed well in front of her and still 15 inches high and shot again. Then she disappeared from my view.
Then another group of boars arrived from the right. A sow and 6 smaller ones of around 20 kilos. They don’t stop and I don’t want to risk a running shot so I let them pass. Then another one of around 40 kgs also comes from the left but doesn’t stop and just behind them comes another two of about the same weight. I shoot a shot in front of them to try and stop them but the carry on running. I aim for the sand in front of them again and a biggish dust cloud makes them stop. I quickly put in another round and close the bolt and aim for the one in front but I miss him by about an inch. They run back into the hunting area.

6 Shots fired in less than 60 seconds. When I look up to the valley to my left I see the big sow and the small ones running up the hill but they are too far. But there is no sign of the first one that I shot at.
Normally we aren’t allowed to shoot over much over 150m but the line boss gave me his OK because the hill behind made an excellent backstop. I get on the phone and tell the hunting president what happened and tell him that I think the boar might be down. He is a bit unbelieving. This was around 8:50 in the morning. We are not allowed to walk into the area that we hunt before the end of the hunt, and in any case it would have been impossible for me to climb down the cliffs in front of me. I ask the President to ask a dog handler can go check my shot, but when he gets there he goes the wrong way around the hill following his dogs.

At around 11:30 I get a call to get down from my post ASAP because a group of dogs have cornered a boar and we need to go help before the boar kills any dogs. I jog down from my spot and get into the truck of a guy called Pierre. We do the 3 miles on dirt roads in the mountains in record time and stop next to a plate of bushes, brambles and bamboo. The dogs are barking up a storm and howling. Orders get shouted and we run to take our places while the dog handlers move in to save the dogs. Suddenly a shot rings out and the handler, Gilbert announces that he shot the boar at 1m when it charged him. I go into the bush and it is heavy going. Eventually I get to where the boar was shot and it was a nice boar of 60kg. I handed my rifle to one of the trackers and dragged it out of the bushes.

We went back to the club house and I asked that we go check if mine was down. We took the 4x4 and it was a 10km trip to where I shot. I was getting a bit worried because a light rain was starting to come down and it would wash away the blood if there was any. Pierre was driving and when we came around the corner where the boar came from we saw her. Pierre started beating me on the arm and shouting “There she is! There she is!” I was much chuffed and we stopped right next to her in the dirt road. Pierre jumped on the phone and started calling everyone. He told them “This South African shoots them from 300m and they die in the road – we don’t even need to drag them out.” Pierre had a telemeter and we measured the shot. 270m (295y) to the rock where I was and you can add on a few yards. It was a dry female, of 75kg (165lbs) The first shot seem to have passed through her ear lobe, making a small hole. The second was directly behind the shoulder and the third about 4 inches higher.

Normally we don’t shoot very far and also because most French guys hunt with red dot sights shots like these are few and far between. I hunt with a bolt action rifle with a scope because that is what I’m used to. Last year a guy shot a boar at 130m and everybody was very surprised.

When we got back to the clubhouse I was congratulated by everyone. There were already 3 boars there and more were on the way. Another of around 60kgs and a huge old male of 118kg (260lbs). I was very happy!!!


Mountainous landforms Badlands Mountain Wilderness Geological phenomenon


Recreation Landscape

Snout Boar
 
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#13 ·
Thanks guys! I made a lovely Jalapeno and cheese sausage from the meat I took home.

tranteruk
It is in Les Alpilles - the small Alpes - around 200km south of the real Alps. Very close to Saint Remy de Provence where Vincent van Gogh lived.

I posted the photos on a french Hunting group on Facebook. You can't imagine the flak I got for daring to shoot at that distance, although it is allowed and I had authorisation. Sometimes I think us hunters must stand together more!

Going out again on Saturday - Rain is forecast though...

Cheers
 
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