Ok guys I am really touching raw nerves here

Many of us aspire to go driven boar hunting every year and I have been doing this for a few years now

For those guys I am in touch with on this forum I know many of us come back infrequently unsatisfied or disappointed ( including myself)

A few of my friends also started boar shooting about the same time as I did but they opted for fence shooting especially in France and hungary

We recently met up and exchange notes and I am shocked to the number of empty drives I have had in the past years compare to these guys coming back shooting at least one or more boars per drive

Ok we are really talking about pest pigs here And some of these estate stretches many thousands of hectares

What I am trying to say is should we put moral aside and start to explore fence boar shooting to differentiate it from fence trophy shooting when they are not pest ?

I have seen the videos and it is totally different to what I have been exposed to

Anybody here shooting fenced boars regularly ?

Ben, I see no problem with shooting boar in an enclosed estate, providing the enclosure is big enough. I would not want to shoot them in a 10 acre pen, but if the enclosure was say 1000 acres or bigger I would be happy enough. One square mile is only 640 acres.

It is no different to shooting driven pheasants.

Also, given that most of us get only one pig trip per year, two at the most, as you say, it gets pretty demoralising standing around for 3 days to get maybe one or two shots at the most.

I've been on two enclosed Boar Shoots Hunts; 1 in Le Grand Nation and the other here in The Fatherland. The only real difference between the two was the French Red Wine tasted better to me than the German Beer (O.K.; maybe it was a toss-up).

They were part of a Lottery I formerly participated in and Yeah; they're a pretty sure thing; but since I won both trips in a Lottery my financial outlay was minimal compared to those paying the Full Fare.

Both times there were 20 Shooters, Er-r, Ugh, Hunters and both times the results were 19 Porkers. The Rules of Engadgement were 1 Large(r) & 1 Small(er) victim.

Apparently 1 Shooter Hunter on each trip had difficulty aquiring their second target.

Both Estates were certainly large enough and on the one I had both Porkers in the Barrel by 10:00 (start time 09:00) but drinking Beer standing by a warm fire taking Happy Snaps of your 2 Boars isn't a bad way to spend the rest of your day at the Office, either.

Coming from someoene who attends a Drive Hunt almost every weekend and many weekdays from October thru January; I have the luxery of spending 50 days a season either watching trees or shooting Boar. Others don't have that kind of resources at their fingertips.

From a success ratio for all participants involved; if you really want to shoot a Wild Boar the option of Stand Hunting probably offers better results IMO. But then again Drive Hunting for Boar is The REAL Rush.

I guess I'm saying - do whatever you desire.

I have never hunted a boar enclosure, but I know they are pretty common in Hungary. In fact, I'm convinced many of the boar hunting videos we see from Hungary, e.g.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...youtube_gdata_player

were shot in enclosures. Given the fickle nature of pigs and their ability to be here today and gone tomorrow, I think it would be hard to guarantee action to film otherwise.

- mike

A lot of what Gerry says is correct.
Any fenced areas are usually very, very expensive!!
You pays your money and takes your choice.

Actual month and weather can affect results dramatically.
I avoid October (too much leaf cover and everywhere is full of 2 legged mushroom pickers wandering through the woods!). best is a few inches of snow and fairly cold weather so they are in the woods. Too mch snow and the beaters cannot walk easily - as was the case this January in some parts of Europe

Almost all of my hunting has been in very wild places hunting very wild animals. Many hunters in my place will not care for fenced hunts but I am a proponent for this.

I have hunted inside a fence in France, Spain and South africa. These hunts really do not give the same satisfaction as a wilderness hunt but still it has a lot of merit.

My view is that a game farm is a better alternative than clearing the land for a pasture of non native cows.

A purest hunter might say he has no desire to hunt inside a fence and thats fine for him but the purest in me see's the estate I hunted on in Normandy as a great way to make that land pay for it's self while retaining a mostly natural environment.

I did have fun on the boar shoot and I would say give it a try, if you don't care for it then go back to the other.

I don't have any plans for hunting inside a fence any time soon but I will need a place to go when I get old.

I used to manage alot of deer and boar areas in the U.K, one place that had big problems with deer was only 2/3 of an acre and was fenced on all sides, but beleive me it wasn`t like shooting a fish in a barrel.!
I have hunted quite a bit in RSA and Zim, from a 4000 acre fenced area in RSA to the Zambezi valley, and the difference IMO is not the size of area or wether its stock fenced or not,it is wether the area is stocked for hunting or not,if it is, your driven about and they know EXACTLY how many of which animal are on the farm and EXACTLY where they are and EXACTLY what trophies/cull animals are available.
The areas/farms are stocked for hunting just as they would be stocked for a dairy/beef operation.
I used to manage quite an area of Boar in U.K and I have shot more than my fair share;and a client I had a few years ago, told me of a "hunting" set up in the Loire valley and invited me for a weekend "hunt"with him and asked me to talk the the U.K agent to see what the score was, well after a fair bit of beating about the bush and an even fairer amount of Bull**** the U.K agent told me the boar where released into the hunting area a day before the hunters arrived ! now that I do not agree with or condone.

Personally - it's not for me.

I think youtube clips are to blame for a lot of unsatisfied hunters after their first boar trip. They are either set in a stocked fenced enclosure, or they don't include the several blank drives that preceded the action.

In the same way as I don't mind 2/3 blank outings in a row when after fallow deer, locals probably don't give up after 2/3 blank driven days. The problem is when you have spent the last few months looking forward to this amazing high adrenaline boar hunt and the animals don't follow the youtube precedent....

why only boars??

put some roes in a pen mix it with hares and cows and you'll have a great shoot.

Bog,

You are right here. Youtube is great thing to promote almost anything including hunts. All DVD's about driven boar on the market are filmed in fenced area and that's why inexperienced hunters epect too much in ordinary open driven boar hunt.
It's not my choice but I organise as well for my clients but there is a difference. On the ground where I organise enclosed driven boar we catch them and release them. After the season we open all the gates on all sides of 1000Ha-4000Ha fence. The thing is, eeven if it's open most of the boar don't want to leave the fenced ground and many others from outside come inside.
Why? No poaching, plenty of food, peace and no walkers/dogs inside.
Is it expensive?
It is very expensive but I managed to be 25-50% chepaer than Hungary delivering better qualiy of hunt. 12 guns, 4300 euros per person, 110 boar, no trophy charge, 3 days shooting, 4 star hotel 4 nights, food, drinks ect.

150 boar for 12 guns is 6000.

It's nort for everyone but everyone has to have a choice.

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Personally - it's not for me.

I think youtube clips are to blame for a lot of unsatisfied hunters after their first boar trip. They are either set in a stocked fenced enclosure, or they don't include the several blank drives that preceded the action.

In the same way as I don't mind 2/3 blank outings in a row when after fallow deer, locals probably don't give up after 2/3 blank driven days. The problem is when you have spent the last few months looking forward to this amazing high adrenaline boar hunt and the animals don't follow the youtube precedent....

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry:
But then again Drive Hunting for Boar is The REAL Rush.

I agree, that's the action I enjoyed most in Lithuania.

Live life. Have fun. Do it. Sorry that sounds like an ad campaign