Chapter 31: Wild boar management in Europe343
(or their own) dogs, in the latter case the participating hunters give
some money ‘into a hat’ which is then distributed to the beaters.
The hunters are friends or relatives of the tenant, co-tenants,
or, in commercial hunting, paying guests.
This technique has variations, e.g. ‘silent battues’ with very
few beaters without dogs making the wild boar move slowly out
of their resting place, or a more aggressive one where packs of
dogs are used. With snow cover, ‘circling’ (reading the tracks) is
used to confine the area to be hunted.
The technique used depends on the land use and habitat
(open landscape, woodlands, etc.), its fragmentation, climate,
but also, and to a great extent, on the cultural background and
habits of the hunters.
Hunting Quota
Individual tags for the marking of the carcasses are used in sev-
eral countries to control the hunting bag and to reduce the risk
of poaching.
In Luxembourg, the minima are based on previous hunting
bags and damage data; in Hungary and Czech Republic on the
estimations of the individual hunters; in Poland and Italy hunt-
ers have to participate in count-drives prior to the hunting sea-
son or snow-tracking. In several regions of France, where wild
boar are classified as ‘game’ (in comparison to regions where
they are classified ‘protected’ or ‘vermin’), the tags have to be
bought and the price of the tags depends on the abundance of
boar and on the damage caused by them.
The hunters receive a certain number of tags for one or more
years to mark the carcasses prior to transport. In most countries
with maximum quota, the maxima are so high they will only
rarely be achieved, or increasing the maximum is very easy.
Hunting Seasons and Protection Status
In many European countries, and more so since the increase
of populations and damage, as well as the classical swine
fever outbreak in the 1990s, wild boar can be hunted all year
round, regardless of age and sex (Belgium, Estonia, Hungary,
Luxembourg, Portugal, UK). In other countries (Croatia, Czech
Republic, Slovenia) only sub-adults or males can be hunted
all year round, or all of them have a protection period, gener-
ally around the farrowing period (Latvia, Lithuania, Finland,
France, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Romania), with
the rule ‘the rarer the animal the shorter the hunting period’. In
Germany and Austria, in addition to fixed protection periods,
all females with dependent offspring are protected.
Generally, battue hunts can only be carried out during
autumn and winter.
It has to be noted that in most cases, for ethical reasons (no
orphaning), hunters avoid shooting at females when they have
dependent piglets, even though it is, in many countries, not for-
bidden by law. However, there is no clear consensus whether
piglets (in which the amount of meat is small) should be shot
or not (this had been recommended during the classical swine
fever outbreak at the end of the 1990s), and some hunters also
argue that they avoid killing highly pregnant female boar.
Following the 2014 African swine fever outbreak in eastern
Europe, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) recommends
the shooting of adult females to decrease the reproductive stock
of the population – another controversy for some of the hunters
who have, over the decades, tried to increase boar numbers to
make their hunting grounds more attractive, especially for com-
mercial boar hunting (EFSA 2014).Weapons and Ammunition
In most European countries, hunting of wild boar is permitted
only with a rifle; in Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal,
Spain, and Slovakia bow-hunting is also allowed. Automatic
rifles are generally forbidden; semi-automatic, when allowed,
are restricted to magazines containing two bullets. Ammunition
calibre is regulated in some countries, and has to be at least
6.5 mm (5.6 mm in Poland). Bullets have to have an E 100 (energy
at 100 m) of at least 1500–2500 joules. In Lithuania, Poland, and
Slovenia the minimum E 100 required to shoot piglets or sub-
adults is lower than for adult wild boar. Slugs fired with shotguns
are allowed under certain conditions (e.g. at short distance, in
battue hunts, limited to a single shot).
Telescopic sights and aiming devices are generally allowed
to be mounted on the rifles. Knives or boar spears may be used
only to kill fatally wounded animals. In a few countries (e.g.
Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovenia), handguns can
also be used for this purpose.Dogs Used
In wild boar hunting, a large variety of dogs are used. They fol-
low the tracks, barking, and thereby driving the boar out of their
daily resting site. In general, only hunting breeds are used, but
there is hardly any legal basis determining the dogs which can
be used. The strong and massive ‘catch dogs’ which hold the boar
until the hunter arrives which are used in the USA are not or
only rarely used in Europe.
Blood hounds are used to track wounded animals. This
is considered ethically necessary by the hunters, and in some
countries it is a legal obligation under animal welfare.Traps
Hunting with the use of traps is of general use in some countries
or regions; in others it is forbidden, or requires authorizations.
It is mainly used in cases of high population densities causing
too much damage (in France it is restricted to the ‘départements’
where wild boar are classified as a nuisance) or in places where
normal hunting methods cannot be carried out (urban areas,
protected sites). Trapping is rather considered a technique for
the management or destruction of the animals, not so much as
a hunting technique.Hunting Bag, Hygiene, and Ceremonies
In individual hunting, the hunted boar are often dressed directly
in the field. In collective hunting, the shot boar are dressed at
specially equipped places for practical and hygienic reasons
(availability of dressing equipment such as knives, gloves, water,
etc.) and prevention of disease transmission (bags or containers
for the disposal of the internal organs).
The carcasses which are sold have to be examined by a
‘trained person’ (Anonymous 2004), and generally inspected for
Trichinella. In the case of commercial use, approval by a veteri-
narian is necessary..03312:55:50