Tuesday 15 March 2011

Pig Hunting In The UK - East Sussex


I found this tale by John Carver at the most entertaining www.sabotagetimes.com


...The reason we were meeting was to shoot some wild boar.

There are more wild boar where I live (in East Sussex) than anywhere else in England. Thousands of the buggers and they’re all at it like rabbits. As a result there’ll be thousands more before you can say “Pint of Harvey’s”. I squeezed into the double cab, having spotted a space that wasn’t occupied by a chainsaw or a roll of barbed wire and we drove across the field to the edge of the woods. We parked and I walked behind as Al carried a motherfucker of a something bore rifle and I carried a torch. He told me I was gonna be his “light-man”.
As we made our way along a track the evening was drawing in. It was getting darker by the minute. Up another track, down a further track. Across deep undergrowth. After a few moments me and Al found ourselves at the base of a dark green, metal ladder permanently attached the side of a tall tree. You’ll be forgiven for asking yourself what a ladder was doing in the middle of a forest. Don’t worry. The same thought ran through my mind.
Here’s the clever bit. Boar are bloody good at sniffing. Go after them and the last thing you can wear is Brut or Old Spice. They’ll smell fear or fags a mile off. However if you position yourself high up in a tree any aroma you might emit will waft its way high over the heads of your quarry. These country folk are a canny bunch.
Twenty feet up the tree was a “seat”. This is what they call it out here. A metal platform with a metal bench built into it. Not comfortable. Just practical. Al and I climbed up the ladder to the seat. I had his torch. He had his gun. We sat down and settled in behind a wall of camouflage netting.
Al told me not to talk. Not to move. Just to sit. And wait. There’s a lot of waiting in the country.
Al lifted his shooter and looked through the site at an open area. A clearing about 80 yards from our hideout. This is where Al reckoned the Wild Boar might roam as night drew in
Al lifted his shooter and looked through the site at an open area. A clearing about 80 yards from our hideout. This is where Al reckoned the Wild Boar might roam as night drew in. By now it was about 6.10pm. In the last 15 minutes we’d walked and climbed and sat. Now we were ready for action. Quite often people sit and wait and wait and wait. Then go home empty handed. There’s no guarantees. It could all be a waste of everyone’s time. Failing is all part of the fun. Tonight we were in luck. MORE HERE




Off to East Sussex myself - a full report on my return

SBW
Picture credit goes to Beastwatch

11 comments:

Keith said...

May I recommend that if you ever go after any large boar on foot/on the ground,that you do not use a scope on the gun. Wild boar can move fast, and if they charge it can be hard to sight on them fast enough with a scope. Use open sights.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

LL

How prescient that you should say that......

SBW

Terry Green said...

I agree with the open sights comment from Le Loup. These things are quick and will attack if provoked. Happy Hunting!

tag

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Terry
Thanks for stopping by and welcome to the campfire

If i was hunting piggy from the ground I'd defiantly take your advice, on the continent the chaps use red-dots from stands and unscoped double rifles when on foot

SBW

Anna said...

Hi there,

I thought you might be interested in a post about the return of British boars. I'm on the Granta magazine team (a literary publishing house based in NY and London) and we've recently published an essay online by Leo Mellor who explored one of their forest habitats on the Kent-Sussex border.

I hope this might be something you could share with your readers.

Here is the link: http://www.granta.com/Online-Only/Boar.

Best,

Anna Ward

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Hi Anna

Of course I know of Granta - and I'm guessing quite a few of the regular readers do too.

Thanks for the pointer
SBW

Anonymous said...

Does anyone stick pigs or just shoot them. Anyone know what devons like for them

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Hi
Here in the UK they can only be hunted with rifles (270 and up) there is a guy guiding for them in devon, pop me an email and I'll try to put you in touch.
SBW

Anonymous said...

That's a bit poor with just rifles there's not much fun in that. Got bored of shooting Roos quickly. Well I'm coming back June next year and was goin to take my mates up for a run and I don't have a firearms license and wouldn't know how to get them.

Anonymous said...

Also what weights are you pulling in? Any restrictions on gender or stuff

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Anon

You dont need an FAC to hunt here just to be with someone who has, weights seem to be a little lower than on the mainland about 70-80kg

Always wanted to do some Roo shooting myself, I've eaten them a few times and found them to be pretty good.

My email is in the contacts section

SBW