Driven boar at the launch of Wild Boar Fever IX

Driven Boar Practice!

The first thing I did was to email our friends at Holland & Holland to get a session booked in on their incredible new Schiesskino (indoor rifle range), I wasn't going to be the rubbish English guy! To be honest, the 'shooting cinema' is worth a trip even if you aren't going to shoot driven wild boar, we had a go on all sorts of species, loosing off a large number of live rounds into the screen at the end of the room. In hindsight, this lesson beforehand made the trip a whole lot better and as the Schiesskino is newly opened, I was rather lucky.

I joined up with the team a couple of hours south west of Paris in Sologne within the Loire Valley region. Best known for producing Sancerre, the region has one of the densest populations of boar in France and produces some of the country's finest sport. Tucked away in the middle of the country’s largest nature reserve is the quaint village of Yvoy-le-Marron and the Hotel le Cheval Blanc, a wonderful little hotel in surrounding scenes that time seems to have passed by.

Having arrived, the first afternoon was spent consuming knowledge and tips from the experts from each of the sponsor brands of Wild Boar Fever, whilst trying our skills on the range shooting a moving boar target. I've only ever shot a still rifle or moving shotgun before so the technique of shooting a moving rifle is somewhat different. You need to have your weight equally on both feet and avoid leaning in to the shot, whilst keeping both eyes open and using the Aimpoint to put the little red dot very slightly in front of the engine room of the boar.

The Equipment

We were kitted out with a carbon fibre Sauer 404 rifle, complete with an Aimpoint red dot sight which combined with the Hornady Precision Hunter bullets packed quite a punch and would work well at the distances we were going to encounter. The lightweight Sauer (only 6.1lb) made the swing incredibly easy so you had to hold very tight to stop the rifle waving but also to limit the movement of the gun from the recoil.

Wild Boar Fever IX

The evening saw the premier of MyOutdoorTV.com's Wild Boar Fever IX in the most incredible shoot lodge I've ever seen. Unfortunately, one of the stars of the series, Franz-Albrecht Oettingen-Spielberg, was one of the few not able to make the trip. I now have a new-found respect for the skill of that guy, not only is he insanely accurate, his reload speed is something else. That afternoon, we'd been trying to shoot and reload three rounds of the bolt action Sauer accurately into the target, it is not easy at all.

As driven boar shooting increases in popularity, the aim of Wild Boar Fever is to showcase incredible skilful hunting whilst educating those that haven't experienced wild boar hunting through the knowledge of the stars of the film, focusing on the passion and insight of Franz-Albrecht.

Shooting Driven Boar for the first time

The big day arrived, and we assembled for the very important briefing from wild boar specialist Jean Phillipe Bourgneuf who was hosting us. On a driven pheasant day, the briefing is rather straightforward and common sense will get you through. This one filled me with trepidation. Avoid the sows (which look the same as the males!), only shoot one over 60 kilos, and leave the young ones - anything with stripes is too young. Shoot only half way to your neighbour on either side and only when the boar is 30 degrees behind you, which will basically leave you about a 2 metre kill zone before you're shooting through the trees. The 30-degree rule is to avoid a ricochet into your neighbour, it certainly doesn't eliminate the risk though, we heard stories of 90-degree ricochets. We were all wearing bits of orange as is custom outside the UK. When you're in the woods, you can see why you need it. Harkila had kindly provided us with some of the vital bits, including their new digital camo, which went very well with my tweed breeks!

The excitement and anticipation

When shooting wild boar, you'll either find yourself on a peg on the ground or up in a stand. I can imagine the former is an even more exhilarating experience because of the sheer danger, I was quite happy to be out of an angry sow's path 6 feet off the ground.

The beaters were incredibly vocal from a long way off which meant there was constant activity with boar regularly making their way through the line. I turned my ear defenders right up to maximum which only made my heart beat faster and louder. My eyes were on stalks looking for any movement and when I saw one running towards me through the woods, my heart literally felt like it was going to come out of my chest! My first reaction was to assess what sex the boar might be. The sows are usually at the front of the pack and if it's on its own, it's likely to be male. If there's little ones nearby, the boar at the back will likely be the one you're after.

My first shot brought down an 80 kilo male stone dead. I couldn't believe it. One thing was sure, it wasn't going to continue like that! For the remainder of that drive and the next, I did some missing to get my ego back in check. The buzz didn't decrease though. The sound and sight of boar running towards you is simply unreal. Pheasants produce a completely different buzz. It's not cheap though. In France, a driven day will cost you around £400 per boar on a sophisticated shoot. This particular estate was one of the more upmarket and will host Wild Boar Fever 10, but the 9th series was filmed in Croatia where it's a little cheaper. Like most game shooting though, it seems as though you get what you pay for.

The Big Keiler

The last drive brought about a tremendous climax. Having shot one relatively early on, I thought it was all over, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I was joined in the stand by good friend Simon Barr whose company Tweed Media organised the trip. Fortunately, he had his camera with him to capture the moment a 120kg Keiler (2-year-old male) came grunting through the wood on his own and charged across the path to my left. I waited until it was over the path and brought it down with my final shot of the day. I know we were only supposed to shoot one over 60 kilos, but Simon encouraged me, and this was too good not to take - sorry J-P - not an example I should be setting! The hunter gatherer human instinct and reaction came out in full force and standing with a friend certainly heightened the experience. After the wonderful European ceremony with the tune for each species shot (there was a fox in the bag too), we thanked the beaters and headed back for drinks and dinner to recount the stories, capping off a fabulous first wild boar shooting trip.

A quick thank you to the sponsor brands for making it such a memorable first experience. Having the insight of some of the most well-known professionals made the trip more enjoyable and incredibly interesting.

My gear for the experience:

Sauer S 404 Synchro XTC
An entirely handmade carbon fibre rifle that handled like a dream. It was fully adjustable to the shooter and the thumbhole stock made it feel like an extension of your arm.

Hornady Precision Hunter Ammunition
A hugely advance bullet designed to work at varying ranges to reflect common hunting situations. It's ELD-X bullet with Heat Shield tip has outstanding performance at all hunting distances.

Aimpoint Micro H-2
What a piece of kit this is. They even have their Micro S-1 for a shotgun which I'm keen to try. Essentially a mini looking scope, it has no magnification but a simple red dot that works perfectly even in direct sunlight.

Harkila's new AXIS MSP digital camouflage
The European's think about the technical image of the clothing a lot more than us Brits. The digital camo has a two-axis approach to merge you into the surroundings and break up your outline. Perfect for deer stalking but the long sleeve t-shirt is a must for the pigeons.

Thanks to:
Our host - JPB Adventures
The producer of Wild Boar Fever IX - MOTV.com
Images courtesy of Charles Sainsbury-Plaice