Who To Call For A Wild Boar Hunt

Hunting wild boar in Europe and Russia is an exotic activity for most US hunters. Where and how do you do such a thing? And who do you call for a hunt? Let's start with a few general facts such as, what is it about a boar that makes it a trophy? For some hunters it is the weight of the critter that is paramount. For others it is the length of the tusks. The general rule of thumb is that, starting in Spain, the farther east one goes in Europe the bigger the boars and the longer the tusks. Overall size of the animal is also usually directly related to the size of its tusks, though there are exceptions. In some areas, very big boars have rather smallish tusks and vice versa. As for the size range involved, boars taken in Spain or France may weigh as little as 150 pounds at maturity and have tusks only four to five inches long, while those taken in the Ussuri region of Siberia - generally considered the largest of all the subspecies of wild boar - might well reach a weight of 320 kilograms (over 700 pounds!) and have tusks of 32 centimeters or more (about 13 inches).

Turning to the hunting itself, there are three commonly employed methods of hunting wild boar in Europe and Russia. You can drive them; pursue them with dogs; and wait for them on stands, preferably over snow on nights of the full moon. Of these methods, driving is the most common. It should be noted that it can be very difficult to drive really big boars towards hunters. They don't attain their large size by being easy and cooperative. What's more, everything happens so fast during a drive that it is impossible to appraise the trophy quality of any given boar. Driving is a game of quantity not quality. To succeed at this kind of shooting you need a rifle with lots of fast firepower - that is, one that is clip-fed. Ask your agent at the time of booking for specific recommendations. Running boar can be extremely........(continued)