are there many , where did they come from, are they legal to take , i have seen a photo of one - who else has got one and have you any photos ? hypertheticly how do you think your dogs would go on them?
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to answer my own questions i have done a little research and found the following information all though it doesnt mention dogging them: pig hunting in the uk




Wild boar free-living in Britain are not protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and are therefore a legitimate hunting target. Their fearsome reputation and valuable meat provide a powerful attraction to hunters. Local game dealers and butchers have profited from this unexpected business, since wild boar meat is regarded as a delicacy and commands a high price. Wild boar thus have a resource potential as a sporting target and food source.

In Britain, the fact that wild boar shooting is a ‘free for all’ raises animal and public welfare issues. For example, the lack of a close season has resulted in lactating sows being shot, which has presumably left unweaned piglets to starve to death. Animals are also shot with weapons of inadequate calibre because carcasses skinned prior to butchering have been found with lead pellets embedded from a previous shooting. Public safety issues are raised as a wounded animal can be dangerous and the large-calibre rifles required to kill wild boar are lethal at long distances. The majority of animals are shot at night when they are in the open so the line of fire behind the target animal is not visible should the shot miss.

Thus, if the wild boar population is allowed to persist, some form of regulation of hunting would be desirable for both animal welfare and public safety reasons.

Current Laws on Guns and Wild Boar

One of Sussex police's 12 Firearms Officers, Graham Woods, gawoodsfeo@tiscali.co.uk has kindly clarified the current legal position on shooting wild boar in the Sussex area.

Firearm Certificates

It is illegal to shoot wild boar without having a firearms certificate that specifically states 'Wild Boar' on it.

A certificate to shoot wild boar is are only granted for .308 .270 and 30/06 calibre weapons. Note that solid slug for use in a 12 bore also has to be on a firearms certificate.

Before a certificate is issued, the land on which the applicant is applying to shoot wild boar on, will be surveyed for signs of wild boar prior to a certificate being issued.

Persons applying for FACs will have to satisfy the Enquiry Officer that they are genuine and experienced in many aspects.

Penalties

Possession of even illegal ammunition, let alone an illegal weapon, can now have a mandatory five-year prison sentence, or even longer if a Judge deems it necessary.

Graham points out that the Force investigates wild boar carcasses that are illegally shot. Bullets collected from illegally shot animals are saved, catalogued and can be matched ballistically to rifles if needs be.

(A recent court case in Hastings, East Sussex, resulted in a man fined in excess of £500 for two infringements of the conditions of his Certificate)

Points of Interest

Graham notes that in the Sussex area it appears a balance between shooting and conservation is practised with an informal agreement between most of the responsible hunters who do not shoot after February. They try to cull out the young males and leave the older boars for stock improvement.

The Firearms Officer also points out that he investigates wild boar carcasses that are illegally shot. Bullets collected from illegally shot animals are saved, catalogued and can be matched ballistically to rifles if needs be.

Graham points out that people need to realise that some poachers are also burglars, so if in the Sussex area and in doubt, send in the vehicle registration number [colour and type helps]. Sussex Police can investigate thousands a day, telephone 0845 6070999 or email direct at Centre@sussex.pnn.police.uk to save waiting on the phone the email will be acknowledged generally within a few hours once it has been graded etc. Keep it concise with facts, vehicle descriptions and number of people direction of travel. The innocent have nothing to fear.

Graham himself is always interested to here of poaching activities in the sussex area gawoodsfeo@tiscali.co.uk

We appreciate Graham's dedication and commitment to public and animal welfare issues surrounding the wild boar. If you have any views on this topic or other information to add, we would be delighted to add it to this page. Site email address: British Wild Boar . Particularly of interest would be other Firearms Officers from other forces informing of their current wild boar policy.

Communication to web site.

It might be worth pointing out that the calibres referred to in Graham's notes must be just those that the East Sussex police approve. I have shot boar with a .458 approved by West Mercia Police and there are a number of other larger calibres that the police might approve.
Current Home Office Guidelines to Firearms Officers recommend that only rifles of .270 calibre or larger are certificated to include boar and I think that there is also a minimum bullet weight recommendation. There is no mention of any specific calibre apart from that.
I think that the .308, .270 and .30-06 might be identified by the Sussex police because they are calibres likely to be in use by local deerstalkers and approving these would not involve licencing a new weapon just for boar. I think that 6 x 55, 6 x 57, 7 x 57, .375 and .275 would all be suitable ballistically and larger than the guidelines recommendation of a minimum calibre.

Received Feb 2007
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the link i have found http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/
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Hi frosti
wife has asked if i could answer a few of your questions, it seems that you have sourced most of the info yourself, as to the hunting with dogs the majority of the boar live in large forestry blocks owned and managed by the forestry commision and they would not allow you to hunt them with dogs.

The public here are against everything and with the hunting ban still fresh in thier minds it just would not work (unless the commision find there is good money to be made from it).

DEFRA a govenment organisation i beleive would of reintroduced them at sometime so they are abit reluctent to get rid of them, it took us much wrangling to get the right to shoot them and they were making a hell of a mess.

But as wife has said the boys here have got the dogs for the job but they would take a fare bit of learning to get it done without death and injurey
as there are some big lumps about here maybe to around 500lb.
EDDIE...................

any chance of the pics you have eddie showing the damage done to the fields and shots of the 1 yo had from different angles,cheers mate,kev
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hi apollo and thanks for the reply . the pig you shot looked the goods, are many getting taken ? did you butcher him up , he looked healthy . if dogs that grab are banned what about a dog that bails them up to be shot?
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Its a very interesting question that ,because over here you can still hunt a fox with two hounds to be shot.
And yes they are being shot on a reguler basis over here the forest warden has shot around 50 and a chap in ross shot thirty last year,we had it butchered by a mate and gave most of it to the farmers that give us the permission................eddie

Another uk boar last night

good stuff he looks similar to the first one . did they come back to the same spot?
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good going mate,dont forget any dog food and i will come and pick it up
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we have been trying to find a patern since we had the first one, it took a month to figure out.
It goes like this, we found that he was visiting every week on tuesday and wednesday and last week he tripped the clock at 8.10 then this tuesday he tripped it at 9.10.
So we went there at 7.00 and heard him come under the fence at 8.30, by 8.37 he was ours.
here he is with a pricket i shot early in the evening about quarter of a mile away, kev i will have a nice chunk with your name on it dont worry

Good pics apollo..
i suppose we are still lucky enough to hunt feral pigs with dogs frosti..

cheers Bert
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keep ya pecker hard and ya powder dry