Boar Hunt: Fascinating hunting, capable of stimulating the hunter's intelligence, boar hunting requires not only experience, but also the presence of five-star hounds. Some seem born to hunt down this highly intelligent child of the forests.
The wild boar is a mysterious creature, intelligent enough to have become one of the most coveted ungulates by hunters who love difficult challenges. With a variable weight and a greyish color tending to blackish, it can even reach 200 kg. Its fur is characterized by a bristly hair, the legs are short and the snout is conical.
Apart from its particular intelligence, its morphology also makes it difficult to capture. The skin is very thick and poorly vascularized. This helps protect him from injuries and infections, from misdirected shots and from the bite of some animals such as vipers.
Suffice it to say that during the mating season, between October and November, the males are protected by what in the jargon is called armor; it is a layer of fat, mainly located on the hips, which protects them and gives the boar a reserve of energy to use during the season. In fact, in this period they consume very little food and the fat reserve is more than useful.
For this and many other reasons the hunter who decides to devote himself to wild boar hunting must be accompanied by a four-star hound, who knows how to move by instinct and training. One of the most suitable breeds for wild boar hunting is the Slovensky Kopov, the Black Forest hound, which has been traced back to the XNUMXth century in Moravia. Of totally unknown origins, it spread in former Czechoslovakia and its surroundings, always used for hunting large ungulates, including wild boars and carnivores.
The breed gained some recognition only after the Second World War, although the hunters of the Black Forest have known its characteristics for some time. Solid in the conformation and with a light skeleton, it manages to create a natural bond with the conductor; this allows him to explore an environment ranging from 150 to 300 meters.
If the hunt takes place in dense woods, once the fresh eats have been hooked, it follows it for hours, barking from time to time. The barking will be infrequent, gradually increasing when the hound is close to the game. After the discovery the barking will become constant and continuous. Normally, however, the Black Forest hound approaches the wild boar with a few barks, which will not alarm the wild, particularly wary, preferring to bark at it at a standstill. It is precisely at this moment that the timbre of his bark changes, it becomes deeper, more pressing and rhythmic, as if he wants to recreate an acoustic circle around the game that allows him to keep safe distances.
Not least is the German hunting terrier. Little big hound, we are talking about a particularly stubborn, courageous and precise German breed, characterized by a very strong predatory instinct. The selection began already in the nineteenth century, when its hunting attitudes but also its great aggressiveness, slowly corrected, were noticed.
Il well trained dog it is able to carry out hunting from den, from above ground hunting, for retrieval, or hunting for wild boar from limi or single, proving infallible in the trace of blood and in the recovery of wounded animals. What makes him so suitable for hunting is his agility, his endurance, his speed and his attention.
Impossible to forget the Maremmano Hound, which was born in the woods and moves with surprising agility. Used when hunting fox, marten, porcupine, rabbit, hare, it gives its best when compared to wild boar.
To distinguish it is certainly the steady barking on the wild, although it is instinctively endowed with an innate familiarity with the search, with the approach, and with the sequel.
Not surprisingly called abbaione, it is endowed with truly surprising olfactory abilities that allow it to smell the ground and the tracks with great ability. But it is not only the good nose that distinguishes him, given that the Maremma is gifted with great intelligence and an exceptional memory. It can be said with certainty that during the hunt it refers to its own experience, sniffing the areas where it is more likely to hook tracks.
His tone of voice is bright, clean, decisive and dry. If equipped with a howling timbre it is likely that your Maremma had French influences.
Away from the handler, it often emits some very useful bark reflexes that allows the hunter to approach giving safety to the dog with his presence.
During the steady barking the dog's voice will be deep and rhythmic, but above all characterized by doubling and the dog will move only according to the movements of the ungulate. Among the hounds, it is not without reason that it is called one of the best stationary barkers given its ability to keep one or even more wild ones at bay.
Of course, there are many other excellent breeds for wild boar hunting. Just to name a few others we remember the mythical Italian Hound, the Ariegeois, the Spinone Italiano, the Beagle, the Alpenlaendische Dachbracke of Austrian origin, the Hanover Hound Saxon, the Barak of Bosnia and the Erdely Kopò.