Turned and wild boar hunting: Training your dog to a particular hunting method is an essential requirement for the hunter, with which the success rate of the day is increased and guaranteed.
Furthermore, it is important to distinguish the most suitable breed from another for boar hunting, so that the hunter brings the right auxiliary with him. This awareness and knowledge in the hunting field not only preserve the chances of success of the hunt, but also ensure that degree of safety which is indispensable for both the hunter and the dog.
With today's article we will try to clarify the specific dog breeds for a particular hunting mode: the turn to boar. This wild leathery is a coveted prey for many hunters and turning is one of the most popular practices for settling it.
For the latter, having already described it in previous articles, we will limit ourselves to remembering only the most salient aspects to refresh the reader's memory. If the latter wishes to deepen the subject, we invite him to read the articles that concern him specifically.
The wild boar turn is a hunting technique that involves the participation of two or at most three well-knit hounds trained by a single handler. These dogs are flanked by 3-5 hunters, who have the task of circumscribing and delimiting the obligatory or known passages of the wild boar. Entering the territory of a wild boar with their dogs means, initially, finding traces of the wild. Generally, when the seguci identify the fresh traces of the wild boar, a specimen of the pack is dissolved and continues the journey calmly patrolling the area of probable recovery of the wild. In some cases, it is his dogs who are disbanded in order to increase the chances of finding the wild boar; the entire pack of hounds is rarely dissolved: in this case this happens when you are in environments with very dense vegetation. Having found the hiding place of the wild boar, the dogs must make the wild move without forcing them excessively, in order to induce it to travel the usual routes to be intercepted by hunters stationed even very far from the meeting point.
The use of one or two dogs in this way, called "short", allows the game to move slowly and arrive at the post without haste. All this is aimed at making a precise shot, controlling the animal that is about to be killed and observing the impact of the blow. The success of the tour depends on many factors, first of all the detailed knowledge of the hunting area, the paths generally used by the wild boar and its remittances.
Another element that contributes to the success of the shoot is the choice of breeds for this hunting method. The breeds of hound they are all to be considered suitable for this work, whose voice on the cold pass is of considerable help to the hunters' posting, who follow the scouting action from afar and with their ears. The breeds more skilled at turning are the “short leg” ones, as they are easier to maneuver and follow in the woods, being relatively slow compared to the chased game. Among the latter it is useful to mention the Basset Hound, the English and German terriers such as the German Dachshund and the Yag terrier, the Bavarian and Hanoverian hounds, and also Austrian breeds such as the Brandl Brake, Tiroler Brake, and the Dachs Brake. .
The most used breeds among those just mentioned are the Basset Hound, the German Dachshund, the Yag terrier and the Dachs Brake. Knowing the breeds is not enough, but their training at the turn is equally essential. Any hound employed in this hunting mode must necessarily respond to all utility commands such as "sit", "land," "foot or back" and correctness on a leash, correctness at the sight of the game, return to command or hasty past the post. Once the dog has learned these commands, he can be considered ready for the turn, since at that point he must use the most developed sense to find the selatic: the sense of smell.
The prompt response to these utility commands involves specific and laborious, but rather easy training. For the latter, you can also contact professional trainers, who will guide the handler during all stages of the training. Some dog experts and hunters advise to compose the pack of dogs of the same breed and of the opposite sex, in order not to run into jealousies that can compromise their work. The German breeds, in fact, usually count highly individualistic dogs, not very suitable for moulting. So 2-3 dogs are the maximum to lead to the turn.
The equipment to be used in training to turn the wild boar is not really specific, as a training leash, 3-4 meters long to lead the dog and a 3-4 cm wide collar to allow greater adherence to the neck and avoid annoying jerks to the dog. For the latter it is strongly recommended to use fluorescent material, a red or an orange to make the dog visible in the thicket during the chase; another trick to use can be a bell to identify the position of the dog in the thick of the woods.
To give an idea of how a pack of hounds acts in the turn, we will briefly describe the action of the dogs and their tasks below. The maverick begins the search in a radius of 50-100 m, to warn with the bark the identification of the shelter of the animals. Depending on the position of the dog's bark on the den, the posts distance themselves and control the known passages along a path in the scrub. At this point the handler can untie the second dog to force the boar towards the post. The handler serves the dogs and inciting them participates in the disturbing action of the wild animals, while a group detaches and travels 150 m inside the scrub and then stops.
The handler calls the dog closest to the post office, since the solitary exit of the animal would still be intercepted by one of the post offices. Always the conductor orders silence as he moves upstream to force the wild boar to flee towards the post office. Once posted, the conductor orders to give the voice again.
Ultimately, only the training of dogs, the knowledge of the most suitable breeds and the good harmony of the group of hunters allows excellent results.