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I have owned night binoculars of ancient generations (probably russian surplus)and have observed wild boar through their barrels.

I understand the newer generation instruments are much more efficient.

I can't see the day when night-vision riflescopes will be legalized for night hunting in Europe as these are classified military material.

I personnally would'nt object to their use, because wild boar population is out of control in many areas despite repeated drive hunts. I would rather use a night-vision riflescope to cull the animals than be forced to disperse birth control chemicals in the nature.

Here's some images for those who are not familiar with drive-hunting. This is the result of a friday-saturday drive hunt in the Alsatian Vosges mountains (north eastern France) that yielded 75 wild boar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O99iYo9L1vk

Comments are in french, but for those that do not understand the language images speak for themselves.

The very best night-vision binoculars and scopes are astonishing. I can't justify their cost myself, but could if I lived in Texas. Have a friend who owns them, and we have sneaked right into the middle of a bunch of pigs at night, and could place at least the first shot precisely at 100 yards. Silencers are legal in Texas as well, but the pigs are now very sensitive to even the slightest sound, even the thump of a "suppressed" round.

I had heard that pigs are becoming pests in parts of Europe. They are to the point here where along with night-vision and thermal imaging, shooting from helicopters is common. But they catch on quickly to the sound of helicopters.

Thanks for the link to the drive images.

I just got back from a hiking trip in Corsica. We saw pig sign all over the place, especially under chestnut, beech, and oak trees, and ran into several hunting parties.

I don't speak French or Corsu, so communication was pretty limited, but they were all using shotguns, from a truly ancient Browning Auto-5 and a Manufrance Robust double to the usual black plastic Italian autos. Most seemed to have Brennecke slugs in their ctg. belts.

Only saw one dead and one live boar, but the dead one was huge, and had torn up a dog pretty bad. They appreciated my first aid kit, which just happened to have some dog drugs and antibiotic in it, ready for our bird seasons.

Corsica and some other areas of southern France feature a special type of cover called "maquis".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquis_shrubland

Hunting conditions are often a point-blank proposition and dictate the use of shotguns for best efficiency.

jmschitt,

as you ve seen you are not the only one that hunted in Europe and even in other places ...

btw in Yukon its still one hour before and after the sun.

surprised that your son is no more using his full stock 9.3x62 left hand zastava ...

John: the pest for wildboar are due too to feeding them a lot even if now this is prohibited .... we start to have this issue now in Canada too.

Well, Friend Yukonphil, let's face it: international hunting is a matter of budget or acquaintances and generally both...

As a result, alike most of us, there is many places I haven't visited, and many species I have never put a sight on because my budget did not necessarily match all my dreams.

As to my son's full-stocked 9,3x62, it has been standing iddle in the gun cabinet for several years: the guy is busy making a career abroad, which is yet another sort of challenge these years...

Finally, I doubt feeding is the reason for the multiplication of wild boar in Europe.

Modern agriculture in many parts of Europe, namely huge, boring corn fields provide such shelter and quantities of food that the multiplication of pigs was written in the stars anyways.