Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Europe Preparing for Driven Boar

I have a question for y'all about these driven boar hunts I see Horia and others advertising. Actually it's a bunch of questions.

Let me first set this up for you. I've just turned 60. I've been hunting since my early 20's. I've been boar hunting. However, it was a long time ago. For the past 18 years, I have been limiting myself to hunting on my farm in KY. I get deer, turkey, squirrel and the occasional coyote. While it has kept me sharp in a lot of areas, I admit that I am rusty on hunting stuff on the run. I hunt from blinds and stands, and the deer are highly cooperative. My big buck last year was chasing a doe that came by and stuck her head in my blind. I shot him about 20 yards out while she stood about 60 yards away watching. If I could just get them to crawl into the truck. . .

So let's say I retire in a few years, call up someone and tell him to book me a boar hunt. It looks fun. I've got plenty of boar-sized rifles, and plenty of ammo. My one problem is that I have not shot a running deer in 35 years. I haven't even tried. What should I do to prepare?

With a stationary target, it's pretty easy to set a specification, something like "Be able to shoot a pie-plate at 50 yards offhand." However, with a running target, it gets quite a bit more complicated.

I see some Youtubes of some phenomenal shooting at driven boar. Some of these guys are real artists. How do they build up to that? How do they stay in practice?

Years ago, some guys I know set up a couple bicycle wheels and some clothesline and had a deer target that would fly across the range. Few people could hit that target, I was probably better than a lot of folks. I could actually put it on the deer, but it was damn hard. Is that the sort of rig I should be building?

I have seen hunting clubs in northern Europe offer training simulations. Either electronic simulation or machine run targets. I have done some in Sweden. Pretty humbling until you get the hang of it.

With regard to stateside practice. I am fond of pushing a rabbit field with my rifle.You will miss more than you hit but it will sharpen the skill quickly.

You have a good idea, but I'd follow up with some practice on a real running boar target here in the states. Must be some somewhere. No doubt it'll cost you a bit, but such is life.

The other part of the equation is learning to identify the boars that you're allowed to shoot quicky and positively. I've seen some videos where a guide accompanies the shooter and calls out the legal targets as they run past.

If I wanted to hunt boar badly enough to go to Yurrup, I might just opt for a stand hunt or stalk. The other option is to try for one out of the dwindling population of boars here in WV. The state isn't trying to keep the project going anymore, so the season continues until they're gone. These are genuine wild boars, not piggies gone wild, but for whatever reason they haven't flourished.

My gun club has a running deer target. We use it for ham and turkey shoots and we have a sight-in day in October. It uses a pulley system and the cut-out deer rides an I-beam. An electric motor hooked to a small transmission provides the power. Front and back 3 shots approx 50 yards each way. It travels at a brisk walk and we shoot off-hand at 65 yards.

Sounds like fun, and probably humbling.

We squirrel hunt with 22s to prep for shooting moving deer.

I've been to Croatia Hungary and Austria on driven boar hunts! It's only takes a couple of misses to get your wits about you! Like my friend Markos says "shoozts vare the boar is going to be, not vare he vuzz! Worked for me, headed to Poland on Nov 5 for drive hunt in Slonowice with a group from the U.K., Then 3 days in Berlin to party and have fun!

I like the way Markos thinks.

Didn't read the previous responses but when my dad was going on a bear hunt we rigged up a target inside of an old spare tire and rolled it down hills while he blazed away at it. It was revealing as he could maintain a six inch group until I really got it bouncing and rolling fast. He also didn't maintain group size when I rolled it as fast as I could right at him. The faster and bouncier you can do this the better the practice. Skeet shooting would also be beneficial. I have broken a few clay pigeons with a rifle but where you can do this is limited.

My experience is strictly watching video, but from that I'd say that boars tend to run pretty flat and even if the terrain allows. They can flat get it when they want to.

Guys ,

The wild boar driven hun is not so complicated. It's true that the target is in the run and sometimes run very fast. Usually, we are not shooting in long distance, 90 % will be less than 100 m and 70% in less than 50 m.
Boars are big targets so in not a problem to aim the problem is to identify the correct target and place a deadly shoot! Wild boar is very tough animals and sometimes resist to a shoot very good.
We do not shoot the leader sow that you can easily see because have piglets after ...
We shoot piglets and solitary wild boar that in 90 % are males

Mark , one of the members here shooted 3 in just one drive.

It's not much help to you, but the method used in Germany when I hunted there was to go to a "shooting cinema" where you use your regular hunting rifle to shoot images on a projection screen that records bullet hits. Wonderful practise and very realistic! I found I was leading most of the targets too much, a result of a lot of shotgun wing shooting practise in the bird fields, that did not translate 100% when using rifle with bullets travelling more than twice as fast. Other than adjusting my lead to a bit less, shooting running boar is no different than shotgun shooting.

Break out the scattergun and bust some clays. You gotta shoot where they're gonna be.
Make sure your rifle feeds and ejects when you work the bolt as fast as you can.

In Romania most of the time you will shoot under 100 m , so the only problem is to have a steady hand and aim the head of the pig . sometimes you will shoot in 10 m ...so you must be just fast !

It's not that hard. Generally the range is short. The most common mistake that people make is over leading the target. As the saying goes, hold on hair, not on air.

Shot this sow running through the woods in dense cover last weekend at about 30-40 yds:



Held where I normally do for these shots, junction of the neck and body. You're looking at the exit wound in the picture. She was slightly quartering away when I got my break in the cover. Bullet went in just behind the shoulder, exited through the opposite shoulder.

David

I'm the guy that shot the 3 Boars that Horia mentioned.
I worked the bolt on a CZ in 300WM as fast as I could, things happen fast when the hogs come running at you!
Using a Auto loader would be the way to go that's why the Benelli R1 is highly regarded there.
Like he said the boars usually aren't very far away, they try and push them right on top of you.
Busting some clays sure helps out a persons timing, even setting up some targets and shooting then with a 22 as fast as possible helps.
Driven hunts are really a experience that every hunter needs to experience at least once in their life!

Are red dot sights more popular for driven boar than regular scopes? In the videos I've seen, red dots are prevalent.

with a red dot sights suppose that you will aim faster than with a scope , but with a scope for driven hunts with a big field of view it should be the same

If you have a muzzle loader, you could go to friendship ind. At their 2 annual shoots they have a running boar target that you can shoot to your hearts content. Contact the national muzzle loading association they can help you, If you don't have a traditional muzzle loader just don't shoot for score. Its a lot of fun and helped me a lot when hunting out west for antelope.