Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Europe Ardennes Wild Boar hunt recommendations?

Anyone have a recommendation for an outfit in the Ardennes, for a day or half day hunt?

Seems like it would be a cool thing to do while a person is in the area.

Language is not a barrier.

I’ll bet it would be fun. And wish you luck finding an outfitter. My dad spent a couple of months hunting there as an 18 year old in 1944-1945.

Little luck so far.

I am awaiting a reply from the Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs des Ardennes in NE France, but am wondering if I ought to also check out across the border into Belgium.

I'm going to be at Bastogne (Belgium) checking out the history of the battle of the bulge, so right there anyway. Did your dad survive that part of WWII?

Very cool. My dad fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Some nasty fighting in that battle.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about boar hunts in the Ardennes, but it sounds like a fun thing to do.

They get big in Europe from what I hear

My grandpa tried to join at the beginning of the war but he had a congenital heart defect and was an electrician for Alcoa which was a sensitive and protected position for the war effort. He’d been turned down by the army and navy so he was dejected. By 1944 they called him and he became a soldier. It seems that heart defects were not a big concern for sacrificial machine gun fodder but grandpa didn’t care he WANTED to serve! Luckily grandpa wasn’t sent to the Bulge as they’d planned because it seems that your fathers, grandfathers and uncles fought with a bravery and tenacity that reliably brings tears to my eyes!

I got to know the most amazing man and the best grandpa a boy could have because of the bravery and dedication all your relatives exhibited!

To say THANKS seems so cheap and inadequate…

Yep, my dad got two bronze stars hunting in the Ardennes.

Chateau Stree (spelling?) in Stree, Belgium. Contact Bob Kern with Hunting Consortium.

Took an honest 300kg boar there many years ago.

First class accommodations at a Duke’s private estate.

Same here

My dad served in the Battle of Bulge and I had the opportunity to visit the area last year. It is very steep terrain in areas. I didn't look into hunting but in driving around, I saw some areas that the boars had been working over. There is a very nice small museum in La Roche, Belgium if you get over that way. I always wanted my dad to go back and revisit the area but he was never too interested. He never liked to talk about it other than to say he was a naïve teenager when he went over there and had a difficult time with the kind of brutality he witnessed. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. His company suffered about a 30% KIA rate.

One of these guys is my dad. Company E, 179th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division. I have an original of this pic.

That looks like a great read.

watch out for UXO, lots still about

I recommend blocking out at least 3 hours to visit the Bastogne War museum, I think I could have spent 4 but local friends took us, and made reservations to eat in town.

The Mardasson Memorial was closed for maintenance, (construction fence) but you could still walk around it and view from the outside.

LIBERATORIBVS
AMERICANIS
POPVLVS BELGICVS
MEMOR
IV.VII.MCMXLVI

(The Belgian people remember their American liberators – 4th July 1946)



I also would recommend eating at Wagon Leo/Bistro Leo where they took us in town.

for a sobering experience visit the Ossuaire du Duoaumont outside Verdun!

My father was captured in Sessenheim France, Rhine River area. Hope to go there next year as well as Normandy and other battle fields. Bastogne needs to be on the list. This thread morphed into one with great information. THANK YOU.

Finding a boar hunt in The Ardennes will be tricky. The best site I’ve used is

https://www.bookyourhunt.com/en/HuntingMap

I would contact German Chapter of SCI and or an Edward Ketner hunting store in Western Germany (Bonn) and inquire if they can advise outfitters.

SCI is best bet.

Many thanks to your father and the entire Company E, 179th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division.