Acro™ S-2
9.8.2022
"Hunting wild boar is a thrilling experience and for many hunters this is their favorite type of hunt, with the potential for a lot of action and breathtaking moments.The tradition goes back thousands of years. Nowadays, due to an increasing wild boar population, it is not only popular but necessary to limit consequences for humans and nature."
Wild boar hunting - as essential as enjoyable!
A game widely spread
The history of wild boar dates back over 11 000 years. Sweden, Norway and Denmark have had wild boar since the Stone Age. They became extinct but were reinstated on wild boar farms. Escapes from these farms in the 1970s and 1980s established a rapidly increasing population, mainly in the south of Sweden.
Today Sweden has the largest population in Scandinavia. There is wild boar in most European countries with an especially large population in Germany and France. There are also wild boar in the north of Africa, all of Asia and in Japan.
Wild boars and humans
For good reason many people are afraid of wild boar. A wild boar can weigh up to 100 kg, but some males are known to even reach over 200 kg. Their tusks in combination with their high speed up to 50 km/h make them potentially dangerous with the ability to do a lot of harm.
The sight of a keiler running full speed towards you is an adrenaline-boosting experience for most people. However, generally wild boars are not dangerous. Instead, they are shy creatures that normally keep away from humans. The situation is obviously different when they feel threatened for example during a hunt or when a sow is protecting her piglets. Still, their main instinct is to escape.
Wild Boar can however be a threat to dogs, who will not stand a chance if attacked.
Wild boars and farmland
As the wild boar population grows stronger, the number of traffic accidents with the animals increases. Each year thousands of road accidents are caused by wild boar.
Wild boars are also known to do harm to farm land. They love to root around in the dirt searching for something to eat. Tracks and even large pits can be found in their habitats. Wild boar have a habit of damaging crops. For example, corn fields that offer wild boar both food and a safe place to hide. This, however, can cause serious damage to the crops.
The managing of wild boar through hunting helps prevent them from destroying agricultural land.
Wild boar typically prefer woodland areas were bushes and trees offer shelter and a place to hide. But in many countries in Europe, urbanization has driven the boar out of their natural habitats forcing them to live alongside human population. For example, in Spain and Germany, groups of wild boars have been seen roaming around town at all hours.
The arrival of wild boar in town squares and city parks is not without problems. Wild boars are susceptible to diseases, especially if the population is too dense. The most serious is swine fever, which can also infect domestic pigs (but not humans). In some cases, they also do a lot of damages on private property grounds and city green areas.
Population control through hunting
Managing the wild boar population through driven hunt is essential. The collaboration between hunters and farmers is an important effort to avoid extensive problems. It is a fact that current levels of recreational hunting is insufficient to limit the wild boar population growth.
The relative impact of hunting on wild boar mortality has decreased and is currently not enough to prevent the expanding population with increasing negative impacts.
Even though we need to manage the wild boar strain, wild boar hunting should be conducted with high ethics, just as with all hunting. The care we give to the wild animals, the way we conduct the hunting itself, the way we kill the animal and how we treat the killed game - all are elements within the concept of hunting ethics. Hunters should see the game as a resource to be managed with a long-term perspective.
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