Boar Shooting
The wild boar hunting season runs August to February with hunting allowed on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. In Les Corbières sangliers (boars) abound and of course you are allowed to hunt other animals in season, such as deer. You will be joining a real French chasse and hunting in the way they do. The chasse operates a driven hunt with 40 or so dogs, such as basset hounds, beagles and the grandly named for its small stature, griffon bleu de Gascogne.
The hunt is organised in a circle with hunters positioned at a fixed peg either in a tower or on the ground. The apportioning of posts is decided by drawing lots and the leader of the hunt will take you to your peg. Each hunter must have a horn, a lead and a fluorescent jacket. The hunting begins with a long blow on the horn and the dogs are set free. From this point on, no hunter can leave their peg. The hunters with the dogs chase the boar from the cover of the scrubland or wood until they break out of the circle so the hunters can fire. At the end of the hunt there are three long blows of the horn which means that everyone must unload their guns and wait for the leader of the hunt to release them from their peg.
The format is as follows: – After breakfast you will be driven to join one of the local Chasse which gathers at 8am. The leader of the hunt will begin by introducing everyone (especially the leader of the “line”) and the area; give an explanation of how the chasse is going to run that day, and the orders given by horn. After this you will start moving into position on the scrubland or outside a wood. You will hunt all morning stopping for a picnic about 1pm. At the close of the afternoon hunting session, about 5pm, you return to the chasse’s lodge and then the corks start popping as you share your experiences in Franglais with new found friends. The killed sangliers (boars) are then cut up and shared between the hunters who take it home for the pot.
