Wild boar of the year or adult, which is better. Determining the age of the boar. Main directions of management

A fingerling is a young boar that was born less than a year ago. Hunting for such animals is especially popular in Russia, as it is much easier and more efficient. Juveniles are easier to catch, as they do not have much experience in protection. Also their wool and meat are the most valued in the market.

Young piglets are small in size. Most often, their color has lighter shades, as soon as after a year they begin to darken. They also have long legs, which is one of the characteristic features of young boars. Males are slimmer in appearance than females, they also have a lush mane. In a pack of wild boars, except for the leader, all the rest are most often female. Young male boars most often walk separately. In order to start this type of hunting, it is necessary to have not only the necessary equipment, but also pay special attention to the special skills that are needed during the hunt.

The main stages of hunting

You need to understand that hunting a young boar is quite difficult and sometimes dangerous. If the underyearling is with her female, who will be frightened by the shooting, then this can become a risk to the life of the hunter. Therefore, in this case it is necessary to be as accurate and careful as possible. In order to start this type of hunting, you need to know certain steps that must be followed, only then it will be possible to hope for a successful process.

• First of all, it is necessary to go around all the lands where wild boars graze, in particular the places where animals have to eat are inspected.
• After traces of animals are found, a corral is carried out.
• At the same time, hunters (from six people) should be located on one side of the forest, in a place where there is a herd.
• Beaters at the same time begin to actively make noise and at the same time they should be directed to the shooters. At this point, the boars will begin to move away from danger, and will move towards the shooters.
• At this moment, the most important thing is not to lose your dexterity and hit the target accurately, because otherwise, the game can run away or attack a person.
• If all goes well, the hunter stays with his trophy.

Place of action - Tver region, Zapovednye estuary.

Nice trophy with those fangs.

The wild boar often causes painful disagreements between employees of hunting farms and farmers, because. in some cases, it causes significant damage to agricultural crops, and the only way to combat it in the summer is considered to be shooting on "grass". However, this measure should become a thing of the past, and today we have no right to carry out uncontrolled shooting “without rules”, during which leading females, middle-aged bulls, are sometimes destroyed.

Shooting must be targeted and directed, both to use and to maintain the optimal abundance of the species. In addition, we are talking about conducting selective shooting among wild boars (as well as among other species). This shooting should be considered as an important event for the formation of highly productive populations, the preservation of their genetic and physiological fund. Unfortunately, even in those cases when selection work is carried out, it suffers from one-sidedness, because it is most often carried out only among males. Females, young, semi-adult and elderly individuals, which make up the majority of the population, are outside the selection, i.e. are not industrialized in the required percentage. A certain ratio of all sex and age groups must be maintained in the population. Without observing this principle, it is impossible to get either good trophies or high numbers. In accordance with the principles of such shooting, on the one hand, damage to agricultural crops is prevented, and on the other hand, there is the possibility of directed (targeted) shooting of animals culled during the planned shooting. It is very important to maintain the number of wild boars at a level corresponding to the productivity of the land and the preservation of the most mature and powerful animals. In other words, it is necessary to correctly assess the condition of all age groups of the herd and destroy the least promising ones.

Often, during shootings, animals are shot that could be excellent producers for several years.

The family is not without freaks.

Insofar as the fundamental principle is to maintain the optimal state of the population, it should be taken into account that only from a powerful, physically strong, healthy underyearling, a strong gilt will grow, which will eventually develop into a powerful trophy billhook. First of all, those individuals from all age classes that have pronounced physical disabilities are subject to shooting. I would like to note that in slightly disturbed biocenoses, natural selection guarantees selection, but in hunting farms, where a person takes on the role of a regulator of numbers (and especially density), things take a slightly different turn. A person strives to have a high number of game animals, exterminates predators, carries out abundant feeding, carries out veterinary measures that reduce the likelihood of epizootics, etc. As a result of all these measures, weakened individuals survive, they are unstable, behavioral stereotypes change. Decrease in the action of natural selection factors leads to the grinding of animals. But valuable qualities of the population can be preserved by systematic selection by shooting. To do this, it is necessary to know some features of the morphology and biology of the wild boar: to be able to distinguish underyearlings from two-year-olds in a natural setting by characteristic external features, and in adults to determine sex; know the average accepted level of development (weight, body size, typical coloration for a given population and molting terms; terms of mass farrowing; be able to distinguish a healthy boar from a sick or wounded boar by behavior). For example, physically defective females that give birth to defective offspring, which later becomes the cause of population degradation. If such a case occurs, you need to shoot the female, and then her entire brood. Powerful females leading broods (hereinafter referred to as leading ones) are the basis for maintaining the qualitative state of the population. It should be noted that if in the first year of life there are no necessary conditions for the full development of underyearlings, then it will be possible to catch up later. impossible. Shooting of females must be done under absolute control. By the way, it was noted that it is the orphaned young of the year that cause the greatest harm to agricultural crops. Such animals usually concentrate on the territory that they managed to recognize while their mother was alive.

Due to their inexperience, underyearlings look for the most readily available food. Underyearlings, whose mother died as a result of improper shooting, are deprived of mother's milk, as a result of which they will never be able to develop into physically strong, healthy animals. In practice, it turns out that by shooting a female who has piglets, we weaken the population. When shooting, the following principles must be observed:

Big family. Leading females with offspring.

• 90% of the planned shooting should be fingerlings and gilts (65-75% fingerlings and 15-25% gilts)
• The remaining 10% are females and bulls who have stepped over the age of maturity (over 8 years old), barren females that have not had broods for 2 years in a row, walking alone.
• Gilts weighing less than 40 kg.
• Underyearlings weighing less than 20 kg.
• Gilts and underyearlings of spotted, light or black color.
• Throughout the year, prohibit the shooting of healthy leading females.
• In addition, you need to make sure that this is a female, and not a low-quality billhook.
• It must be remembered that all age groups should be harvested, but in different percentages.

The rule that the weakest individual in the herd is to be destroyed, when shooting females in general, should be elevated to the rank of a higher law. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the late dates of estrus, i.e. shoot late-born children first.

Determining the age of the boar.

When shooting piglets in the piglet age group in time during the winter months, special care must be taken not to mistakenly shoot the leading individual in the herd. It goes without saying that only a few females can and should safely survive the age of gilts, since the increase in the number of females in older age categories will adversely affect the sex ratio of individuals within the population as a whole. Therefore, in order to maintain an optimal sex ratio, it is recommended, ceteris paribus, to shoot the female, and not the billhook. As for billhooks, in the total number of individuals shot, their percentage should be low. To a certain extent, control over the course of shooting in general (and bulls in particular) should be carried out on a specific territory of the economy under the strict control of the hunting user. The billhook to be shot should give the impression of a powerful, mature individual. Before shooting, it is necessary to be completely convinced on the basis of clear external signs that the billhook is really to be shot. If there is no complete certainty, culling cannot be carried out, since there is a danger of erroneous shooting of young, not quite mature bulls. A billhook that has passed the age of a gilt and entered an older age category (over 3 years old) is not subject to shooting. In no case should such wild boars be culled, even if, according to formal age signs, they are included in the group of those who are shot. Killing young boars that are not yet of age to be shot is often justified in the interest of protecting nature and preventing harm to agriculture (which could be achieved by other means). However, in reality, such an illiterate shooting causes much more significant harm to nature. It is known that young growth mainly stays in forests where there is a good forage base, and practically does not leave them, encroaching on agricultural land extremely rarely and only for a short time. The argument that young animals should be shot is based on low skill, lack of hunting culture and deep ignorance of the actual state of affairs. In practice, in the absence of preventive measures, herds of gilts and pigs with litters of year-old piglets can harm agriculture. Among them are the following groups:

While the young are feeding on milk.

• Herds consisting of one female with piglets of the year. Outwardly, such herds are easily distinguishable from other groups.
• Herds consisting of several females with piglets of the year. In such groups, one female is usually subject to shooting.
• Herds consisting of gilts and their older siblings or individuals from other broods.
• Mixed herds in which it is possible to distinguish a four-year-old billhook (especially during the rutting season or in the presence of good food) and a female with yearlings.
• All other, solitary individuals can be: bulls, barren females (relatively rare), sick individuals, or experienced females that have isolated themselves to live on their own.

Powerful bulls during the rut almost never join the herds. They can only accidentally meet a herd on their way, and if there are females in heat in it, the billhooks stay for the night, and in the morning they leave the herd again. In conclusion, it should be added that in the population as a whole, individuals of light or yellowish shades are considered undesirable and should not be preserved. They need to be shot at the age of piglets of the year or gilts. The presence of such individuals in older age classes indicates that the shooting was not carried out quite correctly, and these individuals need to be eliminated. The exception here is the leading alpha females during the forbidden time for hunting. Regarding the appearance of light-colored or spotted individuals in the herds of wild boars, I would like to clarify the following. According to the works of Tsarev S.A. such individuals arise as a result of mating of young females - underyearlings with young males, because. they instinctively avoid large billhooks. As a result of mating of individuals that have not reached full physical development and often closely related mating (inbreeding), a brood with an atypical color appears. As a rule, such animals should be shot. If a late-giving female appears in the herd, the entire brood is shot, including her. But if you meet a spotted or light-colored female of a fairly mature age and well-formed, do not rush to shoot her, because her offspring may already be of a completely normal color, moreover, she will not inherit those undesirable traits that she got. Heredity, as you know, has variability, and natural selection consolidates only those traits that best suit environmental conditions.

The main directions of management.

Frightened gilts quickly scatter.

As with other types of game animals, the management of game management with wild pigs requires a union of science and practice. As prerequisites, the following should be taken into account: an inventory of hunting grounds in order to determine the key habitats of the wild boar, ensuring its year-round existence in terms of food, protection and farrowing places, the presence of predators and wild dogs, the anthropogenic factor, the possibility of creating fodder fields and distracting feeding. Next, we will talk about the composition of the population by sex and age, which gives the highest productivity, both in terms of quantity and quality of animals. The sex ratio has a great influence on the amount of growth. It depends on the circumstance, how many females are involved in reproduction, what is their fecundity, and it largely depends on age. The task of the economy is to achieve a sex ratio of 1:1. But, in view of the fact that hunters tend to get the largest animals, and these are, as a rule, males, the sex ratio shifts in favor of females. Sometimes, when wild boars cause great damage to agriculture, a ratio of 2: 1 in favor of males is also acceptable. This ratio gives a great opportunity to grow trophy animals.

Age classes.

Unlike other species of ungulates, whose age is relatively easy to determine by eye according to the features of the body and trophies, the age of wild pigs is rather difficult to determine and requires some experience and observation in their determination. Age is most accurately determined at the childhood stage of development. Both sexes are characterized as a brood (wild boars up to a year old) or, as is customary with us, “yearlings”. According to the German classification, this age is considered from March to May of the next year and is called "pigs". At this age, males and females are indistinguishable from each other, but are easily distinguished at a distance from older animals. At one time, Brandt (Brandt 1961) developed an approximate scheme for determining the age of harvested animals depending on the development of the lower canines, and Przibilsky (Przibilski, 2001) on the wear of the upper ones. Here is the diagram:

An attempt was made to roughly determine the scoring on a hunted wild boar, whose fangs have not yet been removed. Its essence is as follows: we measure the lower fangs at the base of the section. By the wear of the upper and lower fangs, we determine the approximate age. Based on the Brandt formula, we find the width at the base of the canine. Since it appears from the work of some experts that the lower canines protrude one third from the jaw, we can find the total length of the lower canine by adding two thirds. The girth of the upper canines is easy to measure, because. their most powerful part is usually measurable. As a result, we get all the measurement parameters, but we cannot judge discounts and surcharges. However, this data is sufficient to determine which award the trophy is worth. But this is only the author's assumption, perhaps hunters will try to check it. It was stated for one purpose: hunters should know the dignity and value of the trophy. On living animals, some differences from each other are noticed, but we repeat that they require very great attention when identifying them, more precisely, these differences are better and more accurately determined by huntsmen and hunters, who, by the nature of their activities, have the opportunity to constantly observe wild boars in natural conditions and under different lighting conditions. Below is a description of wild boars of different ages and illustrations for descriptions that could help hunting specialists in their work, and hunters would serve as a small guide when hunting wild boars.

Underyearlings.

Such a boar and water is not a barrier.

They have a child-shaped head, a short snout, small ears, covered with short bristles. Light spots are clearly visible on the head. The color of the body is striped, yellowish-brown, which lasts up to 5-6 months, completely disappears in August. The tail is short and thin, reaching to the middle of the thigh. In winter attire, the body seems to be more powerful due to the overgrown underfur. The legs are relatively short and covered with dark hair. In good light and at a short distance, the brush on the tail is already noticeable at this time. In the illustration on the right, the letter A denotes a 4-month-old underyearling, and the letter B denotes an 8-month-old.

Piglet.

The next age class is "gilts". It is considered from one to 2 years. There is no more precise definition, because even boars a year older often look like classic gilts. The head, due to the overgrown winter bristles, seems short and blunt; the childish forms completely disappear. The shape of the body becomes more powerful, especially in the front. Light stripes are not visible. On the lips, swelling is clearly visible, through which the tips of the lower fangs are visible. The ears are short, covered with powerful bristles. The tail is long, almost to the hock, with a brush at the end. By December, the length of the lower fangs is on average 116 mm. The width at the base is 19.0 mm, at the beginning of the section - 12.0 mm. The Brandt number is 1.6. The girth of the upper fangs is 54 mm. Average weight 38.0 kg. On the left is a male, on the right is a female. The question of weight is quite controversial, because. it entirely depends either on the abundance of natural food, or on appropriate feeding. So, for example, in the Moscow Regional Society, underyearlings reach a weight of 41 kg due to abundant feeding, naturally, the weight of gilts is much higher. At the same time, in societies where everything is not so safe, weight indicators are much lower. This example is given to emphasize the exceptional importance of winter feeding.

Two-year-old boar.

Two-year-old boar. He has a powerful short head, childlike features completely disappear, the crease on the lips increases, the tips of the lower fangs and the rudiments of the upper ones begin to look through it, but only in summer. In winter, due to regrown wool, they are not visible. The figure is more massive than that of the gilt, especially in the front. The front legs are powerful and short. The summer coat is grey, the winter coat is dark brown to black due to the regrown long bristles. In winter attire, the ears are covered with powerful, short, dark bristles. The line of the back is arched, in the transition from the back to the neck, a deepening is noticeable, then a smooth decrease from the withers to the thigh. The tail is thicker and longer than that of a gilt with a long tassel. By January, such a wild boar should have (on average) the following indicators: The length of the lower fangs is 127.0 mm. The width at the base is 20.0 mm, the width at the beginning of the section is 14.0 mm. The Brandt number is 1.5. The girth of the upper canines is 60.0 mm.

Middle-aged boar (3-5 years).

Boar head 3-5 years old.

Boar from 3 to 5 years. The head is powerful, blunt in shape. The ears are large and covered with dark hair. The boundary between it and the body is clearly traced. Powerful snout, highly raised labial folds. In five-year-old billhooks, the lower and upper fangs are clearly distinguishable. The transition between the head and neck in summer is hardly noticeable, especially in older individuals. From the middle, the line of the back to the hips goes down, abruptly breaking off towards the back. The body is massive and short, most of it is located in the front. The front legs are short, powerful, squat than in 2 years old. The tail is powerful and long, with a large brush at the end, reaching to the heel joint. The sexual organ is clearly outlined even in winter wool. Behavior is typically solitary. Only during the rut appears in the herd of females, but plays an insignificant role, because. driven off by more powerful males. In a state of excitement, the hair on the back is strongly fluffed up, and the billhook looks even more massive. When settling, it behaves extremely carefully, keeping in dense thickets of young growths. It comes out to feeding grounds only late at night. A billhook of this age has the following average trophy rates:

• The average length of the lower canines is 159.0 mm.
• The width at the base is 22.0 mm.
• The girth of the upper canines is 68.0 mm.
• The Brandt number is 1.2.

At the age of 5 to 7 years, the growth of the skeleton ends in wild boars.

Boar 8-9 years old.

A powerful beast, the head is equal in length to a third of the body, the neck is practically not expressed, it immediately passes into the back, which rises with a smooth hump to half of the body, then gradually decreases to the hips, from them it sharply drops to the tail. The ears are large, covered with black bristles, the fangs are clearly visible through the labial fold, most of the body weight is located in the front, the legs are short and powerful. At the withers there is a long dark brown bristle, the so-called "brush". The tail is long and strong, the brush at the end of the tail reaches 25 cm. The indicators of trophies are as follows:

Adult boar-Odinets.

• The average length of the lower fangs is 22.3 cm.
• The width at the base is 29 mm.
• The average girth of the upper canines is 7.8 cm.
• The Brandt number is 1.01.

By this age, the growth of the skeleton had ended, the increase in the width of the lower canines had completed, both at the base and at the beginning of the section, and the wear of the lower and upper canines had finally formed. The trophy gained the largest dimensions both in terms of the length and width of the lower canines, and in terms of the girths of the upper ones. Now the wild boar in the full sense of the word is trophy - mature. In subsequent years, the growth of canines continues extremely slowly, various kinds of deformations occur, often the width of the lower canines at the beginning of the section becomes greater than at the base.

In accordance with the age of the piglets of the current year of birth are called "year-olds", last year's - "gilts" or "lonchaks", a male 2-3 years old - "young billhook", from 3 to 5 years old "hook", 5-7 years old " mature billhook", 8 years and older - "Odinets".

Females have the following gradation: primiparous or two-year-old female, middle-aged and old female. A female with offspring is called a leading female, covered every year - by a female - leader or female - resident. On the basis of her broods, a family-group union is built. The idling female is called barren. The rate of reproduction depends on the number and age of females involved in reproduction. Peak productivity in females occurs at 5-7 years and continues until old age. Females - underyearlings participating in reproduction, do not give an actual increase in numbers, because their offspring do not survive the winter. In unfavorable years, they are completely excluded from reproduction. The main role in reproduction is played by the availability of food in the autumn-winter period.

Mature cleaver.

In addition to age gradation, there is also a gradation of trophy (productive) maturity for males.

Class 1a: The billhook, which is the purpose of management, must meet the following requirements: its age must be at least 8 years old. Cleaver should give the impression of a mature, powerful beast. Its weight in the summer period is not less than 85 kg. The ratio according to the Brandt formula is from 1.03 to 1.0. The width of the lower fangs should be at least 24 cm on average. The girth of the upper fangs should be on average 65 mm. The trophy score is at least 100 points according to the CIC system.

Class 2a: billhook of all age classes, unmistakably defined, according to the size of the hull and its weight corresponding to its class, but not yet mature, not having reached the necessary conditions. The lower canines according to the Brandt formula are from 1.50 to 1.05, the width of the lower canines at the beginning of the section should correspond to the age class and differ from the width at the base from 3 to 6 mm, which in the future makes it possible to expect an even greater width in adulthood. The girth of the upper canines should correspond to the age class: In the gilt - an average of 55 to 60 mm. In young bulls (2-3 years old), on average, from 60 to 65 mm. In middle-aged billhooks (from 3 to 5 years) - an average of 65 to 75 mm.

Shooting planning.

The boar plows for feeding.

When planning the shooting, it is necessary to take into account the ratio of sex and age in the herd, as well as the purpose of the economy. Typically, under normal conditions, shooting by age class is planned as follows: 90% of the planned shooting should be for piglets and gilts (65-75% of piglets, 15-25% of gilts) and 10% of females and bulls that have reached trophy maturity. When carrying out shootings, it is necessary to adhere to the rules that were mentioned above, namely, unproductive animals should be removed first of all: In terms of farrowing, females with late (June-July) broods, including piglets, are shot. At the same time, the female is shot first, and then the piglets. Pigs whose weight in autumn is less than 40 kg, piglets with an autumn weight of less than 20-25 kg, piglets that retain traces of striping in August, especially with signs of weakness, piglets with deviations from normal coloration (white-motley and black), single females, do not producing broods for 3 years, mature bulls, which by the beginning of the rut do not gain their maximum weight. Mature old bulls who have passed the highest point of their development, females and bulls, older than 8 years. Animals that are characterized by slow movements, coughing, passivity. Distinctive features of their exterior are the sagging of the backside, hunchback, the hair on the back is fluffy. There is one misconception among rangers: they believe that the larger the old boar, the better the producer. Generally speaking, young females, for example, (according to the observations of Tsarev SA) instinctively avoid such giants. Younger, but already mature males, such a “grandfather” drives away, but one does not have time to cover all the females. As a result, a large percentage of emasculated females appears; there is a decrease in the productivity of the herd. That's why it is more rational to withdraw such a billhook in time. The huge head of such a billhook is an excellent trophy, even if his fangs are not very large. A scarecrow from it (if there is a taxidermist on the farm) will cost a lot of money.

The material was prepared by A.I. Asinovsky,
trophy group of the CPU of the Rosokhotrybolovsoyuz Association.

With a high fecundity of wild boars, there is also a high mortality of young animals: 2.2% of the cubs die at birth, 21.8% die in the first month, 15.3% die before 6 months. Based on observations of 831 farrowings, it was found that only 60% of newborns survive up to 8 months.

In accordance with the terms for obtaining wildlife objects classified as hunting objects, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 18 dated January 10, 2009, the hunting terms, for example, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, are as follows (excluding hunting for adult males):
. elk, all sex and age groups: November 1 - December 31 (p. 16);
. wild boar, all sex and age groups, except for females with offspring of the current year: June 1-December 31 (p. 22);
. age up to one year: from January 1 -
28 (29) February;
. Siberian roe deer, all sex and age groups: October 1-December 31 (p. 28).

"The standard for the permissible removal of ungulates under the age of 1 year, without division by gender, is established for hunting resources: elk - up to 20%, wild boar - from 40 to 80%, roe deer (European and Siberian) - up to 50% of the quota" (from the order of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation dated April 30, 2010 No. 138).

The shooting of wild boar underyearlings, given the high mortality of young animals, is a biologically justified measure, replacing natural mortality for various reasons. But not everyone knows about it, and if he knows, he does not realize it.
When preparing a document approving the limit for the extraction of hunting resources, the executive body of state power of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, in accordance with orders of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia dated April 30, 2010 No. 138 and dated June 29, 2010 No. 228, determines quotas indicating (if necessary) the number of individuals under the age of one year , adults.

Part 2 of Article 333.3 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation stipulates: “In case of removal of young animals (under one year of age) of wild ungulates, the fee rates for the use of wildlife objects are set at 50 percent of the rates established by paragraph 1 of this article.”

Civil law provides for the recovery of not the alleged, but the real amount of unjust enrichment. If we calculate the amount of recovery of the value of illegally used hunting products, then the basis should be based on the real, and if it is impossible to establish it, the average weight of the meat carcasses of animals, both adult animals and underyearlings, and not overstated relative to the real average, established by the Model Hunting Rules in the RSFSR.

For example, according to the Model Rules, the weight of the meat carcass of an elk for calculating the amount of recovery of the cost of meat should be everywhere for each elk 170 kg. Data by V.M. Glushkova, who has been conducting research on elk and other ungulates for more than 30 years, testifies that the average weight of the meat carcass of elk in the Kirov region in different seasons fluctuates around 150 kg (six seasons, a sample of 8645 elks). Therefore, the Rules for hunting in the Kirov region established that when calculating the amount of the cost of meat, the weight of the carcass is taken equal to 150 kg. Review of literary sources and own research by V.M. Glushkova present the following data regarding the weight of the meat carcass of young animals:
. elk underyearlings: females - 77 kg (plus or minus 6), males - 79 kg (plus or minus 3);
. boar-yearlings: 21-25 kg.

Even by the weight of the carcass of an elk or other wild hoofed animal skin left at the place of cutting, it is easy to establish the real weight of the meat of the animal. In other words, if the weight of wild animal meat is established in the Hunting Rules, then it must be reasonable, differentiated depending on age - young adults (Kraev N.V. Recovery of the value of illegally obtained hunting products: legal problems. Journal of Russian law, 2002).
Part 1 of Article 8.37 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides that for violation of the rules of hunting, administrative liability arises in the form of an administrative fine: on citizens - in the amount of one thousand to two thousand rubles with or without confiscation of hunting tools or deprivation of the right to hunt for up to two years; on officials - from ten thousand to fifteen thousand rubles with or without confiscation of hunting tools.

In the judicial practice of the Republic of Bashkortostan, illegal hunting of wild boar, including wild boar under the age of one year, constitutes a crime under Part 1 of Article 258 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: illegal hunting with causing large damage.

The above can be perceived as an analogue of the hunting minimum for a novice hunter or brief information on how hunting for ungulates, including ungulates under the age of one year, is formally “furnished”, and what should be expected in case of violation of the requirements of legislation in the field hunting and conservation of hunting resources.
I hope everyone has already understood that there are such hunting resources as elk, roe deer and wild boar.

Immediately after August 1 of the current year (from the moment the highest official of the subject of the Russian Federation approved the document on approving the limit for the extraction of hunting resources), any hunter became aware of the extent and in which hunting grounds the quotas for hunting elk, roe deer and wild boar older than 1 year were approved ( adults) and up to one year (underyearlings). Subsequently, the hunter, being aware of what kind of animal he wants to get, personally submits an application either to the hunting user, assuming hunting in the hunting grounds assigned to him, or to the executive authority of the subject of the Russian Federation, assuming hunting in public hunting grounds. That is, the moral preparation for the extraction of elk, roe deer and wild boar under the age of 1 year (of the year) begins from this moment.

But there is also a basic moral preparation for the prey of young ungulates, which is formed by the hunter from the moment of self-assessment of his actions: is he capable of killing an animal in general and a cub of such an animal in particular?
Hunters, born and raised in the countryside, are practical people. From their own experience they know that domestic pig piglets are grown up to 1-1.5 years old, young cattle - up to 1.5-2 years old, in order to have a full-fledged yield of meat products from them both for themselves and for sale.

Accordingly, the hand of a practical rural hunter will not rise to young animals of a younger age.
City hunters (not all) are smart guys by nature, it’s embarrassing to pay big money and get a “minke whale” by a team of 3-10 people: they will laugh at their own people, they won’t understand. Bring down - so on
100 kg, no less. Or, given the poor hunting experience of most hunters, just to hit a moving target, and then, they say, we’ll figure out who fell and whether it’s worth closing the permit because of some 10 kilos ...
Due to climate change, the acceleration of female ungulates, late calving in elks and wild boars is increasingly occurring, as a result of which minke whales weighing 15 kg or less (5 kg) are found in the hunting grounds of the same Bashkiria in October-November (December).

Thanks to the care of a number of hunting farms and contrary to natural selection, such babies live until spring, and then quite realistically bring the same late offspring.
Many hunters are deeply convinced that a minke whale or a roe deer the size of a cat simply cannot be shot, they are still small, they grow and grow. Some sincerely think that under the permit for the harvest of wild boars under the age
1 year (of the yearlings) it is necessary to shoot animals with a live weight of at least 30 kg, or even larger. It is impossible to convince them; with such explanations you yourself fall into the category of monsters. Sometimes state hunting inspectors out of pity support such delusions.

It is not easy to control this situation.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia, issuing Order No. 512 of 06.11.2010 “On Approval of the Rules of Hunting”, which will come into force in the near future, set the terms for hunting elk (all sex and age groups) from October 1 (?!) to January 15 ; for wild boar (all sex and age groups) from June 1 to February 28 (29) (with the introduction of a ban on hunting by driving, driving, and also with the use of hunting dogs from January 1 to February 28 (29). Everything is clear about the boar - ASF. Apparently, it's not a pity ?!

In the bottom line, we have a rather massive harvest of adult ungulates under permits issued for the harvest of ungulates under the age of 1 year (of the year), and in the future, another knockout of breeding stock.
What is this? Legal illiteracy, a deliberate violation based on impunity and insufficient control on the part of the state hunting supervision and hunting users, or the cowardice of a hunter?

In addition, in many farms, a fine is due for shooting a pig, and a billhook, with his usual caution, rarely goes out to numbers, so it turns out that our animal is a wild boar up to a year. And if we take into account the current prices for the prey of ungulates, one elk “pulls” 6-8 wild boars, therefore, after performing simple arithmetic operations, our company came to the conclusion that a dozen and a half, albeit less valuable trophies, are much more pleasant than a pair of elk, which were originally " laid down" in the "financial estimate" of our team.

The planned departure was not a weekend hunt, but five full-fledged hunting days, under certain circumstances the trip could stretch for a week, because in addition to wild boars there was a desire to drive small game - a hare and a fox. So, in addition to a bullet gun, a shotgun was also needed, and it was allowed to take only one thing - border and customs restrictions that were difficult to understand. The hunting grounds, where the "big" hunt was to take place, was already outside our new homeland, as they say now, in the near abroad. Considering our metropolitan residence, we can say in the near future, since the distance to the hunting place was not at all critical, and taking into account the hunting conditions and the prices set, an extra hundred kilometers did not play a special role.

The difficulty turned out to be something else. It was decided to go with a smoothbore weapon. For someone who did not have a rifled barrel, this decision did not matter, others who were used to using a carbine on animal hunts were a little upset. But it would seem - a trifle, no matter what gun you will be on the room, the main thing is that there is game. With a serious approach to the upcoming hunt, it turned out not quite so. Possible penalties for a miss and a wounded wound imposed on the participants of the hunt, a certain responsibility for the accuracy of the shot. But to send a bullet, correctly aiming from a smoothbore, is not yet a guarantee that it will definitely hit the target. Much depends not only on the features of the gun, but also on the ammunition used, mainly on the design of the bullet used. And besides, the wild boar underyearling is a small animal, in winter tousled bristles it seems much larger than it really is, and a deviation of 20-30 cm - the usual spread of lead bullets, even with accurate aiming, can leave the shooter without a trophy.

Therefore, before the trip, as having some experience in shooting, I was instructed to select the appropriate cartridges for the upcoming hunting trip. The main requirement is clear, the most accurate shot. Of course, boar buckshot could solve all the problems, but the rules of driven hunting for ungulates require only a bullet cartridge.

Given the above, the requirement for a bullet cartridge could be formulated according to the following points:1. Accuracy; 2. Sufficient stopping power; 3. Application in semi-automatic and double-barreled shotguns. Almost immediately, with some exceptions, cartridges with domestic-made bullets were rejected, not only the lead components of the bullets, but also the plastic stabilizers and containers, if they were present, looked too artisanal, and the difference in mass, and sometimes in size, was not supposed accurate shooting and stable hits.

Glavpatron - Cartridge Manufactory LLC offered cartridges with a 12-caliber bullet "Gualandi" (Italian company "Bashieri & Pellagri") weighing 32 grams. Guaranteeing accuracy at 50 m no more than 120 mm. Perhaps the results of zeroing can be attributed to the features of my gun or the skill of the shooter, but the dispersion of bullets turned out to be somewhat large. High accuracy did not work with this bullet and using cartridges from other manufacturers. The light bullet 28.4 g proved to be somewhat more encouraging. BRENNEKE (Brenneke) of the Rottweil cartridge, but still I would like to have a slightly higher accuracy.

company Azot, did not claim to have a high accuracy of its bullets, but its Tandem and Azot bullets fit into the declared 20 cm, which indicated the honesty of the manufacturer. As a backup option, I allocated Trio cartridges, 3 lead balls (d = 11.5 mm) in a container (in 2 half-shells), covering a circle with a diameter of no more than 45 cm for 50 m.

I really liked, donated to me by the famous writer-hunter Sergei Losev, a dozen and a half cartridges, loaded with a bullet designed by S.T. Mitichkin. There was only one drawback, after test firing, only ten rounds remained, which was clearly not enough for the upcoming hunt. It is a pity that this ammunition has not yet appeared on sale.

The well-known popular bullets "POLEVA", along with the most accurate shots, they suddenly gave out such an inaccurate hit, which could only be explained by the low production culture of these sub-caliber bullets.

Admired technical characteristics of the cartridge with a bullet "ZENIT", with a fantastic ballistic coefficient - 4.7; having a dispersion diameter at a distance of 100 m - 10 cm. Only one thing was frustrating, these cartridges were never on sale. But the very design of the arrow-shaped bullet prompted the idea to look for similar bullet cartridges.

The search was successful. Cartridges of the firm "SAUVESTRE", almost completely coincided with the declared characteristics. Having slight differences in weight and characteristics, primarily in the deformation of the body of the bullet when it hit the beast, the vertical deviation of the bullets was within 1-4 cm at a distance of up to 100 m from the aiming point, essentially a direct shot. The speed and energy of the bullet was more than enough not only for a young boar, but also for larger game. Depending on the weight and design, the speed and energy of the bullet were characterized by the manufacturer with the following parameters. See table (chuck 70 mm).

Distance speed, m/s.			Energy at a distance, J.
slice	50 m	100 m	slice	50 m	100 m
530-565	431-473	345-394	3062-3592	1951-2517	1250-1747

Cartridges equipped with a 76 mm sleeve, such as "magnum" and "semi-magnum" surpassed a simple cartridge in energy, depending on the firing distance from 30% to 70%.

Here is how the company describes its new arrow-shaped bullet cartridge. Bullet "BFS" ​​Sauvestre - two-piece arrow bullet with a corrugated surface. A conceptually new bullet cartridge for shotguns, already used and appreciated by many hunters, was developed by French engineer Jean-Claude Sauvestre.

The cartridge is designed for smoothbore guns, both with and without choke. Its ballistic qualities are derived from the combination of a "shooter" with a very hard center core and an original container made of two annular halves, which guarantee gas tightness and flexibility of advancement in the barrel. As soon as this part leaves the barrel, the annular halves will fall away from the bullet without disturbing its initial flight path. The BFS cartridge is safe to use and extremely comfortable to shoot.

Animals.

Boar structure. Animals of large or medium size. The height at the withers of adult male Caucasian boars is on average 103 cm, with fluctuations from 93 to 120 cm, in females - an average of 75 cm (61-96 cm). The body length in males is from 150 to 205 cm, in females - from 129 to 169 cm (average 144 cm). The total value is an indicator of racial differences. The wild boars of Western Europe and the western regions of Russia are smaller than the wild boars of the Caucasus and Central Asia. For males from Germany, figures are given for a body length of 168 cm and a height at the withers of 89 cm. The largest are wild boars of the Far East, but a smaller race lives in Transbaikalia and Mongolia. The live weight of adult males from the vicinity of the Caucasian Reserve ranges from 64 to 178 kg, females - from 48 to 109 kg (an average of 68 kg - Donaurov and Teplov, 1938). As you can see, the males are much larger than the females. The average size of animals in a given population depends to a large extent on the conditions of existence and on the degree of persecution by man. Even at the beginning of this century, when they were less hunted, animals weighing up to 250-300 kg were found in the Caucasus (Markov, 1932) and with a body length without a tail of about 2 m (Dinnik, 1910). With an increase in fishing, an insignificant part of the animals reaches the age limit.

In the area of ​​the city of Ordzhonikidze, where they are intensively hunted, the average and maximum weight of wild boars is less than in areas adjacent to the Caucasian Reserve, where they are persecuted to a much lesser extent (Donaurov and Teplov, 1938).

The features of the addition of a wild boar compared to a domestic pig are a large head with a long elongated muzzle and powerfully developed fangs in adult males, as well as a relatively short and laterally compressed flattened body on high strong legs. It is characteristic of a wild pig that the height at the withers noticeably exceeds the height at the rump (high front). In general, the front of the body gives the impression of being more powerfully developed than the back.

The length of the head in large specimens can reach up to 60 cm. The chest circumference in adults is on average about 145 cm. The tail is about 24-25 cm long (maximum 32 cm), but, in contrast to the domestic pig, it is not twisted in a spiral, but straight; when running, it rises vertically. There are no warty outgrowths of skin on the muzzle, as in S. verrucosus.

"Piglet" at the end of the muzzle has the shape of a transverse oval with convex and outer and upper edges. Its height is about 3/4 of its greatest width. The upper half of the patch surface is bare, moist; the lower one is covered with very sparse short hair. The edges of the patch protrude somewhat beyond the level of neighboring sections of the hairy skin of the muzzle. Ears erect with pointed ends.

One of the remarkable features of adult male wild boars is the so-called "Kalkan". The latter is a thickening of the connective tissue layer of the skin on the sides of the back of the chest and neck. It reaches its greatest thickness, up to 4 cm, in the area of ​​the shoulders and shoulder blades, gradually thinning towards the back, head and stomach. Kalkan is so dense that it is difficult to cut with a sharp knife even when fresh. On cut, it has the appearance and texture of callus or fibrous cartilage. The statement that the Kalkan is a layer of resin on the surface of the skin as a result of the boar rubbing against the trees is based on a misunderstanding. In females, the kalkan does not develop. In males, it becomes especially thick during estrus.

The body, like that of other types of pigs, is covered with bristles, between which in the cold season there is a thick, rather coarse, but still crimped undercoat (in southern races it may be completely absent). On the underside of the neck and back of the abdomen, the hair is directed forward (toward the head), on the rest of the body - backward. The length of the guard hairs on the body is about 6-7 cm. On the back of the head, the dorsal part of the neck and the withers, the bristles are elongated up to 12-13 cm, but do not form a prominent mane or crest. The ends of the hairs that form the bristles are usually split into 3-6 thinner bristles, usually bent laterally. The bristle hair is thinner in females compared to males, and also appears to be thinner in western compared to eastern boars. On the head, ears, limbs below the hock and carpal joint, the hair is shorter and, in addition, the ends of the bristles are not split. At the end of the tail, coarse hair forms a brush up to 20 cm long.

The general color of the wild boar in winter is brown with various shades from almost black to gray or yellow. Wild pigs in the western part of the range are darker in color. Lighter colored wild boars of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The undercoat has a light brown or dark chestnut color, on the lower parts of the body it is lighter. In summer it is short, sometimes it can be completely absent. Differences in color shades of wild boars from different regions and on individual parts of the body in one animal depend on the size of the lightened ends of the bristles, the degree of their lightening, the color and density of the undercoat. The shorter and almost the entire length of the blond hair determines the whitish coloration of the end of the muzzle and the light stripes on its sides, on the cheeks and throat, which are especially clearly expressed in wild boars of the Far East. At the same time, white spots and stripes clearly delimited from neighboring areas are not formed. The color of the forehead is sometimes lighter than the body, sometimes, on the contrary, darker (for wild boars of eastern Siberia and the Far East). The zoning of the color of individual hairs on the forehead is characteristic; the light area does not occupy the end of the hair, but the middle part, while its base and top are black in color.

The skull of a wild boar has a moderately developed front and brain part in comparison with other species. The length of the skull in small races is from 345 to 375 mm, in large races it exceeds 400 mm, and in males it can reach 490 mm. Some features of the skull (the nature of the fronto-facial profile, the shape and proportions of the lacrimal bones, the relative length of the facial part) are differences between the subspecies. Of the incisors, the first two (middle) pairs are more developed; the third pair is underdeveloped. In the upper jaw, the incisors are wide, curved and set apart from each other, especially the last (third) pair; the first and second pairs are directed downward and towards the teeth of the same name on the other side. The narrow chisel-shaped incisors of the lower jaw are directed almost straight forward, located close to each other; only the alveoli of the last (third) bunk are sometimes separated from the neighboring ones, as well as from the fangs, by an interval of 2-3 mm. Between the incisors and fangs in the upper jaw there is a more significant toothless gap 2–3.5 cm long. The length of the lower fangs in adult males is 6–10 cm. sides and up the upper canines. The wear surface on both the lower and upper canines also includes the top of the tooth. This causes, on the one hand, constant sharpness, sharpness, and on the other hand, limits their growth, especially the upper ones, and length. In rare cases, when the abrasion does not capture the top of the upper canines, the latter continue to grow and, bending the ring up and inward, can pierce the nasal bones through and through. These cases of excessive regrowth of fangs should, however, be attributed to anomalies, and not to the norm. Of the molars, the last posterior molars (M3 and M3) are best developed. The cusps on the back of these teeth (the hypocone) usually form an additional row; the hypocone is especially well developed in wild boars in the western part of the range. Those located in front of the last posterior tooth gradually decrease in size.

Habitat and distribution of wild boars

The ancestor of the modern Palearctic wild boar is probably S. priscus Serr. from the Upper Pliocene. The earliest boar-related remains are known from the Early Quaternary layers of Syria and the British Isles, and in the Pleistocene the boar inhabited the temperate and warm regions of southern, western, and eastern Europe and at least Central Asia.

At present, the area of ​​​​distribution of this species extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and covers northern Africa, middle, southern and eastern Europe, as well as Asia Minor, Central, Central and Eastern Asia north of the Himalayas, to southern Siberia, Transbaikalia, the Far East and some the islands of Japan, inclusive. In former times, the range was even wider and, in addition to the British Isles, also included the southern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, where the wild boar is currently absent. The once continuous range of the wild boar was relatively recently (probably in the middle of the 18th or early 19th centuries) broken up in the European part of the Soviet Union.

On the territory of Russia, the area of ​​distribution of the wild boar has significantly decreased already in historical time. During the time of the Novgorod principality, for example, there were many wild boars near Novgorod itself,1 in the 13th century. even 60 miles north of the latter. In the Kostroma governorship, wild boars were found at the end of the 18th century. (Kirikov, 1953). A.N. Formozov (1946) connects the northern boundary of the wild boar with the line of the average maximum depth of the snow cover of 30–40 cm. In addition to the depth of the snow cover, the degree of soil freezing (i.e. digging the soil in search of food.

As for the territory of the Ukrainian and Moldavian SSRs, back in the 1930s, the wild boar was a frequent animal in all the forests of Volhynia and Podolia (Eichwald, 1830). In addition, he was not only found in the floodplains of large rivers, but even entered the steppe along the valleys of small rivers. In the middle of the last century, he was an ordinary beast in the northern parts of the Kiev and Chernigov provinces.

Biology of wild boars

Wild boar habitats are diverse and depend largely on the natural conditions of a particular area. It can inhabit valleys and deltas of large and small rivers, coastal lowlands, forests, mountains, up to the alpine zone. In certain seasons, it does not even avoid desert landscapes. However, wild pigs have a tendency to stick to damp swampy places near water bodies, where you can find puddles of mud, in which they love to swim so much.

The seasonality of habitats is determined to a large extent by the presence and availability of food resources. A necessary condition is also the presence of reliable shelters in the habitat. As the last wild boars are dense thickets of reeds, thorny and intertwining shrubs, high weeds, creases, young growth of coniferous forests. The wild boar not only freely passes, but also rushes in such places where it is almost impossible not only for a person, but also for a dog to pass. The whole body of the animal is streamlined, laterally compressed, on short legs, with a cone-shaped head, and deep-seated small eyes, adapted to movement in these conditions.

In the western regions of Europe (in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and the forests of Belarus, Ukrainian Polissya, in Smolensk and Bryansk regions), the wild boar's favorite habitats are low swampy areas of mixed and broad-leaved forests. In densely populated areas, they keep in the most remote parts of the forest, near rivers and streams with thickets of high reeds. In autumn and winter, especially in years of abundant acorn harvest, oak groves are typical habitats. In the Eastern Carpathians, in the summer, wild boars rise to the mountains above the crooked forest zone and graze in open meadows at night.

In the Caucasus, wild pigs live both in lowland areas and in the mountain belt. Their favorite habitats are reed thickets in the floodplains of large rivers (Kuban, Terek, Kuma, Kura, etc.), as well as damp marshy lowlands to the very coast, the Black and Caspian Seas. In the daytime, wild boars hide in the thickets of reeds, treading numerous trails diverging in all directions. At night, they go out to feed on more open places - meadows, fields and even vegetable gardens. In the mountains, wild boars mainly stick to the forest zone. In places of intense persecution, daytime hours are spent in the most "strong" (hard to pass) places: in thickets of rhododendron, blackthorn, boxwood, dense small oak forest, spruce forest, and thorny bushes. Seasonal features in the placement of wild boars are determined by the food supply, and in winter, in addition, by the nature of the snow cover; cover. A significant part of wild boars (females with piglets, old males) spend summer in the lower forest zone, in the cultural zone; part of the population (young males, gilts, single pigs) rises to the mountains, often leaving the zone of alpine meadows up to 2500 m above sea level. m., and occasionally even in the habitats of the tour and chamois. From the end of summer and throughout autumn, the bulk of the animals concentrate in groves of wild fruit (apple, pear, cherry plum) and nut trees (oak, beech, chestnut, plane tree). The presence of fallen acorns and nuts largely determines the location of animals in the winter. However, the limiting factor at this time is also the depth of the snow cover. With a snow depth of 60-80 cm, movement and food production are very difficult even for large animals.

In some cases, wild boars do not avoid the proximity of human settlements. Their harm to agricultural crops, located even on personal plots, is widely known. In a number of areas in winter, wild pigs keep close to haystacks, which serve as both protection from the cold and a source of food for them.

Boar food

All representatives of the pig family, including the wild boar, are omnivores. Along with the plant foods that make up their main diet, wild pigs willingly eat the animal products available to them, from earthworms to the corpses of birds and large mammals.

The composition of plant foods depends on the natural conditions of the habitat and varies from season to season. A constant component of the wild boar's food, especially in the absence or lack of fruit-bearing trees, are herbaceous plants both in the form of their underground parts (rhizomes, tubers, bulbs) and aboveground. In a number of regions of Central Asia, the rhizomes and shoots of reeds, cattails, and other coastal plants, apart from animal food, are almost the only source of subsistence for wild boars throughout the year. The above-ground green parts of herbaceous plants (cereals, herbs) are of the greatest importance in the food of wild boars in spring and early summer. In the Caucasian Reserve, among the plants in which they eat the above-ground parts are wild garlic, whorled kupena, orchis, sorrel, core, manzhetka and some others (Donaurov and Teplov, 1938). In the lower reaches of the Volga, the favorite food of wild boars is the fruit of the water chestnut (chilim).

The proportion of herbaceous plants in the wild boar's diet in forest areas is greatly reduced starting from the end of summer, when fruits ripen and fall off, and later nuts. Wild boar food in the Caucasus includes cherries, dogwoods, cherry plums, apples, and pears. The latter is given the greatest preference. Together with the pulp, fruit seeds are also eaten, previously crushed by molars. During a significant part of the year, sometimes six to seven months from September to April, the main food of the wild boar in forest areas are the fruits of walnut trees - oak, chestnut, beech, walnut, plane tree, pistachio, and less often hazel. The oak, which is widespread in the European part of the wild boar range, is of the greatest importance. Acorns serve as food for wild pigs, sometimes even in spring, in a germinated state.

The animal food of the wild boar is extremely diverse. One of the first places is occupied by earthworms and insect larvae living in the ground (beetles, dark beetles). On occasion, adult insects are also willingly eaten, especially large beetles, and in the years of mass reproduction, locusts. They also feed on snails and catch frogs. On occasion, burrows of mouse-like rodents are dug up, the remains of which are often found in their stomach. The main food of wild boars in the summer is, according to B.K. Shtegman (1949), fish remaining after the recession of the spring flood in closed drying lakes along the banks of the channels.

The maximum amount of food eaten by an adult boar for one feeding is 2-3 kg; Dinnik (1910) found half a bucket of chewed acorns in the stomach of a wild boar he had killed. In case of lack or difficulty in obtaining food (in winter), they eat mushrooms, roots, bark and even tree branches, moss, dry leaves, rotten wood. Do not disdain the corpses of animals. Looking for roots, bulbs and earthworms, wild boars tear up the soil with a snout perfectly adapted for this purpose, sometimes "plowing" entire hectares. These "kopanki", or sometimes serve as a sure sign of the presence of wild boars in the area.

Boar lifestyle

Wild boars are kept, as a rule, in small groups, rarely more than 10-20 heads, although herds of more than 100 animals are occasionally found in the Ussuri taiga. Usually the group consists of a female and her offspring. The young stay with their mother until one and a half to two years, so two generations usually go with her - the current and the previous year. Several females with their piglets can be united in one herd; at the same time, they not only walk, but also lie down together. Males from the age of 1% -2 years, as a rule, lead a solitary lifestyle, joining the herds of females only for the mating period.

The way of life of a wild boar, its seasonal and daily cycle, to a large extent depend on natural conditions, the yield of feed, and the degree of human persecution. The seasonality of accommodation is especially pronounced in mountainous areas.

In summer, part of the animals, as already noted, rises to the mountains to the alpine and subalpine zones. In winter, snow cover forces most of the population to concentrate in the zone of broad-leaved forests, which is most favorable in this period in terms of food (Donaurov and Teplov, 1938). In the forest zone of the European part of the range, wild boars prefer young forest growth, reed marshes and river banks in summer; autumn and winter are spent in oak groves, which provide the best food base during the years of acorn harvest. We have already mentioned the seasonal migrations of wild boars in desert regions. If wild boars are not pursued, then they can go out for fattening during the day, and rest near the feeding place. However, in most areas, they are forced to hide in “strong” places during the daytime, and feed only after dark or in the early morning hours. At the same time, pigs are often forced to make transitions to a feeding place 15-20 km away. Daily movements have a large amplitude during the period of mass ripening of fruits and nuts, as well as during the rutting period; they are reduced in winter due to the depth of snow and frost. The movements of wild boars are relatively small in deltas and river valleys. Usually here they roam in the reeds, pulling out rhizomes, earthworms from the ground, biting off the green shoots of plants, but at night they go out to neighboring meadows and crops. Only high floods force the animals to leave the floodplain and sometimes move over quite considerable distances.

The main part of wild boars (both males and females) arranges the so-called lairs, or nests. In the simplest cases, the bed is a small depression in the soil. In the cold season, the animal rakes or drags brushwood, ferns, dry grass and leaves into one place, as a result of which a kind of bed is formed, sometimes almost half a meter high. Pigs lie down, especially in the cold season, close to each other, with their heads towards the wind. Beds are located secretly under trees, near stones or in the forest thicket, and in river deltas and swamps - among the reeds in an elevated dry place. For more or less long periods of time, wild boars use one lair only in winter, when their mobility becomes less. In the southern regions of Central Asia, haulouts serve as protection for wild boars from the summer heat and sandstorms. In these cases, they represent holes dug by pigs in the ground under coastal cliffs, under tree roots, in gorges and sometimes reaching: a depth of 1 m. In Latvia, wild boars sometimes climb into haystacks in winter.

The voice of a wild boar is similar to that of a domestic pig and consists mainly of grunts and squeals. When attacked or frightened, pigs can make short sounds like “doo-doo-doo” or “oh-oh-oh” (“buzz”), and males sniff or roar. In general, even the wounded, they are very silent. Of the senses, the boar has well-developed hearing and smell. In the wind, he sometimes feels a person for 350-400 m. But his eyesight is poor (Dinnik, 1910). The boar does not have the ability to run fast. On level ground, he is easily overtaken by dogs and a saddle horse. It swims well, easily swims across wide rivers and swims, if necessary, a kilometer or more deep into the sea.

Shedding in wild pigs begins in April. In the Caucasus, by the end of May and the beginning of June, the old stubble and fluff completely fall out and the animals become almost naked. Suffering greatly from the bites of bloodsucking insects, wild boars climb into dense bushes, into heaps of brushwood and weeds dragged for this purpose, or into puddles with mud that forms a temporary protective shell on their body. The regrowth of the bristles begins by the end of June, and in September it becomes already long. Down reaches its full development only by November.

Boar breeding

Wild boars reach puberty by the age of one and a half years, but a significant part of them, born late or in years that are unfavorable in terms of feeding conditions, begin to breed only in the third year. The sexual season (mating) covers the period from November to January. Its beginning and end fluctuate not only from year to year, depending on food and climatic conditions, but are not the same even for different regions in a relatively small area within one year (Donaurov and Teplov, 1938). In young females, sexual hunting and mating occur at a later date. During this period, females keep in relatively large groups, up to 8-10 animals, if possible in places remote from human settlements. Pigs behave restlessly during the rut, move a lot. Males are very excited, take little food. Between them there are fierce tournament fights with the help of fangs, sometimes ending in the death or serious injury of one of the participants in the duel. Under these conditions, the Kalkan becomes important, protecting parts of the body that are exposed to blows from deep damage. The most vulnerable and dangerous in terms of damage are the walls of the abdomen, groin and hind limbs, which do not have thickened skin. The sharpest fangs are possessed and therefore the most dangerous are males aged about 4-6 years, called billhooks. In older fangs, although larger in size, they are not so terrible, since their sharp ends become more bent not to the sides, but inward.

The duration of pregnancy is about four months. Young are born from March to May, the bulk - in April. The number of piglets in a litter ranges from 3 to 10, depending on the age of the female and the conditions of the previous autumn and wintering. The average figure in the conditions of the Caucasus is currently 4-5 piglets. In young females, the number of cubs in the litter is less than in adults. Before farrowing, the female or several of them jointly arrange in a secluded place a thick bed (nest) with high edges, in which childbirth takes place. Piglets are born helpless and do not leave the nest during the first week. A pig is a good mother, protects her children, sometimes even throws herself at a person (Dinnik, 1910).

More females will be born, but the sex ratio later levels out as a result of the death of part of the population and in adults it turns out to be almost the same (48% of males and 52% of females, according to Donaurov and Teplov, 1938).

It is believed that under natural conditions a wild boar can live up to 15-20, and in exceptional cases even up to 30 years. Precise data on this issue are not available. The maximum lifespan in captivity (at the London Zoological Gardens) is set at 19 years 6 months and 6 days (Flower, 1931).

The number of wild boars in the same area can change dramatically from year to year. Its fluctuations are due to the uneven harvest of fodder and their different availability in the most difficult winter period, as well as the death of animals from predators, diseases and natural disasters. Poor forage harvest, deep snow and severe frosts are the cause of the mass death of wild pigs from starvation. Repeated cases of this phenomenon took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Latvia, the Caucasus, the Carpathians and Central Asia. With a snow depth of more than 55 cm, obtaining food for pigs is very difficult. The formation of crust after a thaw, and in treeless areas freezing of the soil, when animals severely injure their snouts and legs, but cannot get food, have the same consequences. Starvation affects not only the direct death of animals, but also affects the quantity and quality of offspring. Only the high fertility of pigs makes it possible to relatively quickly restore their numbers after the spontaneous death of animals. Due to the lack of food, wild boars sometimes migrate to other places and may disappear from one area or another for a number of years.

The enemies of the wild boar from predators are the wolf, the tiger and occasionally the leopard. Under normal conditions, a wolf cannot defeat an adult male boar, not only alone, but even in a pack. There are cases when an attacking wolf died from the fangs of a wild boar (Shtegman, 1949). Wolves prey in large numbers on young pigs, gilts and piglets. Adult wild boars die from this predator only in deep snowy winters and during hunger strikes, when they can be destroyed by whole herds. A leopard in the mountains often attacks wild boars; due to the rarity of the predator itself, the harm caused by it does not play a significant role (Donaurov and Teplov, 1938).

In Central Asia and the Far East, wild boars are exterminated by the tiger in significant numbers. No wonder the latter is called in Primorye the "Shepherd" of wild boar herds. Attacks on the wild boar by other predators are random.

In deltas and river valleys, the cause of death of newly born piglets is fires in last year's reeds or high and prolonged floods; from the latter, in some years, not only the entire offspring die, but also a significant part of the adult animals that did not have time to move to the upper parts of the delta and remained on narrow unflooded manes (Isakov, 1951). In the Astrakhan Reserve, artificial "hummocks" are successfully used to protect wild boars from floods. The latter represent earth embankments reinforced with logs on the elevated parts of the flooded islands (Dubinin, 1953).

Economic importance of wild boars

The wild boar is valuable as a meat animal. The yield of meat, depending on the fatness of the animal, is about 55-70% of the live weight. An adult male can therefore produce over 100 kg of meat; but large animals are now relatively rare and the average weight of the carcass in the Caucasus when harvested is 50 kg; the bulk of this is made up of six-month-old and one-and-a-half-year-old animals. Boars reach their best fatness in November. At this time, an adult wild boar, weighing 160-180 kg, can produce about 18-20 kg of internal and 30-40 kg of subcutaneous fat (Vereshchagin, 1947). Males lose weight quickly during the rut period. Females retain fatness longer and lose fat only before farrowing. The marketable yield of meat in most regions is still insignificant, but with proper organization of the wild boar trade, it can play a very significant role in creating a local food base. In some areas of the Primorsky Territory, wild pigs have long been a source of meat for the Russian population, which prepares it for future use by salting. The taste and nutritional qualities of wild boar meat are very high compared to other wild ungulates. Only the meat of males during estrus has a specific smell and taste.

In addition to meat and fat, leather and bristles are used. The first can be subjected, like the skins of domestic pigs, to factory dressing. In addition, the local population in the Caucasus sews durable shoes from it - pistons or kalamani (Markov, 1932). Better in elasticity than that of a domestic pig, bristle (about 350-400 g per head) is used in saddlery and brush production. Finer hair and down are suitable for stuffing mattresses and upholstered furniture. The fangs of adult males are used as decoration. Caught at a young age, piglets of wild pigs easily get used to humans and become tame, but we are not aware of cases of breeding wild boars at home. In the habitats of wild boars, their crosses with domestic pigs are common. Thus, it is believed that Kakhetian domestic pigs grazing in oak and beech forests are the product of such crossbreeding. Of practical importance, the domestication of the wild boar and its crossbreeding with domestic pigs can have three improvements in existing and the creation of new breeds of domestic pigs adapted to local conditions. Fertile hybrids of the European wild boar with a bearded pig are known (£. barbatus Mull., Gray, 1954).

The wild boar brings a certain benefit by exterminating harmful insects and their larvae. However, this benefit is outweighed by the harm caused by the extermination of earthworms, which play a prominent role in soil formation, and by digging the soil. Sometimes entire hectares are "ploughed", seedlings and young shoots of trees are destroyed (Donaurov and Teplov, 1938), the integrity of the vegetation cover is violated, and hayfields deteriorate. Wild pigs cause great harm to agricultural crops. Particularly affected, sometimes completely destroyed, millet and corn crops. In hunting farms, wild boars can cause harm by exterminating eggs and young birds. In Belovezhskaya Pushcha, there are even known cases of wild boars attacking young growth of large animals.

Boar hunting

The most common methods of hunting wild boar are stalking, stalking, hunting with dogs and rounding up.

Sneaking is one of the most difficult ways to capture this beast. It is possible mainly only in those areas where wild boars are relatively little pursued by humans and graze during the daylight hours. They hide animals at feeding places. The main attention should be paid to the fact that the beast does not smell a person ahead of time; therefore, the approach should be made against the wind, and not vice versa. The hunter's clothes and shoes should not emit a strong odor. Strict observance of silence at the approach is also required; Excessive disguise is not necessary. When feeding calmly, the boar wags its tail all the time, but at the slightest disturbance and alertness of the animal, even if it continues to feed, the tail stops moving. Therefore, for a crouching hunter, he is a sure indicator of the behavior of the beast, signaling the need to make a stop.

The stalking of wild boars is carried out on crops and melons, where wild boars usually come at night. They also lie in wait for them in the places of feeding under fruit and nut trees or on the paths leading from the beds to the places of fattening, in places where the animals wallow in the mud. In all these cases, the hunter must choose a sitting place in the shelter of reeds, trees, large stones, etc., and always so that the wind does not blow from him, but towards him. Since hunting with stalking is carried out at night, the hunter must come to the place of the ambush before sunset. For obvious reasons, bright moonlit nights are chosen for hunting.

Hunting with dogs requires a significant number of the latter, moreover, well-trained and vicious. It consists in the fact that the lowered dogs search for, stop and detain the boar until the hunter approaches. It remains only for the latter to finish off the beast, sometimes with the help of a horn or a dagger. Hounds are suitable for this hunt, but local outbred, specially pried dogs are more often used. From a good boar dog, courage, viciousness and dexterity are required, the ability to grab the beast for those places where he cannot get it with his fangs. A large percentage of dogs during these hunts die from the fangs of an angry beast. The hunter must also be careful when approaching an animal caught by dogs; the latter, seeing a man approaching directly, can rush at him, regardless of the dogs, and cripple him; therefore it is recommended to approach discreetly from the side or from behind.

Wild boar hunting can be very productive (Markov, 1932). In terms of its technique, it differs little from battue hunting for other large animals and consists in the fact that a group of beaters, who have surrounded a piece of forest, directs the animals to the line of shooters. And in this case, the hunters must stand against the wind and observe absolute silence. Both in the Caucasus and in Central Asia, hunting for wild boars on horseback is practiced. On a good horse, it is not difficult to catch up with him. It is only important to force the beast to go out into the open and cut off the retreat into the thickets or rocky mountains.

Occasionally, “combing” the reeds with the dog and shooting the animals that turn up at the same time are practiced. Other methods of catching wild boars (for example, catching with pits, mouths, etc.) are of an accidental nature and are of no great practical importance.

Wild boar hunting is associated with a known risk. Cases of its unprovoked attack on a person are not known, and even a wounded boar most often tries to hide. However, a wounded, and especially an animal enraged by dogs, can rush at the hunter and inflict severe injuries on him. Males apply sharp short blows with their fangs from the bottom up. Females, on the contrary, try to knock down the enemy with a blow and then tear him with their teeth, like a dog. Males never do this. The best way to get rid of a boar kick is to jump to the side or behind a tree; the beast rushes straight and, once missed, does not come back.

Class - mammals

Infraclass - placental

Genus - pigs

Species - wild boar

Literature:

1. I.I. Sokolov "Fauna of the USSR, Ungulate animals" Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1959.