At what age is a boar considered an adult? This is a boar yearling. Economic importance of wild boars

To the question Who went to the boar? What you need to have in your arsenal and taste wild boar? 🙂 given by the author Roll Ivanych the best answer is at least a double-barreled shotgun with bullets or with an insert under 7.62, several people on the numbers, a couple of dogs.
It is better to beat the female, the male's meat smells like a boar. Roast on the coals in the forest - you will swallow your fingers.

Answer from IVAN KLEVAKIN[guru]
Look, everything is here. .
Boar hunting
Boar (wild pig, boar) is a non-ruminant animal. The body length of the boar reaches 2m. The height at the withers is 1m. An adult boar weighs about 300 kg. When hunting a wild boar, you must remember that this is a serious and dangerous animal. A wounded and persecuted animal is especially dangerous.
Hunting for a wild boar from an ambush.
This method is used by hunters wherever wild boars can be found. They are guarded most often in places of feeding, sometimes - on the paths leading to them, as well as near puddles or stagnant reservoirs, where wild boars take mud baths.
Feeding places are found in advance. After that, it is necessary to find the places for the animals to go to the fattening. Then the most convenient place for a sit-in is determined.
You need to take a hunting place an hour - one and a half before sunset. After that, it remains only to wait and listen to the sounds coming from you.
The fact that wild boars are approaching can be judged by the crackling of branches and the noise that they create when moving. Before entering the field, the animals calm down and listen and sniff for a long time, loudly drawing in the air. The hunter at this time must be careful. Suspecting nothing, the boars enter the field. The hunter can only choose the target and hit it accurately.
Approach hunting.
During feeding, wild boars are not so alert and make a lot of noise. Focusing on the sounds of noise, crunch, champing, the hunter approaches the fattening herd. You need to approach only against the wind. The hunter's clothes and shoes should be comfortable, light and soft, making a minimum of noise when moving. You can go hunting at dusk.
Battle hunting, or paddock.
The most accessible for hunters in our country, and therefore the most massive hunting. Its essence lies in the fact that the chain of beaters must drive the animals to the shooters waiting for them.
If the shooting numbers are located in strong places with poor visibility, the head of the hunt warns the beaters to make less noise. Then the boars will go slower, and the shooters will have more opportunity to make an accurate shot.
Before the hunt, all its participants must be instructed. Strict compliance with the rules, instructions and safety measures is mandatory for everyone.
Hunting for a wild boar from under dogs from the approach.
This is perhaps one of the most interesting and gambling ways.
Several hunters (2-4 people) go out with their dogs to the places where the wild boars are expected to spend their days. Having reached the place, they let the dogs go, and they themselves slowly move through the lands and wait for the dogs to raise the beast. When the animal is found and raised by dogs, the hunters act according to the circumstances. The task of the hunter is to get as close as possible to the beast and fire a shot.
And now the billhook is defeated. Now you can kindle a fire, boil tea, have a snack and rest before the difficult but pleasant work - butchering the carcass and pulling the prey out of the thicket to the road, which, perhaps, is not so close.

The most convenient and easily accessible (can be used directly in the field) diagnostic signs for determining the age of a wild boar are the development of milk boars and their replacement with permanent (definitive), the formation of posterior (molars) teeth and the degree of their wear. This methodological approach has withstood a long test on numerous types of domestic animals and has long been the simplest and generally correct criterion for determining age. It turned out to be quite acceptable also for determining the age of wild ungulates.

To establish a scale of age-related changes in the boar's dental system in order to use it in practice, we collected and studied over 650 skulls belonging to individuals of different sex and age. Among the collected material there were 25 reference skulls of a known age.

When processing the material, all boar skulls were divided into sex and age groups. Age was determined by the state of the age characteristics of the skull and teeth, taking into account the date of shooting of a particular individual and the average date of the mass birth of piglets. Although the farrowing of pigs is quite extended, still too early and too late litters, as a rule, die. Therefore, we can assume that any wild boar population consists of well-separated age groups, the interval between which is equal to one year. Knowing the time of mass birth of piglets and the date of shooting of individual individuals, on a sufficiently large material obtained at different times of the year, it is possible to determine the sequence of development of milk teeth and their replacement by definitive ones, the formation of molars and the degree of their wear. This allows us to establish a fairly accurate scale of age-related changes in the boar's dental system, which is used later to determine the age of individual individuals.

In addition to changes in the dental system, the general features of the development of the skull, the degree of ossification of some bones, the presence of sutures or boundaries between them, etc., were also taken into account.

Objective diagnostic signs, expressed in the regular development of individual elements of the dental system, were taken as the basis for the age index of a wild boar up to three years old, and for animals from four years old and older, the age criterion was the indicators obtained by eye measurement of the degree of wear of the crowns of predominantly posterior teeth and by the pattern of dentin exposure .

It should be emphasized that it is not difficult to divide animals into age groups ranging from 1 year to 6 years with an interval of 1 year with sufficient skill. In older groups (over 6 years), age determination with an interval of 1 year is complicated, and therefore we took wider intervals for groups: 6-7, 8-9, 10-12 years, etc.

Based on the order of appearance, change and degree of wear of the teeth, as well as some age characteristics in the structure of the skull, the entire period of postnatal ontogenesis of the wild boar was divided by us into the following ten age groups: I - newborns (1-3 days), II - broods (from 20 days up to 3-4 months), III - yearlings (9-12 months), IV - two-year-olds (19-22 months), V - three-year-olds (32-36 months), VI - four-year-olds (about 4 years), VII - adults (about 5 years old), VIII - 6-7 years old, IX - 8-9 years old, X - 10-12 years old and older.

Wild boar hunting is as exciting as it is dangerous. A wounded wild boar or a frightened female with young animals are deadly. An experienced hunter explains why it is worth risking your life. Every hunt has a perfect scenario. This is when everything goes as written - and the beast runs out in the right place, and the hunter is always on the mark, and then the photo with the trophy flaunts on the wall of your apartment or country house.

Driven hunting for wild boar

For the most popular - driven - boar hunting, the ideal scenario is as follows.

In autumn, before the opening of the hunting season for ungulates, rangers go around the grounds. Inspect the places where wild boars usually keep. These are, as a rule, areas of the forest where animals feed. When traces of wild boars are found, you can arrange a corral. The hunters, or as they are called in these cases, the shooters (usually from six to twenty people), are located on one side of the forest in which the herd is found, and the beaters begin to make noise and move towards the shooters. The boars are trying to get away from danger and go to the line of shooters. Do not yawn here, because these seemingly bulky and clumsy animals actually run very fast.

In the ideal scenario, you raise your gun, shoot, and the trophy is yours. But the reality is often quite different. I will describe a few memorable cases.

• Tea with cognac and a flock of fingerlings

My friend hunter Gennady was standing on the room and was bored. On the glade there were 15 shooters with an interval of 80-100 meters from each other. There were wild boars in the paddock, a whole herd of underyearlings along with a mother pig. It was strictly forbidden to shoot a pig, because in a year it would again bring offspring, and it would be possible to successfully hunt young animals again. Therefore, one had to be very careful and cold-blooded.

But the herd will come out only on one shooter. At best, if he runs for some time along the line of shooters, then two or three hunters will be able to shoot. In this way, driven hunting is somewhat similar to roulette - one chance in ten. On the previous hunt, Gennady took a wild boar, so the chances this time were (according to probability theory) minimal. The corral had just begun, the cries of beaters and the barking of dogs could be heard in the distance. You can have time to drink hot tea from a thermos. The gun hung nearby on a branch of sprawling spruce, in the crown of which Gennady stood.

Screams and barking were getting closer, but the dogs were clearly moving aside. “They pulled more to the left,” thought the hunter, continuing to sip the fragrant drink, where, in addition to tea and lemon, there was also a fair portion of cognac.

At this time, an incomprehensible crack was heard from the nearest undergrowth from the pen. From there, a hefty pig flew out like a bullet and quickly rushed under the very spruce where the hunter was so comfortably located. Gennady did not have time to think anything, as the pig knocked him down. After her, one after another, a dozen underyearlings ran. When the clatter and grunts of the fleeing animals ceased, Gennady slowly got up. His back was covered with cold sweat. And this did not happen out of fear that a frightened boar with her fangs and hooves could cripple, or even take her life. He was afraid of what he would say to his fellow hunters. Why didn't he shoot at the underyearlings that ran right through him? “I’ll tell the truth,” he decided, and then, three hundred meters to his left, shots rang out. “So there are two herds in the paddock,” a thought flashed through the hunter's head. This changed the situation. “Maybe they don’t understand what happened to me here. If they get wild boars, they may not realize that there were two herds. With such thoughts, the hunter picked up a thermos and a mug with the spilled remnants of the ill-fated tea from the ground.

The case is comical, but it could also be tragic. Boar hunting is quite serious and dangerous. You can't relax even for a minute.

• Cleaver-record holder

Another story happened in Ukraine, also with my friend - Alexander - and also on driven hunting. The first paddock was empty. In the second, Alexander became a beater. Not far from him, the local huntsman Fyodor was walking. The dogs, which also worked in the paddock and “tightly” knew their own well, this time, for some reason, ran away in a completely different direction. Even before the hunt, Fyodor said that a wild boar was wandering around here, judging by the tracks, the sizes were unprecedented, fabulous. “Exactly! The dogs got him! Guessed by bark. Let's run there soon, Sanya!

A couple of times I had to stop to catch my breath and listen more carefully to the barking of dogs, the sound of which gradually approached and turned to the left. “This billhook did not go into the swamp. Walking along the edge of the forest. I know where he should go! Let's run faster!" - Fyodor shouted softly, and the hunters again ran through the autumn Ukrainian forest.

Here they saw a huge billhook, which crossed the swamp under the friendly barking of dogs. Fyodor, throwing up his gun, rushed across the boar. Alexander stopped the huntsman. “I'll take it myself,” he shouted and went towards the boar. Usually the beast, noticing the person, turns away. This one burst through the forest right at the hunter. “You won’t take such a boar and a bullet soon,” Sasha thought, and fired the first shot. Cleaver continued to walk, as if a bullet had passed by. “It’s impossible to miss from such a distance! Even with a hangover! - Sasha pulled the shutter and fired another shot. After the second, the boar settled on its hind legs, but continued to move towards the hunter on its front legs alone. The distance was rapidly shrinking. “God loves a trinity,” Sasha thought, and fired another shot, aiming for the chest. The beast staggered, fell to its knees, and with a deep sigh fell on its side. The distance between him and the hunter was no more than four meters.

The carcass was moved only by a jeep winch. Then ten of us barely dragged the animal into the back of the UAZ. The boar, after weighing, turned out to be about 400 kg, and the trophy itself, as a result of measuring fangs resembling small mammoth tusks, and registering with the International Safari Club (SCI), took first place in the world. Unfortunately, a larger specimen has now been mined.

Boar hunting from a tower

Another way to hunt wild boar is from a tower. At first glance, it is less emotional and attractive, but it also has its advantages. Firstly, you can hunt alone, without a team and without beaters. The probability of catching an animal is almost one hundred percent, since the towers are located right at the bait sites, and animals, if they are not disturbed by frequent hunts, visit such places regularly. In good farms, for example, in Zavidovo, huntsmen even know the number of pigs and the time (with an accuracy of fifteen minutes!), When the animals will come to the tower. This usually happens at dusk. Of course, on the tower, which is a miniature hut with a door and a loophole, located on strong pillars high above the ground (3-4 meters), hunting is practically safe for the shooter.

Once I was lucky enough to sit with a colleague on a tower in Zavidovo, however, without weapons, only with a camera. At the time indicated by the huntsman, a small boar, a scout, ran out of the forest to the platform in front of the tower. The underyearling twirled a little around the site, eating food, grunted something, and after half a minute the rest appeared. It was difficult to count the boars. We constantly strayed, but there were at least 35-40 animals. Underyearlings, gilts, females, medium-sized males.

But this is in Zavidovo. In simpler farms, animals go to the towers in smaller numbers and alternately. Females with young, or single billhooks. Old large boars are very cautious (that's why they lived to a respectable age!) and usually come at night. It is difficult to hunt them, sometimes you have to sit in vain for more than one night. The animal can approach, and, having smelled a foreign smell, does not approach the tower. You can just “make some noise”, awkwardly turning on the tower, and creak the seat, cough, drop something. It is possible, in low light, to simply lubricate or easily injure the beast. There are night vision scopes, but their use for hunting is prohibited.

Boar hunting on oats

Such a wild boar hunt is successful in August. It also comes from a tower at the edge of a field of specially planted oats for this purpose. Towers are equipped very simply. Most often, this is a wide board, fixed in the crown of a tree at a height of 3-4 m. Sitting on a tower in late August, of course, is warmer than in late autumn or winter, but mosquitoes pester you, and you can’t especially move. Apply ointments, of course, should not be. By the way, at the same time, bears also come out to the oat fields and they are hunted in the same way. In the evening, and even more so at night, it is difficult to understand who came out of the forest - a wild boar or a bear. The hunter gets "the wrong animal." This is also fraught with the payment of a fine, or you need to stock up on licenses for both a wild boar and a bear.

Nikolai Kokoulin

Wild boar hunting safety rules

• "Stand on the number" - the term refers to collective, "driven" hunts, where shooters stand motionless on the "shooting line". The point of standing on the "number" is determined by the leader of the hunt. Usually the duration of the pen does not exceed an hour.
• It is strictly forbidden to shoot along the line of shooters, but only at an angle of at least 15 degrees.
• Do not shoot at a poorly visible target. Otherwise, you can hit the beater or the dog.
• You can load a weapon only while standing already on the number, and immediately unload it after the end of the corral.
• It is strictly forbidden to leave the room until you are removed by the head of the hunt.
• Shoot only at animals that are hunted.

Boar hunting prices

• Licenses for the production of fingerlings, gilts and adult wild boars have different prices.
  • hunting for wild boar of the year (young piglets of this year) - from 10-15,000 rubles;
  • hunting for a hog-gilt (young boars of last year's farrowing) - from 15-20,000 rubles;
  • hunting for a wild boar (a large male with fangs) - from 25-30,000 rubles and more!
• The most expensive are large "trophy" males - billhooks. The meat of such specimens is most often not suitable for food. Hunting is carried out solely because of the trophy qualities of the animal, in this case, fangs.
• Add to these prices the cost of gamekeeper service, accommodation and other services. However, the farther the farm is located from the capital and the worse the infrastructure there, the lower the prices for trophies.

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.

In appearance, three age groups can be distinguished: piglets (yearlings), gilts (two-year-olds) and adults. It is especially easy to distinguish between piglets and adults, it is more difficult to distinguish gilts, since a large gilt can be confused with a pig.

Piglets are smaller, lighter in color than adults (light color lasts up to a year) and longer legs. In gilts (in the 2nd year of life), withers develop, bristles grow along the back. Adult animals are more massive than gilts, the bristles on the back grow more strongly. This difference is especially well manifested in billhooks.

In the field, it is quite possible to distinguish an adult male from a pig, and not only because the billhooks have long curving fangs (it’s just that the fangs are hard to see at a long distance at dusk), but rather by silhouette. Males are distinguished by a larger head, a massive front part of the body, they have a more developed withers and a more magnificent “mane” along the crest of the back. They look slenderer than females, possibly due to the fact that their body is laterally flattened, while females have a barrel-shaped body.

In young individuals - piglets and gilts - sexual demorphism is poorly developed.

Piglets usually weigh 25 - 45 kg (the weight of the animal largely depends on the feeding conditions and timing of reproduction), gilts - up to 65 - 70 kg (sometimes more with good feed), adult animals: females from 120 to 180, males - from 140 up to 200 kg. The weight of the largest billhooks reaches 260 and more kg.

The most accessible definition of age is by the development of the dental system and the degree of wear. Two works are known for determining the age of the wild boar using this method: for the Western European wild boar (Kozlo, 1975) and for the Ussuri wild boar (Bromley, 1969). Below is a description of the dental system of wild boars of different age groups for the autumn-winter season, i.e., during the hunting period.

Piglets (7 - 11 months) - a total of 36 teeth. By this age, the 3rd dairy is usually cutter is replaced by a permanent one, and the 1st and 2nd incisors are noticeably erased. The change of milk fangs begins. Anterior roots are still milky, but they begin to wear out. At the 3rd anterior tooth, the chewing surface becomes cone-shaped. At the 1st large molar, by 10-11 months, the chewing tubercles are smoothed out.

Gilts (18 - 23 months) - a total of 40 teeth. By this age, the change of milk teeth to permanent ones usually ends. Second big root tooth fully developed.

Two-year-old individuals - a total of 40 - 42 teeth. The 3rd root begins to develop. tooth. The anterior molars are completely differentiated and have erased apices. The fangs of males reach a length of up to 40 mm, in females they are noticeably shorter.

Three-year-old individuals - the number of teeth is 44. The incisors are slightly worn, the wear of the anterior molars increases. The 1st and 2nd posterior teeth begin to wear out.

Four year olds. All teeth have traces of wear, and most importantly, the 3rd posterior tooth begins to smooth out, where dentin lines appear.

Five year olds. At the 1st and 2nd incisors, the upper inner sides are ground off. As a result of erasing, the incisors are shortened. The surfaces of the anterior and posterior molars wear out heavily, and in the 1st and 2nd, the tubercles and folds of enamel are erased, the dentin takes on a star-like shape, this is especially characteristic of the 3rd large molar, although it still has tubercles. In billhooks, transverse furrows are outlined on the upper fangs, which correspond to the age of the beast (this feature does not appear in all individuals).

Six- and seven-year-old individuals. The incisors are strongly sharpened and shortened. The molars are much more worn than in animals of previous ages. In the anterior molars, the dentin appears as dark stripes, in the posterior teeth, small folds begin to wear off, and individual dentin stars are interconnected by dark spots. At the 1st large molar, the crown begins to grind.

Eight-year-olds and older individuals. Teeth begin to decay and fall out. The 3rd incisors and the 1st and 2nd anterior teeth break off especially often. The fangs gradually become thinner. The crowns of all molars are worn off. In older individuals (10 years and older), the posterior teeth are worn down almost to the gums, and the enamel folds disappear.