Thread: French drive

Well it's dawned damp and foggy here in France.
Shot my first French stag on Saturday
More driven boar today as well as hinds. Went out on Friday night for a look. I have a video of what a saw but it's not uploading.
Anyway I'll write up a full review when I get back to the uk.
Let's hope my luck is in for today.

Look forward to the report.

Splendid !

Originally Posted by Mooseman

Look forward to the report.

And the photo's

Just gotten back I'll post a report as soon as I've down loaded the photos.
Just to add had an awesome time and met some really good buggers

Originally Posted by jakewire

And the photo's

+1

Originally Posted by Sideshow

Well it's dawned damp and foggy here in France.
Shot my first French stag on Saturday
More driven boar today as well as hinds. Went out on Friday night for a look. I have a video of what a saw but it's not uploading.
Anyway I'll write up a full review when I get back to the uk.
Let's hope my luck is in for today.

Well done,

I'm heading to England this year with the wife, really tempted to head to France to visit my relatives there, if only they hunted!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

A few years ago my wife and I got to know a lovely French family.
He is mad keen on hunting, so we decided to swap hunts. He came over to England to sample our driven game birds and we went to France to discover driven boar and hinds. It’s a great way to experience a different way of life.
So as another year starts the wife and I set of from Berkshire for the eight hour drive to just north of Paris.
We made good time with light traffic. The only interesting thing was a Spanish truck driver that was asleep while driving and that it was a good two degrees colder in France.
Once there, we settled into our host home and caught up on what they had gotten up to over Christmas and New Year’s.
As it got dark we went out to have a look at what was around in the area we were to hunt.
It’s rather eerie to walk around in a big forest at night and we did come across rather a few pigs or Sanglier as they are known. We came across a boar that had died and was in the process of being eaten. Because it was so cold he was like a pigsuckel and there must have been around thirteen odd beasty’s around him trying to chew through the frozen remains.
With the town so close it would not be a place to fall over drunk at night let alone sleep out.
Once back from our little tour we were invited out to dine in a lovely French restaurant.
It was to be an early start the next morning we were all wrapped up warm with a heavy frost on the ground and grey skies.
We drove the fifteen minutes to where the day’s hunting was to take place and meet the guns and beaters. This hunt was rather a special one, as they only hunt this forest six times a year.
We had our safety briefing, which let us know what we could shoot. They also gave us a very good briefing on firing zones. No shots were to be taken out past one hundred and forty meters.
This was not really a big deal for me as I was using and under and over 8x57 with iron sites. Past one hundred at moving game and it’s beyond me.
During the briefing I was told by the owner of the shoot that I, as a guest, could take a stag. This was extremely generous as usually all the stags where reserved for the owner.
The game that was on the card for the day for all guns was, Boar, piglets, hinds, fawns, spikers and fox.
To give you an idea of what this driven shoot is about. Everyone must wear blaze orange. The beaters will also be wearing orange jackets.

Each gun is driven to a high stand. This is around two and a half meters of the ground with no roof. You can shoot three hundred and sixty degrees. Because the stands are high the shots are angled into the ground. This is important as the forests are public and you will see people out walking running and riding. Signs are posted that hunting is taking place. It is up to you to really make sure that you identify the firing zones that are safe!
The beaters will start at one end of the forestry block and walk very fast in an extended line with dogs and head to the far end. Then they swing around in an arch and come back towards where they started.
We all have horns but the beaters use these most to signal to the guns what they have seen. 3 blasts for Boar, 3 blasts with little blasts at the end is sow with piglets, 4 blasts is Deer and so on.
I had a piece of paper with all the signals in front of me, so that I could try to keep track of what was going on.

My wife and I were dropped at our stand. On getting out the first thing that I noticed was a pine tree that had been really marked up by some stags. While the car drove off we very quickly made our way over to the high stand and climbed up. We needed to be careful as the ladder and platform was covered in ice. Once up we set up the camera and I loaded up as well as sticking a few cartridges in each corner so that I could reload quickly.
Or stand was total isolated off the side of two vehicle tracks and we could see no other stands or shoot participants around us. But we were not alone as soon a walker came into view on one of the tracks. This was the first of a few locals that we saw but they all did not seem bothered by the hunting. At one stage we had a bit of a good laugh as a meals on wheels van drove past, which we hoped was for us.
We looked out into the forest and tried to guess in which way the animals would come! We heard shoots, but saw no game for the first hour. I suddenly saw five very large black boar moving across or front at a steady trot. But they kept parallel with us and did not come close enough for a good shot. We watched as they paused just before crossing the track then bolted across before pausing again on the other side. I had one lined up and if I’d had a scoped rifle Id have fired but with the iron sites it all but block out the boar at that range.
By now we were getting very cold feet even with two pairs of socks on. Still the drive went on and we had not seen one person form the shoot. The phone then went and we were informed that I was now not able to take a stag as the quota had been filled.
Around twenty minutes after the phone call, my wife spied movement away through the trees to our left. Deer that appeared dark grey against white oaks. I watched as they came closer and saw that the middle two were stags I thought that the first one was a spiker and chose this as the one to take. We lost sight of them as they paused behind some trees. I was hoping that they would take the game trail that passed right in front of our stand but they kept moving toward the track on our left.
At around ninety yards I lined on the lead deer and squeezed of a shot to his front shoulder just as he started to move. His back arched up and over he went. As the deer ran back to our right, I was looking for my next target, when I noticed that my animal had gotten back to his feet. I lined his front leg up once more and got a good solid hit. This time I saw the bullet strike. He ran toward the track before I lost sight of him. I was sure that he had gone down, as there was rising ground beyond the track. I reloaded and lined up on a deer, but I could not tell if it was a stag! I asked my wife if she could see what it was through the camera.
“No! But you just shot a stag”.
“What! No I shot a spiker”!
This went on for a bit. She also told me that the last of the four animals was a monster stag. I suspect, he was the one that had been pushing them along.
I climbed down and walked over to wear I had last seen him. Sure enough six points on his head. Bugger! I was not happy. His antlers were the same colour as the oaks behind him.
The first shot had taken him a bit far back and I think clipped the back of his lungs and hit his rib. The second had gone straight through the heart, lungs and taken out his off side front shoulder leg.
The 8x57 is a very comfortable calibre to shoot. This rifle felt like using a 12gauge.
I made my way back to the high stand and told my wife the news.
About fifteen minutes later all the shoot cars turned up. We went straight to our host and informed him of the bad news. We then told the shoot owner who clapped me on the shoulder and pumped my hand say well done, great news. To say that I was relived is an understatement. The last thing that I would have wanted to do was to abuse my host’s hospitality.

We then had some hot soup and sausages. I showed the guys where the stag was so that they could pick it up later. They were happy because it had fallen right next to the track.
We had one more drive that day where I saw no game.
We were then taken back to the shoot lodge. We were greeted with a lovely glass of champagne, before sitting down for a sumptuous four course meal.
They brought the game back to the lodge so we could all get a few photos. Luckily my host’s stag was also a six pointer.

While shooting a stag was great. What really made the whole day memorable was the friendly welcome that we received. How people went out of their way to speak English, as my French is non-existent.
With Saturdays shoot finished we now looked forward to Mondays shoot.

If someone can change those rotate those bottom two photos thanks

Mondays shoot to follow

cool

Originally Posted by sometimes

cool

Very

Here you go. Awesome trip

Good write up ...what did the biggest pig weigh ?

Boaraxa small one is around 20kg big one I think 55 to 58kg.
Stags 102 to 106 kg.
They move the shoot along at a fair clip. So if you have the chance you need to get your photos quick. As they load them straight away no mucking around.
If I get invited back next year I'll take my rifle and a range finder as well as a seat, binoculars and warmer socks!