I went on my first wild boar hunt in France on Saturday. My aunt hooked me up with a local bowhunter named Rocco. He’s kind of a local legend, for hunting and socializing. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor.

Rocco's on the right

The french have a very different style of hunting wild boar. Since it’s cold in the mountains, the boar move around a lot during the day, so there’s no need to be on site and set up at the crack of dawn, as in the US. Also, since the boar are moving around a lot, they use dogs to help find and expose them. I was surprised at the size of the pups, but they are incredibly good hunters. In addition, there were about 30 people in this hunting party, spread out all over the mountain.

We saw a boar sprint by us, but with no time to shoot. The rest of the party was similarly unlucky. This hunt was more a long walk in the woods, which they often are. It was plenty nice to spend the day with Rocco, improving my French and keeping an ear to the woods.

Il marche

Fortunately, there was a boar dinner afterwards at one of the hunter’s houses nearby. Without catching a boar, I managed to get a taste of the European pig. And yes, it is good.