Well, the hunter must have been a lousy shot, that’s what would worry me. One bang should have been enough.
There’s a big problem worldwide with wild pigs (literally from Australia to the USA). The only problem I have with chasseurs is that they pretend their “sport” is controlling this plague, which prevents effective population management actions.
It’s time to start poisoning them (in a caring way) en masse. The sangliers that is, not the macho chasseurs. Though now that I think about it…
Nonono never poison, other creatures end up eating it.
No Vero, that would be terrible.
There’s been a lot of work on this. I read up about it during a sanglier infestation (ultimately fixed with otherwise unnecessary expensive fencing) we had a few years ago.
If I remember correctly, the poison only acts on porcine livers. It’s in grain stored in bunkery things that only sangliers are smart/sneaky enough (bit of schadenfreude irony to enjoy here) to work out how to nuzzle open, and when they gorge themselves and wander off they become sleepy, lie down for a little rest and never get up again.
Getting rid of these pests in a humane and safe way is a growth industry. It just doesn’t seem to be downscalable from a commercial to a domestic application yet. Otherwise I’d have a couple of bunkers outside our fence. It’s that or landmines 
Pretty much every commune around here has it’s own chasse, even the pretty small ones. We thankfully don’t have much of an issue here with amateurs, the local chasse keep a close ear and eye out. I heard that the last time this happened in a neighbouring commune, the amateurs returned to their cars to find they had been rolled over into a ditch. It can get a bit dueling banjos down here 
I’m with Vero - NEVER poison. We nearly lost our adorable dog Vita at 2 years old to poison from a neighbouring farmer’s land. And without doubt the poison set off a series of illnesses that affected the rest of her life.
Of course there has! It’s what chemical companies are good at, and the propaganda afterwards.
Exactly. And then what happens to the inviting flesh that is lying there, ready to be a good meal for everything from other sanglier to beetles and worms? The latter eaten by birds, and so the poison is spread.
An organised battu is preferable, where every dead pig is accounted for.
Exactly John. As I said above, those of us who moan about “hunting” are probably not moaning about organised battus but the wretched individuals who live in towns and think what fun it is to come out at the weekend firing off their guns in every direction at everything that moves, including each other.
We have been given meat regularly as have our neighbours. Tough as old boots and inedible. Animals stressed as hell after being chased around by dogs then not cleanly killed do not provide good meat. It goes in the bin as does our neighbour’s. We also suffer the multitude of shots when something is spotted. I suspect a clean kill is a rarity.
Stop these amateurs and bring in properly trained people for necessary culling (sanglier) as they do in Scotland (not sanglier!)
Road safety? They phone each other from different spots and jump in their vehicles then race to wherever totally oblivious to blind corners, pedestrians, domestic animals etc.
Singing is a good idea, so they know a human is at large ! We don’t have any problems locally at the moment. But I go for a short walk every day and on Sundays particularly, I sing as I walk, just in case of the one man and his dog situation. If there’s a big battu there are vehicles parked nearby, coming and going., orange hats etc and dogs barking. Fortunately it’s usually the chasse privée.
I agree with that sue. But this stuff only affects pig livers, so unless you’ve a pet porker it should be OK. Pinky and Perky would be at risk of course. But I never liked them.
Not the same as the meat I receive, the last lot of sanglier was very tender, particularly the filet.
Not all chasses are the same; the behaviour and the abilities of the chasse are the responsibility of the Président de Chasse. If you have concerns report to them the Gendarmes.
As the using professionals are there sufficient; I read in France 3 that for my départment has set a target for culling was 23,000! The report stated that chasseurs will not achieve that number.
As for road safety and drivers they we all have our responsibilities.
Jan and Vladta Dalibor were the puppeteers and I used to see them every summer at Heysham Head.
Same here. Plenty of signage (and you can’t miss the groups of Berlingos and vans!).
Sangliers grubbing up natural spaces is productive; it creates exposed soil patches which are important for some species of butterflies, allows some species of plants to get a chance while they can’t in established sward. Sanglier having been doing this job for thousands of years.
We humans have a tough time accepting that what animals do is natural and normal, even if it doesn’t look tidy to us.
We have a very organized hunt with signs and all. But… they regularly place shooters on both sides of a public road, with the animals driven toward that road. The potential for shooting towards cars, cyclists, walkers is not negligible. We also watched the hunt straight out our living room window, certainly not 75 metres away in a straight line.
Let me mention that I don’t recognize a single face when I pass their gatherings. This club is based in our commune but isn’t OF our commune.
I don’t feel that is a valid comparison. Cars, while they have their issues, are fundamentally designed to serve a non lethal role. And are used in France daily by millions, so of course the stats would be much higher. Hunting is a recreation and entirely unnecessary. So a single death of another user of the countryside is unacceptable. One morning I was playing with my 9 year old, in the trees along the edge of a field. When the hunt club all showed up, we had to retreat into our garden. Then the climb sent a line of beaters through a hedge, crossed our property and formed up along the edge of our property to start their process. We weren’t even safe in our own garden. How can a small minority have outsized rights?
I was not trying to defend la chasse. I was simply trying to put the risk of injury, which seems to cause a great deal of emotion, into perspective.
There were only 3 serious accidents and no deaths in the whole of France during the last season to people not involved in the hunt.
I am very uncomfortable with anything involving shooting. However, I hypocriticaly accept gifts of venison and sanglier from neighbours.
I would guess that two thirds of my neighbours approve of hunting. As a guest in this country, where hunting is concerned, a Gallic shrug seems most appropriate.
I understand the desire to get along and respect local customs and attitudes. But… we’re not talking about how one greets another or how you drink your beer. People do die. Cyclists, hikers, people in their own garden. You say that there were no fatalities in the last year but this report (https://ofb.gouv.fr/sites/ofb-gouv-fr/files/2025-09/bilan_2025-chasse.pdf) gives a bilan for 2024-2025 of 11 deaths. Even if that is for the year before, the number of deaths each year over the last 20 years has never been close to zero.
This is a deadly activity and giving it a pass because it is a ‘tradition’ isn’t acceptable to a lot of French people. Almost everyone who I talk to in our village is not actually interested in hunting or even supportive. Some just shrug and accept it as the unavoidable norm. But they/we can do better. It’s unfortunately a case of the hunting lobbies having the ear of elected reps who aren’t going to risk being opposed over this issue. Rather like the NRA in the States.
My hope is to slowly buy some of the parcels of boggy woods adjoining our property and make it impossible to traverse rhat whole area.
For this interested , that study has many interesting graphs on the hunting accidents.
I live in the countryside surrounded by glorious wildlife. We have a couple of Hunting Associations. They know the rules and obey them. (thank heavens).
Haven’t had any accidents/incidents in the last 20+ years.
Re the Table you show, you will note that all of the 11 deaths were Hunters.
Joe Public: No deaths, 3 serious injuries, 13 light injuries.
Deaths, Injuries.. absolutely ghastly. We don’t want any of 'em to happen, of course not!
I generally follow Hunt news items and have noticed that the majority of these horrible happenings occur because “safety rules” have not been followed by the Hunters. Makes me so cross!
The last two hunting related deaths in our area have been a young woman on a marked hiking trail and a man pruning trees in his garden.
How recent were they, Mark? It certainly seems like more deaths than the figures when you read the papers, people like runners or those foraging for mushrooms.
As a matter of interest, do you happen to know what was the punishment of the “hunter” concerned in each of these cases ?
