So, here we're back in Germany and we've come to some more wild boar hunting. Now,
I'm in the Müller Schießzentrum in Ulm with my good friend
Frederick Hanner from Sauer, but before we go into the field start hunting, he's
gonna show me a little bit more about the technique involved in successful
wild boar shooting. so, I've got my Sauer 404 Synchro XTC in 308, that's topped with
a Hawke Vantage 1x4 by 24. We're gonna be shooting Hornady 150 grain
interlocks, so I've got all the gear it's now really just about where to put it.
Wild boar hunting, it's a very technical sport isn't it?
it's not just about shooting the pigs, there's a technique
that you need to go through to be really effective. Yes, absolutely I mean that the
techniques makes it so much easier to actually hit them where you want to hit
them because if you don't hit them where you want to hit them it becomes
frustrating any of wounded animals. So, with the wild boar you have different
kind of points where you can hit them so they go down very fast. Of course the
obvious place is kind of from here to here right in the nervous system brain
or neck shot, that's the typical wild boar fever rolled forward when they just
collapse, that's when everything tenses up and they just roll over there. Exactly. However, that is very, very difficult when the
wild boar is running it at full whack. So, as with any animal all this area here is
your deadly zone. I always say per 10 meters of distance that you're shooting
it you roughly give it 10 centimetres of lead, so depending on how far they are
away from you and how fast they're running, you of course need to have your
your aim sometimes well in front of the boar to actually hit them here. Shoot where
it's going not where it is. Exactly, like with the pheasant shooting in the
UK. Then what I always say to start is or how I teach driven boar shooting is
actually first step is on a static target like this big old kyla that we
are standing here, what I tell people and what we will do in the shooting cinema
in a moment is actually start aiming while you're swinging the rifle up and
you're in the middle you pull the shot and what that actually does that swing
actually stabilizes your line and therefore you don't have any wobble to
the right or the left and you're always in one straight line and you just pull
the trigger whenever you want to shoot it. Makes sense. The next point then is with the
running boar, I always mount up on the haunch you go up and then you have an
even curve that goes into a straight line,
then you swing through and when you're at your point of aim then that's when
you want to let the shot go. That's to encourage a nice smooth swing and also
to stop you from stopping the rifle. Stopping the rifle and just any movement
that you don't want because that swing just stabilises everything, your body the
rifle, as long as there's movement it just stabilises your whole swing and
that's what you want it's all about straight lines and getting on them on
the boar as best as you can. So, it sounds quite simple, so now we're going to go
into the shooting cinema and hopefully gonna put it into practice.
So, here we are in the shooting cinema and is pretty impressive facility. 50
meters shooting cinemas. Is this the ideal range for shooting?
It depends a bit, I mean that the further you can go back
the better it is for your training because the thing is although you might
see the boar 50 meters away from where they filmed it, it doesn't mean
that your lead is 50 meters, so the further you can go back even up to a
100, which they can do some it's amazing because then you really have
your real-life lead there and you can really train the real thing. But, this is
where I have to start with, as you can see the static target behind us, so we're
gonna start off with the static target, just as I said upstairs
we'll do the moving barrel thing first. So, swing through on the front leg
and when you're in the middle of the body try to squeeze the trigger and of
course as always try to us as small of a grouping as possible. So, let's go and have a play.
First three shots and that seemed to go pretty well. Perfect, I mean look at that
about two inch group freehand with a moving barrel, that's as perfect as it
gets really that's all I wanted to see really. So, what you know we can
group in the same place using a moving barrel, what's the next step from here?
The next step actually and that's amazing here in the Müller shooting cinema
they've got like animated flying air balloons that just goes straight up.
So, they're actually off the straight line again, but on a moving target so
that's what we're doing next, perfect. It'll be animated air balloons going
bottom to top and let's see how you do there. You never know you might see some
air balloons tomorrow. Let's have a look at that, let's go.
So, Frederic how did we do on the ballots then? I think very well, I mean
most of them popped, you missed one the first round that's completely normal.
Very happy to see that and I think now that you're really comfortable with
that moving barrel and you understand the principle of it I think we're ready
for shooting at a boar. So, we'll start with a with a slower one just so
again the line is going kind of sideways now not bottom-to-top anymore, but so you
get used to that we'll have a slow boar out to start off with and let's see how
you get on with that. Pull up from the back, through and then out, exactly.
When the haunches try to get a nice even curve and then from the kidneys forward so to
say it's all a straight line and you kind of want to be on on high level
rather a bit higher than too low, I always say rather the back then the leg
because when you through the back you you drop it instantly and with
a leg shot  it runs forever, so let's see how you get on straight up.
So, there we have it, as you add in a bit more movement, a bit more change of pace
things start to get a little bit more difficult. Absolutely, I mean you saw it
in the beginning your lead wasn't correct that's normal that's something
you adjust to, but what I saw in the beginning with the first couple of shots
you were also all over the boar height wise and as you shot on that's what got
much, much better and what's really the most important thing there the up and
down movement came to about 15 centimeters if at all and that's what
you want to see. Even if your leads wrong or something that can always happen
that's something you practice for, but you need to get into that straight line
that you're not all over, straight, back and then through. Exactly and that's what you
did perfect in the end. The difference was minimal and keep on
going like that try another couple of shots and then we'll try something a bit little bit faster.
Frederic,  that was a little bit cruel there.You kind of picked at the pace pretty
quickly. Absolutely, I mean that was the the real driven hunt
scenario of what were you ever a group coming fast
different sized animals you did the exact right thing. You went for the boar
that was not covered by anything else.
I mean look at you,
you shot those fast ones much better than you shot the slow ones.
So, very well done makes me excited for tomorrow and do the same thing hopefully.
It is interesting, is just trying to get that movement in there, you
know going through camera up and then through up and then through and actually as
the animals going faster you lean a little bit further into the shot, there's
a little bit more dynamism in your swing, you get in front of the animal and then
you actually use the speed of the animal as a reference point, so you
come off the front end of it that's the time you squeeze the trigger. It's just the
dynamics, it just keeps your barrel straight it keeps it swinging and then
it's a bit of intuition as well as with the with the shotgun shooting. So,
brilliantly done, let's have another round and go from there.
So, there we have it. It was a great session, but towards the end there
that got a bit tricky. Animals coming in faster, accelerating going downhill and I
was all over the place. The downhill thing that's what really makes it
difficult, I mean downhill you're losing your
straight line, you need to think in angles all of a sudden and that's the
the creme de la creme of driven boar shooting I'd say. The running down wild
boar on a hill is the most difficult target there isn't driven wild boar
shooting. Running up it was not so difficult because they tend to be slower,
but when they fully wake running downhill you need to be well in front of
them and below them, so you really need to think in in all the dimensions of the
boar running, but I mean towards the end you got on them and that's fine it was a
kind of a slow start, moved through and actually I tend to same as I'm shooting pheasants with
shotgun, I'll push through with my left arm, but you say actually pulling through
with your right arm is more stable? So, absolutely I always say 80% from your
steering so to say come out of your right hand and that is just because
you're locked in with the gun in your shoulder and close to your face, so
you're just more stable again with the straight line and the left arm is
really just there to stabilise the gun a bit, but really the steering out of your
right hand. Very interesting. That means that even though it's moving
target gotta just adjust my technique. Absolutely, but all in all it's been a
fascinating training plan, it's given me a lot more confidence. Certainly helping
me with a bit of technique, you know that mount in up through the animal and then
mounting up through the animal in a straight line.
I've just got to work on that downhill bit. So, I'm hoping tomorrow when I get
into a highseat i'll be in an elevated position with pigs running down from the
left to the right in front of me.
I'm looking forward to the next two days I've driven boar shooting. Me too
So, I want to say thank you very much to Frederick for his time patience and
then passing on some of his knowledge and also the guys here at the Müller Schießzentrum in Ulm,
which is a fabulous facility if you are in this neck of the
woods definitely coming here. It's not just the shooting cinema, but also the store
upstairs. They've got loads of Deerhunter stuff and loads of Hawke Optics,
they've got Hornady ammo, so everything that I need and use is here. It's like a kids toy shop.
So, once again brother really appreciate thanks. Well done. Let's bring
do the real thing tomorrow, I'm, looking forward to it.
