fin003
AH elite
A July evening in the wheat field
The rhythm of hunting wild boar repeats itself every , down to the smallest detail. The last driven hunts end here in January, when peace reigns in the hunting grounds. With a little luck we can still shoot a second-year male in the forest or at the edge of the field – but we mainly concentrate on observing the game. In May, everything revolves around the hunting of bucks and young does. The wild boars lead their young, which are often not huntable yet, from woodland shelter to shelter, with detours through nearby meadows. Only at the end of June do we regularly encounter wild boar in the milk-ripe grain. To me, this is one of the very most exciting hunts. Everything is put to the test: hunting experience, knowledge of the grounds, the equipment, and your shooting skills. One weekend at the beginning of July, we spend a few days in our home hunting grounds again, to stalk the “wheat boars”.
My personal equipment starts with sneakers that quietly carry me over the dry ground. The soft, well-worn trousers sit comfortably and have room for the most necessary items. The camouflage jacket with the muted colours over the polo shirt is soft on the outside and doesn’t make any loud noises when I duck down to follow the tractor tracks through the grain. My rangefinder, a Geovid HD-B 10×42, gives me the security of being able to detect and identify wildlife at far distances, until dark. Because I often have to walk long distances, I choose my light Krieghoff folding rifle in the proven caliber 8x57IRS, with the new Leica Fortis 6 2.5-15×56 i mounted on it.
Good viewing comfort, outstanding light transmission, the bright, high-contrast image, together with its superior field of view make it the ideal companion for this type of hunt and season. Last not least, I rely on my StableStick shooting stick, which is both a reliable help for aiming as well as a good support when scanning the fields. This evening, I start stalking from a raised position. The light breeze blows towards me as I begin to scan the fields. The crops here are varied: barley stands next to rapeseed, which is next to peas, which border on wheat. And so on. Again and again I find traces of feeding, chewed ears of wheat.
A bit of time passes until I hear crashes in the nearby forest: wild boar coming from the forest, into the wheat. With the Geovid I recognize one, two, three second-year boars who are slowly heading into the grain. I get ready to fire in a tractor lane. The rifle lies still, the riflescope shows me a clear image. Finally the first boar shows up, stands free, but quickly moves on. The second follows. I grunt briefly, bringing the third to a standstill. But only for a moment, because my bullet hits it just behind the shoulder blade. My rifle is reloaded quickly. On a closer look, I see lung bleeding; the boar only managed to run a few yards. Stalking is over for the evening, since I need to take care of the game and get it refrigerated.
WRITTEN BY
Leica Hunting Blog
