Henry VIII. was exceedingly fond of hunting the Wild Boar, and for
centuries these animals have been kept in an enclosed paddock in Windsor Great
Park. Recently, however, they became such a nuisance that they were all shot
(1904). The only place known to me where Wild Boars are now kept in a
comparatively free state in Britain is Vaynol, Mr. Duff’s seat in Wales, where
they were introduced by the late Mr. Assheton Smith.
By far the best account of hunting the ‘ Wyld Bore ’ as practised in England
in the sixteenth century is to be found in the ‘ Booke of Hunting,’ 1575, by
George Turberville, a Dorsetshire squire. He gives many quaint details
about the pursuit with ‘ mastiffes and such like dogs ’ and of the terms used
in Boar-hunting, the names of the beast at various ages of life, and of the
‘ nature and subtiltie of the Bore.’ For some time the young wild pig remains
a ‘ hogge of the sounder,’ then during the first three years it passes from a
‘ hogge ’ to a 1 hoggestere.’ In his fourth year he is a ‘ Boor ’ and ‘ from the
sounder departeth he.’
The chase of the Wild Boar is followed to-day in France with as much
ardour and skill as in days of old. A recent account1 of a French hunt gives
most of the terms still in use, as well as the manner in which it is conducted:
‘ The first requisite for an accomplished Boar-hunter was to be able to
interpret correctly the marks made in the mud or turf by the feet of the quarry,
and so to distinguish not only between the spoor of the wild and the tame hog
but between the “ traces ” and “ markes ” made by these animals according to their
age. Thus the aspirant to honours in this craft was expected to study carefully
the charts in which footmarks of various shapes and sizes were figured with
all the precision that the draughtsman could attain to. The first of the series
is the trace made by the marcassin, or wild pig, less than twelve months old.
Next to it comes the footmark of the bête de compagnie, or bête rousse, or pig of
the sounder, in the second year of his age. The third year finds the porker
dignified by the name of a ragot, and in the fourth year he at last attains to
the honours of a sanglier, or boar, which title is enlarged a few years later into
vieux sanglier, grand vieux sanglier, and solitaire. French sporting and forestal
terminology gives its own special names also for the bodily members and peculiarities
of this very game object of the chase. His head is a hure, and his snout is a
boutoir, with which he makes vermillis as he pokes about on the surface of the
ground. He sharpens his défenses, or formidable tusks of the lower jaw, against
1 Country Life, March io, 1906.
the grais of the upper jaw. His shoulders and the back of his neck are protected
by a stiff, coarse mane called armure, and the lair in which he reposes is known
as a bauge. He treads more on the fore part of his hoofs than the back, and
steps with each hind foot into the trace left by the fore foot, whereas a different
mode of progression betrays the domestic swine.
‘ All writers agree in regarding the chase of this animal as very fatiguing to
the hunters, whether biped or four-footed. And it is, of course, also dangerous.
When the traces of a full-grown Boar are found, he is tracked by lime-hounds to
his stronghold in the woods, which will be found in summer somewhere near a
cornfield, in autumn in the neighbourhood of vineyards, and later in the year in
a part where there are acorns or beech-nuts. Once driven from his lair, the Wild
Boar is followed by a good-sized pack of strong and courageous hounds, which
must be encouraged all the time by much blowing of horns and shouting— the
favourite cries being ‘‘ Hou ! hou ! Veleci, mon petit ! Veleci aller, mon tou-tou ! ”
and the like. The men must be well mounted, and must spare no efforts to keep
the Boar going, without turning to bay, until he is well tired. The chase of a
young Boar may be prolonged for as much as six or seven hours, but the
old stager is heavier, and will not often go more than two hours before
making his stand. He then rushes with extreme ferocity at his assailants, and is
almost certain to rip some of them, often mortally, with his first onset. Horses
are often also ripped in the leg, and their riders thrown, in which case they are
likely to be charged by the infuriated animal. It is in this emergency that it is
permitted by the laws of venerie to use firearms. In ordinary cases the privilege
of firing is reserved to the Master of the Hounds ; but any rider may, if his own
life is in imminent danger, shoot with his revolver in self-defence. In the hunting
of wild sows or pigs of the sounder, whose tusks are not accounted dangerous
to life, the use of firearms is unlawful. The orthodox mode of finishing the hunt
is for one of the huntsmen to plunge his hunting-knife into the throat or neck
of the quarry while he is still charging at his foes. But it is also lawful to use
the épieu, or Boar-spear, which is a stout shaft armed at the end with a broad and
very sharp blade. The shaft is also sometimes fitted with short arms, or forklike
branches, for preventing the Boar from continuing his charge right up to the
man, even after his body has been transfixed by the spear-blade. A notable incident
attending the finish of a Boar-hunt is the dressing of the wounds of such hounds
as have been wounded. For this purpose the habitués of the hunt carry with them
a box or bag containing needles, thread, bandages, and strips of bacon. The gashes