About hunting

Boarhunting Tips

Probably one of the most exciting animals to hunt are feral pigs. Chasing a big boar through dense scrub can really get the adrenaline running. However, it all isn't just fun and games. Feral pigs are dangerous and they do an immense amount of environmental damage. They kill both native and domestic animals; they wallow in and erode water holes and they are always digging and rooting around in the soil for food they can find.

Pigs are also a big problem to livestock farmers. They carry diseases, and can pass them on to the livestock. Be careful that you check your pig thoroughly before eating any part of it. If you find and worms in it, or if the pig just doesn't look healthy, then don't eat it! It is better to be safe.

They breed throughout the year under favorable conditions usually producing two litters a year, with an average of six piglets in each litter. There can be high mortality among piglets depending on food supplies and weather conditions. Sows will aggressively protect their young and are quite dangerous of they believe there is any threat.. Piglets mature quickly and become sexually mature when they are about six months old.

Feral pigs are omnivores, which means that they will eat both plant material and animals. Grass makes up the bulk of their diet where available. Feral pigs will also eat fruit, roots, beetles, young rabbits and other small animals as well as scavenge on carrion.

The choice of rifle when hunting pigs depends mainly on the terrain that you expect to be encountering the pigs in, and the range that you expect to be shooting at. The rifle should be a center fire. The caliber of the depends on the size of pigs that you expect to encounter, and the range that you expect your shots to be taken within. A 30 caliber Winchester or a .44 Magnum are good for close range work in dense scrub, and terrain where shots would not exceed more than 150 yards. Such rifles as the Remington 7600 pump action, and the side by side.

Chapeus rifles are also excellent because of there compactness and their quick shots. But the main advantage is that they are made in large rifle calibers. This makes them effective at close range, and extends their effective range markedly. Hunting out in the open is a different story. Here you need higher velocity lighter projectiles, .30-06. Or a 7.6mm cartridge. The increased velocity and lighter aerodynamic projectiles ensure accuracy and velocity are conserved right out to your target range.

A bolt action is best a t longer range. Use a rifle that is light enough to carry in the field and that is also heavy enough to absorb the recoil of a larger cartridge. Once again, this is a matter of how far you expect to be carrying your rifle for; and ultimately it comes down to a matter of personal choice.

Shotguns are also used to hunt pig. The have the advantage of being able to shoot everything from quails, right through to pigs. Hunting pigs with shotguns is invariably done with a 12 Gauge, and takes on two forms: using shot and using slugs.

Using pellets for pig hunting is restricted to close quarters. They are the best weapon against pigs at close range. However they are ineffective at longer range. This is where the rifled slugs and sabot's come into their own. Being very heavy and made out of either solid lead or copper alloy, these slug pack one heck of a punch! The only pitfall is their accuracy, and using them in a smoothbore, accuracy can be very poor indeed. There are bolt action shotguns that have rifled barrels (Mossberg 695, Savage 210F, etc.), and these shotguns can group lead slugs and sabots quite well. I would not recommend a single shot because they take too long to reload.

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Hunting Ethics

Hunting ethics is a term which defines the true standards, conduct and moral judgment of a sportsman. Some say that people's hunting ethics are also a mirror image of the rest of their personal lives.

Ethics for the hunter can be broken down into personal and public ethics. The personal
ethics of a sportsman deal with the way he treats his sport, the animals and other hunters. Though often distasteful, personal ethics do not usually entail illegal activity. On the other hand, public ethics deal with issues such as breaking game laws, trespassing on private property, poaching, etc.

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Personal Ethics

Every ethical hunter should practice personal ethics as a way of showing respect for his fellow sportsmen and the animals. Instead of fighting over a particular hunting area, it is considered ethical to share the area or invite the other hunter to hunt it one day and then you hunt it the next day.

Personal disregard for another hunter's right to be in the woods should also be avoided, such as making noise to chase away game because someone beat you to your favorite spot, or putting on a drive where other hunters are stand hunting.

One of the most ethically irresponsible things a hunter can do is not follow up his shot. Always do everything possible to retrieve a wounded animal, including spending the entire day looking for it.

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Public Ethics

 Party hunting, shooting an animal for another hunter, poaching, or leaving a deer in the woods because it is "just" a doe or small buck are not only grossly unethical, but also illegal. If the sportsman is supposed to be in the deer woods to commune with nature and enjoy the animals we love so much, it is reasonable that an ethical hunter would not even consider some of the above mentioned ethical and legal violations.

Today, hunters are waging a battle against anti-hunters. We're also waging a more discouraging battle against adverse publicity from those few unethical sportsmen who's actions give the majority of ethical, law abiding hunters a black eye.

Ultimately, public opinion will decide whether hunting as we know it will continue. It is our duty to do everything possible to win this war. Sportsmanship

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Russian national pastime

Hunting has always been a Russian national pastime. Tsars, nobility and peasants alike used to indulge in this activity (Leo Tolstoy described hunts in his novels). Russian hunting reserves are home to more than 50 species of birds, 43 species of predatory animals, about 20 species of hoofed animals, and 10 species of rodents. And there have always been many methods of hunting.

Hunting has its own folklore, songs and tales, which can be found on the numerous web sites dedicated to the subject.

Some russians have broadened the appeal of hunting for fun. Now it is fashionable to hunt for animals such as bear, boar and wolf just for the "thrill" of the chase and so that afterwards you can show off to your business associates. These days you can go hunting in any of Russia's regions and there are many companies specializing in extreme and adventure tourism that offer hunting holidays.

In Siberia and central Russia, foreign visitors prefer hunting for boar, elk, wolf, fox and hare. We once met two Germans who had come across in summer to hunt in the Vladimir region (northeast of Moscow). They stayed in hunting lodges. "Even although central Russia is a heavily populated region, there are still pristine forests where you can hunt game!" they said with surprise. "We can walk for hours and never meet a single soul." When asked about the cost of a trophy, they answered, "The cheapest is a duck. It's only $25. It's hard to find such low prices anywhere else."

In spring, all of Russia's regions offer black grouse, wood grouse and duck hunting and shooting. On the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East you can hunt bears when they come out to enjoy the bright sun.
In winter time, hunters can go hunting for many animals including bears in the Moscow region.

Central and western Russia are popular for deer hunting in autumn and winter, from September to December. During the same period, you can hunt Siberian deer and Siberian mountain goats in the Altai region in the south of Siberia, the land of "the golden mountains" and rich traditions. In the same region, from August to October, you can hunt roe deer. Hunting elk is popular throughout the country. You can arrange to hunt elk in the
Volga regions of Astrakhan and Yaroslavl, the northern regions of Murmansk, Novgorod and Vladimir, and also on "the geyser paradise," the Kamchatka Peninsula.

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