In France, hunters are men of the people. Credit: JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD/AFP via Getty Images
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Autumn in France profonde. The glint of sun on gathered grapes, the spicy perfume of the sunflower harvest, the wild cry of hounds as la chasse courses through the misty forest — and, too often, the tragedy of someone being shot by the self-same hunt.
The hunting season in France, which begins as early as August in some north-eastern départments, is in full swing — and inevitably, there will be deaths between now and March, when it closes. According to the National Office of Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS), since 1999 more than 3,000 shooting accidents have occurred, with in excess of 420 mortalities. Some of the dead were absolute innocents: a 69-year-old woman was shot in her own garden after a hunter fired through her hedge; a driver was killed by a bullet that had rebounded off a wild boar. Most of the dead, however, are hunters themselves, engaged in a pastime which is not just dangerous for the animal.
The ONCFS attributes the deaths to “a failure to comply with basic safety rules,” but one needs to acknowledge the nature of the game in the Hexagon. Significant beasts on the French “to-shoot list” include deer and wild boar, both of which require a round from a rifle — which can spin a projectile a whole kilometre — as opposed to the shotgun standard in British shooting, the range of which is mere metres. Yet the most obvious, and the most culturally significant, reason for the mortalities is the sheer number of people involved in the pursuit. If the number of registered hunters has gone down since the start of the century, it still stands at 1.2 million. By a long shot, hunting is France’s third most popular hobby, after rugby and football.
Hunting is also part of the national bloodstream, part of France’s sense of itself. It may be Europe’s most sophisticated country (Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermès, the globe’s three leading luxury brands, are all Gallic), yet it is stubbornly rural, with non-urban areas accounting for one-third of the population (compared to a European average of 28%, and 17% in Britain). And France’s rural population inhabits 551,500 km², making the mainland population density just 11 people per km² — about a quarter that of England. Thus, the nation’s National Institute of Statistics concluded, France is the second most rural country in Europe, after Poland.
Not unrelatedly, the French are Europe’s most persistently anti-globalist nation, the most possessed by the notion of heritage. It is a country with a strong sense of Patrimoine, a country where bull-fighting and cock-fighting remain legal because they are preservations of the past — and in France heritage can trump animal ethics, let alone the prejudices of “townies”.
In 2019 second-home owners on the Ile d’Oléron, off the west coast, brought a case against a cockerel, Maurice, for crowing too early. The locals supported Maurice, and a judge upheld the cock-a-doodle-doos, ordering the plaintiffs to pay €1,000 in damages to Maurice’s owner, Corinne Fesseau. After a host of similar cases in which the unholy trinity of “neo-rurals”, Brit ex-pats and – worst of all – holidaying Parisians complained about the loud and smelly ways of France profonde, the National Assembly backed a bill from Pierre Morel-À-L’Huissier, a deputy from the Lozère, to protect France’s “sensory heritage”. By this was meant “the crowing of the cockerel, the noise of cicadas, the odour of manure.”
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SubscribeI love the French persistence in preserving their traditions and culture.
We can all reflect on this, and not follow some pf the false narratives told by the Press and protests groups.
My favourite quote from someone participating in the Mont de Marsan demonstrations referred to those who draw up the legislation:
Talibans de Paristan
Macron does indeed take on the Gilets Oranges at his peril. Quite apart from the accidents it is well known that the hunt is occasionally used to settle scores….
A rifle isn’t necessary for hunting wild boar. In NZ it is done with dogs, and a knife.
Hardcore.
You go first
In My experience it is much drinking both before and during the Chasse that is the major contributor to the deaths and injuries.
The hunting of wild boar and deer in France is very different from hunting in the UK. The hunters are in a very well spaced out line and the game is driven to them by dogs. The huntsman is therefore on his own most of the day and more often than not will not fire a shot. The sociable part is having an extended lunch together. There has been a gradual change in public opinion on hunting as there has been in vegetarianism. Over the last twenty years it has become more regulated and better disciplined but not enough to stop an Englishman chopping wood a few miles from us from being killed last year by a recently qualified huntsman on a wild boar hunt.
In fact it is illegal in France to hunt wild boar on your own because they are very dangerous animals, especially a wounded one or a female with her young. They also do make every effort to make it clear when and where they are hunting so that people can take care and stay away.
Wrong……but I am going to waste my time convincing. I am a french hunter….bow Hunter as it turns out and it is perfectly legal to hunt a wild boar. The safest way is stalking from a tree stand.
Having come face to face with a wild boar in the hills north of Barcelona I am inclined to agree.
In parts of the US the boar/wild hogs have gotten so out of control that some areas offer bounties on them as a form of pest control. Not sure about all areas, but when I was in Georgia brining in the tail was considered proof of a kill. I never did it because my rifles were with my parents in a different state, and my job was so hectic I had very little time for recreation, but for those into it I can imagine it was nice to get to hunt and even get paid for it.
Vive la difference!