Wild boar driven hunting in Bulgaria
Wild boar driven hunting is the most desired and waited type of hunting among all Bulgarian and European hunters. It is traditional hunt on the Old Continent and attracts hunters with its emotion, dynamics, and adrenalin. Shooting the fast running boars is a real challenge even for well trained and experienced shooters.
It is necessary for the hunter instantly to judge the gender of the boar, its age, distance to it,
and last but not least where to aim so the hit to be in lethal zone.
The wild boar driven season for wild boars in Bulgaria ends February 28th. This is the reason why we always have bookings for the last few days. Many hunters just cannot get enough of the adventure and adrenaline called wild boar driven hunting. We had six hunters for this drive and on Friday we arrived at the hunting lodge of Hunting Area Zabardo. It is situated in the heart of the mystique Rhodope Mountains. The landscapes are truly breathtaking and the wildlife is abundant. The Rhodope are the most lyric mountain combined oval shape landscapes, all tones of colours, and spectacular scenes and villages. Pinetree forests are abundant here with steep and rocky slopes, visibility is greatly limited and instinct shooting is required on the very few open spaces such as the forest roads.
The hunters chose their rooms and we were ready for the dinner. The fireplace is on, it was snowing outside and everything was like in heaven.
The hunters had requested some traditional folklore music and I invited a bagpiper with traditional Bulgarian bagpipe and a folklore singer. The music was majestic. We had a wonderful evening and everybody was eager to see what the next day had to offer.
The day starts with equipment preparation for each hunter – the clothes and booths, the rifle and riflecase, and ammunition. Over 80% of Bulgarian hunters are using shotguns for the driven hunts. The hunters that day have chosen rifles in the most popular calibers –
.308winchester, .30-06Sprg, 9,3×62, and .300win mag. Choosing the caliber is strictly individual matter and each hunter chooses his according to his experience, preferences, and the hunting ground.
We had a strict instruction on safety rule, discipline, and the animals that were allowed for shooting. The area manager is young and very ambitious professional that has been thinking about even small details. At 8:30 the drive was on, the hunters were at their posts and it did not take long before the first shots. Terrains are very steep in the Rhodope mountains and this is not a place where you can have a daily bag of 30-40-50 wild boars. The region is best in terms of wild boar genetics. The previous tusks world record is from here and definitely here is the place for a big trophy wild boar. We finished the day with 12 wild boars, two of which were male tuskers and one was a medal class keiler. Because of the steep slopes and terrain the boars were collected and brought close to the lodge when the day was gone but we still took several photos.
Wild boar driven hunting cannot be explained or described – it has to be experienced! It is magic, passion, way of life! The emotion is passed on generation after generation and only in the forest, the young hunter becomes experienced after his next meeting with that ferocious keilers.
That feeling is bringing us in the forest again and again in snow, fog, cold, searching for the dreamt keiler. Here comes the end of our hunt, but not the end of our meetings!
Because…The best hunt is still to come!!!
