Wild boar hunting is pure adrenaline. The morning alarm goes off early and, with coffee still in hand, we look out the window, on the pretext of looking at the weather, and try to glean some mysterious sign about the coming day’s hunting. Ahh, yeah… hunters are often superstitious and attached to their hunting rituals.
The king of the scrub is a challenging game that puts hunters’ physical fitness and coolness to the test. Although it has great adaptability, the European wild boar prefers to inhabit particularly mature woodland to live, especially oak groves.
It is game that, in the last times of inactivity and absence of traffic, has regained possession of spaces that belonged to it in long bygone times, ever closer to populated areas and a reflection of a nature without cease.
Protruding tusks, stout, bristly hide, on average it can weigh in at between 60 and 120 kg. A concentration of pure power and energy!
Fundamentally, you can go after wild boars in two ways: group or still. While this latter is an individual wild boar hunting technique, carried out with rifled barrel firearms, such as bolt action rifles, the battue, the stalk and the dog hunts are group hunts, involving a very variable number of hunters.
In Italy, the types of hunt for this ungulate quarry differ from region to region. The hunt currently most widespread in Italy is the so-called “braccata”, a method practised since the second half of the nineteenth century in the Tuscan and Lazian Maremma.
Battue – driven wild boar hunting – is a spectacular hunting technique, very much suited for large territories and widely practised in the great plains of Eastern Europe. Rooted in the folkloric tradition of many peoples, it omits the use of hunting dogs and instead employs a cordon formed of beaters, tasked with leading the quarry to the stakeouts.
Instead, wherever it is necessary to respect the quiet of the environment and cause as little disturbance as possible to other wildlife species, wild boar hunting is preferred in a small team of hunters, a tecquique that in Italy is called “girata”.
Group harmony and the trust relationship established between companions is a very important aspect for the hunt‘s safety and success, as well as the work of the faithful four-legged assistants. Among the dog breeds most used in wild boar hunting are the Deutscher Jagdterrier, the English Setter and the Basset Hound.
The fundamental rule in this type of hunting is absolute silence, save in necessary situations.
In such moments, which precede the sighting of the king of the scrub, time seems to stop. The senses become sharper, attentive to the slightest rustle, the emotion more intense and, despite having not yet spotted it, we feel that the game is there, getting ever closer, and at any moment we will spring into action!
The wild boar is a mighty game, which chooses narrow, inhospitable environments for its home. Endowed with a fast run, it appears and disappears among the scrub, with sudden, unexpected side swerves. This is why it is critical for the hunter to have a firearm with instinctive, easy to handle, aiming.
Feeling Slug is the new Franchi over and under shotgun specifically for wild boar hunting. It is the shotgun for the daring hunter who loves the challenge at close quarters with the king of the scrub. With an essential but distinctive style, it features a black receiver with engraving dedicated to this energetic game.
The first feature that stands out on shouldering this Slug over and under is its lightness, at only 2.5kg, thanks to the lightweight aluminum alloy receiver, much shorter than the Slug semi-automatic receiver, and the 55cm steelshot barrels, with 18.3 mm and 18.5 mm bore and fixed choke Cyl./***. Magnum-chambered, it is available in 12 gauge only.
The extreme maneuverability of this shotgun makes it the ideal over and under for the instinctive shooting that wild boar hunting demands, where the presence of shrubs and brambles often makes not only the shooting, but also the shouldering, complex.
The checkering with exclusive Allround 3D Interlacement design ensures a perfect grip even in the case of wet or muddy hands, in all shooting conditions.
The Grade 2 oil finished stock, with 57/26 drop and 368 mm LOP, has a pistol grip which, combined with the ergonomics of the fore-end, ensures a natural grip, while the double-ventilated rubber recoil pad guarantees a considerable reduced recoil and optimal positioning on the shoulder.
Bagging of the game is supported by the presence of the rear sight on the 7mm Battue model rib, which, combined with the red fiber optic sight, adjustable and mounted on the base, allows for safe, precise shots.
Equipped with manual extractors that ensure easy recovery of the cartridge cases amidst the vegetation, Feeling Slug is also available on request in a version with automatic ejectors, double trigger and left-handed stock.
This dedicated over and under shotgun guarantees two quick, safe shots and amply sufficient energy to triumph in the challenge with the king of the scrub.
Let the wild boar hunting begin!
