Gunshots mark hunt season

SOUNDS of gunshots resounded across the south of France at the weekend as the hunting season opened for the winter.

However, the opening also brought the first injury, with a 72-year-old hunter being hit in the leg by pellets at Montfaucon-en-Velay in Haute-Loire.

There are thought to be 1.25million people who hunt regularly in France and hunt groups say it is the country’s third leisure activity – although studies have shown that 47% of those taking part are under-55 and only 2% are female.

The season opened yesterday and hunters are allowed to shoot gibier à poils et à plumes hairy or feathered game, with some restrictions that mean no shooting of hares, foxes, wild boar, red deer or roe deer until tomorrow and a total ban on other species such as woodcock. The hunt season closes on February 29, 2016.

Hunting season opening is staggered across the rest of France with Bretagne, Pays de la Loire, Centre, Ile-de-France, Nord, Champagne-Ardennes and Bourgogne on September 20 and the eight departments of Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher, Cher, Indre, Sarthe, Orne, Calvados and Manche on September 27.

The Fédération Nationale des Chasseurs says it should be a good season for hunters with the mild spring meaning fewer deaths of young animals.

Anti-hunt groups protested against the opening with wildlife charity Aspas highlighting that five people had been wounded before the season had even began – including a 16-year-old walking along a country road.

Each year more than a dozen people are killed in hunting accidents, with up to 200 injured, and Aspas said the opening of the hunt season marked the “closure of nature” for the rest of the population. It has campaigned for Sunday hunting to be banned.
Photo: Aspas