STABILIZATION OF WILD BOAR POPULATIONS: REPRODUCTION POTENTIAL OF CURRENT BOARS VS. HUNTING POTENTIAL OF CURRENT HUNTERS - REVIEW

The review summarizes available knowledge of management of populations of free-living wild boar with the focus on Central Europe. The wild boar is actually a key species that significantly influences the economy of farming, causes traffic accidents on the roads and other damage, and negatively affects the diversity of plant and animal communities. Therefore, regulation of its numbers is necessary. However, effort to reduce the current populations of wild boar is affected by the favourable environmental conditions, which do not limit population growth. In the Central Europe, wild boar finds enough food throughout the whole year. It can be expected that majority of adult females and significant part of young females will be involved in the reproductive process. Although there are several potential methods for regulation, in reality only shooting by hunters can be effectively used in the conditions of Central Europe. Their activity and hunting strategy significantly affect both the success in regulating the number of wild boar and its distribution, behaviour and reproduction. The importance, impacts and consequent responsibility of hunters in management of wild boar populations are thus significantly greater than simply maintaining the abundance.