Throughout October, the Republican Herald has regularly printed articles about hunting and now that antlerless deer season is underway and turkey season about to begin, this seems the right moment for me to add one more, a look at hunting in France.
I'm a city-dweller and I've never hunted, though nothing says I might not like to give it a try. Last Sunday, throughout all of France, the National Federation of Hunters was looking for people like me. In Fontainebleau Forest, once the hunting ground of French kings, only forty miles from Paris, in the Jura Mountain and the Alps that form the border with Switzerland, along Atlantic and Mediterranean shores, members of local chapters welcomed all those wishing to learn more about what it means to be a hunter in France today.
In the Jura Mountains, among forests, mountains and fields that remind me of those of Schuylkill County, hunters welcomed non-hunters in a typically French way: the day began with coffee and croissants. Then, after having donned a blaze orange vest, participants were assigned a mentor, an experienced hunter, who, along with his dogs, accompanied them for a morning hike.
In a region where deer, roe deer, and wild boar are the favored game, hunters explained how they track their prey, using dogs to flush the animals while they wait, poised to shoot, posted in strategic spots.
After a morning spent outdoors, where participants also learned about small game, waterfowl and game birds, they finally got to sit down to a meal of local game and wines, offered by the hunters, a perfect finishing touch.
Last Sunday, all over France, many people had their first contact with hunting. Some will surely take the next step: they'll begin preparing for the national exam required to obtain a French hunting license, which to the eyes of a non-hunter like me, seems no easy task.
To start with, as in Pennsylvania, there's an application to fill out, followed by written notification of an exam date at an exam center in the region where the candidate resides. On the day of the exam, he or she will be tested on practice and theory, with emphasis placed on safety, physical ability and good common sense.
For example, candidates must climb over a fence or a ditch while carrying their (unloaded) arm. While in a simulated hunting situation, they must avoid shooting in the direction of hedges, which may hide homes, or in that of a human decoy dummy representing other hunters or hikers who share the same terrain.
In France, when transporting a firearm, it must be stored, unloaded, in a special case and the prospective hunter must show he has installed one in his vehicle. Most importantly, he must demonstrate he can shoot. Hunting rifle in hand, he has six chances to test his skills, as six clay disks are projected into the sky, with the added challenge that in one or two cases, he must also prove he knows when not to fire: at a red clay disk, representing a bird belonging to an endangered species, or at a disk flying into the air at the same moment a human decoy suddenly springs up. In either case, a shot means an immediate fail.
If he makes it through the skeet shoot, the candidate can move on to aim and fire at a moving ground target. Then, after having taken his rifle apart, unloading it and loading it again, he’ll sit down for the theoretical test, ten questions chosen from a list of 414 based on hunting safety, wild game and animal habitat.
To give an example, candidates are asked if a deer loses its antlers once a year, once every three years or never. I'm sure I don't have to tell Schuylkill County hunters the answer to that one. They may be shown the photo of the wing of a game bird, such as the partridge, and asked if it belongs to the hen or the cock. There are also questions that lead to an immediate fail, even if the candidate has already passed the practical exam, such as this true/false example: “It is legal to hunt with a compressed air rifle.” If the candidate answers 'true', it is an automatic out.
It seems to me this test requires a lot of preparation, a lot of skill and a lot of knowledge (I've read over all 414 questions!). I'm not sure how it compares to the one Pennsylvania hunters have to take, but I'm convinced safe hunting requires great skill and great respect for nature and for one's fellow hunter.
In fact, the National Federation of Hunters of France chooses to call hunting an "art," and in its charter, it lays out the values its members share: active participation in the conservation of nature; a willingness to interact with all those who enjoy contact with nature, including those who do not hunt; and an ongoing commitment to improving safety for hunters and non-hunters alike.
In the United States, the rules and regulations of hunting are established at state level, by state game commissions. In France, there is a national office of hunting and wild game (ONCFS). As on the site of the PA Game Commission, the French site provides practical information as well as access to the most recent legislation concerning hunting. There is also a link to each "département" in France, an administrative unit somewhere between a county and a state, where hunters can find the dates for hunting seasons in their region. They can also find accident reports for the last three years.
France has long been a country of hunters and many men and women continue to share that passion today. They have also kept alive traditions going back to the Middle Ages, such as hawking and "par force" hunting, where, before the kill, the prey is exhausted by a relay of dogs. Though painstakingly difficult to train, falcons and sparrowhawks are still used to hunt rabbits and small game birds.
In France, "par force" hunting can takes two forms: there is the fox hunt on horseback, much as it is practiced in England. There is also a literal "running with the hounds," where unarmed hunters run or ride mountain bikes, following a team of dogs. In this kind of hunting, where the goal is not to capture or kill, hunters, lead by first-class hunting dogs, are in it for the chase, which is only one letter away for the French word for hunting: la chasse.
And to all of you hunters or chasseurs, in Schuylkill County or in France, I wish happy hunting during the 2014-2015 season.
