I'm Ian Harford and I'm Steve Wild and we're about to embark on our epic wild
boar hunting adventure to Hungary. But, before we get set up and go which I'd
like to run through the equipment that were going to be using on this trip give
you an idea of what we're taking with us and hopefully what's going to help us
stay, warm, dry and comfortable on a pretty cold trip. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be cold.
So, we've got to be prepared, haven't we? Yes we do. So, here's what we've got
starting at the beginning, underwear, I tend to wear sports underwear man-made
fibres, lightweight, stretchy, breathable and with wicking properties so even
though we're gonna be sitting around in high seats we still need to make sure
that any moisture that does accumulate for to warm has transported away from
the skin how's the opportunity of being dissipated. So, we have shorts underwear and
also have long johns they'll go underneath my bib overalls, which come
on to in a second. Socks we're going to be doing two different types of hunting
in Hungary. We're going to be stalking and high seating on the first day
hopefully from mouflon or a wild boar or whatever might come along and then the
driven hunting itself which is a lot more static a lot of sitting a lot of
waiting. So, depending on what we're gonna be doing I've got line of socks and then
lightweight merino socks which will be good for stalking cuz there's a lot more
she would say ballistic type movement, bloods always moving and then if we sat
down for the wild boar hunting itself I have some heavier weight thermal socks
and some waterproof seal skin socks. So, that starts down at the bottom then we
have two different types of clothing. I have my hunting layering system,
traditional layering system from Deerhunter. Now, that starts with a Greenic at
base layer, man-made brushed fabric nice and warm
great for transporting and wicking away. Moisture done by insulating fleece layer,
thin, tightly fitting fleece. Zip-up jacket and then that will go underneath
my Deerhunter Muflon hunting suit. Depending on how cold it is I might also
put this Cumberland quilted vest or the Cumberland quilted jacket I have here
with the arms as well so when coupled with the Muflon suit that'll pretty
much keep you comfortable down to minus 20 minus 30. We're hoping it's not going to
gonna get, don't want it that cold, nobody wants of that cold. In addition to
that we have our kind of camp or lodge type clothing.
So I have a couple of pairs of lightweight trousers Deerhunter Strike and Deerhunter
Lofton trekking trousers. Cotton nice and relaxed and comfortable but warm.
Deerhunter bambooshire here which is good for keeping you cool it's great wicking
properties. Through to the heavier weight brushed cotton shirts which would good
have great insulating properties. Also, I have a jumper or sweater and the Deerhunter
retrieve fiber power jacket. Really good.
That's pretty warm, so we're gonna be nice and warm out in the field a nice
and warm when we come back to the lodge. It's really critical that when you have
been out in the field and you've been active and you might have picked up some
sweat during the day whether you're sat down or you're walking you give you
clothes time to dry so change out of your hunting clothes get those all
strung out get them all dried out and get yourself some nice comfortable camp
clothes on. So, moving from that we go over to our hunting suit itself. So, this
is a Deerhunter Muflon winter jacket. Two different lengths on the Deerhunter
Muflon collection, one which comes just above the thigh on this winter one which
comes down just to above a mid thigh level. It does have a popper system so if
you're sat in a seat that can fold up onto your thighs. This is a fabulous high
technology winter hunting suit, great insulation deer tex membrane so it's
waterproof and breathable. This utilizes Realtree Max 5 camo, which is one of my
favorite patterns, certainly good for this time of year and all of the
vegetation has died down it's all kind of browns and yellow so it works
perfectly. But, the functionality of this jacket is well it's pretty incredible.
Lots of different storage options pockets, as you can see these have
warmer pockets, deep bellows pockets. Also, that have ammunition slots in them. It
has a hood, a nice deep insulated hood. I tend to wear a blaze orange cap just for
safety to make sure people can see where I am. I'm moving down into the trousers
these are bib trousers. Nice high cut all the way over the kidneys at the back
keep nice and warm. Full length zipped down a fly and also
has a full-length clip down the leg, which makes getting in and out of the
trousers nice and comfortable. So, highly functional top-end hunting suit ideal for
colder weather conditions. So, back onto the extremities and I'm using these
Ariat catalyst boots. Now, these are unlined
because the same because of wear during the summer but I use the socks to layer
up to the level of insulation that I need. Great
waterproof, comfort functional boots and coupled with that I
have some Deerhunter boot gaiters. We could be walking through some pretty
muddy, wet areas so trying to keep the bottom of your trousers dry, stop stuff
getting into the top of your boots it's pretty critical and then of course Deerhunter
also make the Muflon glove which matches the suit. These have fingers that
fall back so that you can you trigger finger out ready the rest of your hand stay
nice and warm. So, hopefully with all of that we shouldn't catch a death, should we?
We should stay nice and warm. So, coming on to the shooting equipment Wildey's
going to be using his Blazer R8 Professional Success in 300 Win Mag
and that's topped with the Hawke Frontier 31-6 x 24. So, it's a great little
scope nice and compact low magnification ideal for ballistic targets. His also has
the target turrets and a ballistic reticle. It's little bit complicated for
me, but Wildey's got that analytical mind he can figure out where he wants
his reticle to go. I'll be using my Sauer 404 in 338 Win Mag. These two are
both the same rifles we took to Alaska so pretty
yeah confident pretty familiar now. That has a Hawke Endurance 1-4 x 24.
Slightly low magnification low profile, turrets. I don't really need the mag when
I'm shooting driven targets anyway, I like to keep a nice wide open view you
know around 1 or 2 mag maximum and also the Joker of the bunch which is what I'm
really looking forward to using as a Howa 1500 it's 308 Winchester and that's
fitted with a Hawke Reflex Red Dot sight. So, very pointable, it's got an 18 inch
varmint barrel, so it's a heavier barrel but the red dot sight and that GRS
stock it's very pointable in it and we used it
to great success when we were in Wales earlier in there in the years yeah we
did it's a little bit different not only does it have that ambidextrous GRS
Berzerk stock which fits nice and comfortably it can be adjusted to fit
your dimensions, because another scope on it just feels a little bit more intimate
yes it's an incredible gun. So, we're looking forward to using that and even
shooting targets free hand out at 200 yards it was fine, absolutely fine. I was
you know, surprised because both really didn't it she did really good 10 inch
discs at 200 yards with a red dot sight and it just gave me a huge amount of
confidence that when we get to it, hopefully we're not be taking about 200
yards what we can do it. You know, we think we can. So, really happy with the
rifles we've got they're very familiar with them put them through the paces
that you've seen that already. Onto ammunition,
Steve is going to be using Hornady superformance
SSTs 180 gram 300 Win Ma.g I'm going to be using 338 exactly the
same bullet over 225 grains and then for the 308 we're gonna be using Lapua
Megas and 185 grain, so hopefully there's plenty of punch power there. Yeah, we've
got some horsepower, yes we do indeed. So, we've taken 60 rounds of each, which
should be enough we're going to be shooting at the Blazer shooting cinema,
so we've taken a little bit extra there yes we can have a bit of fun yeah
ammunition absolutely critical. Cleaning kit and tool kit our rods
Jag's, phosphor, bronze, brush, pull through, oil all the things we need for a basic
rifle maintenance. Moving on to other shooting equipment Hawke Frontier ED
binoculars. This is brand new model from Hawke, you've not used them yet I have not
used them yet. Steve's still got his Endurance he used in Alaska which would
both huge fans of those Endurance binos. Absolutely fantastic, bonus it's
interesting to see how Hawke have taken that next step further I did use them
when I was out stalking at Kelmarsh for muntjac a couple of weeks back and they
work really well. Nice, lightweight, very crisp image hopefully they'll do
the job for us, but we'll see that in the next couple of days. When we're out
stalking we have the thermal so this is a Hylian XP 50 thermal imager. Now, you've
used this. Very, very good. We're still pretty new to thermal imaging but
what it does do is give you a lot more time to acquire targets. I know any high seating in
woods because you can when the low lights come in or it's coming light you
can have a scan around and you can peek the bodies coming up before they hit the
rides so especially when you culling it's a really, really good tool. So, you'll
see how this works for acquiring targets on a driven hunt. Now, of course you've
still got to make sure that it's the right, age, sex species so you know a
running blob through the woods it's a running blob through the woods. But, where
this does allow you to do is see that animals are approaching before you can
see them with the naked eye, you can see them through the brush. So, if you can see
something's coming you can get yourself ready get your binos in place, that's
right it gives you that extra 10 seconds doesn't it? To be on before it crosses
the ride. Depending on the woodlands or the depth of cover that you're shooting in I
think this can make the difference between actually making a shot good
shots and then not being comfortable to so interesting to see how that works. Now,
we have a slightly different approach to our shooting sticks. I like my Vanguard
B62's, so as you can see these are all kind of scratched and dented and
well they've seen a hard life and you use these Spartans. I do.
So, tell me a little about those. Well, Ian comes them my gimmick sticks, but I love them to bits.
They're very lightweight, carbon-fibre, they're tripods stick instead of a bipod
stick, extendable up to the high that you want and they fit directly into the
stock of my rifle by a magnet system and like I say I love them to bits and we've
got 360 degrees turn on them so you can pivot wherever you want to be but I love
them to bits. We also found they're very handy to use
a drying rack when we're Alaska. Yeah, clothesline yes if you put them out you
can hang your guns on hang your coats on them, sunshine comes out so they're
multifunctional. They certainly are. MY B62's, they don't do that.
They just no just stand there and hold my gun or my binos. So, slightly different
approach but always when you're going out stalking take a set of sticks with
you it gives you an extra 100, 150, 200 yards of course if we need to take a
freehand shot then we're very capable of doing so we're giving yourself the
opportunity of having that steady rest I think is really important. Maybe a
little bit further forwards Peltor ear defenders, once again uses exactly the
same model. Both myself and Steve for years didn't use the right quality
of hearing protection both got tinnitus and our left ear which can be handy I
suppose if you're getting shouted at by the missus they can just clock a deaf
you can always handy to clock a deaf ear. Being as I get older it's it's
dead handy having these things, not only does it protect your hearing, but if you turn up
the volume on these you can also hear game approaching. Yeah. I can hear where
there's a squirrel in the woods or if it's a wild boar in the woods often they
sound the same then you know there's movement you get yourself ready as
they're coming out and they didn't magnify the sound really well it's a
good sound and I can also hear Wildey's cursing me or saying nasty things
well if he's missed the shot because he tends to curse himself then so
absolutely use ear defenders of the best quality that you can afford. Getting a
little bit towards the front, first aid kit
wild boar hunting if done properly of course is as dangerous as any other
sport you might undertake. But, there's always a chance you might wind an animal
or come across a wounded animal and you need to be prepared for all
eventualities so I have a first-aid kit with a trauma kit in there. Yeah,
hopefully nothing is going to happen to us, but better safe than sorry. So, we'll
make sure you're going prepared. I have this knife here, my OKC
Cayuga knife, amazing piece of steel. Steve uses a bigger one, he calls it Excalibur and yes
about foot in length but he's a big guy and he can use that sort of knife so
really, really good knife. I also have a blade tech knife sharpener this is an
actually sharpen the knife but it just puts the edge back on. Pigs can be very
tough, yeah and very gritty as well in the hair because they wallow to keep
themselves warm so there's nothing worse than taking the edge off a knife then a
bit of grit in the hair as you're coming through the skin so and it can make for
a long day again a bloody big hairy animals lots of fat inside them thick
heavy fur so if we do get more than one pig you're going to want to put that
edge back on it yeah before we get to work again. Now, Steve's probably gonna
criticize me a little bit here because he's a man of the mountains and a
wilderness guy but I also take particularly going somewhere like
Hungary a set of hand warmers. These ones you just open them up and
they react to the air it's gonna be between minus 3 and minus 7, so it's
always good to pop those inside your gloves keep your hands nice and tight
keep those fingers working because after about 2 or 3 hours out in that high seat
you'll be thankful for it. Yeah, I'm sure I will so I've given him some anyway you
may not use them and the final piece of the puzzle on the left hand side here
Sumo Jetboil. The most important thing, we're gonna be out in
the woods out in the wilderness it's going to be cold and that's what that's
what boiling water I've got travel mugs such as a matter of getting out on the
tailgate in between drives when everybody else is drinking alcohol free
beer I'm gonna get myself wrapped up with a coffee and I'm sure Steve will
have a tea. So, that's basically it nothing too complicated, nothing too
outlandish. Tried, tested equipment all of this gear we've either used in Alaska or
stalking, it's the same stuff that we use basically every day of the
year. Yeah, just because you're going to a different country doesn't mean you need
to change your equipment or your approach to it. No, it's just common sense
hunting really. It's what we use you've got to gear yourself up for the
appropriate situation haven't you? Yeah. Wherever you go in the world really.
The most important thing is to keep yourself dry, warm and comfortable. Yeah.
Because then you make better decisions you'll sit still in the high seat and
when the animal comes across and you'll be ready to take that shot and when you
get back to the digs first thing you sort out get your rifle dried out get it
oiled, get it cleaned, get it ready to go. Sort out your optics, dry your clothes
and then look after yourself and then you can have a drink. So, hopefully that's
all we're going to need. We're now going to put all into our
duffle bags, we've got an easy, organized packing system for the truck because
it's me and Wildley plus there's two camera guys. We need to make sure
everything goes in there it's all accessible but it's not a big mess on
the inside and then we gonna hit the road next step on from here we're gonna
go to Belgium. We're going to visit a good friend of ours
Frederick Rundrum, who has a gun shop just outside Bruges and try get an idea
for what European hunters take when they go driven hunting, see if there's any
tips that we can pick up. Every day is a learning day, yes it is. The
next time you see is we'll be loading the truck. Perfect, let's get to work.