One million wild boar harvested in France: OFB figures

The number of wild boar harvested in France has exceeded one million for the first time: 1,015,429 animals taken between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, according to the Office français de la biodiversité (OFB, France’s biodiversity agency), up 15.3% in a year¹. The rise is far from even across the country, and it lands first on the people who organise the driven hunts.

Sunday morning, the hunt gathers. The chairman counts the guns, runs through the safety briefing and already knows the phone will ring on Monday: a farmer, a maize field turned over, a meadow dug up. The figure the OFB released in October surprises nobody who hunts wild boar every week.

The national press called it a “massacre”. The data show a population that has been growing for decades, and very large gaps from one department to the next. The real question is what the harvest report says about wild boar numbers in France, why they are rising and what it means for a hunting society, an ACCA (municipal hunting association) or a private hunting ground. This article covers France only.

How many wild boar were harvested in France in 2025-2026?

The OFB recorded 1,015,429 wild boar harvested in France during the 2025-2026 season¹. That total includes 991,273 animals taken by hunters and 24,156 under administrative culling orders¹. The figure comes from the Wild Ungulate Network (OFB, FNC and the departmental federations), which collects end-of-season harvest data from open land, excluding parks and enclosures².

Administrative culls, ordered by the authorities rather than carried out by hunters on their own hunting days, nearly doubled in a single season. The number of departments above 20,000 wild boar rose from six to eleven¹³. The national average came to 1.8 wild boar per 100 hectares, and 5.7 per 100 hectares of woodland¹.

OFB wild boar harvest: which departments are up, which are down?

Even if this figure may seem large, there are wide disparities between departments

Aurelie Barboiron, administrator of the Wild Ungulate Network at the OFB⁴

Gard tops the table with 37,544 wild boar, ahead of Loir-et-Cher (31,348) and Ardeche (28,035)¹. It also has the highest density, at 6.4 wild boar per 100 hectares, ahead of Ardeche (5.0) and Loir-et-Cher (4.8)¹.

Centre-Val de Loire is the clearest case. In 2024-2025, Loir-et-Cher was down 27%, Cher 24% and Loiret 21%³. A year later, all three jumped by 34% to 40%¹. A quiet season does not prove there are fewer animals on the ground. Easing the pressure after a bad year is a gamble for any chairman.

Why is the wild boar harvest rising?

The harvest is rising because the population is. Nobody knows the exact figure, but the OFB puts it at “between 1.5 and 2 million animals”, according to Eric Baubet, OFB expert in wild ungulate management⁴. The harvest is up by half in ten years and has more than doubled in twenty¹.

The reasons are well known. A sow produces five or six piglets per litter, and milder winters mean easier feeding and more young animals surviving⁴. Farmers and animal welfare groups also blame the releases and supplementary feeding of the 1970s⁴. In Ardeche, the departmental federation rejects that explanation for today’s numbers and points to the climate instead⁶.

The rules play their part too. Unlike other species, wild boar has no national harvest plan setting a minimum and a maximum number of animals to be taken⁴. The numbers come out of decisions taken department by department, between hunters, foresters and conservation groups⁴. The OFB says this level of harvesting poses no threat to the species⁴.

What does this report mean for a hunting society or an ACCA?

For the organiser, the report means more hunting days, more crop damage to keep an eye on and more venison to deal with. Hunters on the ground see it already. In Ardeche, around 28,000 wild boar were taken in the 2025-2026 season, an average of 76 a day, by hunters and louvetiers (government-appointed hunters) together⁶. Julien Nicolas, departmental and national chairman of the louvetiers, puts it plainly: “Before, we operated for a few months. Now it’s all year round”⁶.

Wild boar driven hunts in a hunting society: more outings, same standards

The driven hunt is still the main tool. In Gard, 31,283 of the 35,132 wild boar recorded by the federation for 2025-2026 were taken on driven hunts⁷. More driven hunts means more notices to send out and more stands to place. Tiredness is no excuse for cutting corners: the rules for organising a wild boar driven hunt in a hunting society apply on the tenth Sunday just as much as the first.

Wild boar crop damage in an ACCA: the bill follows the tally

In France, crop damage caused by big game is paid for by the departmental hunting federations⁹, under article L 426-1 of the Environmental Code⁸. The Fédération nationale des chasseurs puts the bill at €80 million a year, funded by hunters, with wild boar behind 85% of it⁹. In Gard, the damage bill went from €271,938 in 2022-2023 to €402,215 in 2024-2025⁷. In Ardeche, the federation puts last season’s agricultural damage at around €250,000⁶. The chairman’s part in handling wild boar crop damage in an ACCA matters more than ever.

What the organiser can do this season

1. Compare your own tally over the past two seasons with your department’s trend in the OFB report¹.
2. Walk the damaged plots with neighbouring farmers before the claims land.
3. Set the driven hunt calendar through to the close of the season, keeping spare dates for problem areas.
4. Keep the map of your hunting ground up to date (stands, drives, no-shoot zones) and share it before every outing.
5. Agree in advance how the venison gets shared out and where any surplus game goes, and do not forget initial inspection and traceability.

A clear map saves time every Sunday. Our free hunting map puts the boundaries and stands of your hunting ground on an IGN base map, and online invitations save you ringing round every hunter the night before.

Conclusion

France has passed the one-million mark for wild boar. It caps a twenty-year rise that has more than doubled the harvest, on a population put at between 1.5 and 2 million animals¹⁴. Behind the national average the gaps are wide: 37,544 in Gard, falls in Maine-et-Loire and Lot¹.

For the chairman of a hunting society or an ACCA, the lesson from Centre-Val de Loire is that a quiet season can come right before a record one. Administrative culls have nearly doubled, and the bill for crop damage still sits with hunters.

Before your next driven hunt, look up your department’s figures on the OFB site, set them against your own tally and talk them through with neighbouring farmers. For the map and the invitations, set up your hunting ground on Mes Chasses: your first hunt is ready in a few minutes.

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