Mike Yardley talks to Baron Erik von Eckhardt.
Erik von Eckhardt, 70, is quite a guy, an old school professional hunter, he is fascinated by and has 30 plus years of experience of Barbary boar. They are similar to the European variety but fiercer and faster probably because of the terrain they live in. I had the chance to both hunt with the Baron recently it was quite an experience!
Erik where were you born? “In Copenhagen, but I went to school in England at Luckton school in Herefordshire and went on to study forestry later. Though my work takes me to the woods quite often, it was not really for me. I thought that you would be doing lots of shooting and hunting but, in fact, that was not the case at all, it was all about figures and calculation. Not my thing.”
Where does your hunting background come from? “My grandfather had an estate in Jutland near the German border – this is the biggest land mass of Denmark which is, of course, a series of islands. He made sure I learnt to shoot straight – a shotgun in those days, and I still use a smoothbore today for most of my boar work – a Beretta 301 semi-auto.”
“I was a bit of a black sheep – perhaps you can say that I still am! My family had relations in Africa. My uncle was a doctor in Tanganyika. He was chased by the British during the war for some reason but they never got him! He introduced me to a lot of hunting folk, though, and, eventually, I got apprenticed to a south African who had moved into Urambo north of Tabora in Tanganyika. He took me on because he could then take out a couple more clients and make some more money. He also had a beautiful but snooty daughter who was hunting for a husband with a farm. I didn’t have one! We had a lot of fun in those days, though. I left east Africa when the Mau Mau insurgency was developing and I went Rwanda to hunt buffalo. This was great because I had it all to myself.”
Erik has shot more than 500 buffalo with clients, he has also shot many buff for the Kenya railway. He continued: “I learnt in those days that the first rule is, as you have said, ‘the closer the better’. As for equipment, I used a .375 H&H and .458 Winchester – nothing fancy. Fancy rifles have never especially appealed to me only functional ones.”
When Rwanda had its own troubles in the 1980s Erik moved on again and went back to what is now Tanzania where he still hunts each year. “I hunt both potentially dangerous game – I don’t like calling them dangerous because they are not dangerous until you start messing around foolishly – and plains game. ‘Dangerous game’ is an American invention I think, no game is dangerous until it has a reason to become so.”
He notes cheerfully: “A buffalo is a nice peaceful grass eating cow until it is provoked.” In his career with buff, he has only had 4 charges – including one incident with a spirited calf. What guns does he favour for Africa: “These days, I use a .458 Lott like you Mike because I think it is an effective insurance policy, mine is based on a pre-64 winchester action – still my favourite. It has a Shilen stainless barrel – I hate gun cleaning! And, a Kevlar stock. It does not weigh much etiher.”
Tunisia
“I have been hunting in Tunisia since 1974 – the year after I married my beloved wife Inger – I worked here in the early 60s for the government putting together an anti-poaching initiative as well as a presidential hunt – bird shooting – similar to the sort of thing that they have in France for visiting dignitaries and the diplomatic corps. This was an interesting exercise and opened many doors to me. I was under the first president after independence from France, Habib Bourguiea. He was a fantastic guy, beloved by everybody. He had been a so-called freedom fighter and was locked up by the French – but the ties to France remained thick and they still are.”
“I ran this hunt for 6 years but there was a little skirmish with France in the 1960s because of the Algerian issue – and as I was then married to a French girl and the French had to leave the country – we went back to France for a while. I returned in ‘74 to set up my present operation which is exclusively for wild barbary boar.”
Erik believes these beasts to be the most challenging species of all boar because of their faculties, ferocity and speed. They have some extremely interesting traits – he tells me they do not use their noses to scent out danger – and I have seen the evidence of this – they use their very sharp eyeseight instead. “They are extraordinarily quick and agile,” the tough old Baron observed who was still hunting two weeks after a minor stroke, “and don’t hesitate to jump off cliffs from 20 or 30 metres. They can jump up several metres too! They are as much of a goat as a boar when it comes to their habitat.”
“They must be hunted with due respect. I shot 500 when I was new to this sport (similar to his buffalo tally) and then said to myself that is enough – I will now only shoot the wounded beasts that must be followed up. I don’t allow my clients to follow them up themselves at all – ever. It is simply too dangerous – they nearly always charge suddenly from cover. This has proven to be a good rule. I have now had several thousand hunters come here, mainly Scandinavians, but British people and Americans too. Some of my clients come several times a year, every year. One has been here 20 times so we must be offering something exceptional, at least I very much hope so.”
Erik is a great answer to those who criticise hunting and say it has no benefits to the local economy. “I know all the local people, hundreds of them are now dependent on my business now as beaters and in many other capacities. I had a little stroke recently and the overwhelming kindness and concern of the all the locals in Kasserine [in central Tunisia where he hunts] really touched me. This is something one cannot easily describe. It is not just about money, one makes personal relationships over so many years and I love the people – they are great folk, both kind and tough – that affection is returned.”
“We hunt in a number of different areas, in the mountains, in forests, near farms that have a pig problem, and, not least amongst cacti – the boar love to eat the fruit. It is hard hunting too. The kill to cartridge ratios are not always inspiring! If you manage 1 to 5 you are doing really well. What we do is essential too – the carcasses are not eaten because of Islamic culture – but the pigs must be controlled. They breed so quickly. They do amazing damage to olives and other crops and they threaten people sometimes. We are the boar’s only predators – so their numbers are not kept down except by us, they only multiply.”
“My tips for boar hunting? Well, don’t use dogs here – they all get killed. The most important thing is to become invisible. Know your gun, of course. Practice before you come out – not just at static targets nor just on a conventional moving target range (the targets just are not quick enough to replicate what we have here). Use only premium slug ammunition because they do not ricochet – I like Wincherster, Federal and Remington. Indeed, I am great fan of good slugs they leave a lot of enrgy in the animal. I am not advising it, but I have even shot buffalo with them just to prove the point!” Erik’s would be a hard act to follow....but his son is also starting to take out hunting parties. They may be contacted via svenska.jaktresor@tele2.se
