Seven shots rang out as a massive male wild boar crashed out of thick woods outside Anduze, southern France, tore across a track and lurched to a halt, stone dead.

Seconds later, Jean-Marc Budet, 56, emerged from the dense scrub with three baying hounds and wearing an orange T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “Hunter and proud of it.”

Strategically placed along the track, orange-clad shooters had been silently waiting for their leader to flush out the boar and two had hit their target, one in the heart. 

Dragging the 50kg (eight-stone) beast up a steep slope, the party proudly tied it to the bonnet of a jeep and drove the boar back to base along with another smaller male caught earlier.