“I'll shoot you!”: in Aveyron, the rivalry between hunters ends in court

En Aveyron, le ton est monté entre deux sociétés de chasse voisines. Centre Presse – José A. Torres

A hunter was convicted for threatening another with his rifle, against the backdrop of territory reserved for a particular company.

Clearly, the legal news has been focused on hunting in recent days in Aveyron. While the Aveyron prosecutor's office has closed the high-profile case of a couple attacked by a wild boar on the Larzac – they had filed a complaint against the departmental federation – the court heard a new case related to the activity on Wednesday, February 5. This time, it was a slightly more ordinary case, so to speak: a rivalry between two neighboring companies. On one side, that of Buzeins, in the commune of Sévérac-d'Aveyron, and that of Saint-Martin-de-Lenne on the other. Between the two entities, “the understanding has never been good and there have been many stories”, say several testimonies… The most recent one, judged by the magistrates of Rodez, dates back to November 1, 2023. It was a Wednesday and that day, the meadows and fields of the rural communes were stormed by local hunters. Those from Buzeins finished their hunt around 10:30 a.m. But when one of them decided to go and get his dogs, he saw other hunters in the area.

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“At home”, “our lands”…

These are the hunters from Saint-Martin-de-Lenne. They have just killed a wild boar. “They did it to us”, assures a hunter from Buzeins. “No, he was injured in our country but he came to die in your country”, they say on the other side. The tone rises, for the hunters the territory is “sacred”. “It's like we're in the Gaza Strip!”, even the president of the court, Blandine Arrial, got annoyed by what some people were saying about “our lands”, “our territory” and others. In any case, that day, a complaint was filed: when the tone rose, a hunter from Buzeins allegedly pointed his weapon at another and shouted at him: “I'm going to shoot you”. There is also talk of a shot fired in the air. In court on Wednesday, the accused man, a hunter for over 30 years, denies everything. “From the morning, the guys from Saint-Martin-de-Lenne followed us to see if we were shooting at their place and finally, they came to our place. I never threatened anyone, or anything!”, he assures. “We were shocked, I was very scared and I don't want this to happen again”, repeats the targeted man. He will not seek damages.

A signed statement from a former president of the departmental council

Truth is truth? Several videos were reportedly shot that day during the altercation, and a hunter can clearly be heard saying“I'm going to shoot you”. But who is it ? “We can't know, all these videos were never included in the case file!”, the defense lawyer, Me Bastien Auzuech, was annoyed, questioning the fact “that the victim had time to film everything with a gun pointed at him!”. For the lawyer, “the versions diverge too much in this case” and his client “is absolutely not known to be someone dangerous”. He also presented numerous attestations to this effect before the court, including one signed by… Jean-Claude Luche, the former president of the departmental council, a hunter in his spare time and “whose word carries a lot in Aveyron and who would not get involved in a case like this if it were so simple: he also indicated that he himself had already filed a complaint for threats from the hunters of Saint-Martin-de-Lenne involved in the brawl!”

The court ultimately did not hold it against him: it fined the hunter from Buzeins €1,000, who had failed to declare several rifles found during a search. He is also banned from carrying a weapon for a year, so he is banned from… hunting.

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