The chairman of the Belgian hunting federation Hubertus Vereniging Vlaanderen (HVV), Rudi Van Decraen (63), was severely beaten on Wednesday evening in a wooded hunting area near Balen, Antwerp province, after responding to a trail camera alert showing two unknown men near a hunting stand.
Van Decraen, who sustained three facial fractures, five stitches to the face and a dislocated shoulder, described the attack in harrowing detail to local media.
“I fell, he came on top of me and kept hitting. I was completely defenceless,” he recounted from his hospital bed.
“When I was lying there alone on the ground getting beaten, all sorts of thoughts about the end flashed through my mind.”
The incident unfolded shortly after 21:00, when Van Decraen received a motion alert from one of his wild cameras positioned near an elevated hunting platform used by hunters to observe game.
The footage showed two men with bicycles lingering around the structure. One wore a backpack, cap, hooded top and shorts; the other a hooded top with cap pulled low, long trousers and boots.
Suspicious given the late hour and location, Van Decraen drove the short distance from his home to investigate.
He attempted to contact a fellow hunter but received no answer and proceeded alone. Upon arrival, he heard rustling and called them out.
The confrontation escalated rapidly. One man fled on his bicycle, but the other turned on Van Decraen. “With one blow I was on the ground. I landed in a dry ditch, with my back on barbed wire. He sat on top of me and kept punching,” Van Decraen told Het Belang van Limburg.
The fall dislocated his shoulder, rendering him unable to defend himself. He eventually managed to push the attacker away with a kick from his right foot, prompting the assailant to flee on his bicycle.
Bloodied and dazed, Van Decraen made his way back to his car, drove home, and after seeing his wife’s reaction and looking in the mirror, headed to hospital.
He remains under treatment for his injuries, though he expressed relief at surviving the ordeal and hopes to recover mentally without lasting fear of the woods.
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Christophe Rutsaert, the spokesman of HVV, told Brussels Signal in a reaction that there was a clear rise in vandalism targeting hunting infrastructure in recent months, but that this physical attack was new.
“Hunting platforms, feeding stations, approach ladders, and other hunters’ materials are being vandalised.”
Rutsaert said this was in fact attempted manslaughter, because it involves structures of four metres or five metres high, of which the steps are sawed through. “A hunter could fall badly or the entire high seat could collapse, and with a loaded firearm present, that could be extremely dangerous.”
“Fortunately, violence against hunters like happened here is rare.”
Rutsaert links the attack to prior incidents, including a break-in at the same stand at the end of December, after which extra cameras were installed.
He said many hunters know the feeling of being shouted at and called “murderers”, middle fingers being shown, “but this level of physical violence is new. We are truly shocked. We call on opponents of hunting to remain calm and to avoid violence”.
The spokesman noted there has been political reactions from several parties, however, at the time of the talk with Brussels Signal, the Green party had not yet reacted.
Rutsaert said this violence cannot be tolerated. ‘Hunting is a legitimate activity, focused on nature and wildlife management. Hunting is not simply shooting animals. Blind rage should be set aside.”
General director of HVV Geert Van den Bosch noted with Belgian media speculation within the hunting community that certain Facebook groups maintain lists of hunting stands in Flanders for targeting, though he stressed: “We notice an active movement of animal rights groups that sometimes disrupt hunting with organised actions. But we certainly do not want to point to them as culprits now.”
Police are investigating the assault, with footage from the trail camera to be handed over as evidence. HVV and Van Decraen plan to file a formal complaint against unknown persons with civil party status at the public prosecutor’s office.
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