BRUSSELS -- Belgians went on a boar hunt and at first it looked like no contest: 200 hunters vs. 170 wild boars. Yet in the end, only one boar was slain.

As hunter Jef Schrijvers said after a frustrating day: ''The boars won. The hunters lost."

The northern town of Postel had organized the hunt because an explosive increase in the boar population had damaged farm fields and woods and caused rural traffic problems.

In a coordinated swoop, the hunters sought to drive the boars together so that marksmen in high positions could shoot them, but the plan didn't work.

Schrijvers told the VRT television network that ''the hunt was perfect, safe and correct. Only the result was disappointing."

He called it a ''successful general rehearsal" ahead of similar hunts.