Cesena hunting: Fascinating bird, coming from the far north of Europe, hunting the cesena requires patience and experience from the hunter.
Suspicious and wary cesena well suited for hunting in stalking or from a shed. The Cesena has the distinction of being the largest among the huntable turdidae, 27 cm long and weighing around 110 - 120 grams.
It comes from the far north of Europe, Scandinavia, Siberia, but also from Asia, and its sight heralds the arrival of the cold months. Give the cesena hunting it necessarily means knowing the habits of such a particular and fascinating bird.
Intelligent and sagacious, it prefers to live among the trees, even better if they have a tall trunk and feeds on mistletoe berries, hawthorn or in some cases juniper; however, it often visits the soil in search of snails or larvae. She doesn't mind eating apples and seems greedy for persimmon.
Knowing its eating habits means easily identifying the territories in which it can be found. In those areas the bird stops waiting for the winter migration, inhabiting them in particularly numerous flocks.
Recognizing it is really simple, either for its size, or above all for the coloring of its plumage: the neck is colored a beautiful ash gray, just like the rump, while the back is reddish and the tail tends to black. The peculiarity is represented by unusual dark stripes that cross the whole body.
Seldom the Cesena it exceeds the Alpine limit, and only in rare cases does it go beyond the Emilian Apennine chain: this happens only due to particularly harsh winters. As soon as it perceives the improvement in temperatures, it leaves the wintering areas and heads towards northern Europe, towards the places of origin.
The winter migration instead begins during the first days of November but usually lasts until the middle of December although there are no mathematical certainties: hunters know well that the cesena is not a bird characterized by a regular migration so much so that during some years there are real invasions by the wild and during other years the communities of Cesene that visit Italy are really scarce.
The hunt is particularly complicated by the fact that the cesena moves in groups: during the pasture some members of the group remain on the lookout very ready to warn their companions in case of danger with a characteristic scream. This is why the stalking must be slow and silent, and the use of calls cannot always guarantee a good day of hunting: the cesene are so intelligent that after the first deceptions, they no longer yield to “artificial” calls.
The good shed man who is dedicated to hunting the cesena during the pass period, must not be impetuous. In fact, it should be remembered that usually the first Cesena that is planted is the famous spy, which is followed, if no problem has been found, by all the others belonging to the group, as previously mentioned often very numerous. Frightening the spy means ruining the whole hunting day.
On the other hand, hunting in a wandering form is unthinkable: the Cesena is too gregarious and suspicious to give in to a hunt of this type; the only effective technique is that of stalking, with the use of live calls, while during the late winter, once the places of pasture have been identified, it is possible to build small temporary huts to be camouflaged with extreme care. On the other hand, live calls must necessarily be present in a discrete number, which is between 10 and 12 in closed or free.
It should also be remembered that the cesena is not a morning bird: most of the time it is seen flying in flocks and moving in broad daylight. Finally, a fundamental element for hunting Cesene is the bucket: it is a support specially placed on top of the plants, a favorite stopping point for the herd that returns there despite previous shots, especially if the hunter is equipped with good calls.
The rifle normally used is a 12 gauge with a good choke.