A packed room
It was held last Friday, November 14th in the province of Pistoia, at the historic G. Puccini Section of Pescia, and to mark the 125th anniversary of the Italian Hunting Federation, an intriguing seminar focused on the crisis of sedentary noble game and the prospects for new management. In a packed hall, attended by numerous hunters, Association officials, and prominent national and regional politicians, the technical and scientific aspects of pheasants, hares, and partridges were discussed, confirming the quality of the work carried out by the Federcaccia Nazionale's Research and Studies Office. The conference was attended by Senator Patrizio Giacomo La Pietra, Undersecretary of the MASAF, and Alessandro Capecchi, a representative of the regional political forces and a regional councilor for the FdI. The event, organized by Federcaccia Nazionale in collaboration with Federcaccia Toscana–UCT, the Pistoia Provincial Section, and the Pescia Municipal Section, was attended by the Federation's National President, Massimo Buconi.
Buconi's words
The proceedings were opened by Franco Biagini, Provincial President of Federcaccia–UCT of Pistoia, who introduced the evening's topics by Marco Salvadori, Regional President of Federcaccia Toscana–UCT. National President Massimo Buconi, delving into the seminar's core themes, retraced the Federation's key milestones from 1900 to the present, noting that Federcaccia is the "jealous guardian of social hunting." This important legacy, he emphasized, must now address the need to "update the principles of social hunting in the third millennium," making them consistent with the challenges of contemporary wildlife and environmental management. Buconi emphasized the inseparable connection between hunting and management, stating that "today there can be no contradiction between hunting and management." While acknowledging the complexity of the Italian legal framework and its differences compared to other European countries, he emphasized that the goal must be to enhance "the close bond that naturally unites hunting and management," the foundation of any serious and modern approach to wildlife conservation. Among the "major open issues," the President highlighted the crucial issue of sedentary noble game. The repopulation policy, he explained, "must represent a transitional phase," useful but not definitive, while awaiting the reconstruction of an environment truly capable of supporting stable natural production of wild populations. The goal is clear: "quality hunting, not quantity," which requires a growing awareness of the hunter's role and significant investment in training, responsibility, and skills. Buconi concluded his speech with a reflection that summed up the thrust of the entire evening: "We must remember where we come from, but look clearly at where we must go."
The Government's actions
This was followed by a speech by Senator Patrizio Giacomo La Pietra, Undersecretary of State for Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Forestry, who reiterated the institutions' support and attention to the hunting world and its role in land management. The Undersecretary noted that "this Government is working to make regulatory progress, including in hunting policies," with the aim of making the wildlife management framework more effective and coherent. Thanking Federcaccia for the invitation, La Pietra reiterated the active collaboration between the Ministry and hunting associations: "The Ministry of Agriculture is supportive of hunting," he stated, emphasizing the importance of hunters' contribution in managing critical wildlife issues and, in particular, in addressing the emergency related to the spread of ASF. In this context, the Undersecretary recalled the commitment that hunters are demonstrating also in Tuscany, where their participation in containment and monitoring activities represents a fundamental element of the overall strategy: "We need your help," he stated, "and the facts demonstrate how truly indispensable your contribution is."
The main topic of the seminar
The meeting then got underway with a presentation by Daniel Tramontana, Deputy Technical-Scientific Coordinator of the Studies and Research Office of Federcaccia Nazionale. His presentation introduced the seminar's main topic, which focused on the management model implemented in Umbria in the Special Management Areas for small sedentary game. This experience is strongly inspired by the model already in place in other European regions, starting with France. This experimental initiative, launched in several areas of Umbria, aims to demonstrate the real possibility of adopting an innovative and alternative model, moving beyond the repeated release of farmed wildlife and focusing on the conservative, high-quality harvesting of species reproduced in the wild. This experiment has finally broken down pre-existing patterns that were no longer sufficient to ensure satisfactory hunting experiences for these forms of hunting. This approach can be extended, adaptively, to different local contexts, remotivating hunters to engage in responsible harvesting, closely tied to the preservation of environments and wildlife in their natural state. This model requires a new approach from ATCs, capable of developing external resources and investments aimed at biodiversity production, closely linked to the agricultural world and the opportunities offered by EU legislation.
The Ferrara experience
Valter Trocchi, a collaborator with the Federcaccia Nazionale's Studies and Research Office, presented the experience of the Ferrara 5 ATC, born from a specific request from local hunters and now in its tenth year. The project, implemented in collaboration with the ATC Service Center, has demonstrated—with data in hand—how Special Management Areas for small game, even in areas heavily characterized by intensive agriculture, allow for satisfactory harvests of key species (pheasant and hare) throughout the hunting season and maintain a high percentage of the natural population within the range. At the same time, the experience demonstrates how it is possible to achieve a gradual stabilization of the natural reproduction of galliformes and lagomorphs by reducing the release of farmed fauna and leveraging the spread of protected areas. Over 30% of the agro-forestry-pastoral territory is covered by a network of public and private wildlife institutes. The numbers speak for themselves: in the case of pheasants, a stable harvest of over 80% of wild-born individuals has been achieved over time. This virtuous model, despite some limitations regarding hunting effort, harvest times, and annual bag limits, produces concrete results and demonstrates how it is possible to definitively overcome the "ready-to-hunt" repopulation mentality. Both reports also highlighted how the APG can become a tool capable of revitalizing and motivating active volunteerism among hunters, within an organizational system that values commitment to management, monitoring, and control activities, restoring this noble form of hunting to the role it deserves from a cultural and conservation perspective.
How to deal with the crisis
From the G. Puccini Section of Pescia, where the Italian Hunting Federation's extraordinary 125-year journey began, a clear direction emerges for how to decisively and farsightedly address an issue of enormous hunting and conservation interest, which involves a vast audience of hunters passionate about these noble and deeply rooted forms of hunting. The crisis can be addressed and overcome thanks to good wildlife management and an approach based on responsible harvesting, new environmental investments closely linked to the agricultural world, and ATC planning capable of attracting European resources earmarked for biodiversity. Specially Managed Areas can therefore create a virtuous model, capable of producing positive impacts—including economic ones—for multifunctional farming and new opportunities for farming fully connected to wildlife conservation. A particularly touching moment of the evening was the ceremony naming the conference room of the G. Puccini Section of Pescia after Marco Lombardi, a member and councilor who recently passed away. A loss deeply felt within the Pistoia hunting community, as President Biagini remembered before a packed room of hunters, family, friends, and fellow hunters from the "Euro Cinghialai" team. The dedication represents a concrete and lasting gesture, which will preserve the memory of a figure highly appreciated for his commitment and passion (source: FIDC).
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