Umbrian woodcock hunters will no longer have to monitor the average temperatures of the previous two days, making sure that they are kept below freezing.
In fact, by accepting the proposal of the councilor for hunting policies, Fernanda Cecchini, the Umbrian regional council has eliminated the constraint of the suspension of woodcock hunting in the event of average temperatures below freezing due to the difficulty of applying it.
When the Hunting Calendar for the current 2011-2012 season was approved last July it was decided to introduce this system of suspension of woodcock hunting in the event of adverse climatic events for this species, such as abundant snowfall during the wintering period or prolonged periods of frost, which can induce birds to concentrate in certain areas with more favorable temperatures.
Councilor Cecchini stated, "While not questioning the validity of the general principle, we were able to verify the difficult detection, application and control of the rule that would have exposed the hunter to possible sanctions".
The commissioner continues, "In fact, in the approved provision, the methods by which the achievement of the environmental conditions that trigger the suspension of the withdrawal must be verified are not specified in detail and therefore on the one hand, especially for the elderly, it can be difficult to verify the conditions for compliance with the standard and on the other hand, in the absence of more details on the verification of unfavorable environmental conditions, even the control of the infringement of the standard can be difficult ".
Finally, Cecchini adds, “These difficulties were also signaled to us by a note from Federcaccia, e so as not to create confusion or arbitrary and subjective interpretations, both for hunters, who must respect it and for vigilance, which is required to check that the rule is not disregarded, we have deemed it appropriate to proceed with the cancellation of this restriction from the hunting calendar for the 2011-2012 hunting season ".