Chamois hunting in the Alps area: We all know the CA rules roughly and most of the time they look alike. One of the most important that applies in the one most often frequented by myself is having to take, after a male chamois, a female or a small one.
This is a rule against which many have opposed: in the sector there is a strange reticence when it comes to class 0, as if the only ones who really deserve to be preyed upon are the males. Personally I don't share this philosophy and I don't even remember ever sharing it. Have you ever come across a chamois three or four years old, perhaps stunned by some female in estrus. That is a really easy prey, against which I have never liked to be furious: the class 0 are a completely different kettle of fish, escorted on sight by the suede mothers who make it rather difficult to catch them. In short, passing over the philosophy and personal morals of each hunter, that day, after having hunted a male in the last session, it was necessary to hunt either a female or a class 0, and for those who find hunting a noble and ancient art, well acquiesces. to the rules imposed by the CA.
That day, I remember it well, the sun was struggling to rise. I always choose to arrive well in advance on the ground of hunting, especially when I don't know it by heart since finding trails and ideal locations for hunting is not child's play: it takes time and patience. And I decided to use all the remaining time that day to study the area and enjoy the silence of the mountain. The night before, on a map, I had also studied the area, but you know it well, when you go from paper to reality, things change considerably. After a more or less long analysis of the territory, I thought I had found the solution to the problem: as long as I was able to identify some chamois, the meeting would certainly have taken place under a small rocky ridge. In fact, it had all the characteristics to please the chamois: it was a practically unreachable place (my legs can confirm it), it was positioned with a difference in height of about 400 meters and also protected by a stony ground. In addition there was the right grass and beautiful boulders to lie down: in short, if I were a chamois I would take up residence there.
In fact, the chamois were right there where I had expected them, relaxed and in a group. The only way to hunt them down was to silently climb the stony ground and take them by surprise. I soon realized that it was a real undertaking: not only was it rather difficult to succeed in the climb, but the stones, wet at night and with fog, were particularly slippery. I do not know how many times I have risked falling, letting small stones roll behind me causing an infernal noise. Not being able to see the chamois from my position I thought that probably when I arrived they would have already been elsewhere, but as they say, nothing ventured, so I chose to continue with the climb, crossing my fingers. In fact, having reached point x, I immediately realized that the chamois had moved, but not too much. I put on my binoculars and observed them immediately noticing an interesting Kitz to be immediately targeted: the rangefinder informed me that it was less than 300 meters away so that I tried the shot.
When bad luck gets you there you can do very little: at the exact moment in which I pressed on the trigger the kitz that until then was handing me its best side moved. The shot had had the effect of making them fly away and I watched as I saw all my hunting dreams fall. Unmotivated, I started thinking about how to get back to the car without having to go down that leg-breaking stony ground and after a quick search I found a path that probably would have been for me. Mogio I took the path determined to leave that day of hunting unfinished: I was tired and a little angry about the shot that went wrong, but you know, when luck gets in, you can't do anything about it. After a few steps I noticed, right on my head, about two hundred meters away, three wonderful chamois: a female and two kitz. I checked, just to be on the safe side, that my sight hadn't fooled me, set the gun and fired.
Luck and misfortune are part of the life of each hunter, the important thing is to learn to live with it, enjoy the first and not take it too much to heart when the second puts a hand in it: on the other hand even without prey, every hunting day is a fabulous one. day spent in the middle of nature. I'll have to remind myself at the next pan!
TAKE A BEAUTIFUL CAMERA AND PHOTOGRAPHS THAT YOU WILL ENJOY MORE AND EAT A PLATE OF PASTA AND BEANS AT HOME THAT YOU'RE BETTER!