Hunting Trips. These are memories: reading the story, perhaps you will want to visit the places that fueled it. You can do it, but without a shotgun on your shoulder. Since 2009, the Danube Delta has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve. Basically here the birds rest, reproduce and fly away, later, to look for new environments to explore and live.
(Part One) – When I discovered the Danube Delta in 1990, I never imagined it would become a place forbidden to hunters, because everything in that marshy habitat spoke to me of hunting. The expanses of water and reeds, then as now, led from Romania to Ukraine, and all around was a riot of aquatic life and nature. It's no coincidence that it is the largest migratory wildlife reserve in Europe, second in size only to the Volga Delta. We're talking about 3450 square kilometers of lakes, reed beds, sandy beaches, islets, wet meadows, banks, fields, and rainforests. In short, for lovers of marshland hunting, it's a true paradise on earth.
That distant hunting day in 1990, some friends and I had chosen to hunt right in the Danube delta, a few kilometers from Bucharest, near the Tulcea area. Of course, Mario insisted on exploring the whole Romanian and Ukrainian area, but that would become another adventure a few days later, but we still didn't know it. 
The Danube made you become a romantic hunter and so, after 14 years I still remember getting up early, the charm of the leaden sky and that icy and cold dawn but which also promised a sunny day. The smell of the marshes, here as elsewhere, was nauseating, but it mingled with a thousand other marsh essences that made it bearable.
Every morning we re-proposed what had become the ritual of the cuvegia: we looked for the right position, we fixed ourselves with rods, we surrounded it with molds, we covered ourselves with camouflage cloths and we waited for the arrival of some birds.
For those who have never practiced the hunting in cuvegia, it is good that you know that it is one of the most exciting and most demanding that I have ever tried. The secret is all in experience and practice: everything must be foreseen, but above all the hunter is required to have great intuition, knowledge of the bird and the territory. You might think these are details, but they are details that can make a difference especially during "difficult days": you know when the bird just doesn't want to feel like bending over the molds or when the weather is bad and does not benefit you in your work ? Here in these cases the experience helps you, it helps you a lot. 
We waited for dawn in our cuvegia, well camouflaged and in silence until the decoy ducks warned us that the dances were about to begin. It was as if suddenly the first rays of sunlight appeared and the hunter who rested in us suddenly woke up. At that point he was thanked for having built his shelter in the right place and in the most intelligent way: not only was the cuvegia well hidden, but the falaschi were cut at eye level, only our head was visible even if always camouflaged. We also had the obligation to keep the rifle barrels sheltered until the right moment, to blend in with the surroundings as much as possible. Even the moment of the shot was not at all simple. I remember that the first moments in cuvegia with Giacomo were rather complicated: you have to find a certain harmony with the hunter who is next to you, but whoever succeeds in the enterprise has a day of pure satisfaction ahead of him. Shooting in unison, avoiding mistakes and unnecessary injuries in the long run had become a real child's play.
A few days after our arrival, a friend proposed us a madness: to fly to Izmail, in Ukraine and dedicate two days of pure adventure hunting. Could we refuse? (End of Part One)
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