Hunting on the Danube Delta (second part).

Hunt on the Danube: The friend who contacted us was Piergiorgio: he married a beautiful local woman, abandoned his business in Italy, closed his Roman house and changed his life within 3 months.

He had accidentally discovered our arrival on the Danube Delta and absolutely did not want to miss the opportunity for a reunion. It seemed, hearing him on the phone, that nothing had changed. The group, made up of me, Giacomo, Mario and Dario, did not have that crazy proposal repeated twice. After the usual phone calls to extend the holidays by a few days, we left for Ukraine. Waiting for us was Piergiorgio and a friend of his: “You won't forget these hunting days as long as you stay”, he said, embracing us all with his eyes. He wasn't wrong. The Ukrainian delta was not far from Odessa about eighty kilometers from the famous and very popular Black Sea, but the scenarios were all different.

The first day of the hunt had gone pretty well. However, it had been impossible for me not to notice, further north, a surprising movement of birds. Our huntsman, however, had immediately sawed all our requests to push us in that direction. But at that point things could not stop and on the second day of hunting we said goodbye to Joseph, the hunting chief and we got on three small boats equipped with very old engines and equally old drivers. The departure was to take place late at night, with three people on board and a spare engine: a real adventure. Thinking about it now I don't know if I would do it again. The darkness in the delta was really dark and the kilometers we had to travel were made heavier and more difficult by the wind that slapped us. Halfway through the journey I began to regret the crazy idea that had jumped into our minds: the waves were making the bow move suspiciously and the engine of one of the small boats was completely gone. The driver took about an hour to change it. After minutes of sincere terror we found refuge in a small bend. The wind had calmed down and the silence that enveloped us seemed to caress our ears and the engine was off. The fog too was slowly clearing and we all knew it well, the adventure was about to begin.

It made me a little strange to think that we were just a few engine revolutions from Russia, since my body, while feeling all the dry cold and the icy breeze that hit it, did not feel discomfort. My thoughts were shattered by the flight of rather large groups of Tufted Ducks, Mallards, and Teals. They flew south, getting lost in the distant fog that gave the place something magical.

Our boatman, who was also an expert hunter, noticed that the boat had not taken a good position and engaged with a game of arms for about two hundred meters, taking us to a real lagoon. The engine was silent and hidden behind a beautiful reeds we had managed to build a five-star cuvegia. The wind direction was good, the live ducks placed perfectly, we just had to wait.

I still remember the silence of the place and the lapping of the water: I thought then and still today I think I was in paradise, the paradise of hunters.

A few hours after the stakeout the sky had begun to lighten, with herds of pochards and tufted duck starting to become quite visible as they elegantly flew over our position. They turned almost surprisingly towards our molds, diving into the water with a surprising lightness. We all agreed: to avoid stupid mistakes, we waited to see the bright colors of our prey clearly before firing. At that point we just had to get up from our positions, aim and seal on the individual birds. By late afternoon each of us had captured teals, tufted duck, pochards and mallards along with surprising doses of emotion and enthusiasm. We resumed the delta route after 15,00 pm. The cold was starting to make itself felt, and all of us were not in the skin of the desire to show the game bag to the hunting chief who had rejected our "mission" and tell him about the incredible day he had lost.

I went back to the Danube Delta many times, looking for the same sensations, but the delta surprised me each time, offering me always different experiences and adventures. Today I remember it as one of those places that made me grow, as a hunter and as a man.