The first time we came across Stuttgart was in June. We were looking for a young male, and there was a great ferment of roe deer around. We had seen other M2s, but this one had impressed us for the remarkable stage, not powerful but very high, well developed in the other two points but with stubby, short and very white tips that, illuminated by the light of the sunset, seemed dipped in the silver. "A very nice roe deer"- we said to Vincenzo -"we hope to find him when he is our boss!".
After the loves came the long-awaited assignment and, without telling us explicitly, every time we returned to that area both Vincenzo and I hoped to meetStockobianco.
The night before, on a Tuesday, we were nibbling around to see what the situation was like and, after having satiated with the sight of females with one or two young, we had noticed almost in the dark of a male grazing in the cut in a dominant but well-hidden position. The tips of the stalks were white against the dark background. Today is finally Wednesday, and the rifle is here.
"Take it slow, and take it easy. You have all the time in the world. From how quiet he is grazing he hasn't noticed us”Vincenzo whispers to me. We put the backpacks down, the rifle resting on top. I lie down among the twigs trying not to make noise. "It's 140 meters, with 14 degrees of site angle, you shouldn't have to make any particular adjustments"Vincenzo tells me, with the falsely cold and detached tone that airplane pilots use when communicating"We are falling, but the situation is under control". he is excited, but he knows that I am too and he doesn't want to put pressure on me.
Stockpitch is on the cross in aim, but is almost always on point. "Now it's a postcard. When you feel like it, shoot”Vincenzo encourages me. The roe deer begins to graze from the twigs that rain down from the wall of brambles that forms the background. I feel trickles of sweat running between my cheek and the wood of the football. The bare belly on the dry earth, the dazzling sun that makes my left eye water, the butt swings imperceptibly with my breath. Maybe I should reset everything, find the right comfort and stabilize the more carbine. But I hold my breath, the cross is now stationary on the deer and I decide to shoot now. FOLLOWS