Hunting trips in Montenegro on Lake Skadar

Hunting for Ducks and Woodcock on the shores of Lake Scutari in Montenegro

The marshy plains on the shores of Lake Scutari and the high mountains that enclose it, fading into blue towards the borders of Albania, are so beautiful that you want to stop moving from these fantastic landscapes. In fact, this large area, which surrounds the former capital of Montenegro, Titograd, constitutes a kind of hunting and hunter's paradise: there are about fifty square kilometers of the most evocative and wild. People are there, but they are not seen or at least not noticed: it is as if they were lost in the vastness of the territory, and in this sense the disparate and intelligent cooperative activities are of little use. Despite everything, the land remains large and uncultivated. From the shores of the lake, covered with marshy vegetation, from the flooded woods and submerged meadows, you pass almost without noticing it to the real swamps that penetrate more and more inland, to gradually arrive at the base of the mountains. Montenegro is one of the richest regions in Europe in game (grouse, roe deer and even bears abound in the interior), but on Lake Skadar there are mainly migratory species: from thrushes to cesene in the woods around Titograd, to snipes, ducks, coots (these in endless numbers) in the marshes and swamps. Think of a game bag from which a wigeon, two or three rnarzaiole, three snipe, a whisk, a lapwing, a royal, maybe even a crunchy can be extracted in succession: in short, the dream of every hunter. A dream that in Montenegro can be realized with relative ease, especially if you choose the day or days when the birds move to go hunting.

Moving away from the lake, and from Titograd in the direction of Danilovgrad, along the road, beyond the fields, often covered with grazing fields, there are vast wet or partially flooded woods, where your hunting instinct tells you that woodcocks should not to miss. And indeed "Sluka?" your companions ask, answering the question, and then immediately smile, nodding: «Yes, yes, many sluka, many woodcocks ». And with gestures, or with the little Italian they know, they tell you about the time when a "very good" Italian took twenty in a day, which is a respectable game bag for all kinds of game, but particularly for woodcocks. But hunting is not everything: how much and more of the game that you can meet and maybe shoot down, what counts is the serenity, the intimate joy, the emotion that you feel, that they invade, walking sure to always find a beautiful and uncontaminated nature. In fact, apart from the abundance of game which is only a consequence of it. it is the whole environment: wild, uncontaminated, not at all disfigured. The speech is valid for the landscapes, but also for the houses, the people, the villages, the towns. Nothing that remembers certain parts of our country where today we walk and hunt almost in the middle of reinforced concrete, between garbage dumps and expanses of plastic bags, shoving with flocks of careless tourists. In Montenegro, all animals are truly wild: in fact, the depopulated areas have not yet been hastily supplied with wild birds from aviaries, as happens in other foreign countries. Here the ducks fly strong and high and the snipe dart away fast, with the zigzags in order and pans accordingly. The hospitality towards foreigners is also excellent, starting with the smiling greeting of the first one you meet on the street and extends to the staff of the very modern hotels. The tourist is not considered a guest, but a friend, and so you can think of being at home.

Despite its limited territory, it actually offers some ecological pearls of such value as to make it deserve, on September 20, 1991, the recognition of First ecological state in the world and last ecological oasis in Europe.

THE Hunting activity in Montenegro it extends from 15 August to 15 March: the period considered to be the best time for hunting migratory game.

The specific periods for hunting individual species are:
- duck: from 15.08 to 15.03
- turtledove: from 15.08 to 30.09
- pheasant: from 01.10 to 31.01
- quail: from 15.08 to 31.12.
- woodcock: from 01.10 to 28.02.
- roe deer: from 01.05 to 30.09
- rock partridges: from 01.10 to 30.11.
- cedrone: from 15.04 to 15.05
- hare: from 01.10 to 31.12.
- wild boar: from 01.10 to 20.02.
- wolf: from 01.10 to 01.03.
- thrush: from 01.08 to 28.02

As for the places where it is possible to hunt, the choice is wide and the proposed species of game are different:

Bar: woodcock, snipe, thrush, quail, turtle dove. Podgorica (distance from Bar 40km): fox, hare, wolves and wild boars.
Danilovgrad (distance from Bar 55km): pheasant, wood pigeons, fox, hare, wolf
Nikši? (distance from Bar 105km): rock partridge, wood pigeon, wild boar, fox, hare, wolf.
Ulcinj (distance from Bar 25 km): ducks, garganey, quail, rock partridge, wild boar, fox, hare
Kolašin (distance from Bar 110km): roe deer, wolf, bear, hare, wild boar
Žabljak (distance from Bar 130km): roe deer, wolf, bear, hare, wild boar, great capercaillie.

With regard to the Hunting Legislation, in Montenegro the approval of a new law for hunting is underway which provides favorable and safe conditions for all hunters who choose this country for a hunting activity, in full compliance with the law. In fact, it authorizes the export of shot game to Italy after obtaining a permit from the Montenegrin Ministry. The permit is requested directly by the country's authorized agencies.

Dogs accompanying hunters from Italy to Montenegro must be provided with:
- Veterinary certificate
- Health card
- Passport.

The documents necessary for the hunter who goes for hunting in Montenegro are:
- Passport or identity card valid for expatriation
- Italian hunting license
- Report of the weapon to be exported (the hunter must personally request the export permit for the weapon at his police headquarters)