Hunting with Bow, Passion and Technology at the service of hunting ethics; the clarifications of AICA and Federcaccia on the question of selection hunting for ungulate with the bow.
Based on the more than twenty years of experience gained by Aica in the use of the bow for hunting deer and suidae, it seems to us very necessary to specify some aspects relating to the recent, appropriate opening of the Umbria Region to the use of the arch also for selective sampling. The use of the bow in hunting, in Italy, has been admitted since 1968 and confirmed as a means of hunting by the framework law still in force, the 157/92.
The specific regulations are entrusted to the local authorities. The opening of Umbrian legislators is only the latest in chronological order, and demonstrates once more how this form of hunting represents an added value for hunters, who are the first connoisseurs and guardians of nature, in a logic of raising culture of the hunting world.
Bow hunting today represents the expression of a highly evolved hunting culture. Those who decide to practice it have developed a state of mind in which the ultimate goal is not that of massive predation, but rather the search for a different challenge, in the awareness that the opportunities to shoot the arrow will be fewer than the opportunities to use a rifle.
At the level of hunting ethics, the technology used for the construction of modern hunting bows is based on decades of experience, research, choice of extremely reliable cutting-edge materials, the same used by the aeronautical industry for the construction of satellites and space shuttles. . Let it be clear, however, that there can be no reliability without adequate preparation and qualification on the part of the hunter, who can still practice throughout the year at the countless sports clubs in the area.
In bow hunting it is the art of approach that makes the difference, through a discreet presence that highlights the need for total interpenetration with the environment and in-depth knowledge of the habits of the wild. In many hilly suburbs, where ungulates are very present and the shooting is inappropriate for obvious reasons of public safety and peace, the bow is the ideal tool for control: close to homes, without any danger to people, with effectiveness equivalent to a shot from a rifle.
Just think of the example of nearby France, a nation at the forefront in the hunting field, in which the many winemakers need archers to operate on the edges and among the precious small vineyards, surrounded by busy roads where ungulates are certainly not huntable. with firearms. These are restricted and precious areas, where only hunting archers are called upon to select deer and control the wild boar. Otherwise the damage of the game would accumulate irreparably.
The hunter with the bow knows that he has to strike only at short distances, and this is a guarantee of the total correspondence of the assigned leader. It should also be borne in mind that the selection with the bow is usually practiced from an elevated position, where the hunter is outside the alert line of the game, his perception of the action is total and very different from rifle shooting. . This necessity becomes the awareness of a total responsibility, well rooted in whoever wields the bow as a hunting tool, testifying to a mental approach that is independent of having to "strike" at all costs.
All this reduces the chances of injury to the game, however inherent in any form of hunting. Finally, on the effectiveness of the shot, there are now thousands of reliable data on the fact that with the same shooting accuracy the sharp blade is as lethal as a rifle shot.
Perugia, 30 July 2014
AICA, Italian Archery Association
FIdC, Italian Federation of Hunting