Hunting with the raptor: Vittorio's experience hunting partridge with a goshawk. Ancient hunting and respectful of nature, once known it is not so easily forgotten as it replaces the rhythm of man with the more peaceful and pleasant rhythm of nature.
I don't even remember well the plot and title of the book I read many years ago when I was still a boy. What I remember well is that the protagonist lived in symbiosis with his raptor who helped him like a faithful hound, perhaps even better, during the hunting phases. My father has never practiced this kind of hunting activity, and I fear he never had a worry about it and yet I soon put my dream aside, since it is not so easy to approach the activity. It takes dedication, patience and above all professionalism: the fact is that a few months ago, at dinner at a friend's house, I met the husband of a good friend of my wife. I was prepared for a very boring evening, and so was he, but all of a sudden we discovered that we shared a passion for nature, for hunting and for the days spent outdoors.
Between one course and another he confesses to me that recently, tired of the usual hunting, he switched to one with a bird of prey. I roll my eyes: after 7 years of marriage the first dinner where I meet an interesting man. Needless to say, he invites me the following month to participate in a day of hunting with birds of prey, just to get an idea of what it really consists of, because he tells me clearly, many talk about it, but few really know how it works. . The day arrives, and having reached the place I immediately realize, as a guest of a farmhouse lost in nothing but well-kept, that those who practice this kind of hunting have a totally different relationship with the environment, with nature and with hunting. It may seem obvious, but that morning I had the idea that I had been transported to a distant era: all thanks to the Brescia countryside, reached by a few who prefer to abandon the car to devote themselves entirely to walks. We are hosted by two brothers who have chosen to transform the farmhouse into a beautiful farmhouse open only during the summer: they cultivate the fields, raise animals, collect wood, know the woods and when the weather permits they go hunting with their birds of prey: the game bag is not the goal of Giovanni and Giacomo, what counts is the morning in the open air they spend. I prepare myself for the new situation, slow down the pace and follow the company: there are the two brothers, Antonio, my new friend, me, and the woods. Nice I think, really nice: here we need a camera! I also have it on hand, but I avoid pulling it out so as not to look like a kid on a school trip.
The surroundings deserve a brief description: the green meadows and vineyards encountered during our arrival are now a memory: while we immerse ourselves in a wood of downy oaks and chestnuts, I imagine that this wood is home to wild boar, deer, roe deer, and fallow deer and the confirmation is given by the footprints left here and there, some older than others.
Suddenly one of the two brothers asks me why this new passion of mine and I begin to tell him about my dreams as a boy, he smiles. Evidently it is a story he has already heard. He also advises me to read the falconers' Bible, the treatise “De Arte Venandi Cum Avibus”, which, although dated, remains the reference essay for lovers of the genre: on the other hand, falconry hasn't changed too much, he confesses to me.
Although it is the end of February, the cold gives respite and the day is unusually warm and without much effort we reach the hunting place chosen by the two brothers: it is a small hill surrounded once again by cultivated fields where it seems there is no lack of partridges. The hitherto silent dog begins to make its presence felt: with us there is a beautiful English setter, typically colored in white and orange and on the spot we meet a fabulous bird of prey waiting for us in the hunting house not far from our point of departure. departure. I could have sworn it was a hawk but no, it's a goshawk: an animal with an elegance and a calmness that leaves you speechless. This just to show how much I still have to learn on the subject.
It is Giacomo who approaches him and wears the classic leather glove to protect his arm from the raptor's claws, real improper weapons. Nor does he guarantee it: he thinks it is better that Alfredo (as he called him) is free to fly away if he notices the smoothie of a wild game. I am surprised by the trust that exists between man and goshawk: I am starting to like this day more and more and we haven't even gotten to the heart of it.
He explains that Alfredo is relatively small, when compared with the females of his species, much larger and justifies the dimorphism of the species with the possibility of one and the other of hunting different species: this is a pretty good way to guarantee the survival of the species. After a few caresses to the plumage of that hero of the skies, who seems to be able to live in captivity for at least 15 if not 20 years, we set out. After a few minutes, the setter begins his action as a seeker: he has clearly identified some prey and even Alfredo, up to now very calm, begins to participate in the hunt, stretching his neck and raising his hooked beak; yet the winged hunter does not take a breath. Giacomo favors his view by raising his arm, but it is a false alarm: the partridges are really too far away.
Meanwhile, Giacomo continues to talk to us about Alfredo and the goshawk hunting technique which, unlike sparrow hawks and falcons, is equipped with shorter wings: everything is to the advantage of the species as they can fly low and even among the dense vegetation.
When the setter identifies new potential prey we all stop: we are not far from some brambles and a dirt road, the dog overcomes it like a lightning bolt and in no time we perceive a sudden whirring: for the first time in my life during that delicate phase, the interest was not directed so much to the wild as to the auxiliary. Alfredo's show starts early: it shoots like an arrow throwing itself at the birds, momentarily disappearing from our field of vision. Only the sound of wings and screams are heard.
"And good Alfredo!" shouts Giacomo who is the first to find the goshawk with the partridge in its claws. He screams like a madman and plucks a few feathers and a few small pieces of meat with his beak. Giacomo lets him do it, because he explains to us, he hunts to eat and it is right that his effort be rewarded, but he does not let him spoil the prey, but offers him a carcass that he has brought with him.
I look at the scene fully satisfied: the rhythms compared to classic hunting are decidedly different, more suited to nature and less human. What matters is that we all have the opportunity to really enjoy the day. I finally understand the necessary symbiosis between dog and bird of prey and the bond that exists between the two and the hunter. In this case, the goshawk is what the shotgun is for many hunters!
Missing for a moment I perceive that obsessive desire to fill the game bag: rather, after an hour we set off again towards the base, where a delicious lunch based on local specialties and wine awaits us that dissolves the last suspicions. After a few hours of acquaintance in front of the table sit 4 good friends united by this ancient form of hunting, which once tried it is impossible not to love.