The communiqué of the Councilor Fabio Rolfi on the way to the 2020-2021 hunting season: “The Lombardy Region again this year has put in place a series of interventions aimed at protecting a fundamental environmental activity of safeguarding the ecosystem, as well as a millenary passion that involves 54 thousand Lombards. We are reducing bureaucracy and fighting against stereotypes and fake news spread by a certain press and animal rights extremists to discredit hunters. We have obtained some exemptions from Ispra, such as that on starlings and pigeons, we have set up the regional wildlife observatory to collect scientific data and we have entered into system agreements to enhance the game meat supply chain and give economic value to our business.
Also this year two supplementary days are planned for migratory stalking hunting in Brescia and Bergamo from 1 October to 21 November. We are also awaiting the ruling of the TAR regarding the capture of live calls on the basis of which we will then decide what action to take ". This was stated by the Lombard regional councilor for Agriculture, Food and Green Systems on the occasion of the general opening of the 2020/21 hunting season. It starts on Sunday 20 September, the general closure will be on 31 January 2021. The only exceptions: the pre-opening which took place in the ATC Unico di Brescia in early September for a few half days, only in the form of stalking and only for 4 species of corvids; the postponement of the closure to 10 February 2021, foreseen in two ATCs in the province of Pavia, for the 4 species of corvids and, in only one of the two ATCs, also for the wood pigeon.
The selection hunt for ungulates (roe deer, red deer, chamois, mouflon and wild boar) follows different rules and therefore takes place at different times, even throughout the year, depending on the species and territories, on the basis of defined sampling plans. by sex and age classes of the animals to be taken, upon favorable opinion of Ispra. collective hunts for wild boar (hunted, shot and beaten), i.e. with teams of hunters and following dogs, will take place, as per current legislation, from 1 October to 31 December or from 1 November to 31 January, depending on the territories. The overall agro-forestry-pastoral territory in Lombardy is approximately 1.967.000 hectares (approximately 797.000 hectares in the Alps area and approximately 1.170.000 hectares outside the Alps area, i.e. hilly and lowland areas).
Compared to the overall TASP, approximately 530.207 hectares are intended for the protection and protection of wildlife (parks and nature reserves, protection oases, restocking and capture areas, closed funds), therefore hunting is prohibited, while on approximately 1.437.133 be practiced the hunting exercise. The province with the largest overall agro-forestry-pastoral area is that of Brescia, with about 422.000 ha, while the one with the smallest agro-forestry-pastoral area is that of Monza, with about 17.300 ha. Hunting in Lombardy takes place in a total of 55 territories with programmed hunting management, divided into 24 alpine districts (CA), including 5 established in the province of Sondrio and 31 territorial hunting areas (ATC). To these must be added the wildlife-hunting companies (AFV) and the agri-tourism-hunting companies (AATV), defined as private hunting institutes.
For hunting in CAs and ATCs, the hunter must be registered and pay an annual membership fee, which varies according to the form of hunting exclusively chosen (fixed posting, or wandering in the Alps area, or wandering in the remaining territory i.e. outside the Alps area). For the exercise of roaming hunting in the Alps area, it is also necessary to be in possession of a specific qualification. The largest areas for planned hunting are the ATC of the Milanese Plain (MI), the ATC Unico (BS) and the CA Prealpi Bergamasche (BG). In the 2019/20 hunting season, a total of 56.652 hunters exercised in the ATC and CA of Lombardy, divided between 16.318 who hunted in the Alps area (in the CA) and 40.334 who hunted outside the Alps area (in the ATC). These totals also include hunters not resident in Lombardy, but registered in Lombardy ATC / CA. Obviously, Lombard hunters can also hunt outside the region, provided they are admitted to extra-regional ATC / CA.