Snipe hunting: The snipe is considered one of the most complicated prey to kill. Knowing its flight mode allows the hunter to know when is the right time to shoot. Otherwise, many shots will be wasted without hitting.
The common snipe (Gallinago gallinago Linnaeus, 1758) is a bird belonging to the Scolopacidae family. The snipe it is a bird of medium-small size, with a length of 25-28 cm for a weight between 104 and 170g. Sexual dimorphism is absent in this species. The head is round, brown-black in color with a tawny central streak and two clear lateral bands, which start from the base of the beak to reach the nape.
The upper parts are brownish with black spots, the chest and belly are white, the under tail white and the short fan-shaped tail (5-6 cm). Finally, the legs are greenish-greyish and the beak (7-8 cm) characteristic of the species is long and straight.
favorite places are: meadows, river banks, rice fields and wherever there is 1-2 cm of water. During the nesting period, it prefers swampy areas, clearings of woods with marshes. The characteristic flight is zig-zag with rapid soaring. Outside the reproductive period it gathers in flocks. Monogamous species.
Characteristic is the wedding parade. The nest is placed in hollows of the ground, well hidden, where the female lays 3-4 eggs which it hatches for about 20 days. After hatching, the chicks leave the nest and after 15 days they are able to fly, in the period of time they are looked after by both parents.
The snipe has a very extensive range that goes from Eurasia to England, including all continental Europe, Siberia and northern Africa.
It is a great migrant and winters in southern Europe and northern Africa, going along the Nile river up to the equatorial zone, from the Azores to India.
In our country it nests very rarely and is double-footed in February-April and August-November. The most significant step, however, occurs with the arrival of low temperatures, since the cold induces it to make continuous erratic movements in search of nourishment, as opposed to more suitable climatic conditions in relation to the degree of humidity and temperature, allowing it to stay for prolonged periods. even during migrations.
The flight during the migratory period generally takes place at night according to the ringing data, and it has also been found that the snipe moves in autumn from north-north-east to south-west. The migratory flight varies from specimen to specimen, as some individuals were able to travel 600 km in two days, while others traveled much shorter distances.
Its preferred environment are swamps, marshes, water meadows, corn and soybean fields, rice fields, wet fields, clear water, all impregnated by rains where the snipe with its tactile beak, goes in search. of worms and larvae in the subsoil. The search for food takes place mainly during the night.
This bird builds its nest in a hollow in the ground in a rather rough way, since it wants to hide it among the dry grasses, to later lay a maximum of five eggs in the period between April and July. The hatching lasts about 20 days.
We now come to the topic that interests us mainly, namely snipe hunting. Many agree that the snipe is prey for well-trained dogs and excellent rifles.
On rising, it makes its characteristic "kiss" felt, and in a few seconds it is at full speed with an initial low zigzag flight, and then goes straight into the sky until it disappears. He then makes a wide circular loop and reappears plunging into the place where he had been bothered.
Its "bad" gregarious habits, as it entails many difficulties for the hunter, who may happen to take away all the birds present in the area carelessly and at the same time. This involves wandering around for hours without seeing any more.
It should be emphasized that when a group of birds is raised, each of them in fleeing follows its own independent route and moreover they never all leave at the same time, but at very short intervals where it always happens that there is a latecomer.
Snipe hunting involves a thorough knowledge of the terrain you are battling and proceed silently, always remembering that once alerted this bird does not pawn or try to hide in the vegetation, but opts for a take-off into the wind.
For this reason it is advisable to always proceed with the wind behind you, with the aim of forcing the bird to depart for it that are not favorable to it, in order to lead it to side shots with linear zigzag routes.
In addition to the wind factor, maximum attention must be paid to the snipe's hearing. since this sense is very acute. So in addition to the hunter, the dog must also be able to do its job well.
The best way to hit the snipe is to pull with maximum speed, without waiting for the end of the zigzags. If the first shot is unsuccessful, wait and crouch for the snipe to return.
The snipe of remittance must be treated even more cautiously. the landing area should be marked with a sign, then wait for some time to allow the bird to calm down without being too frantic.
Its behavior from the moment of the whip to the shot can be summarized in four phases: the jump (it rises to 50/60 meters in a second), the very fast and straight flight (10-20 meters) during which it is necessary to hit it.
If you do not hit the mark, it starts zigzagging flights, very fast zags, during which it is easy to waste shots. Finally there is the last phase of straightening of the flight, reaching 70 / a00 meters from the hunter.
An automatic with the maximum choke and classic cartridges of 32 grams (34 in winter) with 11 max 10 lead is recommended for hunting the borrita. In fact, to kill the snipe, just one shot is enough. As for the dog to use, we recommend the epagneul breton, tenacious and persistent at work.