In Romania there are rice fields as far as the eye can see, here if you find the right time you can make important snipe bags to which some flat beaks are often added.
Text and photos by Saverio Patrizi
The snipe has always fascinated me, since the first years of license I was attracted to the winged lightning bolt, then with my friends I would beat the coastal areas of the Viterbo area, there was still no talk of ATC, Tarquinia, Pian di Spille and the mouth of the Mignone or the bed of the Baccano valley, pushing me to the borders of the then oasis of Martignano. For these hunts the departure took place in the middle of the night, often directly from the Roman discos or from private parties, especially during the opening period, the result was guaranteed, not many but some long beak always rewarded our outings. I remember, once, we first hit the Pian di Spille polygon area, then, not satisfied, we went near Tarquinia, in an area where foundations had been built whose buildings had never been carried out, this had generated " swimming pools ”much loved by snipe.
Arriving on the spot we noticed a Fiat 126 parked at the edge of the marshy area, curious to see who it was, we all knew the hunters who beat those areas and no one had a 126! When we got close to the small car we saw a friend of ours, owner of Roman discos, asleep in the back seat embracing the rifle and under him a discreet bunch of birds. Of course we didn't resist and after shaking the car for good and waking him up, he told us he had had problems with the off-road vehicle and therefore he had taken his wife's car, it was useless for us to continue, “Attila” had already passed.
When my friend Luca Lucarini from Agrofloracaccia asked me to go to him, in Braila in Romania, to hunt snipe in the paddy field, I didn't hesitate for a moment in giving my availability. We decided on September 20, a little late, but before I couldn't. Shortly before leaving, Federico Cusimano from Sky Caccia e Pesca called me asking if, together with a mutual friend, they could come with me to shoot, I told him that I was certainly pleased. We decide for the Blue Air flight from Fiumicino to Bucharest, a Low Cost company that also brings dogs and guns. Once in Bucharest there is a minibus waiting for us and within a couple of hours we arrive at the hunting lodge of Braila, just enough time to prepare the hunting licenses and all to bed, appointment at 5,00 the following day .
In the morning we have a Land Rover 130 and Luca Moriggi, an Italian who has been involved in hunting in Romania for many years, so he loads us in the car and we leave, Federico, myself, Tommaso the common friend and Salvo the video operator. After a while, still in the dark, we reach the immense paddy field, for this morning we decided to hunt with a rake, beating those areas where the rice has not grown abundantly or the edges of the tanks, so as not to damage the crops. As soon as you begin to see something, the paddy field comes alive, small branches of ducks move from the pasture site, black storks fly over our heads and leave in search of "breakfast", then curlews and various waders populate the early morning sky. While we are admiring the show, we notice several flocks of snipe entering the paddy field and throwing themselves among the tall rice, the conditions are excellent and without delaying further we go to a flooded meadow that Luca tells us to be very popular. We walk the field about 500 meters long and 200 meters wide at least five times, back and forth, and each time we found a large number of birds, many departed out of range but several fell under our blows. The morning continued beating the banks of the tanks where the rice was high and almost ripe, this time we also brought the dogs, Federico's hound and Tommaso's setter, and for the first time in my life I made a coppiola to snipe under the dog, a great satisfaction, for me and for the dog who had never seen and stopped snipe before then. After four hours of this hunt we were exhausted and we gladly returned home, in the afternoon we would have dedicated ourselves to quail.
The second morning we tried the hut hunt, a characteristic of these areas and particularly suitable for rice paddies. In the middle of some of the basins, some 70/80 meters in diameter were obtained from the rice, on the edge of which some straw huts had been built. We arrived in the dark and about 20 meters from the shed we placed some molds of waders and a few more teals a short distance away, the morning before I had noticed several flying over the paddy field. This morning I am alone, I prepare all my things, including the camera, and wait. Still in the dark, a tip of three or four teals arrives, but I can't see them and after a while they leave again, at first light a couple of ducks "rub" the molds and ... the pan badly, finally two more arrive, one of which comes to fill my game bag. When the light increases, the snipes also show up, they settle or pass a short distance from the shed, they throw themselves like lightning bolts and often I can't even get them, anyway between pans and centered shots my game bag at the end of the morning will be 13 snipes and 1 teal, nothing compared to the results of the opening, where more than 100 snipe fell per shed, but still of great satisfaction and fun.
This adventure brought me back to the old days, awakening in me the love for the Prince of the marshes, I will certainly return to this area, both for the beauty of the hunt and for the great professionalism of the organizer.