Wild Boar Hunt: La Cacciarella, not only hunting, but also a convivial moment rooted in the Maremma tradition. What does it mean to organize a Cacciarella, there are countless factors that can contribute to the final result.
di Saverio Patrizi
The logic consists in encircling a certain wood, where the wild boars are presumed to be, placing the posts on one side and untying the dogs on the opposite side in order to push the wild in the direction of the guns. Explained in this way it seems like child's play, but unfortunately or fortunately, the reality is very different from the theory, first of all how do we know if wild boars are found in that particular plot? Here the figure of the Assestatore enters the scene, he is an expert who, going around the perimeter, verifies and tries to "count", by reading the language of the tracks, how many animals have entered and how many have left, if we know that it is an area rich in lestre, as the beds of wild animals are called in Maremma jargon, from this it counts and with the experience previously acquired, it will be possible to determine whether or not it is appropriate to choose the area for the hunting day. On the contrary, if it is a transit place, where i boars they stop sporadically, the Assestatore's task will be much more difficult and it will be fundamental to determine if the footsteps to enter or to exit are cooler, the spy can be a leaf fallen into the footprint, a small cobweb the more or less marked edges, all signs that the good tracker can read infallibly.
Once established that the chosen area is valid, the Huntsman, he will have to decide how to take the joke, evaluate the geographic conformation, the wind and the alleged remittances of the animals. We can find ourselves in front of lowland woods, where it will be easier to close the expulsion, it will be enough to place the stalls in the wind and untie the dogs above the wind, instead if, as in most cases, we are in mountainous or hilly areas, it will be necessary to indulge the territory, often the wild boars will have obligatory or usual steps, which absolutely will be covered with one or more hunters, moreover the posts will be placed where the conformation of the territory allows it, always considering safety.
The Huntsman will always have the task of directing the Cacciarella, that is, coordinating all the movements of the braziers, as the beaters are called, and of the dogs, he will have to make sure that they advance as aligned as possible, stop when necessary and resume all advancement. together. 
At the post office it is required to remain still in the assigned place, sometimes highlighted by a number, others by the Huntsman who simply said "you stop here", you have to be silent, often the biggest wild boars arrive scanned, the old men say that the boar is shot first with hearing and then with the rifle. When the wild boar finally arrives, a whole series of indescribable emotions follow one another, the scanato will warn you with a sprig that breaks or a blackbird that starts frightened, if we can understand that the sly is approaching, we can wait for him ready and embraced and how he appears shoot it down on the spot, if we are distracted often it won't even give us time to raise the gun, it will appear and disappear like a ghost. On the other hand, when the wood is filled with the barking of dogs and the incitements of the braziers, “beautiful underneath !!! Daje daje !!! Beware it's big !!! Beware of the post office !!! " and many others that also vary from place to place, the heart is in the throat, we will be tense with all our senses, we will try to understand which road the wild boar has taken, if it will come towards us or exhaust itself to go to other places, and when finally appears you have to be quick and precise in firing. When the horn is sounded at the end of the hunt, the rifles are unloaded and for no reason are you fired any more, at this point you move from the assigned stalls, you retrieve the animals and begin that convivial part made of comments, congratulations for the good shots or for the most beautiful animals, and teased at those who were the protagonists of more or less spectacular pans, in the meantime the braziers recover the exhausted dogs. 
Thus described the Cacciarella, let's write it with a capital letter as it deserves, it seems a simple joke, like a drive to pheasants, instead it is a way of life, steeped in traditions, which has always had the merit of bringing social classes closer, the passion of hunting has the rural world united, while hunting the lords have always dealt with the peasants united by the common passion, often sharing food and emotions. The participants in the Cacciarella are divided into two factions, those who were born there and have lived this ritual forever, loving and hating it, but without ever being able to give it up, as if it were part of his DNA, in simple terms as Prince Francesco wrote. Ruspoli “Cacciarella! - The little bit figured out who there is a little bit of mastic in the veins. - I'll kill you - but I want you well ”. Then there are those who interpret it only as a social event, where to show off their rifles, clothes and off-road vehicles, often pontificating on the calibers and often getting fooled by the wild boar. La Cacciarella is the set of all these personalities who make it, from November to January, the fulcrum of their world.
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