At least once a year we take a trip to the Alps area to savor the thrill, the charm and the fatigue of alpine hunting. Changing environment and hunting techniques is a wonderful experience. There is a lot to learn, to ask, everything is new, nothing for granted. For us hill hunters some mountain situations are often prohibitive, not only for the climate, but the effort is definitely worth it. But what happens when alpine hunters go down to the valley? And when the form of hunting in question is the kaleidoscopic, noisy, collective hunted? We hosted Antonio, Giovanni, Luigi and Lucia in Maremma, for a typically Tuscan hunting weekend. "What a place!" Lucia exclaims as soon as she gets out of the car in front of the farmhouse. “Green hills, gentle slopes, fields and woods! A beautiful territory and also very interesting from a hunting point of view! ". Their wonder echoes ours when we come to them in Cadore and the sharp peaks of the Alps welcome us majestically. Padded jackets, heavy boots with a predisposition to crampons, enveloping hats, are the look of our friends when they arrive, and the 12 degrees of the warm Maremma evening dissuade from taking on everything. "Are you ready for tomorrow guys?" Vincenzo asks for dinner. "I brought the rifle" says Giovanni, "I my old 12 gauge" adds Lucia, "I haven't used it for a long time, and I practically think I have never shot it at the ball" he adds slyly. "My old Ruger with optics has been standing still for a lifetime!" adds Luigi. "What magnification does it have?" Vincenzo asks. “It's an old optic, a fixed 6x….”. “But nooooo !!! Gigi I highly recommend you take it off! The shots in these areas are very short, you hunt in the Mediterranean car, there are no distances suitable for a 6x! " Vincenzo comments. At dinner it's all a whirlwind of questions and clarifications, for our friends hunting in Maremma is almost equivalent to a safari! “Well, a last glass of wine and then to bed early guys, what time is the alarm tomorrow? 5 o'clock? " urges Lucia. A collective laugh responds in unison.
See you on the mezzanine at eight, we can wake up quietly at seven! Up in the mountains at that time we have already made at least two good hours of walking! We wonder what effect it will have on the team to see this gang of hunters arrive with their sober and warm clothing, their Venetian accent, their curious and almost frightened looks…. And instead the twinning proves to be a success from the very first minutes! A few touches of orange, a caress of a Maremma in the trolley, a shot of a cigar and voilà, our alpine friends are perfectly integrated! The assignment of the post office sees us all close. The hope is that at least one of them will be awarded a beautiful boar. You can read the emotion on their faces every time a canizza approaches. They are used to long shots but very thoughtful, prepared. The jab shot on a racing car is the furthest away from their mentality and experience. Probably not all of them have seen a live boar, let alone shoot it. The canizze follow one another in waves but the hours pass without bringing us animals.
The wait at the post office has moments of adrenaline and others of boredom, but we are always standing with the weapon in hand. "My back is in pieces!" Antonio comments. "With us there is a lot of walking, and even uphill, but I had never felt the tiredness I feel standing still!". The others agree too, in fact staying in the post although it does not require Olympic efforts is still challenging! Every form of hunting has its difficulties…. The barks of the wetsuits, the gunshots of the bracche, the roar of the off-road vehicles, the berci of the canai ... create a noisy and folkloristic concert that leaves our guests accustomed to silence and solitude speechless, arousing in them the amazement of a song of Masai war. The trumpet at the end of the bar announces that the time for lunch is approaching. Many straplai friends approach the four chamoisers to hear their hot comments on the joke. Despite the inevitable innate selfishness of every hunter, many are sorry for the failure of one of them to be baptized. "Too bad it went like this, why don't you stop for a few more days to try some more jokes ?!" the huntsman pursues. “It would be nice, thank you, but… our Alps are waiting for us” replies Giovanni with his eyes shining at the thought. There will certainly be another opportunity for them to kill a wild boar, in the meantime there remains the nice memory of four chamoisers in high visibility.