In the 2023/2024 hunting season, Tuscany is preparing for an unprecedented wild boar hunting activity, with a culling plan that provides for the removal of as many as 93.124 specimens. The news was announced after the approval of the sampling plan set specific quotas for each province, involving both suitable and non-suitable areas. According to the established guidelines, in suitable areas, hunters will have to give priority to killing to females, with an equal distribution between specimens older and younger than one year. This rule will also apply to males. This strategic choice aims to control and maintain a healthy and balanced population.
One of the most relevant innovations concerns selection hunting, which will be allowed on the snow, in a period that goes from the third Sunday of September to the general closure. Unlike the other techniques, which will have a limited period of development between October and January, this one will offer a wider time window, arriving up to an hour after sunset and being able to take place throughout the year.
The Tuscan provinces have received specific quotas for the slaughter of wild boars, both in suitable and non-suited areas. For example, Arezzo will have to demolish a total of 11.878, Florence 19.627, Grosseto 20.148, Livorno 3.169, Lucca 4.842, Massa 4.932, Pisa 6.213, Pistoia 3.188 and Siena 19.127.
To ensure responsible management of hunting activity, the Atc (Territorial Hunting Areas) and reserves have been required to report on a monthly basis the number of hunters' outings and the amount taken, broken down by sex and age of the specimens shot down.
This ambitious culling plan, with numbers never seen before, was designed to sustainably manage the wild boar population in Tuscany and ensure the balance of the ecosystem. However, the challenge for hunters and authorities will be considerable, as it will require constant effort to achieve the set goals.