CONSERVATION : I hunt birds, they often outlive my shots

[stl30]

Mario here, (doesn't get any more italian name than this) as stated I have bad aim, and I sell it as conservation effort.
Getting better and better though, won't tell in which of the two.
Hunting in northern Italy most of the time, bird dog owner who feels entitled to bring the dog everywhere and therefore ready to run laps (unless OWG already run the available 2025 laps).
Here to get hassled for being the first overseas society member, and to repent for not subscribing before as well.
Pretty good at Negroni making and consuming as well as cooking and eating what I hunt....

 

[wburns]

Mario here, (doesn't get any more italian name than this) as stated I have bad aim, and I sell it as conservation effort.
Getting better and better though, won't tell in which of the two.
Hunting in northern Italy most of the time, bird dog owner who feels entitled to bring the dog everywhere and therefore ready to run laps (unless OWG already run the available 2025 laps).
Here to get hassled for being the first overseas society member, and to repent for not subscribing before as well.
Pretty good at Negroni making and consuming as well as cooking and eating what I hunt....

Welcome! You get to the states and Ill take you to my favorite spots since yo cant hit!

 

[stl30]

Welcome! You get to the states and Ill take you to my favorite spots since yo cant hit!

Thanks man, yeah definitely!! What are you chasing up there?

 

[deadeyejunior]

Welcome, tell us more about bird hunting Italy? What kind of birds do you hunt?

 

[stl30]

Welcome, tell us more about bird hunting Italy? What kind of birds do you hunt?

Well there are a variety of game birds, mainly pheasants, woodcocks, ducks, partridges. But the real election game which really challenges both hunter and dog is the snipe. We get lots of them in the rice fields typical of northern regions. For the few that are permanent residents in the alps, black grouse and ptarmigans are the go to, hell of a hunt

 

[deadeyejunior]

Nice! You dont hear much about Italy Upland hunting. I'm assuming the Partridge are Red Legged and English? Or what we call Gray Partridge and Chukars.

 

[Pete Correale]

Mario here, (doesn't get any more italian name than this) as stated I have bad aim, and I sell it as conservation effort.
Getting better and better though, won't tell in which of the two.
Hunting in northern Italy most of the time, bird dog owner who feels entitled to bring the dog everywhere and therefore ready to run laps (unless OWG already run the available 2025 laps).
Here to get hassled for being the first overseas society member, and to repent for not subscribing before as well.
Pretty good at Negroni making and consuming as well as cooking and eating what I hunt....

You are not the only one that can’t hit the side of a barn…. When I go bird hunting, I call it missing, not shooting… Even when im using my hand made Italian side by side…

 

[stl30]

You are not the only one that can’t hit the side of a barn…. When I go bird hunting, I call it missing, not shooting… Even when im using my hand made Italian side by side…

well it's nice not to be alone then. Which side by side are you using? Love them, they are even harder to shoot than auto or over/under though

 

[stl30]

Nice! You dont hear much about Italy Upland hunting. I'm assuming the Partridge are Red Legged and English? Or what we call Gray Partridge and Chukars.
View attachment 662

In the plains we have Perdix perdix which is what you call grey partridge and Alectoris rufa which is red legged partridge and chukar as well as quails. In the alps we have Alectoris graeca which is rock partridge and Lagopus muta which is rock ptarmigan. We do also have some areas with "wild" (been released in the 70s and made up pretty good populations) northern bobwhites (Virginia quail)

 

[wburns]

Thanks man, yeah definitely!! What are you chasing up there?

I live in North Dakota part of the year so I hunt pheasant, Hungarian partridge, sharptail grouse and ruffed grouse in the fall and early winter. I also chase prairie chickens in South Dakota, sage grouse in Montana, woodcock and ruffed grouse in Minnesota. All those areas are within a days drive of my house there. This time of the year I’m in New Mexico where I hunt scaled, mearns, gambles, and bobwhite quail for a couple months each winter.

 

[stl30]

I live in North Dakota part of the year so I hunt pheasant, Hungarian partridge, sharptail grouse and ruffed grouse in the fall and early winter. I also chase prairie chickens in South Dakota, sage grouse in Montana, woodcock and ruffed grouse in Minnesota. All those areas are within a days drive of my house there. This time of the year I’m in New Mexico where I hunt scaled, mearns, gambles, and bobwhite quail for a couple months each winter.

Now that's a nice game lot. Which dog do you have? You also travel a lot, the best part of living in northern Italy is that you are at max 2h drive from any type of hunting environment, that's hard to beat

 

[wburns]

Now that's a nice game lot. Which dog do you have? You also travel a lot, the best part of living in northern Italy is that you are at max 2h drive from any type of hunting environment, that's hard to beat

That’s cool! Farthest for me is 10 hours to where I like to hunt sage grouse but most of the other birds in surrounding states are about 4 hours. My local birds of sharptail, pheasant and partridge are basically out my back door.
I run English Pointers and German Wirehairs. Here they are in all their glory lol. What kind of dogs do you have and what type of gun do you shoot?

 

[stl30]

That’s cool! Farthest for me is 10 hours to where I like to hunt sage grouse but most of the other birds in surrounding states are about 4 hours. My local birds of sharptail, pheasant and partridge are basically out my back door.
I run English Pointers and German Wirehairs. Here they are in all their glory lol. What kind of dogs do you have and what type of gun do you shoot?

Awesome! German wirehaired are tough dogs! And sage grouse must be really a blast to hunt.
We have two bird dog breeds in Italy.
I have spinone dogs, which is a typical Italian breed along with its "cousin" breed which is bracco. They are very similar breeds spinone being wire haired while bracco shorthaired. I love both breeds and they have a big need of hunters to strengthen themselves since numbers are pretty low for working bloodlines. As for weapon of choice I insist on using side by side due to its historical roots with the type of hunt I do; except for ducks for which I prefer a semiauto (we have a legal limit of 3 shots 2+1 with a tube shortener to avoid having more )

 

[wburns]

Awesome! German wirehaired are tough dogs! And sage grouse must be really a blast to hunt.
We have two bird dog breeds in Italy.
I have spinone dogs, which is a typical Italian breed along with its "cousin" breed which is bracco. They are very similar breeds spinone being wire haired while bracco shorthaired. I love both breeds and they have a big need of hunters to strengthen themselves since numbers are pretty low for working bloodlines. As for weapon of choice I insist on using side by side due to its historical roots with the type of hunt I do; except for ducks for which I prefer a semiauto (we have a legal limit of 3 shots 2+1 with a tube shortener to avoid having more )

Very cool! There are a couple people in my area with Spinones. We don’t see them very often in the states but once in a while they pop up at a NAVHDA test.
I shoot sxs as well and semi auto for waterfowl. We have the same 3 shell rule here. I shoot a Parker now days for my main sxs gun but I have a few Holland and Hollands, Dickson and Webley and Scott’s. I shoot a Beretta A400 for waterfowl

 

[stl30]

Very cool! There are a couple people in my area with Spinones. We don’t see them very often in the states but once in a while they pop up at a NAVHDA test.
I shoot sxs as well and semi auto for waterfowl. We have the same 3 shell rule here. I shoot a Parker now days for my main sxs gun but I have a few Holland and Hollands, Dickson and Webley and Scott’s. I shoot a Beretta A400 for waterfowl

What's a NAVHDA test? A sort of field trial?

 

[wburns]

What's a NAVHDA test? A sort of field trial?

Sort of it is a basis to set breed standards for what we term versatile hunting breeds that hunt both upland, waterfowl, and fur based on the breed. It stands for North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association. There is no first place in the trials, the dog is expected to meet a certain level of competency for each stage of test. Hence the evaluation against a standard rather than dog vs dog.

 

[stl30]

Sort of it is a basis to set breed standards for what we term versatile hunting breeds that hunt both upland, waterfowl, and fur based on the breed. It stands for North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association. There is no first place in the trials, the dog is expected to meet a certain level of competency for each stage of test. Hence the evaluation against a standard rather than dog vs dog.

Got it. The Italian breeds, opposite to Germans especially are now, and have always been selected for upland mainly, a purist won't let his dog point fur, he will only focus and will train his dog on feather game

 

[wburns]

Got it. The Italian breeds, opposite to Germans especially are now, and have always been selected for upland mainly, a purist won't let his dog point fur, he will only focus and will train his dog on feather game

Yes it is the same for some of our breeds such as my English Pointer as that is not a standard for them. They are feathers only.

 

[huntbirdz]

Welcome Mario! Like seeing other bird hunters here. At least you are being honest about your aim or lack thereof! Could be the shooter. Could be the shotgun. Or, it very well could be the birds....they are just too smart and agile for you and can escape death, however easy it is when you are shooting at them! I know a little about wingshooting in Italy, is mainly woodcock, pheasants, maybe some chukar?

 

[stl30]

Welcome Mario! Like seeing other bird hunters here. At least you are being honest about your aim or lack thereof! Could be the shooter. Could be the shotgun. Or, it very well could be the birds....they are just too smart and agile for you and can escape death, however easy it is when you are shooting at them! I know a little about wingshooting in Italy, is mainly woodcock, pheasants, maybe some chukar?

Howdy man! Well I think it's mainly my technique, or the lack of it that makes my shots so difficult. A component for sure is the shotgun because I can almost make perfect shots with a Benelli auto 20 ga. of a friend of mine. Nevertheless as you said we have pheasant, chukar, grey partridge, red legged partridge, all of these are resident species but the majority are raised and released in the wild during off season. The truly wild game birds that are a blast to hunt are woodcock, (which I'm particularly fond of) ducks, and the snipe, which is what I hunt the most and with most fun. Finally in the alps black grouse, rock partridge and rock ptarmigan