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A Pheasant, a Bracco, a Mountain in Tuscany and Peste!

https://www.purina.com.au/-/media/project/purina/main/breeds/dog/dog_bracco-italiano_desktop.jpg

https://www.purina.com.au/dogs/breeds/bracco-italiano

I hunted over a Bracco on a mountain above Florence in Tuscany, for a single pheasant out of season. I stayed at a dog training hotel in the mountains which had permission to shoot pheasants out of season.

I clearly remember the shot:

A bird sailing down the mountain slope, the dogs right with it running, Raising the shotgun to track the pheasant cock. The intake of breath of the two game keepers, dog trainers. Worried I might shoot their dogs with the bird. Taking my time. The ground falling away as the mountain dropped away from the bird and a hollow below. The dogs stopping. The bird soaring upwards. The gun passing under and up over the cock. The trigger depressed. The gun firing. The bird crumpling in the air and falling. The gamekeepers cheering "Perfecto, Perfecto". Or some such words and clapping me on my back. Very happy and relieved I was competent and did not shoot their dogs!

One bird from the afternoon. A hot day, I was soaked from sweat from the exertions on the mountain and wearing a shooting vest.

I talked to the two gamekeepers. They had little English and I had only a little Italian. I had prepared with an A4 page with all the game and wildlife species translated on it. So we coped!

One misunderstanding. I used the word "peste" for too many. As in "kangaroos are in such numbers, milliononi (spg?), They are in peste numbers!".

Peste translates as diseased! Our kangaroos are diseases. Our deer, buffalo, pigs, rabbits are diseases!

A cook came out to query me that evening. She had better English than the gamekeepers and certainly my limited bad Italian. The gamekeepers had been exclaiming I had said all wildlife in Australia was diseased! No I corrected, "too many" as in plague numbers! Aah she understood. A tragedy averted!

We enjoyed "my pheasant" , I'm sure a hung bird from the ladder was substituted, for dinner that evening, for a specially cooked dinner. A dish delicately cooked with white grapes. I wish I knew the recipe. Never had such a well cooked, delicate and tasty pheasant before. Fantastico! We were treated almost like Royalty.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable shoot and short stay at the hotel. Lucky Italian Cacciatore (hunters) can stay there for dog training. One can shoot a single pheasant and enjoy it. One does not need to shoot two hundred. A very pleasant visit and stay.

PS apologies to Italian friends for my poor Italian. I would love to learn Italian. And I could pass as one in the street or shop!

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John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"