Page 37 - GUNS Issue n.01

The author during the hunting test: a two-day woodcock hunt
in Val d’Orcia, guests of the Borgo di Castelvecchio hunting reserve.

with him his Gordon setter, Alyssa, quite experienced in hunting woodcocks. We are at the end of January, the last
hunts of the season and the last woodcocks, although this year, due to the pandemic, the hunting pressure has
been quite low, so we are quite confident. To increase our chances of success we split into two groups, Carlotta and
Andrea with his setters follow Ubaldo, the gamekeeper, while Alessio and I, with his Alyssa, are accompanied by
Alessandro Gaetani, the landowner.
At dawn we are ready to go. Although it is the middle of winter, the temperature is rather mild and the day is
sunny, with just a little light breeze. Alyssa immediately starts the hunt with the typical style of the Gordon setters,
a controlled gallop and a great connection. The territory is difficult, dense cover of oaks and low shrubs, poor
visibility among the vegetation and an extremely treacherous terrain. Very soon I discover to my own expense that
the clayey soil typical of these areas, not surprisingly called Crete Senesi (Siena’s Clays), represents a considerable
thorn in the side. The terrain is slippery and sticky, it sticks to the boots, completely fills the tread and makes
movement difficult. Uphill, Alessandro tells me smiling, “you take one step forward and two steps back”, to
which we must add the hassle of having a few kilograms of clay weighing down each boot. In spite of everything,
we proceed and begin to walk down a gully, with a rather dense undergrowth that ends, in the lower part, in an
area full of stagnant water. Alessio and I have a good feeling about this place, so we choose to face it in the best
possible way. He proceeds to the center of the gully with Alyssa, while I keep to the left, in an elevated position, so
that I can try a shot if a woodcock slips through the vegetation. After a few minutes our expectations turn out to be
well founded: Alyssa is pointing in the center of the gully and Alessio approaches her. I take position to have the
best view, always keeping in mind Alessio’s location. The woodcock launches itself headlong downwards, comes
out of the vegetation and turns slightly to the left. I raise the shotgun and aim at the bird, but Alessio, seeing a gap
in the branches, precedes me, scoring a good first barrel kill. Satisfied with the first action, we continue the hunt
and, a few hours later, the scene repeats itself: the dog points, Alessio is behind her and I’m ten or so meters on
the side, to cover a possible “second exit”. My presence, however, is completely superfluous. Alessio is in a state
of absolute grace and does not miss a beat: with another first barrel kill he scores the second woodcock of the day.
We spend the afternoon chasing wild pheasants, impressive stalkers who always take flight tens of meters from
Alyssa’s nose and completely out of range for us. I realize that, without a dog, I inevitably remain a bit cut off
from the action, so I choose to distance myself a little from my companions to try to get some wood pigeons. As I
walk on the edge of a pine forest, I hear a sudden flutter of wings and, a few seconds later, I see a group of wood
pigeons emerge from the treetops above my head. As soon as they notice my presence, they abruptly change
direction, but it is too late: I have already grabbed the Ultraleggero and let go of the first shot, shooting down one.
Since I’m set up for woodcock hunting, I have mounted a Cylinder choke for the first barrel and a Modified for
the second one, using dispersant ammo, but, despite this, I get a clean and instant pigeon kill at a distance of over
25 meters. The next morning the weather changes dramatically: overcast skies and a rather annoying intermittent
rain. The ground, wet from the rain, is even more treacherous and tiring. Alessio and I have run out of luck, but
it is Andrea’s turn, who gets a beautiful woodcock with the help of Carlotta and her Mariansetters. Although I
didn’t fire many rounds with the shotgun, I had the opportunity to take the Ultraleggero hunting for two days on
a very treacherous terrain, which is a very significant test bed. I didn’t use the sling, so I carried the shotgun in my
hands or open on my shoulder the whole time, without being affected in any way.

Beretta Ultraleggero caliBer 12/76_TesT shoTgun 35