Food, nature, and hunting: exploring the Italian way of life

Could you introduce yourself and tell us how you started hunting?

My name is Riccardo Tamburini. I live in Umbria, one of the best Medieval cities we have here – Gubbio. I started hunting before I did a lot of other important things – like dating girlfriends, going to the stadium to support my favorite football team, and having a motorcycle. I started hunting when I was very young, thanks to my father, who was a hunter. And I think that I can consider hunting a part of my life, a lifestyle. 

What role do hunters play in Italy?

Hunting has changed a lot in the last few years. In the beginning, hunters were seen as someone who picked up something from nature. But, actually, hunting is a way to conserve the environment. Hunting today is designed, above all, to maintain the health of ungulate populations –  for example, roe deer, deer, or fallow deer. So, we don‘t take every animal from nature. We take a particular kind of animal in accordance with the wildlife department’s rules.

For example, August, and this is one of the best seasons for hunting roe deer. It‘s their rut season, and it‘s quite easy to find a male roebuck. But hunting of the female is forbidden now. During the summer, we can only go out looking for male roe deer, the roebuck.

What damage do wild animals, in particular, wild boar, roe deer, and red deer, cause to agriculture?

Thanks to the current policy, the health of our big ungulate population is very good, and it’s growing. But at the same time, this is causing a lot of problems for the crops and the farmers. We also have a lot of car accidents in the most congested regions of Italy. But the biggest problem is, I think, the crop devastation by the wild boar. We have an estimated population of 2.3 million wild boar in Italy. And hunting is the only way to prevent the damage to the crops.

Italian food traditions are very deeply embedded into the way of life. What’s your personal relationship with them?

Italy can be considered the homeland of food. Food is very important for us. And venison is becoming more important not only for the hunters but for other people as well. People understand that the quality of venison is higher than that of the meat coming from intensive farming. 

Now, it is easier than before to find wild boar meat or red deer meat in the superstore. Although, I think the price is still too low. In my opinion, because of its high quality, it should cost more. But I think we can work on it in the future.

What‘s your favorite game meat? 

I love venison. But I don‘t like eating roe deer too much, because the smell is very intense. I prefer wild boar or fallow deer. The smell of fallow deer is fainter than in other game, and I think it is the most appreciated by people. The most important thing, I think, is the aging of the meat. And also how you get the animal. If it is calm and quiet, and you place the shot in a very precise way, you have the possibility to have the best quality possible. Then, you have to follow a few steps to have the perfectly aged meat. This means around 15 days in the fridge at very low temperatures (around 1 to 4 degrees), and at the end of the process, the quality of the meat and, above all, the taste of it will be quite similar to beef – but better. 

Photo by Riccardo Tamburini

The same goes for other species. For example, the quality of wild boar after a driven hunt is completely different from the wild boar meat that you get when it‘s harvested while being calm and quiet. This is because, during a driven hunt, the wild boar is stressed; therefore, it can‘t produce lactic acid, which is very important for the aging of the meat. If the animal is very, very stressed, the only way to cook the meat is by going low and slow. 

For example, I prefer to prepare some things after long cooking, like ragu. I love ragu, because, as you know, Italian pasta for an Italian man is an important dish. So, the possibility of preparing pasta with venison ragu is very, very important for me, because it gives me the possibility to eat a very nice course. At the same time, it allows me to not waste the meat that comes from, in my opinion, not the best hunting situation, like, for example, a driven hunt.

What do we need to know about the red deer? Their behavior, population, and management?

Red deer is a very particular animal. It’s completely different from its cousins, roe deer and fallow deer, and one of the differences is the dimensions of their stomachs. It forces the roe deer to feed many times during the day. This is why you can find roe deer in an open field during the day. It‘s very difficult to see a red deer during the day because it only feeds four or five times during the day, whereas roe deer feed 10-12 times during the day. 

This means that it‘s much easier for a hunter to meet roe deer this time of the year because males are following females, and females are always eating, always in very short windows of time. So, they are forced to follow females all the time during the month of August. The other ungulates mate during autumn – roe deer are the only ones to have the possibility to reproduce in summer.

Can you tell what roles thermal and night vision play in a hunt? What are the benefits of it?

The appearance of thermal devices on the market changed the lives of everyone who loves to spend time in nature. Of course, this includes the hunters. Thermal is a big step in technology; it is incredible, and it’s getting better and better. 

With a thermal device, you can spot animals from very, very far (around 1-2 kilometers). Understanding which animal you are looking at is another topic, and it‘s not easy. You have to be a skilled hunter. If an animal is 300-400 meters away, it‘s not possible to detect its cold antlers. But, looking at the movement of the animal, you can understand if it‘s a male or a female. 

Everything changes completely when it comes to closer distances, around 100-150 meters. For example, if you see a nursing female wild boar, you’ll see its nipples. It‘s very easy to understand if you‘re looking at a male or female, an adult or young one. That means you can be very precise in getting the right animal, the animal you have in your plan. This is very important for conservation. 

Another important thing is the precision. You can be very precise, and this means that you are able to get the best food possible because the shot will hit the animal where you aimed. I think that another important thing is safety. Because, during the night, you can‘t naturally see anything. Thanks to the thermal device, you are also able to see a lot of things that are behind the animal in the same direction that you are shooting. And this is very important. I think that safety is very important when using a thermal device. Or shooting during the night.

Being a wildlife photographer, you spend hours in nature. Do you think that it benefits you in the hunt?

Being a photographer helps me a lot in observing nature because to get the perfect shot, you have to be able to get very, very close to the animal, even if you have a telezoom. I prefer to shoot with a mid-telezoom, not with a super one. This involves you getting a good distance (around 50-100 meters, depending on the size of the animal). Also, you can learn a lot by looking at the animals during the night. Because the animals are calm and quiet, you are able to get a lot of information about their habits, and this is very important not only for hunting but also for photography. You can predict their behavior during the day. This is why I spend a lot of time in nature during the night – just so I can observe the animals. 

Photo by Riccardo Tamburini

What are the main differences between hunting and wildlife photography?

There are some differences between photography and hunting, specifically classic hunting with the rifle. I think that hunting with a bow is a lot more similar to photography because with a bow, you need to get very, very close to the animal before taking a shot – we are talking about 30 meters. Hunting with a rifle allows you to be out of the scene because you can get the animals by shooting from farther distances, like 200-400 meters away. To get a good shot with your camera, you have to be closer than with a rifle. 

Now, we also have the possibility to take a photograph with hunting devices as well, like a spotting scope with a big zoom capabilities. This particular branch of photography is called digiscoping, and I think that digiscoping is quite similar to hunting because you can stay quite far from the animal, watching it from a distance. This is a big advantage because it lets you film and shoot pictures of the animal when they are very calm and quiet.

Can you tell us about your philosophy? Approach to hunting, nature, and your relationship with it?

My hunting philosophy has changed a lot in my life. In the beginning, hunting meant being close to nature. But to get the animal was also a very important part of this process. Now, honestly, getting the animal, yes, it‘s important, but for me, it‘s more important to spend hours in the wildlife, looking for the animal, trying to understand its habits better. I am also very curious, and this is why I spend a lot of time without a camera or a rifle. My habits are changing because now, with only one device, I can cover all 24 hours to see the animal, and it is much easier than in the past.

What are the things that encourage you to learn and to stay curious?

I think that the most important thing for everyone is curiosity. Curiosity allows you to grow not only as a man but also as a hunter, as a photographer, as a nature lover. Because it‘s the engine that brings you to go out very early in the morning or stay out when it‘s very cold, raining, or snowing. I think that the most important feature, not only in a hunter, is curiosity.