thinchliff
New member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2022
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 43
- Location
- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
- Hunted
- USA: ID, OR, TX, HI, Italy,
One of my best friends sent an email about a Tuscany culinary tour to me, and cc’d my wife, so I couldn’t just delete it It was during September, our anniversary, and I knew she would 100% want to go. With Idaho archery now toast, I immediately began looking for a hunt on front end or back of Tuscany. Found Italian Safaris, read good reviews on AfricaHunting.com, and was able to book a Chamois hunt. After we spent a week in Tuscany getting fat, our guide, Luigi picked us up in Turin for the hunt. Luigi is a retired surgeon from Rome, who now volunteers at the hospital, works his olive farm, loves his family, and guides hunters. Pretty good gig.
We drove to a tiny mountain town called Rima, and checked in to the Rima Camere. We were immediately welcomed by the owner, Partrick. His family has a long and amazing history there. The little hotel bar serves as the local hangout, so we met some super cool locals right away. Had a great time showing pics and using google translate
The first morning, Luigi and I went to meet our area guide, Augustino. We climbed straight up 2000’ before we even started hunting. Once at the top, we set up overlooking a grassy saddle with an abandoned shepherd house in the middle of it. The chamois tend to feed across there as the sun rises. They told me where to get comfy for a couple hours, and handed me the rifle. I folded the bipod down, looked thru the scope, and saw a chamois starting at me. You can see in one of the pics, I rolled back over trying to say: “F&^k, there is one right there” (in sign language), since Augustino doesn’t speak English. He glassed it, and told me to shoot (also in sign language), and it was all over… Just like that…..
Pictures taken, a whole Chamois in Augustino’s pack, and back down we went. To be honest, I wish it took a little longer, but with the bug I was fighting, who knows how long I would have made it, or if I would have even made it up the hill a second time.
Spent the rest of the trip hanging out with the local crew, and I mean really hanging out. I absolutely felt like a long lost cousin, going home. Luigi took us all over the area. The welcome, and trust they extended to us was unbelievable. Another local, Bernard, lent me his fishing gear, and connected us with someone who could take us fishing. The people, the stories, the history we experienced, you couldn’t plan it or buy it. It just happened, organically. Total winner. I will for sure go back with Italian Safaris for other species/countries, and I will for sure figure a reason to get back to Rima and visit with our new friends.
We drove to a tiny mountain town called Rima, and checked in to the Rima Camere. We were immediately welcomed by the owner, Partrick. His family has a long and amazing history there. The little hotel bar serves as the local hangout, so we met some super cool locals right away. Had a great time showing pics and using google translate
The first morning, Luigi and I went to meet our area guide, Augustino. We climbed straight up 2000’ before we even started hunting. Once at the top, we set up overlooking a grassy saddle with an abandoned shepherd house in the middle of it. The chamois tend to feed across there as the sun rises. They told me where to get comfy for a couple hours, and handed me the rifle. I folded the bipod down, looked thru the scope, and saw a chamois starting at me. You can see in one of the pics, I rolled back over trying to say: “F&^k, there is one right there” (in sign language), since Augustino doesn’t speak English. He glassed it, and told me to shoot (also in sign language), and it was all over… Just like that…..
Pictures taken, a whole Chamois in Augustino’s pack, and back down we went. To be honest, I wish it took a little longer, but with the bug I was fighting, who knows how long I would have made it, or if I would have even made it up the hill a second time.
Spent the rest of the trip hanging out with the local crew, and I mean really hanging out. I absolutely felt like a long lost cousin, going home. Luigi took us all over the area. The welcome, and trust they extended to us was unbelievable. Another local, Bernard, lent me his fishing gear, and connected us with someone who could take us fishing. The people, the stories, the history we experienced, you couldn’t plan it or buy it. It just happened, organically. Total winner. I will for sure go back with Italian Safaris for other species/countries, and I will for sure figure a reason to get back to Rima and visit with our new friends.
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