Hugin welcome.
I was intrigued to hear about Italian Mt. hunters and they are just as loony as the American hunters in a good way. I have heard of Italian hunters specializing on Chamois using hot shot cartridges like the .240 & .257 and metrics like the 5.6x57.
I even heard of one Count who had a double rifle made in .257 Weatherby probably drives a Lamborghini too. Is there Ibex hunting as well?
Hello Tejano and thank you for the welcome
Yes, in Italy the alpine hunters is a group of their own. Literally. After you pass your hunter's exam, you have to specify which type of hunting you want to do, and if you chose alpine hunting, youre tied to that and nothing else. So they per definition become a group of their own, and also do specialised extra courses, just to become licensed alpine hunters.
I for example will also hunt the mountains, but some smaller ones, who max out at around 6000 feet. However if I like that, I might want to progress to alpine hunting one day, as it does look a most amazing type of hunt.
As for their equipment, the billing, a double barreled rifle/shotgun combo, is known to be more frequently found amongst alpine hunters,but i don't know how frequent. I don't know which calibers they prefer either, but if they are mainly shooting smaller sized, and not too sturdy, bovine and deer, and are shooting at longer distances, then cartridges like the 25.06 and .257 roberts would likely make sense
But that's just me guessing here.
And yes, the ibex does live in the Italian alps. It's called Stambecco In Italian, but it's a protected species at current.
I hope that answers most of your questions
H
