Boletes and boar in Tuscany

[Al Bundy]

I awoke to repeated gunshots this morning  in Tuscany. We are in the middle of nowhere on the base of a smallish mountain.  I took a short walk close to the buildings in the hopes to see hunters and what was hunted. While doing so I found a few bolete buttons. I haven’t keyed them out yet but they are likely boletus edulis, or porcini in local speak.  After picking these, I hit the ground when gunfire got closer. At that point I turned around and high tailed it out of there.  Turns out gunfire was at wild boar that are thick around here. They use dogs to hunt and it’s like whitetail season in ny with many people hunting. We stopped at a local bar and I did my best to try and tag along with a local.  No luck. I’m going to try again and try to make some contacts. If I do, I would love to come back next year for porcini and wild boar.  Tuscany is amazing. 

Edit: the white one I think is a spy mushroom that indicates boletes are close by. 

Edited October 9, 2019 by Al Bundy

[moog5050]

I bet for a few bucks there is someone that will take you.  They can even keep the meat.

[turkeyfeathers]

Ha ,forgot you were in Italy and not NY

[BizCT]

2 hours ago, Al Bundy said:

I awoke to repeated gunshots this morning  in Tuscany. We are in the middle of nowhere on the base of a smallish mountain.  I took a short walk close to the buildings in the hopes to see hunters and what was hunted. While doing so I found a few bolete buttons. I haven’t keyed them out yet but they are likely boletus edulis, or porcini in local speak.  After picking these, I hit the ground when gunfire got closer. At that point I turned around and high tailed it out of there.  Turns out gunfire was at wild boar that are thick around here. They use dogs to hunt and it’s like whitetail season in ny with many people hunting. We stopped at a local bar and I did my best to try and tag along with a local.  No luck. I’m going to try again and try to make some contacts. If I do, I would love to come back next year for porcini and wild boar.  Tuscany is amazing. 

Edit: the white one I think is a spy mushroom that indicates boletes are close by. 

what about the Goose meetup? that picture can break the internet!

[Al Bundy]

Planning the goose meetup in some days. I am not real sure the date today. Goose meet is in Venice, last stop in the journey.  I had fun getting the rental car out of Rome. Today we stumbled on some locals making wine in their basement. A huge press, multiple big glass carboys.  They made the mistake of leaving the garage/basement door open and mrs bundy and I stopped and tried to talk with them.  We asked to buy a bottle of wine but instead they gave us one that I am drinking right now.  I didn’t have a clue what they were saying. I think they liked the mrs.  What an adventure. 

[BizCT]

Planning the goose meetup in some days. I am not real sure the date today. Goose meet is in Venice, last stop in the journey.  I had fun getting the rental car out of Rome. Today we stumbled on some locals making wine in their basement. A huge press, multiple big glass carboys.  They made the mistake of leaving the garage/basement door open and mrs bundy and I stopped and tried to talk with them.  We asked to buy a bottle of wine but instead they gave us one that I am drinking right now.  I didn’t have a clue what they were saying. I think they liked the mrs.  What an adventure. 

Is goose a resident yet? Feels like he has been there for 6 months


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[Al Bundy]

Dunno about goose but this place would be heaven for me to retire to. Pigs.. mushroom, white tails to the north, I wonder about ducks. Cheap groceries,  cheap and good wine, gotta be cheap housing. Great weather. Best tasting peaches I’ve ever had. People are really quite friendly. Ran into a guy today in the grocery store who,said,he lived in LA and nyc 20 years ago.  I’ve been to some parts of France including Paris, bunch of places in Spain,  touched  Germany, Amalfi Coast in Italy. Tuscany gets my blood moving more so than any of those places. 

[BizCT]

No whitetails in Italy. Maybe roe or fallow?


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[Al Bundy]

That could be. I showed a local a picture and asked if they have this here and he said yes to the north.  So something. I see signs with a picture of a deer looking creature with a rack on it. Like signs in the US for deer crossing. 

I also forgot to mention someone said there are pheasant here. I saw two birds that looked like pheasant at least from a distance. 

Apparently no crossbows here. Hard as hell though to communicate. I’d type in google translate and locals would say yes or no.  I think they got tired of me as they all left the bar shortly after I showed up. Ughh. 

[Hunter007]

15 hours ago, Al Bundy said:

I awoke to repeated gunshots this morning  in Tuscany. We are in the middle of nowhere on the base of a smallish mountain.  I took a short walk close to the buildings in the hopes to see hunters and what was hunted. While doing so I found a few bolete buttons. I haven’t keyed them out yet but they are likely boletus edulis, or porcini in local speak.  After picking these, I hit the ground when gunfire got closer. At that point I turned around and high tailed it out of there.  Turns out gunfire was at wild boar that are thick around here. They use dogs to hunt and it’s like whitetail season in ny with many people hunting. We stopped at a local bar and I did my best to try and tag along with a local.  No luck. I’m going to try again and try to make some contacts. If I do, I would love to come back next year for porcini and wild boar.  Tuscany is amazing. 

Edit: the white one I think is a spy mushroom that indicates boletes are close by. 

When I was there last they just passed a law that said you need to buy a license to pick mushrooms   Be careful .

 

[Al Bundy]

I may have made a contact today. Different town, different bar. Hunters were much more friendly and receptive. One guy showed me a ton of jpegs and vids. One had his dogs fighting with a good sized boar. One pic was a boar embedded in the grill of a car. A vid showed a wolf attacking a boar. A deer of some kind with a monster rack, supposedly taken locally. This guy was a major hunter in the area. Sadly the season there closed today and reopens in November. If it was open, I suspect I’d be going in the morning. They told me come back nov 1st.  I gave one guy my email and asked him to send me some jpegs. See what happens. 

For the mushrooms, I did read about the license thing.  You can be with someone who has the license.