Blaser Club Italia

Together again

The summer temperatures in early June and the hills of the Umbrian countryside with their cypress trees instantly make you feel like you are on holiday. Once you have passed the medieval skyline of Gubbio, it takes another 15 minutes or so to reach Castello di Baccaresca, which hosted Blaser Club Italia’s 9th raduno event during this particular weekend. The club was founded in 2009 by Francesco Giordano and now arranges an annual shooting event and hunts for its members. It all began with the search for an Italian website within a major online network.

“After not finding one, I immediately created my own site,” the pastry chef from Milan recalls. It has been such a success that the group now has more than 6,700 members who regularly post online and meet in person. For Francesco Giordano, hunting is all about “meeting friends, chatting, and having friendly competitions at the shooting range.” Regular training is a given for the 57-year-old: “Even though shooting is actually the smallest aspect of hunting, it is the part that involves the greatest responsibility, and it should also be influenced by a respect for wildlife.” Like many group members, he also undertakes further training on a regular basis and has organised seminars on game biology and handloading in the past. He has been an official examiner for aspiring hunters in the Lombardy region since 2021 and has been a certified bloodhound handler for many years. His first Blaser, a R93 Offroad, is still in his gun cabinet alongside a few other models.

This weekend was all about having an enthusiasm for hunting and hunting equipment. The volunteers had spent days organising it beforehand, setting up three different ranges for the shooting competition in a small valley: Standing with the aid of a shooting stick, aiming across a pond at a fox around 80 m away; in the prone position, aiming at a wild boar at a distance of around 160 m; and standing with a rest on a hay bale, aiming at a buck target around 120 m away. Anyone with a valid gun licence and insurance and who paid the fee could enter the competition. If competitors did not want to bring their own rifle, Blaser supplied them with one. Competitors could take as many turns at shooting in the three positions as they liked, as long as there was enough space in amongst the crowds. The officials at each range were meticulous about the safety rules being observed here. Not only were there Blaser Club Italia members in attendance, but also day guests who brought their families and stayed the whole weekend. The highlights included the gala dinner on the Saturday evening with a firework display and the raffle on Sunday with prizes generously donated by Blaser Italy. The best shooters also received prizes. At the end of the successful weekend, there were many happy faces, with many people also seriously intending to come back to the next raduno.