Italian subscriber Mario Nobili tipped us off about the place after hunting there this past December. He writes: The Island of Sardinia off the western coast of Italy is a popular spot for summer holidays, especially its Smeralda Coast on the northern tip where the rich and famous flock to the blue waters and beautiful beaches. My wife owns a house on Sardinia, and over the last few years I have discovered there is abundant game there, including wild boar. The wild boar on Sardinia is truly wild and an interesting subspecies called sus scrofa meridio- nalis. It is smaller than the European wild boar, reaching a maximum of 60 kilograms (about 130 pounds). It is found only on Sardinia and in northern Corsica. Unfortunately, it is not recognized by SCI.
This summer I found a very nice place for a hunt and booked a couple of days in early December. Gianfranco Serra of Muto di Gallura offers excellent accommodations and superb meals. He also has a wonderful hunting area of 500 hectares (about 1,200 acres) in the mountains on the northern end of the island. Elevations are up to 600 meters (2,000 feet). The hunt is a classic battue, or game drive, using lots of dogs and hunters surrounding the hunt area. The terrain is very difficult, with thick brush and large rocks. I had a group of 11 hunters, but we were joined by about 15 local hunters with an incredible variety of dogs. The firearms used were strictly shotguns. These pigs were very wild and, unlike those found on a fenced preserve, they were difficult to kill. In two days of hunting, we took seven pigs, including two nice boars. This is an unusual but interesting hunt that allows........(continued)
