why do these panels flourish in Gironde?

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“Don’t touch our traditions”, “paloumayre, a passion”, “stop the contempt, let’s save our traditional hunts”… Several signs have been popping up for a while along the roadsides in South Gironde.

Some were vandalized, as in Savignac (Gironde), but the messages then reappeared on pieces of fabric, hoisted in the fields. Christian Rémaut, president of the Acca (approved municipal hunting association) of Savignac, explains the reasons for this approach.

Several signs vandalized, but replaced

“Signs like in Savignac, there are almost everywhere in Aquitaine and elsewhere. It is the hunting federation which advised their installation early October. Almost everywhere, they were degraded, like here, but there were still sheets to replace them, so the messages continue! », smiles the president.

Why use the term 'save' to evoke, for example, dove huntingon our territory? However, this game is not endangered? The paloumayre (hunter of the wood pigeon, commonly called 'pigeon'), responds.

Because our tradition is the victim of the 'against everything', as I call them! Hunting in general, and woodpigeon in particular.

At the entrance to the village, at the exit of Pondaurat, not far from Savignac (Gironde), these inscriptions do not go unnoticed In any case.

President of Acca for 8 years, the Savignacais expresses his incomprehension: “I am a tolerant man, I do not always understand the determination of some people to want to prevent this tradition” he sighs.

“Safeguarding traditional hunts is important”

“Safeguarding traditional hunts is important,” he believes.

I started hunting with my grandfather, says the South Girondin. Then, later with my father. Today, it is always as a family that we meet in October – with my wife, my children and my grandchildren – to watch for the flights of woodpigeons.

“Those who haven't experienced it can't understand,” admits the hunter, who also invites friends and relatives. The former breeder is also a “fervent defender” of the Bazas fattened ox festival.

Here, as in many palombières, “conviviality is the key word” and the hunter “notes with pleasure that the younger generations are not insensitive to these traditions ».

A change in behavior

One observation: the migration of the woodpigeon is “increasingly disrupted”, notes the president of the acca. “On the one hand with global warming – frosts are rare – but also with the change in agricultural practices.”

In the region, migration starts later and later each year. “With the south wind, the woodpigeons rose very high and this season is described as atypical by observers.”

Even Saint-Luc (usually massive passages of woodpigeons) is no longer the big thing…! “We have information on this subject: it is estimated that there are more than a million woodpigeons which will winter between Gironde, Gers, Landes and Lot-et-Garonne” specifies the hunter.

For several years now, woodpigeons have even nested near houses. The bird is becoming less wild and is becoming more sedentary. The woodpigeon is a mythical game for many hunters.

It is in the south of the country that there are the most enthusiasts. The commune of Savignac thus includes 28 palombières, spread over 1,600 ha. The association has 80 members, including 60 from the municipality. Christian Rémaut “thanks them for their support and loyalty” and he hopes to see the tradition of dove hunting continue for a long time to come.

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