Mark Mifsud Bonnici and his son, Nicholas, trudge to their field and as they enter the hide a bird flies out of a tree some 10 metres away.
“It’s a cuckoo,” Mark says, recognising the bird’s shape and colour.
The bird rests on another tree further away and, for the rest of the morning, it dances around the area, sometimes out of sight but with its characteristic cuckoo sound very audible.
My cameraman and I join father and son on their hunting trip in what is expected to be a typical morning out in the field.
It is 5.30am and still dark as we sit down in the hide at the top of Bidnija with the valley sprawling below us. With guns resting against the wall in front of them, Mark and Nicholas pour coffee as the wait begins in the hope they could spot turtle doves or quail.
“I feel lucky to be able to do this and enjoy the peace and quiet of the countryside again,” Nicholas tells me as our voices break the silence.
It is the second day of the spring hunting season that follows a gruelling referendum campaign, which ended with the Yes camp winning by a whisker.
Anybody toying with the idea of breaking the law is mad. We have to weed out the criminals because they are harming the honest hunters
It should have never come to that, Mark says. “The turtle doves and quail we shoot in spring are insignificant when compared to the numbers killed around Europe.”
Nicholas stands up and walks over to his own hide about 100 metres away. The 21-year-old will stay for another hour before heading back home, where he has to catch up with a university assignment.
The hunting experience helps foster the bond between Nicholas and his father. Mark insists hunting is not just about shooting. “Hunting is a social experience, a way of life that many cannot understand but the chance to be out here invigorates me,” he says.
As he speaks, the cuckoo seen earlier is joined by another and the two birds flutter around the field. Irony has it that, on the same day, in Manikata a hunter illegally guns down a cuckoo; it is the first case of illegality reported for the season.
Illegal hunting was one of the issues put forward as a reason to ban spring hunting during the referendum campaign. The No campaigners argued that the shooting of turtle doves and quail was the excuse for hunters to shoot other birds.
But Mark insists the few criminals must not be allowed to spoil it for the rest of the law-abiding hunting community. He says enforcement has improved and the penalties are very high.
“Anybody toying with the idea of breaking the law is mad. We have to weed out the criminals because they are harming the honest hunters,” he says.
Mark warns that the organisation he heads, St Hubert Hunters, will not accept criminals in its fold and will name and shame any member guilty of a crime.
It is 8am and Mark exits the hide with gun in hand to head down to the field below. The dew has subsided, making it easier for his dog, Cookie, to be able to follow the scent of any quail that may have rested in the tall grass.
Cookie jumps up and down some 10 metres ahead of his master, following instructions as to which area it should cover.
Mark and his dog cover the breadth and length of the field to no avail. There are no quail today and Mark will not fire one shot.
Unfavourable winds have kept migration away from the islands. In a phone call to his friend in another location, Mark asks whether any turtle doves or quail were spotted. “He spotted one turtle dove,” Mark tells me as he hangs up.
He smiles. The perception is that hunters go into the field and start shooting, he says.
“But the truth is otherwise. We come out here for the experience, hoping for that one day when migration is favourable, allowing us to bag a bird or two.”
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kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com