Tecor Societario

[JustOneGuy]

In Galicia there are signs everywhere that say “Tecor Societario,” often in areas adjacent to Camino's path.

My understanding is that these signs grant access to hunters (TECOR = Terreo Cinexeticamente Ordenado) on the lands.

So I was wondering if any of you have ever had problems with hunters, and if these pose a danger or a reason for anxiety while walking.

It is a problem just about everywhere. In Brittany, for example, the problem is very much felt, to the point that during hunting season people are afraid to walk in the woods. Several people have also report pets shot to death, sometimes on their private land. When I lived in Umbria I found myself under a hail of hunting pellets a couple of times, in my private garden (luckily in free fall...).

p.s. Please do not turn the discussion in a pro- or anti-hunting one. Otherwise, we risk the thread to be closed. What I want to know is just whether it is a problem while walking on the Caminos. Thanks!

 

[Telelama]

I can't say we had any issues, but definitely heard the guns while walking.

Where I live, at least once a year someone shoots a horse thinking it's an elk. A number of years ago, a guy shot a horse right out from under the rider. Yea, someone often gets killed too. I was an active hunter when I was much younger and I cannot get over how some now just don't follow the basic safety rules, such as a positive, undeniable recognition of what you're actually shooting at.

Generally we stay out of the woods during hunting season. Too many unskilled and dangerous people with weapons ready to kill anything that rustles a bush.

 

[K_Lynn]

We saw some signs on Camino Ingles last year in October as well as a couple of hunters walking down the roads. Mostly we just heard their dogs and the occasional gun shot. We were not worried.

When I walked Frances there was one day (I don't remember where) where we heard multiple shots far off in the distance for hours. We assumed it was a gun club. Again, not worried about it.

I'm sure things happen now and then, but I have no control over the fickle fingers of fate.

 

[Tincatinker]

Tecor Societario,

Hunting reserved to the society - ie no random nut case with a tube that makes a bang allowed.

Is hunting a problem for pilgrims on the thousand roads to Santiago? No, or certainly probably not. There’s been the odd report over the years. The renowned Ditch Pig @tyrrek picked up a flesh wound from a careless quail hunter who had put a loaded gun back into his gun-bag which discharged into the gravel track as they passed each other.

I’ve encountered Boar hunters who had posted sentries. They asked me to “espere” and blew hard on their whistles. The guys I passed all had their guns pointed at the ground and grunted a polite “Buena Dia” as I passed.

Every Spanish hunter I’ve ever encountered has seemed to take their sport very seriously. I’ve never seen anything like Coppola’s “The Deer Hunter” or Berri/ Florette’s “Manon des Sources”.

I’m always more concerned by the guys with driving licences than the ones with gun licenses

 

[JustOneGuy]

thanks for the answers.

And what about the bang? Did it wake you up in Albergues in the countryside?

 

[Tincatinker]

The things that have woken me in Albergues have been: snoring; farting; headlamps; bag-rustling; vomiting; a bad tempered German motorcyclist and, once, a smiling nun who gently shook my foot as I’d overlaid.

There haven’t been many instances of gunfire in urban settings since 1939

 

[Robo]

I passed a group on Hunters last year on the VdlP, just North of Carcaboso.
It wasn't on the Camino trail but a 'short-cut' a local farmer suggested to me.
They were very polite and seemed to know what they were doing in terms of safety etc.

I've heard gun shots off in the distance a few times on different routes.

Explosions a couple of times too.
Far off quarry/mine operations.