True enough, August has always come with the hunters' festival Minhauzens on the first weekend and the opening of the duck — or rather waterfowl, since the coot is not a duck — hunting season on the second. With the latest amendments to the Hunting Regulations, hunters will now have to replan their August, because the waterfowl season starts on 20 August, but... not this year.

So what actually happened? The leaders of both major organisations representing hunters' interests repeat it again and again — on this issue compromises had to be accepted so that a whole series of waterfowl species would not have to be dropped from the list of game animals. That is why it was all divided up — hunting for most waterfowl, including bean geese, will start earlier, and for the more threatened species later.

Naturally, the head of the Latvian Hunters' Association, Haralds Barviks, also pointed out that this division by species may, at least initially, give rise to all sorts of needless mistakes and problems. Across the European Union, bird hunting is currently under attack. First, anti-hunters see no biological point to this form of hunting — there's hardly any meat on that duck, they say.

Second, many populations are declining, so the view is being pressed insistently that species which are threatened must not be hunted. The Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU (FACE) does point out that things are not as bad as they are painted — the European Commission uses the worst-case projections, since a great deal depends on which figures you look at: wintering, nesting, breeding or others still. One thing is clear, however — it is becoming ever harder, and at times downright impossible, for us to argue the case for bird hunting on solid grounds. The argument that it is our tradition interests no one. Birds are the shared heritage of all Europe, and there can be no national approaches there. Full stop! Oh yes! Which is why this year, too, the waterfowl identification guide must be leafed through much, much more carefully, so that species can be recognised on opening day.

August matters to us for one more reason! This year the magazine Medības celebrates its 12th anniversary. The first issue saw the light of day in August 2012, right during the hunters' festival Minhauzens . Thank you, thank you to all our friends, readers and supporters!

Here's to missing our shots!