JOSÉ SILVA, HUNTER AND GUNSMITH

He was born in a family with no connection to hunting. His father, "a hardworking man”, considered any leisure activity unnecessary or from vagabond people, "of whom don’t have anything to work on”. Hunting was one of those activities.

When I was 19, I got into the compulsory military service, which was my first contact with firearms. A few years later, I entered the Rangers’ course in Lamego, where the using of these weapons became more serious. I got to know the weapons used by our army and by the enemy, because the Rangers were prepared for combat. And it was there I ended up in Mozambique.

In Mozambique, in Mueda, the army columns had difficulties in circulating due to mined roads, occurring frequently problems in the supply at the barracks, and so it became imperative to hunt. That was how I made my first acts of hunting, supporting the work of the local guides, since I was a good sniper, but always worried about the safety of the military and the guides. We hunted on the track, the guides followed the hunt like nobody else. I just had to shoot down.

When I returned to Portugal, I went to hunt the rabbits with friends. I came disappointed. I didn’t like that. It was the partridges that seduced me when I hunted for the first time in Douro, then in Mogadouro and Teixeira. The strategy of the partridge’s hunting, the difficulty of its hunting as well as the physical part was what excited me, besides the team spirit.

As a hunter, I have always missed a riffle, where I could find what I needed in hunting. We found the guns and the ammunition, but if we wanted a pair of boots or a hanging there were none. So, in partnership with other colleague, teacher as well, we opened Drogaria Santos Silva, with shotguns, in case the gun and hunting business was not enough for the survival of the society. In Santos Silva I tried to have everything for the hunter and the business was not so small, as I estimate having sold something like 30 000 guns, also doing the distribution.

Cacicambra was born exactly with my retirement, in 1991, in a space with 3 000 square meters in Vale de Cambra and aimed for distribution. Santos Silva left from a situation of distributor to only become a local retail company. My spirit continued in Cacicambra, whose company would have to sell everything a hunter needed. Even today, this spirit continues, in Cacicambra the armer finds everything – clothing, all types of accessories and equipment – in order to build a complete riffle.

"In Vale de Cambra we have some access difficulties. It was distant from A1, forcing them to pass through several small towns until they reached Cacicambra. Then, at the turn of the century, it arises the idea of building some facilities created for this business and with privileged access to the whole country. At the time, in 2000, I was the only person in the company and without thinking of successions, I thought of Santarém - center of the country - in Albergaria-a-Velha - highway intersection, A1 with A25 - and Santa Maria da Feira, with the advantage of being closer to my residence and to A1.

After studying the various sites, I chose Santa Maria da Feira, curiously which implied greater investment. The structure, with 2,100 square meters in the industrial zone, allowed to install a firing tunnel and create a safe box (a safe) with contiguous areas properly protected. It was all thought from the beginning, even before thinking about the Law of Arms, which as you know arises in 2006. Without my idea, one day the auditors tell me that we were far above the other companies in the sector. Cacicambra reached the market leadership 10 years after it was born.

I had a shotgun in Spain, 100% mine, not from Cacicambra. The idea came about because the domestic market was starting to get small, we would be in conflict with the competition, so we wanted to move to export. I thought that the best place to mount a shotgun in Spain would be the area of Almendralejo, the richest region of Extremadura, with lots of hunting as well. From there we began to distribute to the Spanish shotguns, in addition to Extremadura, in the regions of Cordova, Castilha La Macha and Seville.

I have always had problems with the excessive protectionism of the Spaniards, who have created all sort of difficulties in order to resell the products for which I was distributor in our market. The Civil Guard itself collaborated in that action. I had to opt for other brands that had no representation in Portugal, still without representation in Spain. Failing to work with my favorite brands made me back down.

The hunting ... I even had three large hunting grounds in Spain, where I took the Portuguese to hunt. There was nothing here. It was also a way to sell rifles.

I like little to relive the past of hunting, because I saw scenes that little honored the hunters. I went through the period when the hunting enclosures were opened. Hunting was easy to kill.

When the "privatization" of hunting occurred, there was no hunting and the number of hunters began to decrease. We have seen a reduction from over 300,000 to about 100,000. But I think that the real hunters stayed and in the majority are those who want to preserve the game. Hunting is more ethical and there is the concern about the preservation of hunting.

The problem is the "non-hunters", those who go to the field from time to time and think they know everything about the field. These people have difficulty in understanding what is going on in the field. I see hunting with a not very negative future. Although there are problems to overcome, such as agriculture, currently unfavorable to small hunting species.

The future is assured. Having 70, it's time to say enough, I'm not going to take off my boots, I don’t think like that, I'll continue to collaborate, but the company already belongs to the new generation, who curiously accompanies me on the hunt from a very young age. I have two daughters and both took a hunter's letter. The oldest went on the investigation and is currently in France as director of a large multinational. The youngest decided to take the company and continue the business. It gives me idea that she is more addicted in the hunting than me ...

And until the third generation it is already assured, my oldest granddaughter has already accompanied me on a safari to Namibia and now wants to start by her own means. Therefore, I want to believe that there is already the third generation to continue the company. I can say: mission accomplished!