International and national media outlets are having a field day after an Italian politician claimed Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Trump, killed a “very rare” duck on a hunt in Italy. The accusation stems from video footage posted Tuesday to the Italian media sites like Corriere Della Sera that shows Trump Jr. running a shotgun and sitting in a brushed-in shooting hole with ducks piled in front of him.
“This is actually a rather uncommon duck for the area,” Trump Jr. tells the camera as he pats a large copper-and-white duck that appears to be a ruddy shelduck. “I’m not even sure what it is in English.”
While ruddy shelducks are protected in the European Union and not included on the EU’s list of 82 huntable birds, they are a species of least concern globally. Ruddy shelducks are technically native to Italy but “rare” in the country simply because it lies outside their primary range of Asia.
The widely circulated video of Trump Jr. is a 1-minute teaser of a short waterfowl film produced by Field Ethos, a hunting and lifestyle brand cofounded by Trump Jr. Field Ethos posted the teaser, titled “Italian Job,” to YouTube on Dec. 31 and subsequently removed it. The film itself was slated for release in late 2025, and it’s unclear how the full 6-minute film referenced by some media outlets was leaked.
The hunt depicted in the film took place in December in the Venetian countryside and included at least eight other hunters, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Americans were not paying clients at an outfitter, but hunting with a landowner buddy. Oliver Martini, who owns property near Venice and appeared in the Field Ethos video, took actor and food writer Stanley Tucci duck hunting in the same area a few years ago.
No local hunters reportedly indicated to the group that the shelduck was a protected species. The Americans mostly killed wigeon, teal, and mallards, and they were just one of several crews hunting the wetland that day.
The Italian politician, a career anti-hunting advocate named Andrea Zanoni, also accused Trump Jr. of hunting a protected area and of not securing the appropriate hunting licenses. “Trump J. he couldn’t hunt in Italy,” claims Zanoni in a translation of his Facebook post. “Only residents of one of the Italian regions can hunt in Italy because you need to have a hunting card, which is issued by law by the region of residence of the applicant.”
This is false, according to a spokesman for Trump Jr. The Americans reportedly submitted the appropriate paperwork to the Italian government and received the appropriate hunting permits. There is also no footage that shows Trump. Jr. shooting the shelduck in question, just that the bird ended up beside his shooting hole.
“Don and his group had all the proper permits and were hunting in a legally allowed area, where there were countless other hunting groups present,” Trump Jr.’s spokesman Andy Surabian tells Outdoor Life in a text message. “While it’s unclear whether this single duck was unintentionally shot by someone in Don’s hunting group, another hunting group or killed in a different manner and retrieved by the group’s hunting dog, Don takes following all rules, regulations and conservation on his hunts very seriously and plans on fully cooperating with any investigation.”
Duck hunting is legal in Italy and, like waterfowl hunting in the U.S., is strictly regulated.
Although Zanoni claims shooting a ruddy shelduck violates Italian law No. 157, the document isn’t readily available in English and doesn’t specifically mention the species. No known charges have yet been brought against Trump Jr., though Zanoni says he has reported Trump Jr. to local authorities.
Zanoni’s résumé shows he worked at the World Wildlife Federation, was a chair of the League for the Abolition of Hunting, and affiliated with the European Federation against Hunting and the Italian League for the Protection of Birds.
On international waterfowl hunts like this one there’s often a fuzzy nexus of written law, local custom, and enforcement where it’s not always clear what’s legal and what’s not, says Ramsey Russell, an American duck hunter who brokers global waterfowl hunts.
“Unlike the U.S., many other countries around the world don’t have black and white regulations. It’s black, white, with a lot of gray in between,” says Russell. “As someone who has hunted ruddy shelducks within their natural range, I know they are an Asiatic species. Most likely that bird was captive reared, or an escapee from a nearby park, or farm, or zoo. Case in point, 30-something years ago, a very good friend of mine was hunting flooded timber in Mississippi’s Delta National Forest and they shot a ruddy shelduck.”
As far as Russell is concerned, Trump Jr. is being unfairly targeted by Italian politicians because he’s “an outspoken advocate for hunting worldwide” and the son of President Trump. Field Ethos declined to provide a statement.
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It’s not the first time Zanoni has caused trouble for a high-profile hunter or waded into international politics.
“In 2009 I reported King Juan Carlos [of Spain] for a hunting trip without a venatorial card…” writes Zanoni. “The current Meloni government now seems to be kept on a leash by the new US political course, with USAF military exercises in EU protected areas in Trevigiano … and now Trump’s son … Veneto and Italy are not the property of the USA.”
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