Q: Dear Eygló,

My question might sound a bit weird, but a friend of mine is coming to visit me in Iceland (I am here for an internship for three months) and he was wondering if it was possible to buy the foot of a snow grouse here. He is a hunter and collects such stuff. Do you have any idea where he could get something like that?

Thanks in advance and kind regards,

Klara, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

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A: According to law, the sale of all snow grouse, or ptarmigan products is banned in Iceland. Hunting is limited to a short season in the autumn and hunters are only to shoot birds for private consumption.

I asked a taxidermist at Uppstoppun Manuels just to make sure and they didn’t have any ptarmigan products.

You might of course get lucky if you encounter a hunter who saved ptarmigan feet for his or her private collection and is kind enough to give you a souvenir; the most active hunters are in north and east Iceland.

Or, of course, since your friend is a hunter himself, he might want to acquire a license to come hunt the bird himself next autumn. He can apply for a hunting license on the website of the Environment Agency of Iceland.