Hunting is a dangerous activity. In addition to the possibility of being injured by an animal, there is also the possibility of being harmed by your brother, the hunter. I think we need to be constantly reminded of this. The iron rule works inevitably - as soon as you stop being afraid of danger, trouble is just around the corner. Here are cases from my practice and which I witnessed.

This was at the beginning of our hunts for ungulates. The composition of the teams was diverse and, despite regular briefings, not all members of the teams bothered to scrupulously follow the recommendations of the briefings. I stood at the number. The moose hunt has already begun. In such cases, the nerves are tense and all senses are heightened. After some time, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Having turned off the safety, I insert the butt into my shoulder and, placing my finger on the trigger, wait for the beast to come out. The steps are getting closer and closer, and I suddenly see flashing feet in boots. Cold sweat broke out on my back. The dunce beater decided not to tear his throat in vain in the pen, and put himself in a mortally dangerous situation, and made me a candidate for the killer of a fellow hunter.

Much later, when our brigade was already drunk (drunk), everyone was experienced hunters. In one of the pens, the elk came out to the next room. After firing at the number, he walked parallel to the shooting numbers in my direction. I saw that the elk was moving in my shooting sector, flashing between the trees. After several shots from the SKS, he stopped. We decided for ourselves a long time ago that it is better to add it several times, so that later we don’t have to run after the wounded animal. I shot the standing elk two more times until he lay down. When I approached him, I suddenly saw the shooter from the next room. Forgetting the ban on leaving the room without permission, he excitedly rushed after the animal in its tracks, right in front of my bullets. Thank God, everything worked out.

Another curious incident occurred during an elk hunt in the Kirov region. The shooting line was located on a straight and clean clearing. We were waiting for an elk, but a wild boar came out, right in the middle between me and the neighboring shooting number. I clearly saw how the boar did not cross the clearing, but moved along it to the next room. Having reached the hunter, he attempted to attack him, trying to hit him with his snout. Tom had no choice but to fight off the boar with the barrel of his carbine. The boar had enough sense not to take matters to the extreme and, after making several attempts to hit, he retreated. When the hunter asked why he didn’t shoot, he replied that our license was for elk, not wild boar. We also joked that it was a waste to cut off the bayonet from the SKS; it would be very useful in such situations. Now this seasoned hunter heads the Republican OiR.

I think that this is another reminder of caution, which will not be superfluous at the beginning of the hunting season.

Taking a wild boar while hunting is every hunter's dream. This is a magnificent trophy: delicious meat, fangs, skin. This is success, pride, self-affirmation of the hunter. A memory for life. Unexpected moments, nervous tension, the greatest successes and the most bitter disappointments happen on this wonderful hunt.

A single hunter is prohibited from pursuing a wounded animal. Sometimes even mortally wounded, he ambushes his trail and suddenly attacks. Photo: Semina Mikhail

I don’t know what hunters of tigers, lions, and rhinoceroses experience, but here in Russia, the most emotional hunt is for wild boars. The most interesting and the most dangerous.

How anxious are the minutes of waiting at a room or in an ambush! Remember how a cleaver suddenly appears, walking away from the herd, with what noise the herd walks, driven by dogs, how fearlessly a wounded boar rushes at you, full of wild determination and hatred for its enemy - for you, standing alone by a willow bush.

Remember, and all your everyday worries will disappear. After all, everything in this world is vanity of vanities. Except hunting.

Running away from danger or quickly rushing at an enemy, the boar reaches speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour, makes jumps up to 4.5 meters in length, and can run up to 15 km without rest. Wild boars swim quickly and easily, walk confidently through swamps, and easily climb steep slopes.

The boar's jaws have 22 teeth. The canines of the upper jaw are short and, emerging from the gums, bend upward. The triangular canines of the lower jaw grow in males throughout their lives and by the age of 6-8 years they are up to 10 cm long.

A boar's tusks are a terrible weapon, allowing it to successfully defend itself against such powerful predators as bears and wolves.

For their amazing ability to deliver lightning strikes, often fatal, hunters call large males “cleavers” (in the old days - “boar”).

Females have small fangs and, in defense, she does not cut the enemy, but tears and tramples with her feet.

Pigs are caring mothers, they boldly protect their piglets and in the first month they are very aggressive - they rush towards any animal or person who dares to get close to the herd. All pigs in the herd protect all piglets - both their own and others.

Wild boars have a very fine sense of smell and hearing, but poor eyesight. However, even in the dark they move freely in the forest.

The size of the boars is quite impressive. A five-year-old wild boar reaches a weight of up to 120 kg. I’ll brag right away - in Armenia I killed a wild boar weighing 310 kg. It’s scary to imagine what this giant could do to his enemy!

The boar is a fast, sensitive, cautious animal. During the drive, it moves in segments of 20 - 50 m, then instantly stops, carefully scans the area, listens and sniffs, and then repeats the run with stops. He prefers to stay in dense thickets, and racing boars cross clearings and clearings by jumping.

I had the opportunity to hunt wild boars in the Kopet-Dag and Talysh mountains, in Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Karelia, Moscow and Yaroslavl regions.

I will say without bragging - I caught about a hundred wild boars. A lot of? Yes, a lot, but I have been hunting them since 1960. Over the years I have experienced and survived many interesting and sometimes tragic cases when hunting wild boars.

One day I was hunting hares alone with a self-propelled gun. The hunt was successful - one little hare was in the backpack, and he decided to walk through the willow forest and finish the hunt. The IZHK shotgun (single-shot hammer-fired single-barreled 16-gauge shotgun) was loaded with a cartridge containing N№3 shot.

Quite unexpectedly, a large boar falls out from under a bush and slowly walks away. Without thinking about the consequences, I shoot... The boar turns around, the hair on its neck and back stands on end, grinds its teeth and quickly comes towards me. What to do? I won't have time to load the gun. Only a thin willow tree grows nearby. But there is no choice.

I throw the gun and at the last moment, when the cleaver was literally one meter away from me, I grab onto two thin willow trunks, jump, bend my legs to my stomach, the willows bend... the wild boar jumps at speed under my feet. I grab the gun from the ground, feverishly load it with buckshot... The boar has already disappeared.

It's good that he made one pass. My frivolity could lead to serious consequences. Looking around hauntedly, I got out of the bush and home.

Another time we hunted with grandfather Harut. He was a very famous and respected hunter in Armenia. (The kingdom of heaven to him. He died in 1971 and was buried on Mount Sari-Baba. There are two words on the gravestone: Harut. Hunter).

Grandfather Harut was combing the area to my left, and I was walking along the protective rampart, which was built along the bank of the Araks in case of a strong river flood. Suddenly, a herd of at least 20 wild boars appears from my grandfather’s direction and moves along the path on which I am standing.

The trail follows a narrow passage between two ditches filled with water. I shoot small shot into the air, I think it will scare me away...

But the reaction of the wild boars was completely unexpected for me. The leader bristled, stood for a second, made some kind of roaring sound, and the whole herd rushed at me. There are no bushes or trees, there are ditches with water on both sides...

At the last moment, the instinct of self-preservation kicks in - I jump into a ditch with water along with the gun. I dive deeper and very close I hear the stomping of wild boars along the isthmus. I got out of the ditch wet, and the temperature was zero... The hunt was gone.

And this incident was almost tragic. We hunted in the area with. Kamenyuki, Brest region. The organizer of the hunt was the foreman of the border outpost, Guriy Vasilyevich. It was strong man weighing 110 kg, excellent hunter, excellent shooter. Now the hunt has begun. The numbers are in place, the beaters have moved.

On the probable path of movement of the wild boars stood two hunters and then Guriy Vasilyevich. A herd of wild boars came upon one of them, and he, an excellent shooter with a magnificent gun, killed two of the yearlings. Already after the shots at G.V. the cleaver came out. He didn't miss.

The wounded animal turned sharply and walked towards the hunter. A second shot sounded, but missed. G.V. hurried, time was lost, and he did not have time to jump to the side. The cleaver hit him in the legs and knocked him down. G.V. managed to hold the gun on outstretched arms and hold back the onslaught of the boar.

At the same time, the fore-end and barrel of the gun were in the boar’s mouth. The boar pressed forward with ferocity, and the hunter stubbornly held it back. The boar suddenly made a strong movement of his head to the side, the belt caught around his neck, and he and his gun rushed into the bushes.

At G.V. the boot was torn and blood flowed profusely. The leg muscle below the knee was torn from the bone. He couldn't get to his feet.

After first aid was provided, he was sent by helicopter to Minsk, where the operation was performed, and the hunter recovered within a month.

The boar was found dead 300 m from the scene of the incident. A gun, very similar to a mangled poker, lay nearby. The forend was literally crumbled, the barrel was bent and with such jagged edges that it was impossible to believe that it was made with the teeth of a boar. The gun could not be restored. These were the cases...

Basic safety rules for this challenging hunt

Cowardly hunters who are poor shooters, undisciplined and frivolous should not tempt fate on this hunt. Such hunters disgrace themselves and let the team down.

The main thing is good preparation of each team member and clear organization of the hunt on the part of the leader.

Every hunter must have normal equipment, clothing that does not restrict movement.

Stand at the number - check your weapon again, give the go-ahead to your neighbors, study your sector of fire, determine the distance to the nearest landmarks and stand without the slightest movement or noise. If you break the rules of camouflage, the boar will never come at you.

Any shot can only be fired at a clearly visible target. Shooting at rustling, noise, or silhouettes is strictly prohibited. This could lead to tragedy.

You have to shoot at an animal in forests and bushes at a distance of 25-30 m with buckshot and a bullet up to 40 m. Compliance with this rule gives hope for success if the hunter ends up in a slaughter place. There is no need to hesitate with the second shot. On this hunt, everything is decided in a few seconds.

If the animal is stopped by the dogs in the pen, then the beaters must move it and direct it to the line of shooters.

If there is only one beater, then, by the decision of the hunt director, he may be allowed to shoot with a salary.

The hunter, while on the spot, should not stand directly on the boar path, but always to the side of it - 3-4 m. Then he will not have to shoot in the forehead. The main thing is to shoot in the neck or under the shoulder blade.

If hunting is carried out from the approach, then this is done only if the hunters see each other. It is advisable that no more than two hunters approach a boar held by dogs at the same time.

A single hunter is prohibited from chasing a wounded boar. Sometimes even a mortally wounded boar ambushes its trail and suddenly attacks the hunter. This usually occurs in dense thickets. Having let the hunter come close, the boar quickly attacks. If the hunter does not have time to fire the shot, the outcome may be sad for him.

If, after the shot, the boar rushes at the hunter, and the gun turns out to be unloaded, you should let the boar take 1-2 steps, and then sharply jump to the side or jump over it.

Most often, the boar attacks once and never returns. But he must immediately load the weapon - no one knows what is on his mind!

If every hunter follows these basic safety rules when hunting wild boars, then we will avoid sad outcomes.

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A useful article against the backdrop of the widespread extermination of wild boar up to 1 individual per 4000 hectares of land, i.e. 5-10 heads per hunting area.
The aforementioned Belarus is absolutely beautiful!

Over three years, the number of wild boar in Belarus has decreased by 48 times

Recent censuses have shown: there are currently 112 wild boar in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and 1,700 in all of Belarus. According to the Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus, at the beginning of 2013 the wild boar population in our country numbered 82,900 individuals. As a result of intensive measures to “depopulate” the species, declared a potential carrier of African swine fever (ASF), its numbers in our country have almost disappeared in 3.5 years. In some hunting grounds there are no wild boar left at all.
12/13/2016 Living nature Aўtar: Elena Tribuleva Photo: Open Internet sources

In our country, the “Temporary Regulations on the Special Regime for the Confiscation, Burial and (or) Destruction of Wild Boar Resources on the Territory of the Republic of Belarus”, approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 758 of August 29, 2013, continues to operate. And with him, the war declared on the wild boar continues. According to official data, about 100 individuals of these ungulates are destroyed every month in the Brest region alone. In reality the figure is probably higher. The Kamenets regional organization BOOR reported that in November they seized 64 wild boars from their hunting grounds, and since the beginning of the year - 276 heads.

Kill and dispose

The state encourages wild boar hunting in every possible way. Not only is the hunting permit itself issued free of charge, but compensation payments are also provided for each killed animal. Their size is 7 basic units for users of hunting grounds, of which 2 basic units (currently 42 rubles) are paid directly to the successful hunter. However, this does not really stimulate hunters, hunting farms admit. Previously, driven hunting for wild boar in Belarus was popular among foreigners, and they were willing to pay a lot of money for it, hoping to catch and take away a good trophy. It was especially in demand among Russian hunters, who took with them the meat they caught.

Now there is no such possibility: removing carcasses of shot wild boars from hunting grounds and eating their meat is prohibited by law. All recovered carcasses are immediately disposed of. Definitely - in the presence of a veterinarian.

“For this purpose, special cattle burial grounds have been built in accordance with sanitary standards,” our source in one of the hunting farms, who wished to remain incognito, explained to the Brest Green Portal. - As a rule, these are metal containers. Hunted animals are stored in them and sprinkled with bleach.”

Or maybe the boar is not to blame?

There is still no consensus even among scientists about how effective mass shooting of wild boars is in terms of security for the country. Doctor of Veterinary Sciences, Head of the Game Management and Game Fauna Resources Sector of the Scientific and Production Center of Bioresources Yuri Lyakh confirms: so far not a single case of ASF among wild pigs has been recorded in our country.

Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation disseminated information: out of 3,000 samples of shot and dead wild boars received for diagnostics in October, only 9 were found to have African swine fever virus. Moreover, the press secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources Nikolai Gudkov officially stated: today “not a single fact of infection of domestic pigs from wild boars has been documented or confirmed” and “the spread of ASF among domestic pigs does not occur due to transmission from wild boar,” noting that this is a consistent position of the environmental agency. And although our eastern neighbors call the reduction in the number of wild boars part of the strategy to combat ASF, we are talking specifically about a reduction in numbers, and not about complete depopulation.

“Initially, our goal was not to completely depopulate the species,” says Yuri Lyakh. - We were talking about reducing the number of wild boar, especially in areas near large pig-breeding complexes. To their credit, they have now put things in order. Small enterprises were closed, and biological protection was introduced at large ones.

In my opinion, there was no need to declare war on the boar. In fact, pig farms simply covered up their mismanagement with a plague.

When all standards are met at pig farms - housing, feeding animals, vaccinations are done on time - the animals are healthy, their immunity is strong, and they are not afraid of any diseases.”

"Tenacious, mobile and prolific"

The order to exterminate wild boars “without taking into account sex and age, at any time of the day, in the maximum possible quantity” led to the fact that in just over three years more than 80,000 of these ungulates were destroyed in Belarus. There was even information flashed on the Internet: wild boar had disappeared from the country.

Fortunately, this has not happened yet. Both scientists and hunters themselves assure that it is impossible in principle to completely exterminate wild boar. Moreover, hunting farms that are thinking about how they will welcome foreign hunters in 5 years have no desire for this. Plus the wild boar is a very careful animal. In the same Pushcha, he can “lie down” in an absolutely protected area, where not only hunting - any human intervention is prohibited. Besides, this type easily migrates from place to place, including across borders.

“There are areas where there are no wild boars left. There is not a single trace. But a couple of weeks pass and he appears again,” they say in one of the hunting grounds.

Belarusian scientists insist: there is no reason to worry about the restoration of the wild boar population in Belarus. They say that the animals will recover on their own and quickly enough if they are left alone. Another thing is that so far there is no talk of canceling the “Temporary Regulations”. Maybe it's time. And although the wild boar is not the prettiest animal (it eats the larvae of invertebrates, destroys bird nests on the ground and broods of small animals, and there is no need to talk about weeds on farmland), it is part of the biological diversity of our forests. Without it, they will, of course, become poorer.

Stories and memories of a hunter about different hunts Aksakov Sergey Timofeevich

STRANGE CASES WHEN HUNTING

STRANGE CASES WHEN HUNTING

Some of the accidents of rifle hunting that I told in my hunting notes, such as: a flying drake-shovel that lay dead for several hours in a box of a hunting droshky, black grouse flying away with broken butts and guts hanging from them, etc., etc. - might seem, especially to non-hunters, implausible, because hunters have a reputation for loving catchphrase. But, not being afraid of such a reputation, I will tell, mainly for hunters, a few more cases that will also seem incredible, although they are literally true.

I once shot at a mallard drake, sitting in the hummocks and grass, so that only one head was visible, and I killed it on the spot. There was no dog with me, and I myself ran to take my prey; but, approaching the dead bird, which he did not suddenly find, he saw a jumping snipe with a broken, bloody wing. It must be assumed that he was hiding in the grass near the mallard drake and that some side pellet hit him in the wing bone.

Shooting in the same way from p O when I hit a flying snipe, about forty paces from me, I missed; the snipe shouted, kicked and rushed even faster; but at the same time I saw that twenty steps further than the flying snipe, in the direction of the shot, a snipe with a broken wing was jumping; the dog rushed and brought him to me alive. This case is much more surprising than the first: the snipe must have tucked itself under the pellet at the very point where the pellet, having flown much further, touched the ground.

Here is another case, very remarkable and at the same time serving as convincing proof that mortally wounded birds fly very far in the heat of the moment and then die in vain, and that it is necessary to closely observe, if the terrain allows, every bird that the hunter shoots. In recent years of my hunting, I have strictly observed this rule and often sometimes received prey that would have eluded another hunter.

Wild geese rarely visited our pond. But one hot summer, in July, the miller came running to tell me that five geese (no doubt single) had landed on the pond and were swimming between the reeds at a respectful distance from the banks. I got into the boat, and the same miller, making his way between the tall green reeds, gave me a ride to the geese. I hit them with a large shot: I killed one on the spot, and the other four flew up the Buguruslan River. I got out of the boat and, together with another hunter, began shooting small game in the swampy upper reaches of the pond. No less than an hour later, my friend saw that the geese were flying back, but only three of them. I now thought that, probably, the fourth goose was wounded and fell somewhere; Together with the hunter I went up the river to look for him. Having gone about two versts, we learned from the shepherds that four geese had landed on a fallow field, located half a mile from the river, on the slope of a nearby mountain, sat there for a long time and finally flew away. Of course, we went to the fallow field and soon saw, already surrounded by crows and magpies, a dead goose. Without a doubt, when the geese flew up the river, the wounded goose began to weaken and went downwards, away from the river, his comrades followed him by instinct, and when he sank to the ground or fell, they also sank down, sat near him and, seeing that he did not get up, they flew again, already down the river.

Similar cases were repeated with me more than once: I sometimes had the opportunity to observe with my own eyes and in all details such phenomena that are curious for a hunter, that is: how an apparently unshot bird suddenly begins to weaken, separate from others and hide by instinct in strong places ; not having had time to do this, sometimes in the air, sometimes on the ground, it suddenly begins to beat and immediately dies, and sometimes it languishes for a long time, lying motionless in some hole. The other injured bird is probably recovering.

I have already spoken in my “Notes on Fishing” about the extraordinary greed of pikes and told several true incidents that confirm my opinion. Here are two more cases of the same kind. The first of them is so incredible and similar to fiction that one cannot help but smile while listening to its description. I would not even have dared to tell it in print if I had not had a witness, I. S. Turgenev, not at all a fisherman, who was in my village at that time. At the end of May 1854, ordinary fishing rods with strong lines and hooks set with fish or earthworms were set up for the night: for during the day the perches took little, but at night they came across quite large ones. He took a small perch on one of these fishing rods with a worm and swallowed the hook into the hook; a small pike, or little beetle, also took and swallowed the perch, and a large pike, with more than five pounds, grabbed it across and got its teeth stuck in its prey so much that the fisherman pulled it out of the water without any care, not suspecting that the hook would break pierced her gills; but when he saw this strange thing, he hastened to bring the pike to us. She, hanging in the air, did not open her teeth on the way (the distance was about half a mile), and Turgenev and I ourselves opened her mouth and then carried out an investigation on the perch and the small bee, which, taking the perch as if for a bait, itself became nozzle. The leash was ordinary, that is, silk, and the small child could easily have chewed it through, but it must be assumed that the perch, which was somewhat large for him, opened his mouth or throat so wide that he could not close his mouth and that it was in this position that it grabbed him There was a large pike across, which made the little pike’s mouth gape even wider. When they brought us this triple prey, the little puppy turned out to have long since fallen asleep and even become numb; The big pike was completely healthy and not even scratched.

After this event, it is almost not worth telling that in the same year a pike grabbed a gudgeon, planted together with other fish in a circle, ten steps from me, grabbed the net tightly with its teeth and raised such a splash that, hearing it, the boy, the former fishing with me, he went up to the circle and, seeing this trick, pulled the circle and the pike ashore. We were also forced to open her mouth with a stick so that she would release the net; The pike weighed about three pounds, and the net was chewed through.

The mug, gnawed by a pike net, explained to me an incident that happened to me two years ago (at that time I did not understand clearly) and which, by the way, is now being told to fishermen and hunters to warn them from similar adversities. I don’t remember the month well, but probably at the beginning of August, because the weather was still hot, I went fishing in the upper reaches of the Repekhovsky pond on the Vore River. My constant fisherman comrade got up earlier than me and had been in place for a long time. When I arrived, he showed me five nice perches and a small bee he had just caught, which were walking around in a mug. Half an hour later I needed the circle to put the perch I had caught in it; but what was our surprise and annoyance when, having pulled out the mug, we saw that there was only one dead perch left in it, which was deliberately small, and there were no four large ones and a small bee in the mug. Having examined it carefully, we found a hole into which all the living fish had gone. The circle was new, and we did not know how to explain this incident: we thought that we had come across rotten threads or that the little puppy had chewed through the net. The bite was, contrary to usual, very successful, the perches took large ones, and we made up for our loss. Nevertheless, my friend was very sorry for his large perches. Now, after the attack of the pike on the circle, which I have just described, it is clear that it was not the little bee that gnawed through the net, but, probably, a large pike grabbed the outside of one of the perches, broke through several loops and, without touching them with its teeth, left, frightened by the noisy and the strong splashing of the rest of the fish (which we heard, but did not look at the mug), and that several perches and small beetles took advantage of the gap and went for a walk again in Vorya. The moral teaching of this story is that it is better not to put pike in a circle, although in the past I have done this often without any bad consequences, and that a circle lowered into the water with caught fish must be carefully inspected with every strong splash of the fish.