Hunting in Russia
Hunting in Russia has an old tradition in terms of
The right of using the hunting grounds in Russia was once granted to every social class. The right of the nobility was even sometimes limited by agreements with others regarding hunting grounds. The hawkers and separate persons who dealt with hounds, beavers, black grouses, hares, etc. were permitted either on the landed properties, or on territories specified by local people. Though the Russian Orthodox clergy once disapproved the hunting, these persons were authorized to eat and feed their horses, hounds and falcons on others' account or even demand participation in hunting.[2]
The Russian imperial hunts evolved from hunting traditions of early Russian rulers (
During the soviet rule, state-sponsored hunting clubs were formed within the administrative boundaries or factories. Hunting clubs based in cities were allocated hunting grounds where club members were allowed to hunt according to the federal and local regulations. Following demise of the Soviet Union private individuals were allowed to lease hunting territories formerly used by government sponsored clubs. Many lease owners are wealthy Russians who are willing to spend large sums of money in order to maintain leased hunting grounds for their pleasure and sometimes to allow other hunters to use their territories for a fee. As a result, the quality and quantity of the game increased dramatically during the past 20 years in most parts of Russia.[citation needed] During the Soviet Union time, a single agency called "Glavohota" was granted an authority to conduct hunts for the foreign hunters. Nowadays many outfitters and booking agents organize hunting trips for the foreigners. The inevitable competition between such companies improved quality of hunts and brought down the prices which used to be extremely high.[citation needed]
Big game
Bear
Russia's northeast part, the
Wolf
The wolf is the most widespread large indigenous
Wolves were hunted in both
Before the
Hunting with hounds
Under Grand Duke Vasili III, who personally loved the huntings for hare, there were over one hundred chasseurs who dealt particularly with wolves and foxes.[14] The court hunt of that time embraced the chasseurs with hounds (выжлятники), their head (доезжачий), borzoi hunters (борзятники), dog-breeders and beaters. Additionally there were cooks, grooms and drivers. Depending on the number of hounds there were big and small hunts. The first one involved forty hounds and twelve packs of three borzois each, and the second consisted of eighteen hounds and twenty borzois in five packs.[14]
As landlords, counts and dukes had kennels, there were stables and villages with serfs, who sowed oats which was to be mixed with meat as a hound forage. Each kennel could support up to 1,000 hounds.[15] The Emancipation reform of 1861 put an end to hunting with hounds. In 1917 there were only two hound chases in the fading Russian Empire: Gatchina and Pershino, in the Tula Governorate.[15]
Hunting birds
Orthodox martyr
Walrus
The first mention of Russia-related
See also
- Leonid Pavlovich Sabaneyev - a famous hunting expert of Imperial Russia
- Sergey Aksakov - author of many hunting and fishing tales
- A Sportsman's Sketches
- Peculiarities of the National Hunt
Notes
- ^ a b c Охота. Период Российского государства (in Russian). Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- ^ Карамзин, Н. М. История государства Российского, т. VIII
- ^ Карамзин, Н. М. История государства Российского, т. XI; Буссов, К. Московская хроника. 1584–1613. М.-Л., 1961., с. 111
- ^ Erb, Christina (April 17, 2007). "Russia to Allow Subsistence Hunting of Polar Bears". Archived from the original on May 14, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ a b "Wolf Hunting in Russia". Archived from the original on 2007-05-31. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ Chapter 10: Wolf Control Methods in Will Graves, and Valerius Geist, editors. Wolves in Russia. Detselig Enterprises Ltd. 210, 1220 Kensington Road NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 3P5. USA.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-103-19677-7, 272 pages
- ^ a b c Chapter 8: Wolfing for Sport in Barry Lopez' Of Wolves and Men, 1978 Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, USA.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55059-332-7. Archived from the originalon 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
- ^ "Hunting A History of Wolves in Russia". Evgeni Okhtin. Wolf Song of Alaska. Archived from the original on 1999-10-22. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
- ^ "In defence of Russia's wolves". bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
- ^ Волки: серое нашествие (in Russian). Аргументы и факты. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- ^ a b Савченко, Борис. Под царским прицелом (in Russian). Отдых в России. Archived from the original on 2007-02-27. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ a b Соловьев, Евгений. Охота с гончими как зеркало общественных трансформаций (in Russian). Независимая Газета. Archived from the original on 2007-03-29. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
- ^ a b Русский соколиный центр (in Russian). Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ a b c d e Yurchenko, A. "Russian walrus hunting: history of crisis in the 19th century". Archived from the original on 2004-01-14. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
Primary sources
- Кутепов, Н. И. Великокняжеская, царская и императорская охота на Руси. Т. 1-4, 1896-1911.
- (in Russian) Overview of Russian State Archive documents on court hunt
External links
- (in Russian) Hunting history of Suzdal
- (in Russian) Hunting in Russia