Features of hunting fur animals

Throughout the 17th century, the main object of hunting for Russians in Siberia was sable. The “Tsar's treasury” was annually replenished with sables and other valuable furs (beavers, ermines, black-brown foxes). The needs of the embassy order were paid for in sables, the value of which was converted into monetary terms. The bulk of the royal gifts to other courts were soft junk, where sables came first. The maintenance of foreign ambassadors in Moscow was also paid for in sables. At the height of the sable trade in the mid-17th century, the state in eastern Siberia received 50-60% of the total sable harvest from the Russian trading and fishing population.

By the end of the 17th century, sable fishing was in decline. Despite the curtailment of the sable trade, the fur trade continues to function actively. A less profitable commercial species, the squirrel, is involved in exploitation. The fur of this animal is in massive demand in the domestic and foreign markets. During the 18th-19th centuries, large quantities of squirrel skins were exported to Western Europe, China, and the Middle East. However, the bulk of the squirrels went east: through Kyakhta to China.

In the 18th-19th centuries, hunting remained an integral part of the economic life of the Russian population of Eastern Siberia. The main weapons were rifles, traps, nooses, deep holes covered with brushwood on top.

In the first quarter of the 20th century, due to the lack of lead and gunpowder, and requisitions of firearms, passive methods of hunting squirrel, sable, and ungulates began to be revived. Passive methods of hunting include catching animals using various self-catchers: traps, loops, dies, scoops, bags, pits, etc.

Lystsov Alexander Grigorievich says that his father had several “animal” pits: “A town was made along the path to the watering hole so that the animal could not stray to the side. At the end, a hole was dug for the elk, up to two meters deep and 1 meter wide.”

The initial period of the NEP caused an element of disorderly procurement of commercial furs. The predatory plunder of the Siberian taiga began by numerous procurement organizations and small merchants - fur buyers. This led to the decline of the sable fishery. Squirrel production fell every year.

Therefore, in the 30s of the 20th century, the government carried out a whole range of measures to overcome the crisis in the hunting industry. This is the streamlining of the fur procurement system, the displacement of small merchants from the taiga, the carrying out of hunting management and zootechnical work on the resettlement of sable and new fur-bearing animals for Eastern Siberia - muskrats and minks. The old residents of our village also remember this. According to the stories of Anatoly Ivanovich Kislov, sable reappeared in our taiga in 1937. And since 1953 hunters began to hand over sable skins to the state.

In the 90s of the 20th century, the Zhigalovsky district was one of the leading hunting and commercial resources in the region. The fauna is rich and varied: bear, wolverine, lynx, weasel, musk deer, sable, squirrel, ermine, roe deer, wapiti, elk. But the numbers remained unstable, especially for such species as elk, wapiti, roe deer, and sable. Their numbers are declining due to insufficiently controlled fishing.

As a result of habitat disturbance, the number of sables has decreased. The reasons are the emergence of new roads and drilling sites (development of the Kovyktinskoye field).

The decrease in the number of sable in the region is clearly shown by the data from the procurement of its skins. If in the mid-late 60s they amounted to 44.5 thousand pieces, then in the late 90s there were only 1.3 -1.4 thousand pieces.

Currently, the main objects of hunting are squirrel and sable. Hunting products are procured by cooperative animal farms. The organization has a staff of permanent hunters (“staff”). During the main autumn-winter fishing season, a temporary contingent of amateur hunters is hired from among the local population.

Places and dates of hunting for fur-bearing animals

Forest is the main source of commercial resources. Hunting is based on the extraction of wild animals. The main objects of this trade are fur-bearing animals, ungulates and game. Of the fur-bearing animals, there are mainly four types of animals: sable, squirrel, muskrat, and ermine. The largest role belongs to the sable and squirrel.

Sable is distributed throughout the region, but its favorite habitats are the dark coniferous cedar taiga; It is also found in larch and small-leaved forests. The number of the animal depends on the number of squirrels - the main object of hunting for the sable.

A typical animal for the area is a squirrel. Dark coniferous forests, especially cedar and spruce forests, are the best habitats for squirrels. The number of squirrels depends on the harvest of coniferous seeds - the animal’s main food. Such forests have good protective conditions for squirrel habitat.

Hunting places in our area have their own names: Kolykhtei, Yeley, Tilik, Katorga, Glubokiy, Ozerko, Kikirek - mainly by the names of the rivers and lakes located there.

Our family also has a hunting area, which is located 80 km from the settlement along the Kolykhtei stream and has the same name. It’s a two-day journey to the winter hut with an overnight stay. The distance from dwellings to hunting grounds varies - from 15 to 80 kilometers.

Hunting wild animals is permitted within certain limited periods. When setting hunting dates, the periods of reproduction of animals and raising of young animals, and the need to obtain high-quality hunting products are taken into account. Hunting for fur-bearing animals is permitted only when the quality of the animals’ fur meets the requirements of the standard for pelts. Thus, hunting squirrels, gules, foxes, and sables is permitted in the autumn-winter period from late October to mid-February.

Usually, weather permitting, hunters enter hunting areas before October 20 and hunt for 20 to 30 days. Full-time hunters stay for the entire autumn-winter period from October to February.

Vehicles

Transport plays a vital role in hunting, because 70-90% of hunting grounds are located within 15 km. and more from populated areas. A hunter also spends 50-90% of his working time moving around in search of animals.

Vehicles are used in hunting for the delivery of hunters and food to fishing areas and the export of products; for movement around the site during the period of obtaining animals.

In the 18th-19th centuries, everything needed for fishing was brought to the taiga on horses. An “industrial” horse had to be hardy, have a soft gait, and not be afraid of shots and the smell of wild animals. But the Russian old-timers did not make a living from a horse. She performed transport functions. Everything needed for fishing was put into leather bags, which were loaded onto horses using special saddles. Each hunter had up to two horses under his pack.

The main means of transport in the fishery were skis lined with camas and a hand sled. Every day, the hunter, getting on his skis, walked around all the traps along the path, took out the sables he came across, and added bait. If a fresh sable track was encountered, the hunter followed the trail until he found the animal’s refuge. The place was surrounded by a net and the hunter waited until the sable left the shelter and became entangled in the net. The hunter pulled the hand sled behind him. These sleds are a type of narrow sled (about 5 feet long and 10 inches wide). (Bychkov O.V.)

Currently, many hunters use all-terrain vehicles and tractors for hunting. In the taiga zone, Buran motorized sleds with trailers are used to transport hunters and cargo. The use of such a vehicle directly during hunting for movement in the grounds is extremely necessary, but not possible everywhere. (Bogatov Sergey Vadimovich)

At small and medium distances of fishing grounds from populated areas (15-50 km), hunters usually use pack horses. There are hunters who hunt near populated areas on foot, without using vehicles.

2-3 people (relatives or friends) go to the hunting site. Knowledge of hunting grounds, the road to winter quarters, and skills in fishing are inherited from father to son.