Hunting in the spring lasts a very limited time. This is the period of awakening of nature. Winter lethargy and drowsiness disappear. Thousands of men, cheerfully throwing a gun on their shoulders, rush into the forest, swamps and lakes. They wake up the ancient spirit of the earner. It doesn’t matter what game you can shoot, the process itself, the sensation and understanding of your strength and dexterity are important.
What is a hunt?
Hunting is the most ancient occupation of man. The essence of this fascinating process is the search, pursuit, tracking and hunting (catching or shooting) of wild animals. Not all types of game can be considered as an object of hunting. Timing for shooting animals is also strictly limited.
Modern hunting can be:
- Fishing. For the use of products of a slaughtered animal (meat, skin, feather, fur, etc.).
- Sanitary. To shoot sick or dangerous animals or to control the livestock of a certain type of game in a specific territory.
- Catching animals. As a rule, such a hunt is needed to replenish zoos, circuses, or for scientific purposes.
Many people think that hunting is just entertainment, a pleasant pastime. But even such an “entertainment program” requires a number of serious permissions.
Types of production
There are several ways, types, methods of hunting. Here are some of them:
- amateur or fishing;
- with the help of various means of transportation (animals: horses, elephants; equipment: cars, helicopters, etc.) or without them;
- in swamps, in the forest, on and under water, on the plain, in the mountains, burrow hunting, in the air;
- group or individual;
- ambush, roundabout and driven, pursuit;
- with specially trained animals (dogs, hunting birds, cheetahs, ferrets);
- with the use of decoys, decoys, decoy animals;
- with firearms , bow and arrow, spear, horn, spear, sling;
- trapping using traps, nets, snares, traps, cells;
- photographing and photographing animals in their natural habitat.
Each method and type has its loyal fans and implacable opponents. The variety of options makes it possible to choose the type and method of hunting that is most suitable for each individual person.
Spring season
Hunting in the spring in each individual region of Russia has its own strictly defined time period. This time period starts on March 1 and ends on June 16. The spring hunting season for birds is the shortest, its duration is only 10 days. This is an unshakable rule for any region of the country.
Opening hunting in the spring may be different for different regions. In each particular year, the date can be postponed, but as a rule, this rarely happens. The reason is force majeure - a big forest fire or a strong flood of rivers.
There are a couple of nuances in terms that determine the hunting season in the spring. Some areas tie the beginning to certain days of the week (for example, the third Saturday of March).
Bans
Hunting in the spring may be completely prohibited. This happens if the experts of the hunting area come to the conclusion that the bird does not have suitable conditions for nesting. This is due to ducks having a favorable winter or late spring. Experienced hunters use this time to take a closer look at the habitats of ducks and prepare well for the fall season.
Allowed to shoot
Not all game birds can be shot in the spring. For example, hunting for hazel grouse in spring is prohibited. There is a list of game to be shot:
- Woodcock. There are some restrictions: it is forbidden to hit a pair of flying birds and on their take-off. The best time for hunting is after sunset.
- Goose. You can shoot during the nesting period and at the time of the flight from cover. In this group, shooting a geese is prohibited.
- Capercaillie (male). As a rule, the hunt for him is carried out at dawn, hiding in advance in an ambush.
- Drake. Hunting for drake in spring is allowed in all regions of Russia using decoy ducks. In some cases, a stuffed bird is used.
- Grouse (male). Shoot the birds on the current. According to unspoken rule, the first black grouse is not touched so that he attracted other birds with his singing.
Spring season in Russia
Hunting in the spring in Russia still causes controversy between ornithologists and hunting experts. The former require an unconditional ban, the latter insist on the safety of spring hunting, subject to certain rules.
In Russia, the summer-fall season is short. Under the most favorable conditions, it is no more than 2.5 months. In autumn, the bird flies away to winter in Europe, where it is safely shot for 6-7 months. There, in principle, there can be no spring hunting: birds return for nesting home, to Russia.
Thus, the spring season of shooting of game is, in fact, the Russian heritage, culture and traditions left by the ancestors to their descendants.
Drake
Hunting with decoy in spring is the most common type of hunting for drake. In some regions, spring extraction of a drake without a decoy duck is simply impossible: it is prohibited. This is explained by the fact that without it, the hunter risks shooting a duck, not a drake.
The decoy duck in its importance on hunting exceeds even a faithful dog. It must meet the following requirements:
- have a good and loud voice;
- be physically healthy in order to attract the drake for a long time;
- Do not be afraid of a person;
- respond adequately to the new environment.
Hunting with a decoy in the spring requires painstaking preparation. Typically, hunters themselves plant decoy ducks. For greater external resemblance, a domestic duck is crossed with a wild drake. It is preferable to cross small breeds of ducks, they are more like wild ones. In addition, the cry of such a cross in the mating season is close in timbre and sound to the call of a wild duck.
The decoy duck is tied in an open pond so that the shooter is no more than twenty meters away from the shelter. The hunter himself is hiding in a hut. A special rod with a platform at the top is driven into the bottom of the reservoir. The ring on the rod prevents the duck from tangling in the rope, and the platform serves to rest the bird.
For a long hunt, they take two ducks, while one is resting, the second continues to work. A properly planted decoy duck defines the lion's share of the success of the entire enterprise.
For the authenticity of the picture, it is worth placing several stuffed animals nearby, at a distance inaccessible to a decoy. A good decoy can greatly help in attracting males.
Placed in advance in a hut, the hunter awaits the evening or morning dawn. It is at this time that the hunt for the drake begins. Although in cloudy weather the bird can fly all day.
Grouse
Hunting for hazel grouse in spring is prohibited. It is during this period that the bird begins to breed. The timing of hunting for this bird is from autumn to spring.
There are several ways to hunt for hazel grouse:
- On decoy. Decoy - a special device that mimics the voice of a particular bird or beast. As a rule, either males or a young bird respond to the call of the decoy. The hunter’s task is to lure birds of prey and have time to shoot before he is spotted.
- From the approach. The bottom line is that you need to scare the hazel grouse - make it fly up, notice what tree it has sat on, approach a suitable distance and shoot.
- Surprise. This species needs two people. The scheme is quite simple: one scares the bird, the second shoots from an ambush.
- Corral. The principle of hunting is the same as the surge, but with the difference that more people are involved, sometimes dogs are used.
- With dogs. Not so popular because of the difficulty of properly training a dog. A well-trained dog with a quiet yelp will let the owner know about the grouse found.
The habitat of the hazel grouse is the forest. You will not meet him in a swamp or in a field.
Features of the spring season
Hunting in the spring does not provide for the catch of feathered females. Only polygamous males are allowed to shoot.
All hunters should carefully study the rules of hunting in the regions. In the new territory, you can inadvertently become a poacher. A simple example: it is possible to shoot game birds during spring hunting, but in 2013 the shooting of boar and waterfowl in Kalmykia and the Astrakhan region was prohibited.
Any violation of existing legislation regarding the shooting of game is classified as poaching and entails not only administrative, but also criminal liability.
Observing the rules and maintaining respect for nature, from the process of hunting you can get a wonderful charge of vivacity and a lot of positive.