Hunter in Buryatia: “Nature can not be only love”

At a seminar in Ulan-Ude, experienced hunter Anatoly Tyutrin said that the current situation with the mass exit of bears to settlements is not the first in the history of Buryatia. For example, in 1993, the first bear was caught on the "Mukhin" swamps on August 30, and the last - before the New Year. Together with the former head of the hunting department Viktor Moskvitin noticed a fresh trace of the beast. After traveling a few more kilometers, the hunters released the dog. She soon barked - all that remained was to run up and shoot. The dog, said Tyutrin, in such a hunt helps great: it shows where the beast is, and you run without fear that he will be behind you.

At the seminar, Anatoly Tyutrin told his colleagues about the behavior of rods - those bears that do not hibernate and therefore pose the greatest danger. According to him, some of the animals will lie down: judging by those bears that are now being shot, about one-third is “exactly fat and will lie down normally.” Those who do not lie down will walk along the paths, if hunters put traps, and through wintering grounds.

Answering the question about the reasons for the current surge, Tyutrin drew attention to the cyclical nature: the difference between 1961, 1993 and 2026 is about thirty years. He said it all starts with the weather. The spring period was very cold, the frost in June beat the winter bump. The bear, coming out of the dens, first of all turns stones and eats larvae, then feeds on garlic - in the Zakamensky and Jidinsky districts it is always good, but in the Ivolginsky and Baikal regions it was practically absent: the grass grew thin because of the cold. There was no grass in the summer, and then the berry disappeared. Earlier, recalls Tyutrin, to collect currants, blueberries and lingonberries went all the population of the city — in the taiga was not to step, everywhere there were cars. Now lingonberry is rare, but it is not the main food for the bear: the main thing for him is blueberries and currants. Bear mushrooms, contrary to popular belief, do not eat.

Another reason for the impoverishment of the feed base, the hunter called fires, which greatly affected the ecology of Buryatia. After them, the burners began to overgrow, and at first there was a berry - the surface layers of the soil hold water well, and the grass with the buttock could get it. But then the gar was covered with a small aspen and chaff, and this vegetation, firstly, shades the grass and prevents it from developing, and secondly, sucks all the moisture. Now, according to the hunter, two scenarios are possible: either a new fire, after which it can become even worse, or the trees will rise again, stop standing a meter from a meter, and there will be a place for the sun - then the berry will return. But while the berries are practically absent, and there are no deforestations where it could grow, too.

The forest has always been a favorite place of the village, and so it was for everyone. And now the village can't go into the woods. Tyutrin called it overkill: the villagers took the forests, but there were rural forests where they could get wood to fix the fence or harvest firewood. He drew a historical parallel: peasant riots occurred when people were not allowed to harvest firewood. "God forbid it ever happens again," he said.

Nature, the hunter emphasized, cannot be only love: a person must be her master - a reasonable master. In such a vast area, he believes people should hunt and fish.