Hunting
The development of a new place of residence by the Russian people went simultaneously with the development of fishing and hunting. Speaking about the importance of high fishing culture, which was brought to Siberia by Russians, V.N. Skalon wrote: ‘They carried out a colossal in its scope and labour-intensive construction of the pasture, covering a strip of tundra from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean’ [Skalon, I960, p. 321].
The main type of fur produced here is the white fox, which is a permanent migrant: in autumn it comes ashore from the islands of the Arctic Ocean and moves in search of fodder towards the forest tundra, from where it migrates to the sea again in March. Pupping in Arctic Foxes begins at the end of February. Females pup after 50-55 days. The Arctic fox chooses a dry elevated place (hills, hillocks) for burrowing. The burrow has a large number of entrances and blind nooks.
The base of the fox trap is a three-walled box, 1 metre long, 25 cm wide and the same height. The box is topped by a massive log ("gnetok"), about 4 metres long and 20 cm in diameter. One end of it is freely fixed on the goad ("ozadnik"), across the other end is attached a cross beam ("koromyslo"); one, longer, shoulder of the beam was placed on the stake ("koromyslennyi kol"), the other was left free.
The guard mechanism is considered to be the most important part of the implement, its accuracy determines the trouble-free operation of the jaws. It consists of a guard ("storozhok" - "сторожок") and a thin rope ("symka" - "симка"). The guard is a flat bar approximately 12 cm long, 2.5 cm wide and 1 cm thick. In the lower part of the gatekeeper has a hole where the thin rope is inserted, the upper end of the gatekeeper is tied to the jumper - a strong bar 1 m long. The symka is a flat bar 1 cm thick, 4 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. In the lower part of the symka has a projection, by means of which it is inserted into the hole of the watchman. A horsehair is attached to its upper end, the other end of which is fastened to the opposite side of the mouth. At the bottom, the symka is attached to the sidewall by means of a rope.
The trap are secured in the following way: the socket with the pike is lifted, and the end of the jumper is brought under the free end, a peg is placed under the jumper, and the other end of the jumper is connected to the symka with the help of a guard. Then the horsehair coming from the symka is fixed on the opposite side. The bait is put under the hair, sometimes even tied to it.
The Arctic fox, smelling food, climbs into the mouth and catches a hair, which causes the symka to jump out of the guard and the massive log to fall down. To make the massive log heavier, sometimes additional weights are put on it. In order to prevent snow from drifting down the trap, they were usually set with the mouth facing the prevailing wind in the area.
Each hunter had about 150-200 traps. The distance between traps was about 1 kilometre. Thus, in order to inspect all traps and return home, a hunter had to travel a distance of 200-300 kilometres across the deserted tundra.
In order to stop the Arctic Fox in the vicinity of their territories, hunters used artificial feeding. For this purpose, fish, deer and poultry guts were buried in a pit near the traps. In early autumn (October), a small hole was punched above the pit so that a ‘sour spirit’ could be emitted to attract the Arctic Fox. Or a specially dried ripple (‘buldyrok’) or a larger fish (‘yukhala’) was attached to the side of the trap.
Traps and hunting huts require almost annual repairs. Therefore, in summer, in July-August, the industrialists set out on horseback to the tundra or went down the rivers on branches ‘to get traps and lodgings’, while fishing, shooting geese and reindeer to feed their dogs and bait foxes.
Many hunters kept one or two horses, but used them only in summer to repair their traps. Nets were woven from horsehair. There was no hay for horses, nobody knew how to mow it. In winter, horses were set free, and they foraged for their own food from under the snow.
In autumn, the Arctic fox was hunted by dogs in deep and loose snow. Not every dog was suitable for such hunting; usually the best females were chosen, which were always easier to run than male dogs. These hunter dogs were highly valued among the tundra population and enjoyed much more attention from the owner than others. It is true that the service life of an Arctic fox dog is only two to four years.
The method of catching Arctic Foxes by destroying dens (kapishchas) was also used. Early in autumn, when the foxes had not yet completely left the kapishche, the hunter, knowing in advance that there should be a fox brood here, came to the kapishche. The foxes, having smelled the hunter, hid in their dens. The exits from them were covered with turf, leaving one or two. Leaning low to the burrow, the hunter made a sound ‘uh-uh’, the fox ‘responded’ with a soft bark. The hunter dug out the burrow and with the help of a long bugle ("makun") pulled the fox out of the burrow. This was called ‘chopping down the kapishcha’.
The Arctic Foxes captured from the kapishchas were usually immature. Therefore, after capture they were kept in cages. Due to carelessness of catching, poor feeding during captivity, lack of specially prepared cages (like fur farming sheds) there was no great effect, and such furs were often of low grade. Destruction of fox dens was a malicious form of poaching, so this method of catching foxes had to be abandoned.
The Arctic fox fishery was known to the Russian population of the northern regions long before they went to Siberia, P.N. Pavlov believes that the Arctic fox had long been hunted in the European North [Pavlov, 1972, p. 81].
‘Judging by the terms of hunting, some customs and religious ideas, the Russians on the Indigirka, having mastered new places of residence, began fur-trading on their own. There is evidence that the peoples of the North - the Yukaghirs, the Evens and the northern Yakuts - learnt how to herd Arctic foxes from the Russians. This is partly indicated by the word "paas"
- from Russian, "past'" - used by the Yakuts and Evenes [Alekseev, 1948, p. 65].
The long-standing fox hunting is also evidenced by the Russian terms common to the entire North, which denote the animal's age: "nornik", "krestovnik", "chayashnik", "nedopesok", etc. ‘The name fox, i.e. little dog, given to it by the Russians is quite suitable to it; its sharp face reminds of a polar dog, and it barks just like a puppy’ [Iokhelson, 1898, p. 69].
The fur trade was the main source of subsistence for hunters, as only by selling a fox pelt could any goods be bought. However, even with a successful fishery, a hunter could hardly provide himself with a miserable existence. According to I. A. Khudyakov, in 1867-1884 a fox pelt cost 80-90 kopecks. It should be noted that the fur of non-grade Arctic fox was widely used in everyday life: it was used to make blankets, hats, fur coats, and mittens.
In spring, after the end of the hunting season (after the traps were opened), hunters travelled to the sea with their dogs and switched to hunting seals. For this purpose it was necessary to have a ‘seal dog’ - an Indigirska husky with high hunting qualities, specially trained to search for seal rookeries and holes in the ice where seals breathe. When the dog smells a seal, it searches for the hole and barks to let its master know.
The hole through which the seal exits is usually hidden under a thick layer of snow. The snow is excavated and the hole is widened. A net made of thick twine with a mesh of 30 cm was used to catch seals. The net is fastened to a frame, making a sack. The frame is made of 3-4 cm thick sticks. The frame size is 132*132 cm. The net-bag is installed under the ice opposite the hole. The seal swims up to the hole and goes out on the ice to breathe air. It then plunges vertically into the water and enters the net. The meat and fat of the seal was used to feed dogs, and the skin was used to make waterproof clothing and footwear.
They fished for reindeer during their crossing of the Indigirka. Fleeing from heat and bites, herds of wild reindeer from the forest tundra went to the Arctic Ocean in June and returned in late August. Knowing the places where they crossed the Indigirka, hunters set up a round-the-clock watch.
Hunting was done collectively, guns were not used. Deer were rounded up on branches and stabbed with spears. As a rule, each hunter had two spears. One was 3-4 metres long, the other was short -1 metre. Among the deer there were so-called "drakuns", which at the sight of the approaching hunter lay down on the side and hit the branch with their hind hooves. In these cases, a short spear was used: before reaching the deer a few metres away, the hunter threw it into the deer's side. Such hunting required great skill and cold-bloodedness: being in an unstable branch, it was necessary to hit the deer with a single blow. It should be recalled that none of the hunters could swim, and sometimes the hunt ended tragically.
If there were more than ten reindeer, it was considered unacceptable to kill the whole herd (herd) without leaving a single reindeer, otherwise ‘Sendukha will be angry’ and there will be no luck. So N.M. Alekseev's statement that the Russko-Ustiinians had no tradition to protect animals is absolutely wrong. Sometimes the following method was used: a part of hunters stayed on duty at the river, the rest two or three people took dogs and tried to drive deer into the river - it meant ‘to go to Sendukha by corral’.
The distribution of prey started with allocation of one carcass to a household without able-bodied men. The rest was divided equally among the hunters.
In March-April they hunted reindeer on dogs. They used to harness 8-10 dogs in a sledge, sit in it two by two and go to the tundra ‘to chase reindeer’. When they saw reindeer grazing in the tundra, they tried to approach them unnoticed from the windward side, otherwise ‘the spirit would fall on the reindeer’ and they would run away. Having approached the reindeer 1-1,5 kilometres away, they directed the harness to the reindeer and started the chase, which lasted 30-40 minutes, after which the reindeer ‘gave a circle’, i.e. turned 180 degrees and ran past the hunters at a distance of 100-200 metres. At that moment one hunter would stop the harness and the second one would shoot. Everything depended on the hunter's marksmanship, as well as on timely and firm stopping of the harness. Good shooters killed five or six reindeer in ‘one circle’.
In summer they also hunted reindeer with rifles. When they saw reindeer in the tundra, they would crawl up to them and shoot. If there were no guns, they used bows. A hunter who killed reindeer or geese always gave half of it to a mate he met in the tundra. This was called ‘giving nimat’.
The Russko-Ustiinians attempted to engage in reindeer breeding. In 1938, they received a directive obliging the Russkoye-Ustye collective farm to breed reindeer. The men thought for a long time how to fulfil this directive. None of them knew from which side to approach the reindeer. Finally they thought of one.
They bought 50 reindeer from the Yukaghirs. They, led by Pyotr Edukin, nicknamed Kobakhchan, were hired as shepherds.
It's summer. One day on Peter's Day, a large herd of reindeer suddenly came rushing from the tundra and rushed into the Indigirka right outside the village. The men quickly armed themselves with spears, pawns and rifles, slaughtered more than 20 animals, the rest escaped. They divided the meat and distributed it among the camps. It was a feast.
About a week later, Kobakhchan turned up and said that he had lost the collective farm reindeer. The whole herd. He was threatened with a strict trial, which was officially announced. Kobakhchan shook his head. He doesn't drink, doesn't eat, doesn't talk to anyone. He walks silently around the "smetishchy" (dumps) looking for something. They thought the man had lost his mind... A session of the village council was in progress. Suddenly, the door opened abruptly, Kobakhchan entered and silently placed a large antler with sawed-off tops on the presidium table.
Then he proudly looks round the audience and silently leaves. There is silence in the hall. It turns out that my fellow countrymen, in their hunting excitement, killed their own herd, mistaking it for a wild herd. Since then, the Russko-Ustiinians do not want to hear about reindeer breeding....
However, they have long been hunting geese in large numbers during the moulting season. The fishery of flocked birds, goose hunting, was practised up to the mid-50s. The author of these lines had to take part in goose hunting twice,
the last time in 1952 on Nemkina's laida.
The hunters on 10 boats managed to hunt 1270 geese. It should be emphasised that hunting was conducted only on ‘idle’, i.e. young, geese and never on ‘baby geese’ - geese with
broods. They could be hunted only after the first Spas - 15 August (New Style), when the birds would be on the rise.
In July, during the moulting period, geese gathered in large numbers on waste lakes (laidas) and rivers. The exact date of the beginning of hunting for flocked geese was 20 July (New Style) - Prokop's Day. They gathered in groups of 10-15 people and went to the sea on branches.
They used to go 150-200 kilometres away to Mogotoevskaya Lopatka. This way was extremely dangerous and difficult: they had to cross a two and a half kilometre wide sea bay on dull branches. Characteristically, there were places nearby, where it would have been possible to successfully fish for geese, but adherence to the old times, to the traditions of their ancestors took its toll. ‘Our grandfathers used to go to Mogotoevskaya and Krestovskaya lopatki and told us to do the same,’ Indigirka inhabitants liked to say.
When they reached the fishing ground, they camped and waited for a clear, windless day. Once they had waited for a clear, windless day, they went out in search of geese. Geese usually swam in flocks in the middle of a large lake during the day. When they saw the hunters, they tried to go ashore and run to another lake. Here two or three best rowers were sent ahead, whose task was to quickly get to the opposite shore and drive the geese to the middle of the laida. All participants rowed at a fast pace and surrounded the ‘herd’, sometimes rowing around the laida for four or five kilometres without a break.
This was called ‘raking the laida’, which required stamina ("pertujina") and quickness in riding on branches. Gradually the geese became surrounded. Hunters kept some distance from the geese and drifted on branches. At these moments it was forbidden to shout loudly and make noise. Only sometimes a command of the senior was heard: ‘Boat, don't row close! Scare slightly!’ or ’Boat, keep the bow on the carga! Pull up!’ This went on for four or five hours; gradually the ring around the geese shrank, they crowded together in a dense heap and, cackling, rushed to the shore. At that moment two men on the shore were setting up the seine: half a metre long milestones were set up in an elongated semicircle, on which a string net was stretched. The lower part of the seine was fastened to the ground with spokes, and the wings of the seine were led into the water.
Thus, a peculiar enclosure 15-20 metres long, 3-4 metres wide and 1.5 metres high was created. The geese were gradually brought to the shore, the branches were placed close to each other, the nose of one branch touching the stern of the other. Otherwise, the geese could escape into the resulting gap. Some hunters, having undressed, bravely descended into the icy water and moved the branches with their hands. Finally the geese were driven into the seine and the gate was closed. Two or three hunters went into the pen, twisted the geese's necks and threw them out through the net. It was strictly forbidden to hit the geese with sticks or to shoot them with bows and guns, otherwise the geese could break the seine and scatter. In a successful hunt, one to two thousand geese were hunted in one pen. This method of hunting required exceptional attention and discipline. Therefore, a chief was chosen, whose orders were obeyed without question. Those who disobeyed orders at the hunt were punished in an original way: they took off his trousers and put him in a puddle for five to ten minutes.
The harvested geese were divided as follows: one share was allocated for the seine, which in turn was distributed among those to whom it belonged (usually two or three co-owners). Each adult hunter received an equal share. Children (boys) present also received their share. A child under seven years old received 1/8 share, from seven to 12 - 1/4, from 12 to 16 - 1/2 share and over 16 - full share. After the end, one goose was left in the pen, which was released with the words: ‘Here we leave you alive and release you on Sendukha, you bring us more of your mates next year’ [Zenzinov, 19166, p. 78].
Two additional shares were allocated from the harvested geese. One was bought by one of the hunters, and the proceeds were used to order a prayer service in the church in honour of Nicholas the Wonderworker, the main patron saint of hunters and fishermen. The second ration was used for prizes (‘weights’) for the winners of branch competitions, which were organised immediately after the end of fishing at a distance of 8-10 kilometres.
There were usually three prizes, each a certain number of geese, to which some wealthy owner added an octamon of tea or a couple of sheets of tobacco. The winner was called ‘the rower’. It should be pointed out that in the Russkoye Ustye the rowers were called not just people who could swim on a branch, but who could swim well and quickly. And there were two kinds of rowers: "pertuzhye" rowers who were not afraid of the headwind and could freely swim 70-80 kilometres against the current in a day, and "khlestkiye" - rowers for short distances. It is said that in the olden days there were such young men who could keep up with a flying seagull at a distance of two or three kilometres.
The captured geese were plucked and put into ice pits; the birds were preserved quite well in this natural refrigerator. In winter the pit was opened and frozen geese were brought home. Unplucked geese were preserved worse.
There were cases when the hunter did not find any of the geese harvested in winter: they had been ‘eaten by the pest’, i.e. destroyed by Arctic foxes. Some of the geese were taken home. It took four or five days to return against the current and headwinds. To prevent the geese from spoiling, they were made into ‘balbakhi’: the innards and bones of an unplucked goose were removed in a special way.
The meat of two or three geese can be placed in the bag. In autumn and spring, partridges were caught with snares (‘shilly’). Children and women were most often engaged in this fishery in the vicinity of villages. Ptarmigan harvesting is based on two peculiarities of its behaviour: first, it moves mainly along the banks of rivers and along the edge of talnik groves; second, when it encounters an obstacle, the bird does not fly over it, but goes around it.
Taking this into account, a small fence made of talus and snow (‘vegetable garden’) with five to seven gates was built across the expected path of grouse, where bait (talus berries and buds) was poured and a loop made of thread or horsehair was fixed. One end of the loop was tied to a stick ("kunelge"). A partridge attracted by the scattered bait would enter the gate and get caught in the noose.
Sometimes, in March-April, early in the morning, even before the tikotta classes, a mother would wake her son up: ‘Son, today is a good matinee. Cereals are shouting. Go and check on your vegetable garden’.
The son put on his coat and run briskly through the morning frost. In case of luck, overflowing with happiness and the knowledge that you are the breadwinner, you return home with manly solidity.
Sometimes nets were stretched on high poles along the banks of rivers, in which grouse were also entangled. Snares were also used to catch ducks on nests. When a duck's nest was found, only one egg was left in it. A small double-walled hut was built of grass and moss over the nest and a noose was set up.
Bears were hunted in the den with spears and rifles. If a bear was encountered in winter in the tundra, the following was done: two sleds of dogs were mated and chased after the bear. At first, two dogs were released, which had to ‘bark’ and stop the bear. When they caught up with him, the master of the right sled commanded his dogs to run to the right, and the master of the left sled - to the left. The bear was surrounded by dogs and sat on the ram of the sled. At that time it was stabbed with spears.
Alexey Chikachev
