Time for the hound hunt. Hound hunting in Rus' Russian hound hunting
The extraordinary adventures of the Austrians in Russia, or what Herberstein saw
It seems that a lot of books and articles have been written on the history of hound hunting and on the origin of Russian greyhounds. The number and volume of sources could be the envy of any other breed of hunting dog. However, in order to get a more or less clear picture of events, you need not only to read, but also, by comparing, analyze what you read.
With amazing ease, some authors talk about greyhounds in the dowry of the Kyiv princess Anna Yaroslavna (11th century) and at the same time argue that the Russian greyhound owes its birth to the Mongol-Tatar conquerors.
The same breeders with the same fervor promote the strictest selection for the first signs of blood, while at the same time extolling Ermolov’s “Description” (1888), full of compromises regarding mixed greyhounds.
Why is this happening? Where do myths come from and why are they so enduring? It seems interesting to me to analyze step by step the mistakes and misconceptions of a number of popular authors, which often lead the reader to an erroneous, or even completely absurd, interpretation of the history of hound hunting and the Russian greyhound breed.
I am going to talk about this and much more in my future monograph. In the meantime, I invite readers of the magazine “Hunting and Fishing XXI Century” to get acquainted with one of its chapters dedicated to “Notes on Muscovy” by Sigismund Herberstein. Many authors, ancient and modern, turned to this source, widely known in Russia and the West. But the conclusions they made were so strange and inexplicable that one can only doubt whether they read these very “Notes” on which they rely in their conclusions?!
So, the diplomat of the Holy Roman Empire, Baron Sigismund Herberstein (1486-1566), visited Moscow twice on an embassy mission: in 1517 and 1526. He left detailed travel notes “Notes on Muscovy”, which became a real bestseller and went through a dozen editions during the author’s lifetime. The notes contain detailed description Russian dog hunting at the court of Ivan the Terrible's father, Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Ioannovich III.
Two original editions of the “Notes on Muscovy” have survived to this day - the Latin one of 1556 and the German one of 1557. In addition, the “Autobiography” of Herberstein himself has been preserved, which in many ways complements both editions of the “Notes”. Using the publication of “Notes on Muscovy”, published in 1988 by the Moscow State University Publishing House and containing both (Latin and German) author’s editions of the book and the autobiography of its creator, I will try to introduce the reader to the most complete description of the Moscow Grand Duke’s hunt.
A few words about Herberstein himself. Brilliantly educated, fluent in the main European languages and having been on diplomatic missions to almost all European courts and even meeting with the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Sigismund Herberstein, during his two trips to “Muscovy”, managed, by his own admission, to learn spoken Russian , which allowed him “in the description of Russia to consciously use Russian words to designate objects, places and rivers.” It can be assumed that this was greatly facilitated by the knowledge of the diplomat, a native of Styria (Steiermark), of the Slovenian language, which was native to a significant part of the population of this Austrian duchy.
Herberstein arrived in Moscow from Vienna to mediate in Russian-Polish affairs, as an envoy of Emperor Maximilian I. In the Moscow state, he encountered well-established, but unknown to the ambassador, canine hunting and local breeds of hunting dogs, which he did not fail to introduce to the European reader.
A little background. Vasily Ioannovich III (1479-1533) began hunting from early youth and spent the autumn months in the outlying fields near Mozhaisk, Volok Lamsky or in the villages near Moscow - Ostrov, Vorobyovo and Vorontsovo. The tradition of opening a hound hunt on the day of St. Simeon the Stylite, or Semyonov Day, resulted in the 19th century. in “the holiday of hunters, the first departing field”, is rooted in those distant times: in 1519 Vasily III hunted “in Volok from September 14 to October 26.”
In 1496, the Grand Duke organized a special court institution - the Stable Prikaz, into whose jurisdiction not only the Grand Duke's horsemen and draft horses, carriages, but also birds of prey, “amusing” hunting dogs, hunting tools and various hunting utensils. The decree on the creation of the Stable Order speaks in detail about the rules and terms of hunting, its rituals. The new Order could be headed by “the first boyar of rank and honor”, who received the position of Sovereign Equestrian Boyar. And in 1509 another Order appeared - the Hunter.
Accordingly, the rank of Sovereign Trapper Boyar was established. The first Hunter was the boyar Mikhail Ivanovich Nagoy, who served from 1509 to 1525.
In the year of Baron Herberstein’s first visit to Moscow (1517), having concluded a trade agreement with the Danes, Vasily Ioannovich sent several Russian greyhounds from the kennel of the Trapper Order as a gift to the King of Denmark Christian II, which Christian, in turn, presented to the French King Francis I.
Let us note that all these events refer to a time when, from the point of view of Kishensky (and Sabaneev), Russian hound hunting did not yet exist and could not exist! After all, there were still decades left before the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible in 1552, and it was after this event, accompanied by the “settlement of the Tatars” across Russian lands and the crossbreeding of their greyhounds with local dogs, that, as the authors saw it, the history of the formation of the Russian greyhound began.
What did the foreign diplomat, invited by Vasily III to the “sovereign amusement”, see in the vicinity of Moscow in 1517?
“Near Moscow [half a mile or a mile from it] (hereinafter in square brackets the text is from the German edition of the Notes - A.O.) there is a place overgrown with bushes and very convenient for hares; in it, as if in a hare nursery, there are a great many hares, which no one dares to catch or cut down bushes there for fear of the most severe punishment. The sovereign also breeds a huge number of hares in animal pens and other places... He has many hunters, each of whom leads two dogs... In front they keep fast dogs, which they call “kurts” (kurtzen).”
“...Arriving at the hunting site, the sovereign turned to us, saying that they have a custom, whenever he is hunting and having fun, he and other good people themselves lead the hunting dogs; he advised us to do the same. Then he assigned two people to each of us, each of whom led a dog, so that we could use them for our amusement. To this we replied that we gratefully accepted his true mercy and that the same custom exists among us. [So noble gentlemen lead their dogs themselves when hunting.] He resorted to this clause because they consider a dog to be an unclean animal and touching it with your bare hand [for an honest person] is shameful. Meanwhile, almost a hundred people [on foot] lined up in a long row; half of them were dressed in black, half in yellow. The horsemen stopped not far from them, blocking the way for the hares to escape. At first, no one was allowed to release the hunting dogs except Shikh-Ali and us.”
“The Emperor was the first to shout to the hunter, ordering him to begin; he immediately rushes at a full gallop towards the other hunters, the number of which was large. Following this, they all begin to shout with one voice and release the dogs, Molossi and bloodhounds. It was a great pleasure to hear the varied barks of such a great pack. And the sovereign has a great variety of dogs, and excellent ones at that. Some, called “kurts” (kurtzi), are used only for baiting hares, they are very beautiful, with shaggy ears and tails, as a rule, brave, but not suitable for chasing and running over long distances. When a hare appears, they release three, four, five, or even more dogs, which attack him from everywhere... When the hunt began, I took one dog by the reins... I began to poison the hare that I got only then when he had run far enough. However, I caught few of them. Dogs can’t stand a long chase.”
“When the dogs catch up, the hunters all shout: “Oh-ho!” Ho! Ho!” - as if they had hunted a big deer. A lot of hares were caught, and when they were piled up, they asked me: “How many are there?” I answered: “More than a thousand,” which they were very pleased with, although there were not even three hundred.” (According to Herberstein, the more Vasily III catches them, “... with the more, in his opinion, the day will end with joy and honor.”)
“Equally, one could see how the sovereign himself applauded the ambassador (i.e. Herberstein - A.O.), whose dog caught many hares."
Let's now see how much the description left by Herberstein corresponds to the stories about dog hunts in Russia at the end of the 19th century - beginning of the 19th century. XX centuries other authors.
As we know, traditionally participants in hound hunts were divided into two groups: greyhound hunters - hunters with greyhounds, and hound hunters, or hounds - with hounds. The greyhounds, having taken places along the perimeter of the forest, bush, swamp or ravine into which the hounds were released, poisoned the animals that had been put out of the island into the open space, while the vzhlyatniks had to strive with all their might to help their hounds to encourage and force as many as possible to leave the island. number of the beast.
The colors of the hunting dress of greyhounds and vzhlyatniks also served this purpose. The dark clothes of the greyhounds helped them to remain unnoticed by the animal and allow it to approach the “measured” distance necessary for successful baiting, and the bright costumes of the greyhounds scared away the hares who were trying to hide and hide. The yellow and black colors of clothing noted by the ambassador remained quite traditional for canine hunters three centuries later.
By the way, Herberstein’s “Notes on Muscovy” offers the modern reader one more additional touch, indicating the continuity of the traditions of hound hunting - at the beginning of the 16th century, as many years later, moving to the hunting site, greyhounds go ahead of all other hunters (among Herberstein - “fast dogs are kept in front”).
In order to prevent the animal from leaving the island without persecution, greyhound guards were placed along the entire perimeter, and in the intervals between them - the remaining part of the foot or horse-drawn guards, forming virtually a continuous chain. This rule was observed regardless of the size of the island or weaning. The hunting described by Herberstein on an area limited by foot and horse hunters from one to four thousand square meters gives us a classic example of island riding.
Hound hunting- this is not modern field testing of greyhounds or hounds. Its main goal is, according to Gubin, “the destruction of any beast, i.e. wolf, fox and hare, and in every place accessible to hunting with greyhounds." Setting this goal for themselves, the ancient canine hunters tried their best not to leave a single animal on the island and not let it go without baiting. And constantly, when driving in difficult places with limited visibility (and dense bushes are just such a place), the driver, along with the helpers, in a deployed front, along with the hounds, combed the island on foot, loudly squealing (that is, encouraging exclamations) encouraging the dogs to search in the crawl space. Hence the hunters on foot and the loud screams in Herberstein’s description.
It is easy to notice that there were no particular differences in the organization and conduct of hound hunting in the 16th and 19th centuries. we couldn't find it. It remains to answer the last question: what kind of dogs took part in the grand ducal hunt and what were the mysterious “kurts”?
It is clear from the text that the ambassador divided the dogs Vasily Ioannovich saw while hunting into two groups. To the first he included molossi et odoriferi (it would be more correct to write: canes odorisequus), i.e. Molossians - baiting and “sniffing” or “spirit” dogs, and to the second - “fast” dogs, “named “kurtzi” (kurtzi).” From this alone it becomes clear that Herberstein did not see hounds and greyhounds in Rus' in the Western understanding of these breeds. An inexperienced person today is unlikely to recognize the relationship between, say, a Russian hound and a bloodhound. At first glance, there is no more in common between the Greyhound and the Russian dog. These dogs also differ fundamentally in the way they work.
Therefore, being completely correct, the ambassador of the Holy Roman Emperor gave the dogs he saw names that fully corresponded to their functions. In other words, speaking about “baiting and spirit” dogs, Herberstein perfectly described the work of hounds during island driving. As we know, in the old days hounds not only chased the beast, driving it out of the island into the open, using their instinct - the “spirit”, but also often independently caught (“poisoned”) the beast on the island.
The ambassador described the second group of dogs - “kurtzi” - in much more detail. Since, as we know, European monarchs maintained close ties with Turkey, Persia, and the countries of the Middle East, and the ambassador visited all European courts, we can confidently say that Russian dogs had no analogues in the countries of Europe and the Middle East . The Ambassador notes not only that these dogs are very beautiful, but also repeatedly emphasizes their main feature- inability to perform a long jump. Thus, we see that we are talking about native breed greyhounds, adapted to hunting in wooded areas. These dogs differed from their eastern and western neighbors by working short and attracted attention with their beauty. And although the author’s mention of “shaggy ears and tails” may suggest eastern greyhounds such as the Saluki, the author’s description of the dogs as playful, but absolutely not hardy, strongly refutes this assumption.
The fact that Herberstein speaks specifically about greyhounds follows from his own words: “fast dogs are kept in front.” This phrase is an exact translation of the Old Church Slavonic word “brzy”. Having learned from the grand ducal hunters that they were leading greyhounds, the author could not translate this word other than “fast”.
When the diplomat began to ask more about these dogs, he heard the word “kurtzi” in response. But neither in Russian, nor in Polish, nor in any other modern language there is no such word. The question arises: did the translators and publishers of “Notes on Muscovy” correctly transliterate it into Russian as “kurtz”?
Comparing “kurtzi” in the original source with other Russian words, for transliteration of which into Latin Herberstein resorted to the same letter construction - “tz”, as suggested by O. Egorov, we will see that in most cases the author used it to convey the sound “ch” ”, and not “ts” at all. For example: “UgliTZ” - “UgliCH”; "tissuTZe" - "thousand"; “kreTZet” - “kreChet”; "japenTZe" - "epanCha", etc. This means that it would be quite fair to read “kurtzi” not “kurtsy” or “kurtsy”, but “kurchi”. The word “kurchi” has long existed in the West Slavic language and, being derived from the well-known “hort”, meant a greyhound dog.
In the so-called Lithuanian Status of 1529 - the first written code of feudal law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, written in the West Slavic language, in article 12 “The price of dogs”, dedicated to the “imposition”, i.e. compensation for the theft or killing of a dog, in the section “On robberies and impositions” we can read: “... and for a kurcha ten kopecks groschen...”.
It is worth mentioning here that in the language of the peoples inhabiting the borders of Kyiv, Novgorod, and later Moscow Rus', the word “greyhounds” in its modern meaning did not yet exist. The adjective "greyhound" was used until the 16th century. only to indicate the speed of the horses. But along with this we come across the ancient word “khort” or “khr’t”, meaning a greyhound dog, a hunting dog.
Similar words existed, in addition to Old Church Slavonic, in the languages of other related peoples: chrt and chrtice (feminine) (Czech), chart (Polish), hart or hert (Bosn.), hrt or rt (Serb.), chrt (words) .), khirt (Ukrainian), kurch (white), etc. In all cases, they specifically refer to greyhounds. In addition, consonant words are also found in the languages of the neighboring Baltic peoples: hurtta (Finnish), hurt (Estonian), kurtas (lit.) - hunting dog.
All of them, as Professor A. Ahlquist believed, were borrowed from Russian or Lithuanian. According to linguists, the word “hort” is close in origin to the German Windhund, which literally means: a dog as fast as the wind. It is likely that four centuries ago all these words were much closer in pronunciation than they are today.
In order not to go far for an example, we note that the imperial envoy himself is called “Zhigimont” in Russian official correspondence and chronicles of that time.
Another thought-provoking characteristic of dogs is that they are “usually brave.” It is clear that the hare’s “fun” did not provide the slightest opportunity to be convinced of the dogs’ courage, and this very characteristic seems inappropriate in the context of the story. So isn’t the word “brave” an accurate translation of another well-known characteristic of greyhounds, for example, “dashing”? In this case, Herberstein’s phrase - “usually dashing, but not suitable for pursuit and long-distance running” takes on a completely different semantic meaning.
From the editorial archive
Sergei DUKHANIN
In the middle of the 18th century, during the reign of Peter III, the nobility was freed from service to the royal court. It was from this time that it began real story hound hunting in Russia. But it cannot be said that before that time there was no horse hunting with packs of hounds in Rus'. The imperial court invited specialists to manage packs of hounds from England, France and Germany at the very beginning of the 18th century, and in general, horse hunting with hounds and greyhounds has its roots in the 15th century and earlier. The massive spread of dog hunting was facilitated by the huge landowners' lands with an abundance of animals on them, a lot of free time for the nobility exempted from service and noble goals - the destruction of the wolf, the main pest of the landowner and peasant economy, and Russian national traits - daring, courage, gambling, bordering on recklessness, which are fully manifested on this hunt. All this led to the fact that in all the central provinces, on every noble estate, they had hound hunting, even if not very large.
Unfortunately, in our country the entire culture of real hound hunting has been completely lost, but this is a historical phenomenon unique to Russia. The experts passed away - hunters, chasers, wranglers, stirrups and other participants in this fascinating action; they had no one to pass on the experience of coming and driving packs of hounds, breeding greyhounds, and the traditions of hound hunting. Only in the ancient books of P.M. Machevarianov, P.M. Gubin, N.P. Kishensky can today be found information on the organization, preparation and conduct of hound and gun hunts with packs of hounds. But these authors wrote their works, considering hunting from the height of their position - owners of hunting dogs. The details, subtleties, secrets of coordinating, arriving and driving packs of hounds and organizing hound hunts are lost, many forever. This information is collected bit by bit through the efforts of true lovers of horses, hunting with hounds and greyhounds.
Who can create hound hunting in our time? Firstly, these should be people who are very passionate about this idea - real enthusiasts, secondly, they should at least theoretically understand this complex issue, thirdly, these should be people with enormous patience to take one small step every day forward, eventually getting an independent complete canine hunt. And the last condition, today one of the most important, is that they must be fairly wealthy people, because maintaining a hound hunt is an expensive undertaking, but a very prestigious one, which speaks of the high culture of the owner of the hunt, his desire to revive and preserve Russian national culture.
Dog hunting is a lot of work, a kind of art, science and, like every science, it has its own laws and its own terms, its own special colorful, figurative, accurate language of canine hunters of past centuries.
In the history of Russian national hunting with greyhounds and hounds, the names of complete hound hunts and packs of hounds are known. No one specifically assigned these names; they arose from the stories of participants in these hunts, from one or another publication in magazines or newspapers of those times. Names were usually associated with the location of the hunt - Pershinskaya and Gatchina hunts - or with the name of the owner. Now any efficient hunter knows the names of the Tula landowners F.A. Svechin, S.V. Ozerov, the Nizhny Novgorod landowner P.M. Machevarianov, the hunting dynasties of the Glebovs and Ermolovs, who maintained hound hunting for almost two centuries. The hound hunts of these people thundered throughout Russia. The hunt of the Oryol landowner N.V. Kireevsky, a friend of L.N. Tolstoy and I.S. Turgenev, is depicted in all colors in the novel “War and Peace” in the Rostov hunting scenes. N.V. Kireevsky held up to 200 bows of Anglo-Russian hounds! These were the hunts. Russian complete hunting cannot be compared with Western parfors hound hunting. The famous Russian hunts, whose kennels kept hundreds of hounds and greyhounds, would simply be crowded in the lands of Western Europe.
History has put everything in its place. Private stables have appeared in Russia again, there are kennel yards, which means there will be hound hunting. What is a complete canine hunt?
A set of independent hound hunting should consist of a pack of hounds from 9 to 20 bows (a bow is two hounds connected by special collars) and from 5 to 12 packs of greyhounds (3-4 dogs per pack). All canine hunters must be mounted. Hunters with greyhounds are called greyhound hunters, and hunters with hounds are called vzhlyatniks. The senior Greyhound breeder is a visiting dog, and the senior Vyzhlyat breeder is a driving dog breeder. The head of the entire complete canine hunt is the hunter; in small canine hunts, this role was played by the hunter.
In addition, the hound hunting kit included snares with snares - special nets with which strong participants fenced off islands through which the animal could “get off” unnoticed by greyhounds. Gun hunters were also allowed to hunt with dogs; they usually positioned themselves along the edges of established nets and shot animals walking along the nets. At the invitation of the owner, other hunters with their greyhounds and horses were also allowed to join the hound hunt. Hunters who could not afford a full set of hound hunting and who kept 1-2 packs of greyhounds were called small-grass hunters. In Russian literature there is a work by E. Dryansky, which is called “Notes of a Small Grass”. They say that the great Leo Tolstoy, a great lover and expert in hound hunting, wanted to write about it, but after reading “Notes...”, he abandoned this idea, considering that it was impossible to write better.
In hound hunting there was a uniform consisting of a caftan, trousers, a short sheepskin coat, boots, a cloth cloak and a cap with a visor. The caftans of the Vizhlyatniks could be bright colors, but the caftans of the Greyhounds could only be dark in color, so as not to frighten the animal that crawled out of the island. In cold weather, a short sheepskin coat was worn under the caftan. Each hunter had a hunting knife for receiving the wolf from the dogs and an arapnik, the Greyhounds had belt packs and small horns for giving signals, the Greyhounds had bows and calling horns.
A hunting horse is a separate matter. Mainly geldings and mares were used in hound hunts; they are calmer than stallions. The animal will never go out into the hole where the horse behaves restlessly. In catalogs of hunting exhibitions of the 19th century, horses of mainly domestic breeds were indicated for hunting. The horse must stand calmly, not be afraid of a suddenly jumping out animal, including a wolf, not be afraid of a shot, ford or swim across bodies of water, walk through narrow places, and must also be calm and humble so that the hunted animal can be tied to it.
Hunters say: “Riding on horseback is an art, hunting on horseback is fearlessness.” A good horse is indispensable for hound hunting. It should be strong and strong, easy to move. Such a horse is a very great helper in mating greyhounds, in bringing and driving up a pack of hounds.
Ancient canine hunters believed that the most comfortable hunting saddle should be designed like a Cossack saddle, and the bridle must have a chumbur.
Special one-horse field carts and various carriages were also used in hound hunting. The main requirements for them are durability and softness when driving over rough terrain.
The passion for hound hunting among hunters is ineradicable; canine hunters did not get out of the saddle for weeks, chasing hounds, poisoning animals with greyhounds. It is a known fact that the famous hunter, Tambov retired general A.V. Zhikharev, who kept the famous Zhikharevo mountain greyhounds, hunted wolves on horseback three days before his death. And there would be nothing unusual in this fact if you did not know that he was 91 years old at that time.
They hunted with complete hound hunting along both the black trail and the white trail; the hunt differed only in the object - a hare, a fox or a wolf. They hunted near the house or in outlying fields.
Preparations for the hunt were made in advance, especially if it was necessary to hunt in outlying fields, when day after day, moving from island to island along certain hunting routes, a flock would rush into the island and poison the driven out animal. Sometimes the hunting routes of departing fields were laid along rivers, taking forest islands on both banks, and hound hunting was transported by ships. Hunting in the outgoing fields lasted up to several months. They were conducted strictly according to certain rules, mandatory for all participants; any violation of these rules could lead to the disruption of the entire hunt, even a very well prepared one.
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The hounds were always thrown against the wind, so that those arriving and catching them could hear them. At the end of the work, it is easier for the traveler to collect the hounds remaining on the island, since now the hounds will clearly hear the horn in the wind.
The hounds were released into the island at the signal of a horn after the greyhounds had occupied the laz. Greyhounds, if the animal's hole passed, for example, along a ravine, took places on the side, without blocking it, they always stood under the cover of some bush. And if there was no shelter, then away from the island into some depression or, conversely, into the island itself, but facing the field. During the hunt, until the hounds left the island, the greyhounds were not allowed to leave the occupied hole. The greyhound on the manhole, when the beast appeared from the island, was obliged to freeze, even fall to the pommel of the saddle, holding the beast and allowing it in moderation, taking into account both the distance and the terrain, after which, quietly charging, show it to the greyhounds. They chased the dogs and the beast in silence, at an accelerated gallop until the beast was captured or until it became clear that the beast had left.
Greyhounds for hound hunting must be well bred, the horse must be trained, the pack of hounds must be brought in and driven. All this requires enormous work from amateurs and professionals involved in hound hunting.
Hunting is interesting only when the islands are small and there is a sufficient number of animals on them, especially foxes and brown hare. If the island is too large and the pack of hounds is small, then even from under the dirty hounds the animal rarely leaves the island, and it is hardly possible to drive the white hare out of the island at all. Therefore, hunting routes, that is, departing fields, must be prepared in advance; it is advisable to conduct pack training in these islands and hunt more often, then all the holes of the animal become known.
We can talk a lot about hound hunting, but in conclusion I will repeat the words of N.P. Kishensky, one of the most famous specialists in hunting with packs of hounds: “It is much better to learn this in the field with a good pack of hounds, where a young and smart hunter quickly acquires that hunting skill.” flair and dexterity that surprise people who are little familiar with this type of hunting.”
Hound hunting consists of baiting and catching animals with greyhounds (see), originated initially among the Arabs, then passed on to the Mongols and from them, during the Tatar invasion, it became known among us. This hunt received full citizenship rights in the Moscow state from the time of Ivan the Terrible, when, after the capture of Kazan, many Tatar princes and Uzbeks (nobles) were resettled in the current Yaroslavl and Kostroma provinces, which became the main breeding grounds for greyhounds and hounds; At the same time, by crossing the eastern greyhound with the Central Russian Laika (see), the development of the modern Russian breed began greyhound. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich amused himself primarily with falconry, but his boyars were mainly engaged in P. hunting; from the same time the extremely peculiar terminology P. hunting, partly given in this article. P. hunting is done on horseback, mainly for wolves, foxes and hares; According to hunting time, it is divided into driving By blacktrope(on ground not covered with snow) and to ride along the white trail(in the snow), and in both cases drive(hunt) either with greyhounds alone, or with greyhounds and hounds together. Regardless of the last division, riding along the black trail is also divided into riding into the spray(in early spring, when only the top layer of soil thaws), by fire(later, but before sowing spring grain) and autumn(main travel time, from September 1 to November 1-15). They ride along the white path in good time(see Powder), according to the crust(cm) and hitting in a sleigh. With only greyhounds they travel either for lack of hounds [Owners of a hunt consisting only of greyhounds are jokingly called small-grass.], or in places abounding in animals, as well as during the transition in departing fields(during long autumn hunts far from one’s home) from one apartment (temporary hunting camp) to another. This kind of riding is divided into riding hard, on driving on a plain or level road and on dressage at dawn. Hiding is carried out in one pack (one hunter with 2-4 greyhounds roaming free) and is divided into riding to clap(only for hares, which the hunter drives out of the little things, slapping the arapnik), on a mouse(mainly on foxes, while they are getting food for themselves in the fields), with the shouters(with a voice and a knock driving the animals out of the detached islands onto the greyhound), with bloodhounds(yard dogs, old hounds, pointers, prowling in front of the hunter with greyhounds and searching for animals by instinct) and on the Uzerka(in late autumn, looking from a distance for noticeable faded, i.e., whitened by winter, hares). Riding into the plain, mainly along foxes, is carried out in several packs of hunters moving in a deployed front, with flanks pushed forward; an animal marked “in moderation” begins to be poisoned as soon as it runs; animals, reviewed at a very long distance, hunters try to go around on all sides and then hunt inside the circle, at each other. Dressage at dawn is carried out only by wolves, at a time in autumn when the nesters (old wolves) begin to take young wolf cubs with them to prey; when they return from prey in the morning, hunters watch for them at the edge of the island, in which there is a nest of wolves, where they are placed in packs with greyhounds at night. Correct riding with greyhounds and hounds together can only be produced complete(independent) P. hunting, consisting of a pack of hounds of 18-40 dogs with those who get there and 2-3 vzhlyatnikami(see) and 5-12 packs of greyhounds (assuming 3-4 dogs per pack), with hunters or greyhounds(cm.); that greyhound who leads a lordly pack is called stirrup, the chief and manager of all such hunts - catcher Riding with greyhounds and hounds together is carried out either near the house (at all times), or in away fields (only in autumn) and is divided, according to the place of hunting, into island ride(by detachable places, see Island), hostile(along ravines or ravines covered with large forests or frequent small forests), swampy(through a swamp covered with large or small forest: alder, birch, willow, and reeds) and enormously(only for wolves and, moreover, only for such a ton, i.e., continuous wooded areas that provide at least some convenience for baiting, in the form of copses, open swamps, clearings, etc.). Driving during the powder season is carried out in the first winter with greyhounds and hounds or with greyhounds alone; in that the latter case it is divided into three separate types of riding: to the convention(when they search for an animal by following its trail), by eye(trying to see the animal directly, without a trace) and with the help lures(looking for wolves in the area where the bait is provided - carrion). Hunting on the crust is carried out at the beginning of the spring months, mainly for hares, and only such crust that keeps the horse walking everywhere is considered capable of hunting; otherwise, the greyhound will break through the crust while galloping, risking breaking its legs. Riding in a sleigh is carried out with mounted beaters directing the wolves towards the hunters riding in the sleigh, usually with 3 greyhounds each. The essence of riding with greyhounds and hounds together is that the riders called(send) the hounds on the trail of the beast, which these dogs drive out of the forest, swamp, ravine, in a word, from any of its shelters, to open place, where the greyhounds are waiting for him. Having waited for an opportune moment, the hunter, standing closer to the running animal, releases his greyhounds from the pack (long belt) and then pursues the dogs and the animal (usually at an accelerated gallop) until the dogs catch him, or until it becomes obvious that the animal left the greyhounds, after which the hunter catches his greyhounds as quickly as possible and again takes his place. When the animal is caught, the hunter, jumping off his horse, instantly accepts it from dogs; while the hare chip off(stick the knife into the chest between the shoulders 1 1/2 -2 inches deep in the vertical direction), they're kicking ass(see Pazanka) and push it into the rear toroko towards the saddle by the hind legs; they knock the fox in the head, hit it on the nose with the whip of an arapnik and, making sure that it is no longer alive (since foxes often pretend to be dead), they push it into the saddle by the neck; the wolf is grabbed with the left hand back leg, and with the right hand they stick a knife into the side of the beast, under the front shoulder blade; They rarely attach a wolf to the saddle, but mostly leave it in place until the end of the hunt; when they want to take a wolf alive, for setting up a cage (see), it joke, that is, they squeeze the jaws with a loop of rope. During the production of the hunt are given signals horny and pantomime. Of the horses, the most commonly used for hunting are geldings and mares, as they are calmer; The horse is required to be lead (obey the reins), not fearful, tolerant and submissive towards dogs. In general, all canine hunters dress in trousers, long boots and caftans (for greyhounds - dark ones, for vzhlyatniks - bright colors); For headwear, caps with visors are most preferable. Hunting accessories: a knife (in a sheath, pointed, 9 arshins long), a pack (made of a rawhide belt, 9 arshins long), an arapnik, a signal horn (for Greyhounds - semicircular, for Vyzhlyatniks - straight, with a curved neck of the mouthpiece) and wolf snares ( usually 12 wings, each 1 fathom wide and 20 fathoms long), with the help of which they block “strong” places and thereby force the wolves to run towards the greyhounds. Due to the changed conditions of social life, Russian hunting began to decline in the forties, but with the liberation of the peasants, large complete hunts survived only for a small number of landowners; In connection with this, wolves multiplied greatly, since of all hunts, P. hunting is the best hunting method for exterminating these predators. Since the late seventies, P. hunting began to recover, although not to the same extent; currently most practiced prefabricated or friendly hunts, which consist of 3 or 4 comrades. In 1886, with the formation of hunting teams (q.v.), horseback hunting was appointed the predominant subject of training in the cavalry. P. hunting has, to this day, been of commercial importance among the Kyrgyz, Turkmens and other foreigners of the Aral-Caspian Lowland, for hunting wolves, foxes, hares, corsacs and carangas (Canis melanotus). In the steppe zone, the Kirghiz hunt only for hunting; in mountainous areas - both in a riding style (and the greyhound is sometimes placed behind the saddle, on a special circle made of felt), and with a corral (on foot and on horseback). In the provinces of the former Kingdom of Poland, hunting production is extremely constrained by the collection of duties: 15 rubles from greyhounds. and from hounds for 5 rubles. per dog per year. According to the new rules on hunting on February 3, 1892 (see Hunting), which are in force in most of European Russia, the development of hunting is also hampered by the prohibition of hunting hares - the main subject of this hunt - from February 1 to September 1 (eliminating the ability to drive through crust, in spray and through fire) and the requirement of written permission from landowners for hunting on their lands (making leaving fields almost impossible); These circumstances are, apparently, one of the main reasons for the current revision of hunting laws. Abroad, hunting almost does not exist: in France, for example, it is generally prohibited and can only be carried out with special permission for the extermination of predatory or harmful animals; in England, hunting with greyhounds took the form of competitions in speed (see cages). See also the articles: Greyhounds, Brasok, Vaba, Vysvorka, Hound dogs, Racing, Laz, Trapper, Baiting, Hunting, Porskanye, Kennel yard, Hounds. Literature. G. B., “The Dog Hunter” (M., 1785); N. Reutt, “P. hunting” (St. Petersburg, 1846); P. Machevarianov, "Notes of a canine hunter of the Simbirsk province." (supplement to the "Journal of Hunting" for 1876); P. Gubin, " Complete Guide to P. hunting" (M., 1890); E. Dryansky, "Notes of a small herb" (St. Petersburg, 1859); Baron Rosen, "P. hunting" ("Nature and Hunting", 1888, XI and XII); L. Sabaneev, "Russian greyhounds" (ibid., 1897, III-V); Y. Polferov, "Hunting in the Turgai region" (Orenburg, 1896) .
Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - S.-Pb.: Brockhaus-Efron. 1890-1907 .
See what “Hound hunting” is in other dictionaries:
On a deer. Lucas Cranach the Elder. 1529 This term has other meanings... Wikipedia
Hunts, plural no, female 1. on whom what or behind whom. Obtaining wild animals, large fish and birds by killing them (for whom) or catching them (for whom). “The hunt was unsuccessful: the wolves broke through the raid.” L. Tolstoy. Commercial hunting. Hunting for... ... Dictionary Ushakova
The landowners' favorite pastime was hunting. Rich landowners had entire hunting farms with a large staff of servants. The hounds looked after the hunting dogs: THE SENIOR HUNDER, who was in charge of training the SIGHTHOUSE dogs and managed the dogs during... ... Encyclopedia of Russian life of the 19th century
This article should be Wikified. Please format it according to the article formatting rules. Tsar's and grand-ducal hunting in Rus'. As elsewhere, in Rus' hunting warns history. History notes the existence of hunting as a fact... ... Wikipedia
Hunting, catching wild animals and birds; one of the oldest branches of human production activity. Known to almost all nations. Initially (in the ancient Paleolithic era) it was predominantly collective in nature; the spoils were also consumed...
1. HUNTING, s; and. 1. to Hunt. Fishing, sports o. O. for a large animal. O. behind the enemy plane, behind the gang leader. Go hunting. Bear o. (on the bear). O. with a camera, photo gun (photography of animals, birds, etc. in ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
I Hunting for production of wild animals and birds; one of the oldest branches of human production activity. Known to almost all nations. Initially (in the ancient Paleolithic era) it was predominantly collective in nature; production... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
In the broad sense of this concept, it means a passion aimed at obtaining and breeding certain types of animals, as well as improving them through exercise and selection of their distinctive features; this includes horse breeding (horse breeding, trotting... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
hunting- I s; and. see also willing, hunt 1) to hunt Commercial, sport hunting. Hunting for a large animal. Hunt for the enemy... Dictionary of many expressions
369 0
Providence was pleased to create man
so that he needs sudden
shock, delight, impulse and although
instant oblivion from everyday worries;
otherwise, in solitude, the disposition becomes coarse and
various vices take root.
Reutt. Dog hunting.
The watchman walks around the master's house,
He yawns angrily and bangs on the board.
The sky and the distance are covered with darkness,
The autumn wind brings sadness;
Gloomy clouds are driving across the sky,
There are leaves all over the field and it moans pitifully...
The master woke up, jumped out of bed,
He put on his shoes and blew his horn.
Sleepy Vanka and Grishka shuddered,
Everyone shuddered - even the infant boy.
Here, with the flickering fire of the lanterns,
The long shadows of the hounds move.
Scream, commotion!.. the keys rang,
The rusty hinges sang sadly;
They lead the horses out with thunder and water them,
Time is running out - saddle up quickly!
In blue Hungarian shorts on hare's feet,
In pointed, unheard-of hats
The servants drive up to the porch in a crowd.
Lovely to watch - well done!
Although many have thin soles -
Yes, the frock coats have yellow stitching,
Even though the bellies let us down from the oatmeal -
Yes, in braids under each saddle,
The horse is a sight for sore eyes, two packs of dogs,
Circassian belt, arapnik and spurs.
Here is the landowner. Down with the caps!
Silently he twirls his gray mustache,
Terrible in posture and magnificent in attire,
Silently looks with a commanding gaze.
Listens to an important regular report:
“The snake is dead, in the slaughterhouse Nabat,
The falcon went crazy, Handra went lame.”
He strokes, bending down, Nahal's favorite,
And, voluptuously worried, Impudent
He lay down on his back and wagged his tail.
In strict order, at an accelerated pace
The hounds are riding through the hills and ravines.
It was getting light; passing through the village -
Smoke rises to the sky in a column,
The herd is chasing, with a painful groan
Ochep creaks (prohibited by law);
Women look fearfully from the windows,
“Look, dogs!” - the guys are screaming...
They are slowly climbing up the mountain.
A wonderful distance opens up to the eye:
The river runs below the mountain,
The greenery of the valley glistens with frost,
And beyond the valley, slightly whitish,
A forest illuminated by a striped dawn.
But the hounds are greeted with indifference
A bright ribbon of fiery dawn,
And a picture of awakened nature
Not one of them enjoyed it.
“To Banniki,” the landowner shouted, “throw!”
The borzov workers go apart,
And the leader of the dog team,
A screamer-reacher hid on the island.
God gave him an enviable throat:
Then he will blow a deafening horn,
Then he will shout: “Get there, dogs!”
Don’t give him, the thief, any favors!”
Then he’ll yell: “Ho-ho-ho! - tu! - tu! - tu!!!”
So they found it - they followed the trail.
The boiling flock cooks,
The landowner listens, melting enthusiastically,
The spirit is busy in the powerful chest,
The ears are basked in marvelous harmony!
Littermates musical barking
The soul is carried away to that ideal world,
Wherever there are no payments to the Board of Trustees,
There are no restless police officers!
The choir is so melodious, melodic and even,
What is your Rossini! What's your Beethoven?
Closer and barking, and screeching, and screaming -
The lively mainland hare has flown out!
The landowner whooped and rushed into the field...
Such is the freedom of the landowner's will!
Through streams, gullies and ditches
He rushes madly: don't feel sorry for your head!
In stormy movements - the greatness of power,
The voice is imbued with the power of passion,
The eyes burn with a noble fire -
Something wonderful happened in him!
Here he will not be afraid, here he will not give in,
Here Croesus won’t buy it for millions!
Violent prowess knows no barriers,
Death or victory - not a step back!
Death or victory! (But where, if not in the storm,
And let the Slavic nature unfold?)
The beast recedes - and in mortal anguish
The landowner, crouched at the bow, is crying.
The beast was caught - he screams wildly,
He instantly opened his mouth, he’s sticking around,
Proud of the success of your favorite fun,
The hare's tail wipes off the armor
And freezes, bowing his head
To the neck of the foam-covered horse.
They hunted a lot, they jumped a lot,
They threw hounds from island to island,
Suddenly failure: Fierce and Torment
They rushed into the herd, scolding them,
Following them is Ugar and Zamashka -
And they tore the lamb to pieces in a minute!
The master ordered the troublemakers to be flogged,
He himself spoke harshly to them.
The dogs jumped, snarled and howled
And they fled when they were allowed in.
The ill-fated shepherd roars,
Behind the forest, someone is swearing out loud.
The master shouts: “Shut up, you beast!”
The lively fellow doesn’t let up.
The master got angry and galloped at the cry,
The man got scared and fell at his feet.
The master drove off - the man perked up,
Swears again; the master is back,
The master waved his arapnik angrily -
The brawler barked: “Guard, guard!”
The beaten guy was chasing me for a long time
Master with his poisonous abuse:
“We’ll stir you up with the oak,
Together with your loud-mouthed lackey!
But the angry master no longer listened,
He sat down by the haystack and ate hazel grouse,
Threw the bones to Nahal, and to the hounds
He handed over the flask, having tasted it himself.
The hounds drank and were sullenly silent,
The horses were chewing hay from the stack,
And into the blood-stained mustache
Hares were licked by hungry dogs.
Having thus rested, they continue the hunt,
They jump, squawk and bait endlessly.
Meanwhile, time passes unnoticed,
The dog cheats and the horse gets tired.
A gray fog falls across the valley,
The red sun has set halfway,
And showed up on the other side
Essay on the lifeless white moon.
They got off their horses; waiting by the haystack,
The hounds are knocked down, called into three horns,
And are repeated by the echo of the forests
Wild sounds of discordant horns.
It will be dark soon. At a quick pace
They drive home over hills and ravines.
Departing fields, the sounds of hunting horns, graceful packs of greyhounds, packs of saddle, crimson, black-spotted hounds, brocade caftans, scarlet jackets - all this was a long time ago, an infinitely long time ago, and that hunting life of our ancestors, in its original form, alas, will never be seen again will not come back. They were amazingly beautiful and sometimes gloomy and silent - all these hunters, reachers, stirrups, wranglers, hounds, shouters. They treated hunting and everything that surrounded it with great love.
Koch Joseph Anton. Landscape after a thunderstorm. 1830
Ancient Russian hunting embodied their dream of will and freedom. Their beauty was in a blood relationship with nature: with grain fields, with copses dressed in the gold of autumn, with quiet creeks, with sunset distances and clouds floating in the heavenly heights. The beauty of the action itself also lay in the fact that it was all native Rus'...
A.S. Stepanov. Hunting. 1885. Memorial museum-estate of the artist N.A. Yaroshenko, Kislovodsk
P.I. Tchaikovsky - Seasons - Hunting (September) 2:44 min, 1.88 MB.
A.S. Pushkin
Count Nulin (fragment)
It's time, it's time! horns blow;
Hounds in hunting gear
Than the light is already sitting on horses,
Greyhounds jump in packs.
The gentleman comes out onto the porch,
He looks around with his arms akimbo;
His happy face
Shines with pleasant importance.
Checkmen tightened on it,
Turkish knife behind the sash,
There is rum in a flask in my bosom,
And a horn on a bronze chain.
In a night cap, in one handkerchief,
Sleepy-eyed wife
Looking out the window angrily
To the gathering, to the kennel alert...
Here they brought my husband a horse;
He grabs the withers and the stirrup leg,
He shouts to his wife: don’t wait for me!
And he goes out onto the road.
In the last days of September
(Speaking in despicable prose)
It's boring in the village: dirt, bad weather,
Autumn wind, fine snow
Yes, the howl of wolves. But that's happiness
Hunter! Without knowing it,
In the departing field he prances,
Everywhere he finds his place for the night,
Scolds, gets wet and feasts
A devastating raid.
The history of Russian hound hunting, and primarily with greyhounds and hounds, is one of the most important pages of the past of our Fatherland, inseparable from the culture, traditions, customs and morals of Russian society. The very name “Russian greyhound” sounds the breadth and freedom of Russian open spaces, the antiquity of this unique breed sounds: “canine” - dog (obsolete) wool; "Greyhound" - frisky, that is, fast running. Dog hunting, with its centuries-old traditions, represents a whole layer of not only Russian but world history and culture.
Thanks to the artistic works of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dryansky, Machevarianov, the scientific works of Gubin, Rosen, Sabaneev, Reut, Kishensky and others, picturesque and detailed pictures of old national hunts, written in an original language, vividly conveying all the passions that once boiled during the baiting of the beast, have been preserved graceful greyhounds, swift hounds, dashing greyhounds.
S.S. Voroshilov. Hunting with hounds. Chuvash State Art Museum, Cheboksary
Even in the most ancient Russian sources we find the word “fishing”. In the “Initial Chronicle”, dated 1071, it is said that Prince Vsevolod near Vyshgorod in the forests “did animal catches, swept a snare.” The teaching of Vladimir Monomakh says that all his life he worked as a “fisher”, “he himself maintained a hunting outfit,” that is, a hunt - a stable of hawks and falcons. There are indications in the chronicles that already in the 12th century, under Vladimir Monomakh, “animals were poisoned by dogs.”
N.K. Roerich. Princely hunt. Morning. 1910
The first Europeans to see the strange Russian hunting dogs were the French, who brought to Paris in the 11th century not only the new bride of their king Henry I - Anna Yaroslavna, daughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev, but also three greyhounds.
Vasily III was a passionate canine hunter, who went hare hunting with dogs. When the hunt was not entirely successful, he relieved his soul with cages (for a decoy hare). Up to 300 riders took part in such cages. In 1509, Vasily III formed a special Trapper Order at court, which was in charge of “all kinds of amusing dogs, greyhounds, hounds” and from which he sent several of his greyhounds as a gift to the Danish king Christian II.
The son of Vasily III, Ivan the Terrible, like his father, loved hound hunting and observed the same crowd and pomp in its organization.
S.A. Vinogradov. Hunting with greyhounds. 1907. Lugansk Regional Art Museum, Lugansk
After the end of the Time of Troubles, the new Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich was faced with an unexpected problem - there was not a single dog in his Hunting Order. Some died during the occupation of Moscow by the Poles, others were taken away by the retreating gentry. In 1619, it was necessary to send “two hunters and three horse hounds” to the lands near Novgorod and Vologda. A couple of years later, life in the kennels of the Trapper Order began to boil with renewed vigor.
Alexei Mikhailovich, who replaced Mikhail Fedorovich on the Russian throne, was also fond of hunting. Loved order, harmony and “order” in everything, the Quiet one personally wrote in 1656 a detailed instruction for his falconers - “Uryadnik or the New Code and arrangement of the order of Falconers’ Ways.”
N.E. Sverchkov. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with the boyars on falconry near Moscow. 1873. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
The period of his reign also included the appearance of the first book dedicated to complete hunting - “Hunting Regulus, Belonging to Hound Hunting” (around 1635), written by a certain Christian von Lesin.
Peter the Great was not keen on hunting. He introduced other, European amusements for the nobility - assemblies with dancing and issued a decree: “Near Moscow in nearby places with their people in the fields and in them with hounds, so as not to go.”
But Elizabeth and Peter II were passionately ill and devoted themselves entirely to dog hunting, devoting a lot of time and money to it. Under Peter II, the Imperial kennel consisted of 420 greyhounds, 200 hounds, and the dogs had 70 servants.
Paying tribute to fashion, hunting in Russia increasingly became the main entertainment of nobles and landowners. By the end of the 18th century, huge kennels appeared, in which there were thousands of dogs. L.P. Sabaneev writes about this: “In those days, almost every independent landowner, especially in the Moscow region, was obliged to keep greyhounds and hounds, sometimes in significant numbers - in the hundreds.”
In Catherine’s times, the owners of large kennels were famous and noble, such as Prince G. F. Baryatinsky - the owner of the then famous thick-dog male “Beast”, who alone, without a pack, took on a seasoned wolf, Count Alexei Orlov-Chesmensky - the owner of greyhounds of all breeds . Orlov-Chesmensky, the same one who bred the Oryol breed of horses, also initiated the establishment of cages in Moscow (for wolves and hare), to which invitations were sent out in advance throughout Russia.
The significance of hunting at that time was also great from a political point of view. During them, many important state and interstate affairs were decided. For this purpose, foreign ambassadors and major diplomats were often invited to the sound of the hunting horn. The fate of an entire state sometimes depended on a successful hunt.
Throughout the 18th century, there was an exchange of bloodhounds with Polish and Courland nobles. And in the 19th century, aristocrats from Western Europe began to buy our greyhounds. At the same time, the first clubs for Russian greyhound lovers were created in England and Germany. Since the second half of the 19th century, Russian greyhounds have already spread widely throughout Europe and America...
Kruger Franz. Hunting trip
The “Golden Age” of domestic hound hunting ends with the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861. Owners of large kennels lost their serf kennels and the number of kennels decreased sharply. At that time, they were preserved only by true lovers of Russian hound hunting...
Ruisdael Jacob Isaac. Hunting. 1670
Later, in 1873, the “Imperial Society for the Breeding of Game and Game Animals and Proper Hunting” was created, which began organizing exhibitions, showing the work of dogs for agility and anger, awarding prizes and incentives...
In the second half of the 19th century, in the village of Pershino, Tula province, the Pershino hound hunt of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke N.N. Romanov was created. Contemporaries noted that the Pershin hunt was the only dog hunt in Russia at that time on such a large scale, with such purebred dogs, with such knowledgeable hunters and with such a structure for managing dogs.
The Pershin hunt consisted of 365 dogs, including 125 Russian greyhounds, 15 English greyhounds and two packs of hounds of 45 dogs each: one pack with the color of crimson Russian blood, the other - piebald (white with markings) ...
This hunt was known not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. People from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France, England, the USA came here to purchase elite hunting dogs of the Pershin type and take part in the hunt...
The Russian Greyhound type is a calm, balanced dog, whose true character awakens only at the sight of an animal rising in front of it.
A.S. Stepanov. Hunting with greyhounds. Etude. Irkutsk Regional Art Museum named after. V.P.Sukacheva, Irkutsk
Pershin greyhounds were distinguished by their special nobility of appearance, powerful frets, exquisitely shaped heads, groomed dogs and had exceptional agility. There were also so-called evil spirits among them, who furiously worked against the wolf.
A real ancient hound hunt was always “complete”: it consisted of a set that included 5-12 packs of greyhounds (20-36 dogs), a pack of hounds (18-40 dogs), as well as a whole staff that served the hunt and consisted of the head of the hunt - a hunter, greyhound keepers (with greyhounds), vzhlyatniks (with hounds), a driver (senior over the greyhounds), a driver (senior over the greyhounds), a stirrup (responsible for the greyhounds of the hunting owner’s pack), several laborer-hunters, a special convoy for “departing fields” ", i.e. for hunting trips away from home, riding and draft horses.
Carl Maria von Weber - Chorus of Hunters from the opera The Magic Shooter 2:42 min, 1.87 MB.
Hounds
The “set” of the Pershin hunt, in addition to greyhounds, included the scarlet pack of hounds, famous throughout Russia. In terms of appearance, they were very tall, powerful hounds with excellent bones, quite dry, very well dressed, with a thick undercoat. The dogs of this pack were distinguished by their viciousness and worked well against wolves. Many of them had deep voices. A flock of salt-and-piebald foxhounds, mostly fox-hounds, also worked here...
In Pershin, old dogs were not destroyed. They were kept until death. And when the dog died, it was given a separate grave and a cast-iron plate indicating: when it was born, when it died, who its parents were. Strict breeding records and pedigree books were kept. In addition to local peasants, 78 former soldiers of the Life Guards of the Imperial Hussar Regiment, whose chief was Grand Duke N.N. Romanov, worked here.
In the vicinity of the estate, a wolf farm with an area of 10 hectares was built, with three ponds, a hare farm with an area of about 30 hectares, and a pheasant farm located on an area of more than 50 hectares...
F. Liszt - Transcendental Study No. 8 - Wild Hunt 4:28 min, 1.8 MB.
And what hunts Valtsov himself described! Your heart skips a beat when you read: “...the yellowish color of his fur and his head held high proved that the mainland was favoring me. Knowing the edge of the forest was close behind me, I was very afraid to let the beast go and, moving towards it, pointed it out to the dogs. I had three males from my own pack, and among them was the handsome Armavir. Noticing the sleeping dogs, the wolf turned to the left, and they had to reach him in good measure through very deep snow. All three dogs rushed to him together and where they caught up with him, they laid him down there, but I didn’t have time to drive up, the wolf broke loose and just rushed to the edge when he was covered by three of Golovin’s dogs, who was rushing to my aid; six dogs squeezed a wolf into the snow, forming a star, I was already three steps away from them, when, incomprehensible to me, the wolf from below turned out from under a pile of dogs and, while they managed and rushed after him, moved away 30 steps and at full speed laid to the edge.
I have seen many times being hunted by the most vicious dogs of Nazimov and Novikov blood, and always in such conditions the seasoned wolves left; Having broken down after two moves at a nearby edge, the mainlander no longer allowed itself to be reached, especially in a heavy field, and then my heart trembled: “He will go away!” But the agility of the Pershin dogs came to the rescue again: a red bitch from Golovin’s pack flew out of the pile of dogs, with a terrible throw she got the wolf and hung on his neck, the males covered him and lifted him into the air at the feet of Golovin, who jumped off the sleigh ... "
P.P. Sokolov. Wolf hunting. 1873. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
First World War, the revolution and the subsequent civil war became a sad milestone in the history of domestic hound hunting and the development of hunting dog breeds.
Vos Paul de. Roe deer hunting
But everything in the world eventually returns to normal. Currently, active development of a project to recreate the Pershin hound hunt is underway.
I would like to finish this story with the words of the hunter, the talented Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev:
“I will now confine myself to the desire that hunting, this fun that brings us closer to nature, accustoms us to patience, and sometimes to composure in the face of danger, gives our body health and strength, spirit vigor and freshness... - would flourish for a long time in our Motherland!
Courbet Gustave. Prey (hound hunting)
AFANASIY FET
Hound hunting
The last sheaf has been brought from the naked fields,
A herd walks along the worn-out stubbles,
And the village of cranes stretches
Above the linden tree of a silent garden.
Yesterday it dawned for the first time on the porch
The evening rain began to freeze like stars.
It's time to saddle the agile bottom
And throw the ringing horn over your shoulders!
To the fields! To the fields! There from the green hillocks
Hunters' attentive gaze
Have fun on the islands of forests
And colorful forest slopes.
Long ago, having fallen from the heights,
Osinnikov thins out the thick depths
Above the echoing windings of the valleys
And waits for horns and flooding barks.
The wolf family den opened yesterday,
Will our persecution succeed today?
But then the hare flashed from under his hooves,
