Прыгоды з жыцця прыроды
Adventures from the life of nature
Вячаслаў Грамыка
Для сярэдняга школьнага ўзросту
Выдавец: Беларусь
Памер: 263с.
Мінск 2003
Once again he reflected upon something for a long time. He counted four lines of tracks or. his stretch: two leading into the middle of the place of battue and two leading out. If the pair coming from the opposite direction was not mistaken five tracks were leading into the place of battue and four out of it. It meant that wolves had to be in the place of battue, but the other stretch had to be checked yet.
The old man uttered a new order and all the four moved along the other stretch of the circle. By all means, Kuzmich had to cover this bit of the route himself to be sure that his estimation was correct and only after that he could bring to an end the work he had begun.
Here and there on the route he adjusted flags, pulled the cord up at some places, though, frankly speaking he had no rebukes or reproaches to those who had arranged that line of battue. Nevertheless, looking at it captiously, there were some drawbacks — the circle was visibly distorted and the flags hung a little bit high, but he didn't want to stress it one more time, all the same there was no use from that and it wasn’t worth spoiling hunters' mood.
All of them were on alert and moved swiftly. As if they were still a little bit afraid that Kuzmich might see some errors in their work, but he didn't say anything, he only now and again pulled the strained lace lower with his mitten and hurried forward.
At last they reached the birch-tree of their start. Some more efforts and the “companions” were nearby. Here the old man ordered playfully:
“Company, stop!”
He even became somewhat cheerful. Everything was really okay, the other group of men making battue had not been mistaken either. Now it was definitely known that wolves had not left the place of battue and sat somewhere in the depth of the forest. Almost half of the work was done.
He sent the other group to the village and, together with his friend, remained there till time allowed. It was necessary to round up the circle. Together with his partner they smoothed
side areas of the battue, tightened undesirable “sack”, formed at the meeting place of the two groups. At some places they had to take flags off at all, transferring the line of the battue by about thirty meters or even more, squeezing extra broad circle. Much could depend in future on these seemingly minor circumstances, even the success of the hunting itself; that is why the forester did not spare time for these “trifles”. He kept on correcting the line, which seemed adjusted already long ago.
In the evening there was not an inch of spare room in our hut. Hunters and other villagers and farmstead men of the strongest cohort came here to take part in the hunt.
All in all, about forty men were chosen, but the rest were not willing to go home. Those, who had to participate in the battue tomorrow, even experienced certain difficulty to come close to the table, where the plan was being drawn up and discussed.
On his way to the farmstead, when returning from the forest, Kuzmich already reckoned what variant of the battue would be the best to apply. At first he decided to carry it out in an exclusive circle, without breaking the chain of the battue on the line of shooting. He intended to choose four to five best marksmen and post them in the middle of the circle. He also planned to take one to two men with him to disturb wolves at the edges of the battue, forcing them to rush around constantly. Anxiously wondering within the battue, the beasts would gradually, one by one, “run into” the marksmen. And single accurate shots would not cause their excessive anxiety and would not urge them on any unexpected actions.
Everybody got advice as to what should be stocked up for tomorrow, what should be put on, where and when they should get together. And they agreed to get together at our homestead at daybreak.
Having agreed on everything, everybody went home.
That time the old man slept badly, he feel asleep for an hour only by the morning.
He was not very much in a hurry, because it was still very early; he put on his clothes and came out of the hut into the homestead. No doubt, he was interested in the whether, upon which much depended during the hunt. The frost was strong
and the old man knew that when it was daylight and the sun slightly warmed among small clouds, the frost would weaken and that would play into his hands. Because it is well known that a strong frost disturbs hunting — it is not so bad for those who will got inside the place of the battue, but try to stand motionless on the firing line and you'll get your hands numb with cold and will get frozen yourself. It was lightly snowing at night, it was still continuing a little; that also played into the hunters' hands. All previous tracks had been covered with snow and they would not impede the hunters any more, would not confuse them with mystique of ingenious patterns. If the beasts rushed anywhere, their brand-new “visiting card” would remain after them.
In the same unhurried way he returned into the hunt, checked again his hunting supplies, sat down on the broad wooden bench hear the table and began waiting for the appointed time.
Mother also woke up and while Kuzmich was pacing in the yard, she managed to light the oven and was cooking breakfast.
In the morning people began to gather in the homestead. People of different age, warmly clothed in short sheepskin coats and quilted jackets; only a dozen of them carried guns, others were equipped with whatever they had. Six dogs of different colors and breed were also there led on short leads and chains.
Two harnessed horses stood nearby. And here the old Kuzmich appeared on the threshold. He greeted everyone in a loud voice, looked them over, checked the ammunition and harness, satisfactorily slapped the stallions on their cruppers. Then he again turned to the people, looked slyly at everybody with a squint eye and said:
“Well, the work will be a success with such dashing guys!”
Those present at once became cheerful, the breath of common smile and short remarks ran through the crowd.
“Well, let's go then!” said the old man.
The dry frosty snow favored the quick run and both skis and sledge lightly slid on the rammed thin crust of ice. Here the field began to alternate with coppices and first forest belt, like somebody's long tongues, cut into the broad expanses of fields.
As soon as they went deep into the forest the old man stopped the column and started “sorting” the people out,
assigning everyone his own mission. First of all he separated the marksmen and led them along the road to the right. The rest were ordered to stay in place and wait for the forester there doing nothing without him.
The most crucial moment was approaching. Carefully, not to frighten away the wolves, the old man was leading the hunters along the narrow forest paths to the place where he planned to arrange the shooting line. After they have turned again from the main road, they had to walk about one more kilometer. On a small clearing surrounded by dense fir-grove from every side the old Kuzmich gathered the hunters together and started giving the last instructions.
“You should stay motionless at your positions, constantly overlooking the radius of shooting. It will give the possibility to aim more correctly. Because, when beats start going it becomes completely difficult to shoot quickly and boldly, you can only wound the beast of prey.”
Besides, Kuzmich ordered that every marksman, having occupied the post assigned to him, had to camouflage himself noiselessly and trample down snow around him in good time so as to take more firm position and not break the silence during the battue with accidental crunch of snow. He advised to load their guns only after every marksman had finished with his camouflage and to leave the post (no matter how much time might pass) only by his order when he would sound “all clear” signal into the barrels of his fowling piece. It was allowed to shoot only forward and half an angle to the left and to the right.
“In no case should you shoot along the shooting line,” he stressed. “As well as at “alien” beasts, that is those, which are heading towards neighboring posts. Only if a beast succeeds in breaking through the shooting line unexpectedly, it is allowed to turn around and shoot after it.”
Having finished his instructions, the forester began arranging the shooting line.
The line turned out good. Every hunter standing on his position distinctly saw the marksmen on the neighboring ones, imagined the direction of the shooting line. They have done so, that the wings of spread-out flags by the extreme posts
ended at some forty steps from the marksmen. That is why everybody saw well the end of the cord with flags. The wind was blowing at the marksmen from the side of the battue, so wolves could not smell people.
Having finished arranging the shooting line, Kuzmich once again checked side areas of the battue and remained satisfied; then he went to the group of beaters.
This group rapidly moved forward as soon as the forester gave a sign. The beaters formed a long united chain, which completely blocked the circle of flags across. The line of battue turned out to be tight.
Sometimes it happens so that, feeling something wrong, a mature experienced predator stays for sometime somewhere, beaters pass by it and it gets the chance to run away.
The watch she-wolf seemed to feel something. As soon as people approached here and started arranging the shooting line, moving to the place from where they planned to begin rounding-up, the she-wolf watchfully and attentively listened to the sounds, but since people were far away from it, the she-wolf did not give any alarm signals.
It should be said that everything competes during hunting: experience, keenness of wit and quickness. The competition is not always fair and just. Sometimes the participants should not be immediately divided onto hunters and their victims, since very often a hunter may become the victim just like a wolf, but this represents the interest of such hunting.
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