Hunting in Russia

Hunting in Russia has an old tradition in terms of indigenous people, while the original features of state and princely economy were farming and cattle-breeding.

The word "hunting" ("охота", okhota) first appeared in the common Russian language at the end of the 15th century.

Following demise of the Soviet Union private individuals were allowed to lease hunting territories formerly used by government sponsored clubs.

[citation needed] During the Soviet Union time, a single agency called "Glavohota" was granted an authority to conduct hunts for the foreign hunters.

[citation needed] Russia's northeast part, the Kamchatka Peninsula and the coastal regions of the Pacific Ocean, have the highest density of brown bears.

Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan IV Vasilyevich was present at the bear hunts at the age of 13.

[7] Covers were drawn by sending mounted men through a wood with a number of dogs of various breeds,[8] including deerhounds, staghounds and Siberian wolfhounds, as well as smaller greyhounds and foxhounds,[9] as they made more noise than borzoi.

[8] Before the Emancipation reform of 1861, wolf hunting was done solely by authorised firearm holders, usually police, soldiers, rich landowners or nobles.

Upon returning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs developed a plan in 1846 to deal with wolves involving the opening of wolf bounties and appointment of government hunters.

In 1897, members of the Moscow Hunting Society killed their first 1000 wolves, though the number of professional wolf hunters at the time was rather low.

[10] After the Russian Revolution (1917), the newly formed Soviet government worked heavily to eradicate wolves and other predators during an extensive land reclamation program.

[13] Under Grand Duke Vasili III, who personally loved the huntings for hare, there were over one hundred chasseurs who dealt particularly with wolves and foxes.

[14] The court hunt of that time embraced the chasseurs with hounds (выжлятники), their head (доезжачий), borzoi hunters (борзятники), dog-breeders and beaters.

[14] As landlords, counts and dukes had kennels, there were stables and villages with serfs, who sowed oats which was to be mixed with meat as a hound forage.

[16] The first mention of Russia-related walrus hunting, in the Arctic part of the Northern Atlantic, is dated back to the late 9th century.

[17] At that time the Viking Ohthere of Hålogaland, sailing along the Kola Peninsula, landed somewhere on the White Sea coast and established trade relations with aboriginal people for walrus ivory.

The collapse of Russian walrus hunting happened at the first half of the 19th century, being a result of interaction of both ecological and anthropological factors.