It is pleasant to note that over the current year the number of Club members has increased by more than 200 people. The club expands the circle of not just mountain hunting enthusiasts, it unites those who share the principles of proper ethical nature conservation hunting. More than 2000 reports have been registered by the Club members, this year alone 67 Club members have posted new reports. More than 35 people became nominees for the Club's awards.
Many members of the Club carry out propaganda work, explaining to the public the close connection between hunting and wildlife protection.
Fruitful cooperation with the Wild TV channel allows you to expand the audience.
The Club has also initiated several practical environmental projects.
E.V.Bendersky spoke about the implementation of the Club's environmental initiatives. This year, with the financial support of the Club members, the second stage of the program for the study, conservation and rational use of a new subspecies of the snow sheep of the Kharaulakh ridge was implemented, developed by the KGO together with the relevant departments of the Ministry of Ecology and Nature Management of Russia, the Ministry of Ecology and Nature Management of Yakutia, as well as a number of scientific institutions in Russia. The start of this program was given thanks to the scientific work of the All-Russian Institute of Animal Husbandry on genotyping biological samples of snow sheep, including those collected by members of the Club. Thanks to the research of Natalia A. Zinovieva (director of the Institute) and researcher Arsen Dotsev, the genetic difference between the snow sheep living on the Kharaulakh ridge in Yakutia from other subspecies of sheep was revealed. In August 2021, an expedition was undertaken to carry out current accounting work and collect scientific information about this subspecies of sheep. Based on the results of the first stage of work under this program, it was decided to include the Kharaulakh snow sheep in the rating tables of the KGO, and reasonable recommendations were given to international hunting clubs on the allocation of this subspecies in their trophy categories. This year, scientists of the Institute of Animal Husbandry gave the new subspecies of snow sheep the official scientific name OVIS NIVICOLA ERNSTI - in honor of the founder of this institute, the Russian scientist breeder and geneticist Lev Ernst.
This year, together with the Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, studies of seasonal movements and possible distribution boundaries of the snow sheep in the mountains of the Kharaulakh ridge were conducted using radio collars of satellite telemetry. Two expeditions were conducted to catch and tag animals with collars, their movements were tracked. Biomaterial was collected for further study, 4 camera traps were installed, data were collected on route records to estimate the population size. Currently, all collected data is being processed. Next year, work will continue on the capture and tagging of snow sheep individuals.
At the expense of the Mountain Hunting Development Fund, in order to popularize among the local population the protection of a valuable hunting resource – the Kharaulakh snow sheep - a playground was installed in the village of Tiksi.
The project to restore the number of Caucasian chamois and bezoar goat in the North Caucasus, fundraising for which was started back in 2020, continues to develop:
After the completion of the creation of the infrastructure of the aviary nursery, starting from 2021, the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the field of Hunting and the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Federal Center for the Development of Hunting" of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, with the support of the Club, is trapping animals to create breeding stock in the nursery. Today, the nursery contains 7 individuals of chamois and 5 bezoar goats. Of the 7 chamois, one was born as a result of a full breeding cycle with an aviary in our nursery, the second cub was born from a captured female. Two more individuals of the bezoar goat have been captured and are still in quarantine in the Republic of Dagestan. It is impossible not to note the contribution to the implementation of this project of the head of the hunting Department of the MPR Filatov A.A. and the director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Federal Center for the Development of Hunting Economy" Morgunov N.A.
At the moment, the work on trapping animals continues.
The implementation of such large-scale environmental projects would have been impossible without the financial support of Club members, project sponsors, participants of the annual Auction of the Club.
The President of the Club celebrated the new member of the Presidium of the Club Denis Morozov with the presentation of a commemorative plaque and badge.
Jose Antonio Hernandez-Blanco, Senior Researcher at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, made a presentation on the Kolyma Large Mammal Research Program.
An auction was held to raise funds for the implementation of environmental projects of the Club: restoration of the number of mountain ungulates of the North Caucasus and the study and conservation of the snow sheep of the Kharaulakh ridge.
The most emotional and solemn part of the evening's program was the awarding ceremony of the Club members with prizes and awards. For more information about the Club's prize system and their levels, see the Awards section.
The prizes of Rosokhotrybolovsoyuz "Magnificent Seven" and "Mountain Five" were presented by the President of Rosokhotrybolovsoyuz Aramileva Tatiana Sergeevna.
Representatives of the Precision Shooting Federation of Russia presented their gratitude to Vladislav Reznik for supporting the legislative initiatives of the Federation.
The list of all the nominees awarded at the evening includes more than 30 people.
