12 by 10 (or what a snipe hunt can be in September).
One more summer without good snipe hunting. There is the third very hot and dry summer. The meadows drained during the "great achievements" of communism are almost everywhere dry. Snipes arrive. We see them in spring but then after the offspring they fly away, they go to the swamps, where it is not possible to hunt them. When our officials has decided at last to sign the documents on the opening of hunting with dogs, the snipes, namely the old males, are already beginning to migrate to the south. I usually hunt in August as much as time allows me. I always try to plan my schedule so that I can devote as much time as possible to my loyal friends – drathaars and my favorite passion – hunting with a cop for swamp, field and hog game. But I always have problems with the last one. Grouse should be hunted in the midst of hunting for marsh-meadow game. That's why I prefer meadows. I hunt grouse when they feed on the fields in August, what happens very often. But the real pleasure I get from snipe hunting with dogs. Hunting - is the most interesting, classical and romantic and I can repeat it many times. Why? Everybody who hunts with the dogs will understand me. But I’ll explain for beginners. This kind of hunting include everything what was invented by our ancestors centuries ago. Hunting with a hound is a classical hunting. This is a centuries-old selection of breeds, and the development of special guns and much, much more. What I personally liked from the first moments of hunting for a snipe was that I moved a lot and shot a lot. At first, I shot just terribly (according to my concepts). But I have brought about twenty birds from my first hunt with my first dog. There were much more birds in the early 90s. The reason was the availability of the necessary biotope for them. The cartridges in my bandolier were running out very quickly. I used from two to four cartridges for a one bird. I always missed the first shot. But I fell in love with this hunt and preferred it to everyone else at that time (August-September). Then, I began to learn from my dog how to hunt, how a bird behaves under a dog and, most importantly – how to shoot. I always tell everyone that my dogs have taught me to shoot. It is necessary to analyze constantly how the dog works , the behavior of the bird, and then you will be able to choose correctly the position and manner of shooting. The shooting position for me is one of the keys to successful shooting. It is very important not to injure the dog during the take-off and flight of the bird. Sometimes snipes just lift off the ground slightly and begin to write out their laces a meter from the ground. It’s better to let the bird go without shooting at all for the sake of the dog's safety. It’s interesting but I didn’t visit the shooting gallary while improving my shooting efficiency indicators. Once I hunted together with the best shooters of our region on parallel places. I’d heard the rapid shooting from their side and thought that now the guys would bring a couple of bags of snipes. But it wasn’t so. The number of birds was almost the same when we met at the cars. The experienced shooters were quite skeptical about my stories about the effectiveness of shooting until that moment. But that time one of my colleagues could not contain his surprise when he saw the snipes, I had got, though they all heard just my single shots. Later, after a little snack, we went back to different places. But my friend still followed me, as he later admitted to me. There was a great example when my dog Quin vom Rauhhaar stood on the counter very close to our parking place. He saw how I shot another snipe with the first shot, and determined for himself that the secret of my shooting lies in where I stand during the shot. I didn’t try to prove to him that it was necessary to go to that secret for several years and to train more than one dog! You yourself learn from the dog how and where it finds a bird while you train a setter to work properly in the field. You analyze always where and how the bird rises and how it flies at different times. It lasts for several seasons. You can trample several pairs of boots and, sniper shooting is provided for you. Your effectiveness goes through your head, first of all. It is impossible to hunt effectively for such nimble birds as snipes without understanding all of the above factors. A snipe means a snipe in English. That’s why those shooters who shot snipes perfectly were originally called snipers. I also shot several beautiful doublets at a snipe, a quail, and even triplets at those birds. I shot successfully at three black grouse from the brood, but the most honorable "royal" doublet is always considered to be at a snipe! I would like to tell you how I was lucky enough to hunt snipe. I should confess that hunting with a dog became for me so an intimate sacrament that I can’t share it with anybody else. The explanation is as simple as the world. The pace of our life is so high that it is necessary to slow it down and be distracted. Hunting contributes to this most of all for me. like no other type of recreation. The outright decline in the culture of human relations is increasingly forcing me to look for rest in the field. I prefer to go away from rudeness and hypocrisy to the fields, meadows, swamps at least for a while... everything is yours there. The most important thing is your faithful dog, raised and educated by you personally. You have a great mutual understanding and no one will take it away from you and this is what gives equal pleasure to both the hunter and the dog! It is impossible to know in advance who you will meet a curlew or a snipe when going into a field. There are differences in their habitats, method and time of feeding of these birds, but nowadays they are often found side by side on the same meadows. Here I would like to cite a small passage from the book "Hunting and Commercial Birds of Russia " (publishing house of 1900) Professor of the Imperial Moscow University M. A. Menzbir. He describes in detail about 130 species of birds, and gives methods of hunting them in his work. He illustrates the curlew hunting perfectly. Below is a description of the latter, given by I. I. Danilevsky. “The hunter is revealed only when hunting for curlews, when searching for and shooting them, all as he is; here you can see all his advantages and disadvantages: endurance or hotness, dexterity and agility of the sight. This is also a test of the dog's flair or laziness with which it is looking for a bird. At this time, a beautiful and efficient dog is fully expressed, when it grabs, pulls to the grea snipe and stops with trembling muscles, barely catching its breath; its eyes will be filled with blood and it will barely stand still, waiting for permission to move and drive the bird away. Here it moved, and a gray, well-fed great snipe flew out, slightly waddling from side to side. It grunts, stretches its flight, aligns it, doesn’t suspect that fits the fatal charge of the hunter at this time, with each new flutter of its wings.” The words of an experienced hunter with a good-trained dog are beautiful. The lost color of the speech of the XIX century gives this description a certain mysterious imagery, thereby enhancing the impression of perception of the whole process. That much is beyond dispute. I always go to the meadows with this idea of this hunt. Early in the morning, as soon as the wind rises (in our side it is always just after 7 am), my faithful assistant Ulli vom Rauhhaar and I were already in the grounds. The weather wasn’t bad for hunting, but it took a lot of effort to find our curlews due to the complete absence of wet places in the meadows. A steady north-easterly wind was blowing. There were no hopes for the abundance of the great snipes because the entire number of birds had already flown away by that time (the second half of September). There were some hopes to detect a flying great snipe, but no miracle happened. I wasted 5 hours walking all meadows but didn't find any place where the birds were. No great snipe, no corncrake, no quail. We walked slowly with my faithful friend to the car, we both were tired and somewhat relaxed. It's a ritual that we approach it from the side that always leave untried, in order to check it on the way back. Suddenly, as it often happens on hunting, when only about a hundred meters left, Ulli suddenly turned into the wind, pulled and froze in the rack. I was not far away and came to the dog. The stance was tense, the dog did not move at my approach, just squinted at me with a glance and focused immediately its attention on the object in 12-15 meters ahead. I noticed that it always does so when it’s absolutely sure that a bird is sitting there, not far away. I take the safety off the gun. Then sent it ahead. The dog left energetically and almost at the same moment; a bird flied up in 15 meters away from me. I raise the gun, a shot, the bird fell. It all took no more than a couple of seconds from the moment the dog was sent, and the bird fell. And how It usually happens in the last and one of the most interesting and exciting stages of hunting with a dog. Why so fast, an inexperienced hunter may ask. "Read above!” - I should reply to him in this situation. The whole hunting process: raising the gun, aiming and shooting happen at the subconscious level when you practice snipe and great snipe hunting with the dog for years. It became so natural part of me that sometimes I felt uneasy from the fact that my actions were more like the verified movements of a "robocop", they were so fast, calculating and effective. I practically didn’t make a mistake during several trips to the fields. But I can say so only about hunting for a great snipe, a crake and a quail. A snipe has been always special for me. Sometimes I missed the shot when tried to get a snipe because it was hard to work with, especially for the dog (when there were lots of birds). All troubles in snipe hunting and shooting are in the surprise and unpredictability of the behavior of this bird. It often runs away to the side and takes off, sometimes in 15-20 meters from the place when the dog starts to work on it, unlike a great snipe. That's why I’m not always ready for the bird to take off. Taking into account the fast and agile flight of the snipe and the time that passes until you realize what has happened, the distance for shooting is extreme. It takes time for a charge to fly the distance to the bird even if you aimed it correctly and fired and the bird can change the flight trajectory and to remain unaffected on the next sharp departure to the side. In this regard, I will allow myself to quote Professor M. A. Menzbir once again. "This minute of waiting is good ... and it often goes to hunters on a snipe hunt.” “A very hardy and not very hot dog is needed for a successful and good snipe hunting, which would not rush around the swamp with a quarry, scaring the bird away. A snipe is not a great snipe, a garshnep or a quail, which allow the dog to make a stand; sometimes you even need to scare them yourself because they lie so firmly; a snipe, especially not a young one, doesn’t withstand for a long, and as soon as the dog comes close, it explodes.” Everything was invented and noticed before us! That's exactly what happens on this hunt. We don't turn to the experience accumulated by our ancestors or make it very rare. Though we all have something to learn from them. So, one more bird! I got the result. But the result was more discouraging than satisfied me. On the one side, it was a success; but on the other, everything happened so unexpectedly and so quickly that Ulli and I almost didn’t have time to experience the full charm of the process. The car wasn't far. I didn't put the snipe in my hunting vest, but put it immediately behind the driver's seat. The dog came up, sniffed the captured bird again, as if it tried to feel those stimuli that help it to detect the bird, turned its gaze to me and walked away proudly. I knew perfectly well that it was showing its importance to me. As if it said: "How I gave it to you ("apply for a shot")!” I patted and hugged my friend, paid tribute to the perseverance of its search and the loyalty of its intuition. It was the biggest reward for it. It was noon. I decided to have a snack and move towards the house. The next thing that I did was to give Ulli a drink and put it in the shade, then I quickly built a fire, fried hunting sausages, drank tea on a golden root, which I always take with me in a thermos for running hunts. The golden root restores strength very well. I want to remind that the dog spends a lot of effort when working in the field. If we go straight, then the dog passes a few times longer distance with a fast gait. It is necessary to give the dog regular rest. The best way is to put it in the shade, especially if the day is hot. Then you need to give it a drink and wet your head and ears if there is water. The blood vessels are closest to the surface of the body in these places. It’ll help you friend to recover faster. Then we sat down into our old, but faithful four-wheel drive ISUZU-TROOPER, crossed a small swamp and found ourselves on the new place. I didn't have any special hopes for the presence of birds in this place, but ... the water that squelched under the wheels alerted me. It meant that there could be food for a snipe or a great snipe, and there could be birds. A small spark of hope flashed in my soul. I quickly drove to the nearest bushes, parked the car, released and laid the dog down, took out a gun, and we moved to measure the next kilometers. Almost immediately Ulli came across fresh bird tracks. We didn’t know which ones but were happy to find any. The dog perked up and wagged its tail, as if it told me that there was something to think about. My inner attitude has also changed. I concentrated and began to follow the dog's behavior more closely. Small areas of meadows with water began to come across. Ulli slowed down his movements next to them and began to unravel the intricacies of smells. It worked in the water but put its legs very accurately and slowed its movements. Suddenly he froze on the rank, and turned its head slightly to the side. My heart fluttered so that I could feel it beating in my throat. I realized that a snipe wouldn’t stay long in the water (I was absolutely sure that it was a snipe) and began to look closer to the small platform near the water. It was about 15- 18 meters from us. It had no sense for a dog to move and to make much more noise. The snipe would have snapped right away. I began to go it around by the dry ground. I took into account the wind and the direction how Ulli turned and was approaching to the place where it could be. I managed to approach the point I calculated about 20 meters at an angle of about 90 degrees relative to the direction of the dog's stance. There was a familiar chirping sound, and a snipe took off from the place and went to write out the monograms in air. I’ve expected the bird to rise, but it always happens suddenly and not in the place where I expect. I missed the first shot then I gathered quickly, and after the second shot the snipe interrupted its flight and fell, flying by inertia for another 20 meters. I didn't let the dog go to the bird's rise at first, called Ulli to me, laid it down and let it calm down. Then we had to find our trophy. My heart was still uneasy, since the trophy was not in the bag. I assumed that there were other birds on the same meadow. I always take the dog in such cases and slowly approach the place of the bird's fall, not to scare away other snipes. I approached the place, laid the dog and began to examine the meadow. Our snipe laid not far with outstretched wings. I approached it, took carefully the trophy of honor and returned to my assistant. It needed to sniff the snipe. We sat down next to each other. I replayed everything that had happened in my memory, put the bird in the back pocket of my vest and sent Ulli into the search. It was already more fun that we had found the birds. Probably, it was the autumn flight of the snipes. We passed several places, encouraged by the first successes. Ulli showed some beautiful stands, but I wanted to tell you about two more. Why? They clearly showed the combined skill and intelligence of a setter and the speed of reaction of an experienced shooter. The place was perfect for a beautiful hunt. A mown meadow with small water holes. The dog slowed down, stopped for a moment and ... froze in tension, pointing to a small mirror of water in the middle of the meadow. I began to approach it slowly, ready to shoot. At the same moment the snipe took off in 20 meters from me. I didn't even have time to raise my guns, as it disappeared behind the nearby bushes. I looked at Ulli with upset. But the dog continued to stand, and it had slightly turned its head to the side. I had firmly learned from all my previous experience to trust the dog, and realized that everything was not over in this scene yet. I guess that there was one more snipe in that direction. And I sent the dog. The snipe exploded, flied up like a candle and abruptly went to the left. The butt was in the shoulder, then the shot. The snipe opened its wings, numbed and planed down. It crashed into an alder tree in 70 meters from us. It caught on its branches and fell into the ditch. I put down and calmed the dog, then sent another cartridge to the store, took the dog and moved to the ditch. We could not find the snipe immediately. There was tall grass in the ditch and on its edge. After about 5 minutes of searching, Ulli froze and pointed to the bottom of the ditch. I parted the grass and saw a snipe that had not reached the ground, and hung on the branches of a bush. My dogs surprised many times with their ability to search for dead game in the thick grass, but that time its behavior was distinguished by special skill in such a difficult situation. That's what I can say THANK YOU to the drathaars for! I didn't lose a single shot bird with them for all the time of hunting! I think that the island setters would bother themselves so much. I managed to make a classic snipe doublet at the end of this hunt. I decided to finish the hunt, as we were both pretty tired, took our soul away in the process of hunting and were absolutely satisfied with our actions. So, we were finishing to examine another place. When I notice a place in the corner of the meadow that suited well for snipes that's why I corrected the direction and pulled Ulli close to me. The dog slowed it down and felt something. The ground there was soft. There was not much grass, and we were moving, almost without making noise. Ulli moved slowly and turned its muzzle into different sides. I saw how it scanned with its analyzer a small hole near a hillock about 30 meters away. It went 4-5 meters and stopped. I began to approach it. I knew about the ability of my dog to feel a bird in 20-30m and decided to go ahead of the dog and only then to send it. The snipe "exploded” after three steps. I was ready for the shot and hit it almost on takeoff. Suddenly three other snipes flied up one after the other a little to the right almost simultaneously with the first one. I managed to shoot at the second one. It fell down. Then I turned the barrel to the third one, fortunately it hadn’t fly far away yet and ... once again the gun failed me. My personal thanks to the locksmith Demin N. and the engraver Kuznetsov A. These valiant Tula masters awarded me the MC 21-12 (which was hand-made with personal fine-tuning). There was a problem with feeding the cartridge from the chamber. Before that I had another problem when the pin of one of the flat springs flew out. The fact was that I failed the triplet for "technical" reasons. It was a pity! I was so close to it. Ulli gave me the second snipe that it took from the ditch. We sat down to catch our breath to move to the car and then home. It was quiet and warm. My tired, but happy friend was next to me. You had nine snipes in the back pocket of my vest, one bird in the car, a beautiful doublet and a lot of impressions. But the most important thing was that I spent a wonderful day, experienced a lot of bright pleasant moments, rested my soul and ... Used just 12 rounds on 10 snipes as the experienced hunter! Good luck on the hunt.
