Elk is a mammal belonging to the order Artiodactyla and the suborder Ruminant. The name of this animal comes from the Old Slavonic ols, indicating the red tint of the fur of newborn elk calves. Also, this animal is called elk. It received this name because its horns are a plow, which is used when cultivating the land.

In summer

In summer, the diet of animals consists of the following components:

1. Leaves of trees and shrubs: aspen, ash, rowan, maple, bird cherry.
2. Umbrella high grass, growing in burnt areas and clearings: fireweed, fireweed, meadowsweet, nettle.
3. Plants growing near water or swamps: trifoliate, water lilies, horsetails, sedge (in spring and early summer).
4. Mushrooms.
5. Branches and berries of lingonberries, blueberries.

In summer there is a great abundance of food, but this is not enough for the proper functioning of the animal’s body. Branches remain the basis of nutrition, without which the digestion process in animals is disrupted. Due to the lack of branches in the zoo, herbivorous moose died, although they had plenty of other food - hay, concentrates.

in winter

During the first half of winter, animals eat deciduous trees and shrubs: raspberries, willow, pine, rowan. Linden and alder are useful for them. In the second half of winter, they feed coniferous trees. The transition to such foods is not due to the lack of suitable types of nutrition, but to the needs of the body. Forced winter food includes birch shoots, which contain low nutrients.

To survive the winter without harm to health, animals eat hay. They consume up to 1 kg of hay per day. Studying the food that elk choose in winter, scientists came to the conclusion that hay is not a forced food. The elk prefer hay, even with an abundance of deciduous and coniferous food.

IN southern regions animals feed on tree bark and lichens. In the north, the bark freezes, and elk cannot eat it, and the lichen is hidden under the snow. There are other foods under the snow: sedge and berry bushes. To avoid heat loss, they drink little water and do not eat snow.

Habitat

Moose are found in the Northern Hemisphere. Distributed in Russia (from the Kola Peninsula to the steppes in the south), in Europe (Finland, Norway, in the northern part of Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, in the Baltic countries). They also live in Asian countries: the Far East, Northern Mongolia and northeast China. The animal is found in the taiga part of Siberia, right up to the forest-tundra. They live in the USA: in the northeast, Alaska and Canada.

Now, the moose population is not in danger of extinction, but in the 19th century, the animals that inhabited Europe were completely exterminated. Since 1920, active measures began to protect elk and restore their population in European countries.

Area

In Russia, the area where elk live covers almost all forest zones and forest-tundra. In winter, the animals live in small island forests of spruce-deciduous trees, choosing valleys protected by mountains. The coverage of the habitat of these animals is very wide:

• in summer they can be seen in open tundras several hundred kilometers from the forest zone;
• sometimes, animals reach the shores of the northern seas;
• in winter they migrate south, to the forest-tundra.

Contrary to popular belief, moose are not a taiga animal. This idea was formed at a time when these animals were almost completely exterminated in the central part of Europe.

The following habitat zones can be distinguished:

1. Forest-steppe - coniferous or mixed forests, in which there are swamps, small rivers, streams. In the forest, moose prefer to settle where young growth and fireweed grow densely - the favorite food of moose. These animals do not live in forests without growth, with tall trees. Moose prefer to live along the banks of lakes and rivers, in willow thickets and sedge bogs.
2. Forest-tundra. Moose choose birch and aspen forests to live.
3. The banks of steppe rivers and lakes. They look for banks overgrown with bushes and small trees. Often, moose choose wetlands overgrown with bushy birch, pine, and willow trees. Animals eat aquatic vegetation.
4. Mountain taiga. Elk are found in areas with gentle terrain - wide valleys, swampy or saturated with water sources. Elk are found at altitudes of up to 1800-2000 m above sea level, and in Altai in the chars and wetlands - up to 2200-2400 m.

When choosing suitable living conditions, the elk looks for a good shelter from midges. This factor has great importance in the life of an animal. In places where they can be detected by people and other enemies, animals hide during the day in dense, swampy thickets of alder or coniferous growth. It's hard to see moose there.

Moose live in one area for a long period. This is due to the sedentary lifestyle of the animal and the fact that in search of food they can walk short distances. In summer, the distance of movement of elk is greater than in winter. In the cold season they roam to less snowy lands from areas where the thickness of the snow cover reaches 70 cm. This situation is observed in Siberia, the Urals and Far East. In spring, animals return to their habitual habitats. In winter, moose live on shady slopes, since the snow is looser in the shade.

Reproduction

By the third year of life, moose begin to reproduce. Mating begins in August-September and continues until November. The typical behavior of a male is to choose only one female during the rut. At this time, males can be aggressive and lose caution. They fight with other males, break tree branches with their horns, go out onto roads, and can attack people. The beginning of the rut can be recognized by the dull lowing roar that the males emit in the morning and evening.

Moose mate several times a day. Pregnancy lasts 225-250 days. Elk calves are born from April to July. The female brings 1 calf, weighing 6-16 kg. He is able to stand on his own a few minutes after birth. After a few days, the cub can follow the moose. At this time, the calf’s color is uniform, light red.

The moose feeds the cub for up to 4 months. Milk is similar to cow's milk, but differs in higher fat content and higher protein content. In six months, the weight of the calf increases 10 times. The weight of an adult moose reaches 360-650 kg.

Enemies

In the wild, the elk has little natural enemies. Its size and strength scare away small predators. Only bears (grizzly or brown) and wolves can attack them.

Bears prefer to hunt in northern regions where there is a lot of snow. They come out of their dens and guard the elk, or try to drive the prey into dense thickets that prevent the elk from fighting off with its hooves. Bears hunt persistently, sometimes they chase elk through the snow crust for many kilometers. More often, a bear attacks a pregnant moose cow or young moose calves. Females protecting their young behave fiercely. An elk, fighting off a bear, can injure or kill it with blows from its hooves.

Wolves prefer different hunting tactics. They choose areas where there is little snow, because in deep snow they cannot catch even young moose calves. It is difficult for a wolf to attack an adult, since it can easily deal with it with its hooves. Alone, the wolf rarely attacks. Wolves attack elk in a pack, coming from behind.

Smaller predators attack wounded and exhausted animals or young moose calves. The main enemy of the moose is man. Since ancient times, people have hunted moose for meat and hides.

Elk, almost completely destroyed in our country at the beginning of the twentieth century, now lives in most of Russia. IN Soviet time The moose expanded its habitat to Kamchatka, where it had not been before. Elk is a popular animal among hunters, whose meat is very tasty, and whose antlers are great trophy. The life of a moose and its habits will be discussed in this article.

Where does moose live?

With a high probability, moose can be found in swampy areas, near small rivers and forest streams. In these places they can feed on their favorite algae. In rivers and swamps, it also hides from insects, climbing into the water up to its neck. Moose are excellent swimmers and can swim across rivers more than 5 km wide. You can often see how a moose will dive into the water and can survive without air for more than two minutes.

The largest moose live in Eastern Siberia, the weight of males reaches 500 kg, the height at the withers is more than 2 meters, and the body length is about 3 m.

Life and nutrition of moose.

In summer, the heat forces them to be “night dwellers.” During the day they hide in the shade or climb into the water. In winter, on the contrary, the bed is arranged at night. The elk lies down in the snow, covering itself with it like a blanket, from under which only its head is visible.

They feed on branches and leaves of trees, moss. Moose are big fans of mushrooms; in winter they don’t mind eating the bark.

Moose rarely leave their native places and are sedentary animals. Only the lack of food and deep snow (more than half a meter) force them to change their place of residence. Looking for better life they can move 200 - 300 km. And under normal conditions, moose travel about 15 km per day. These are quite slow animals, they walk measuredly and leisurely, they go into a gallop only in force majeure circumstances; a disturbed elk can run more than 10 km. without stopping, until he reaches the most impassable wilds, where not a single lover of elk meat can reach him. Moose can run up to 60 km/hour.

The main enemies of moose are wolves, bears and lynxes. Most moose die from wolves; other predators are less dangerous for them. But a healthy adult moose can fight off any pack of wolves, so there are practically no natural enemies for physically developed moose. The elk defend themselves with the help of their front legs: when attacked by wolves, the elk stands with its back to the tree and strikes with its hooves. Often predators receive injuries that are incompatible with life, for example, wolves with a broken skull - the work of elk hooves.

Moose, like most other ungulates, are deprived of vision, so they rely on hearing and smell. Still standing man they may not notice at a distance of several tens of meters.

Moose are in great need of mineral salts, so they often visit natural salt shakers and lick salt from roads.

Males have antlers that weigh about 25 kg, which begin to grow in April, and in November, at the end of the rut, the elk shed them. Moose antlers are very well valued as a trophy, and you can buy elk antlers for no less than 15,000 Russian rubles.

The moose rut begins in early autumn and lasts about a month and a half. The roar of male moose can be heard many kilometers away at this time. Calm and friendly moose become very aggressive at this time. The vast majority of elk attacks on humans occur during the rut. Like other cervids, males engage in combat with each other, which sometimes ends in the death of one of the males. The winning male mates with a female moose and after 230–240 days, moose calves appear in the spring. Male moose almost always remain faithful to one female and rarely change partners. There are rarely more than two moose calves in one litter; most often one small moose is born.

Elk calves can move independently within half a day after birth; their mother feeds them with her milk for 3-4 months. The mother has been raising moose calves for two years and protecting them from predators. Often bears who decide to attack her cubs also die from her hooves.

In captivity, moose live up to 20 years, in conditions wildlife– no more than 12.

The elk, a description of which can be found in almost all reference books for animal lovers, is a large artiodactyl mammal belonging to the genus moose, the deer family.

Experts believe that its name comes from the Old Church Slavonic word “ols,” which refers to the red fur that covers the body of newborn elk calves. Another common name for elk in Rus' since ancient times is elk. Presumably it arose due to the similarity of its horns to a plow.

Where does moose live?

The description of the moose must begin with its habitat. These artiodactyls are widespread in the Northern Hemisphere. TO mid-19th century, a large population of elk was practically destroyed in Europe, with the exception of Russia. Thanks to conservation measures taken at the beginning of the 20th century, these artiodactyls repopulated Northern and Eastern Europe.

Nowadays, these large animals live in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Finland), Belarus, northern Ukraine, Hungary and Poland, the Baltic countries (Estonia and Latvia), and the Czech Republic. The largest population is located in Russia: from the Kola Peninsula to the southern steppes. IN North America moose settled in Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern United States.

Reading the description of moose in various sources, we can conclude that these animals live in mixed and coniferous forests with swamps, quiet streams and rivers. In the forest-tundra they prefer aspen and birch forests. The elk are also common along the banks and rivers - in floodplain thickets. In mountain forests they settle in valleys and on gentle slopes.

What does a moose look like? Photo and description

Moose is largest representative of his family. The height of the animal at the withers ranges from 1.70 to 2.35 meters, body length - 3 meters. The weight of an adult female is 300 kg, and the male is more than six hundred. In appearance, these animals seem clumsy: they have a tall body. Animals have powerful shoulders and chest. but not thin, muscular with narrow and long hooves. The tail is short but clearly visible.

The head is large and heavy, up to 500 mm long, hook-nosed. Large and mobile ears are located on it. The slightly swollen upper lip hangs noticeably over the lower lip, and under the throat you can see a soft leathery outgrowth - an “earring”, the length of which can reach 40 cm.

Coat

Even short description animal. Elk have a fairly long coat. In winter it grows up to ten centimeters in length. On the neck and withers it is even longer and resembles a mane, up to twenty centimeters long. Sometimes it even seems that the animal has a hump.

The soft fur that covers the head even grows on the lips. Only between the nostrils on the upper lip can you see a tiny bare area.

Color

The moose's fur is black or brownish-black in the upper part of the body. It gradually turns into a brown shade at the bottom. The lower limbs are whitish. In summer, the moose's color darkens.

Horns

Probably everyone who has read the description of elk in reference literature knows that elk have the largest antlers among all mammals. Their span reaches 180 cm and their weight is about 20 kg. The horn consists of a wide and short trunk and a flat, slightly concave blade surrounded by eighteen branches. In animals of different ages the length of the processes, their length, and the size of the shovel itself are different. The older the elk, the more powerful its horns, the wider its shovel, and the shorter its shoots.

A year after birth, moose calves grow small horns. At first they are very soft, covered with delicate skin and silky fur. The horns are pierced with blood vessels, so in a young animal they hurt when insect bites and bleed when wounded. After another two months, the horns harden and their blood supply stops. After five years, moose antlers (antlers) become large and heavy: the shovel expands and the shoots become shorter.

Lifestyle

The description of the moose gives grounds to assert that these animals prefer to be sedentary and move around a little. In search of food, they make short journeys, but remain in one area for a long time. In summer, the territory where moose live and feed is much wider than in winter.

The elk are leaving snowy areas. The first to leave their homes are the moose cows with their calves, followed by the males, as well as the females without offspring. IN reverse order animals return to their usual habitats. Moose usually live in small groups or alone. Only in winter do they gather in herds in places richer in food. Such places where many individuals accumulate are called a camp in our country, and a yard in Canada. With the arrival of spring, the moose disperse again.

Is it listed in the Red Book?

We have provided you with a brief description of the moose. The Red Book, fortunately, has not yet been replenished with these animals. But since its numbers are still declining, these animals should be protected from poachers. However, the elk is included in the regional Red Books of some regions and republics, where, due to various factors, its numbers are quite low. For example, moose is included in the Red Book of the Omsk Region.

Elk has occupied a special position in human culture since ancient times. He was considered the master of the forest, and some peoples even worshiped him.

Currently it is a commercial mammal. The moose hunting season opens every year, which attracts many hunters.

Habitat

The total moose population numbers more than 1.5 million individuals. Most of them live in Russia. Also big number animals live in Eastern and Western Europe.

In the period from the 18th to the 19th centuries, the population here was completely exterminated, but later it was restored thanks to conservation measures, such as:

• Ban on hunting;
• Forest rejuvenation;
• Regulation of the number of natural predators. For moose, wolves are the most dangerous.

Elk also live in Mongolia and northeastern China. On the American Continent, moose have settled in Alaska, as well as the northern and eastern regions of the United States.

Most of all, moose love mixed forests; they rarely live in open spaces. They can often be found in birch and pine forests. Animals often choose places near lakes or rivers.

This is especially true in the summer, because you need to escape the heat. In winter, moose move to coniferous forests, but try to avoid deep snowdrifts. They can stay in one place if the snow height does not exceed 0.5 meters.

During this period, it is quite difficult to determine where the elk live, since the herd can begin to move from the end of autumn and return back only with the onset of warmth. They can walk about 15 km per day.

It is interesting that the females with their calves are the first to leave the “camp” and only then the males follow them.

Physiological features

Moose are a very large species of mammal. Their weight reaches 6 hundred kilograms, with a body length of up to 3 meters and a height of up to 2.5 meters. However, males have these parameters, females are much smaller.

Males have very large horns, they can weigh up to 30 kg, and their width can be about 2 meters. Every autumn, the antlers are shed and during the cold period they grow back.

In addition, the number of branches on the horns indicates the age of the animal. In various photos, moose look different from other deer. This particularly applies to males - they are much larger and more powerful.

Despite the fact that female moose do not look as presentable as males, they are quite popular with the opposite sex. In females long legs, hunched back and large upper lip.

The animal has excellent hearing and sense of smell, due to which the elk feel great in the forest, but they have poor eyesight. So, they may not notice a stationary object from a distance of 25 meters. Animals swim quite well, this is how they escape heat, midges and hunger.

Moose do not have conflicts; if there is an opportunity to escape, they will not fight.

However, during a fight, they will not use their horns, but their front paws. Despite the fact that the animal has a large mass, its blows are very strong.

What do moose eat?

The main diet of moose is vegetation. These are mainly mosses, mushrooms and lichens. In pictures of moose you never see the animal eating grass. They simply cannot reach her because of their high stature and short neck. Animals are also not averse to profiting from leaves from various trees and shrubs.

Elks “gnaw” leaves from branches, holding them with their large lips. They can also feed on aquatic plants by dipping their heads into the pond.

In the fall, when the leaves fall, moose eat the bark of trees. In the summer they can eat very densely, eating about 30 kg of food per day; in winter this figure drops by half.

They can eat up to 7 tons of vegetation per year. They also need salt for their nutrition; they can lick it off the roads or come to the salt licks that rangers make for them.

How long do moose live?

Under favorable conditions, the lifespan of moose is about 25 years. However, in harsh natural conditions they live no more than 10-12 years.

The reason for this is heavy weather and predators that can exterminate sick, old and very young animals. Humans also have a hand in killing elk.

Being a game animal, the hunting season for it opens in October and ends in January. Elk meat is used in cooking; it has unique qualities and is very expensive.

Their skin and horns can also be of great value. However, moose are not bred in agriculture because it is too expensive.

Photo of moose

Russia is a bear. The beast is powerful, dangerous, unpredictable and invincible. This stereotype has taken root throughout the world and will probably never be erased.

Now, that's not true.

Russia is a moose.

Elk is the most mass appearance large ungulates in our country. Perhaps it is inferior in number to wild reindeer, but it is possible that it gained an advantage over it exactly at the time when our magazine was in print: the number of reindeer is depressingly falling, while the number of moose is growing. In addition, official data on elk numbers are the subject of constant monitoring - both by hunting users and by the authorities responsible for distributing limits. But who seriously thinks about reindeer?

Following the significant depression experienced by moose populations worldwide in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, somewhere in the sixties its growth began. IN Lately This growth is facilitated by an increase in the number of abandoned agricultural lands and their overgrowing with deciduous trees - now, 25 years after the collapse of the USSR agricultural machine, the thickets in the fields are an ideal feeding station for moose.

At the same time, we must not forget that in another 10–15 years the shoots will “go away from under the muzzle” of the beast, and the number will begin to decline again. By the way, elk belongs precisely to those species for which small-scale logging is one of the most preferred types of biotechnology.

The moose is a serious animal in all respects. Firstly, it is big, there is a lot of meat in it. Secondly, it inhabits various inconvenient areas that are practically unsuitable for all other ungulates. Elk can be found in burnt-out areas, in pine forests and spruce forests, in ribbon forests in the middle of the steppe in the Balkhash region and in the Chukotka tundra. What can I say - I killed one elk on the shores of the harsh lake Elgygytgyn, one hundred and eighty kilometers from the nearest decent forest, in the middle of the Anadyr Highlands. In North America the situation is similar: I was once interested in the fauna of the lower Mackenzie River basin, and the Canadian zoologist Bruce McLellan melancholy said that large mammals Almost no one lives in the dark coniferous taiga there - with the exception of moose, “who live wherever the bushes at least reach their sides,” he added literally. Judging by the fact that the remains of fossil moose were discovered even on the New Siberian Islands, this animal can exist in treeless areas - it’s just that there it becomes very vulnerable to predators. Well, especially for a person.

Popularizers love to talk about the antiquity of moose and their modernity to mammoths. This, to put it mildly, is not entirely true. Elk, in fact, populated those landscapes that replaced the vast grassy plains that created “that same” unique mammoth complex. Despite the fact that bone remains of true moose have been known since the Middle Pleistocene, ice age elk were relatively few in number. The real flowering and active formation of this species occurred only in the Holocene - and it was in the Holocene that moose reached their heyday.

It’s funny, but it was Fennoscandia, which today is considered the main moose “breadbasket”, that the animals settled at the very last place, about 10 thousand years ago.

So. At the beginning of the Holocene, elk lived almost throughout Europe. Then, under the influence of the anthropogenic factor, the border began to retreat to the east. The last moose was killed in Saxony in 1777; in Galicia - and even earlier, in 1769. At the end of the 18th century, the moose disappeared from the territory Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in East Prussia - during the First World War. Thus, in the twenties of the 20th century, the European moose survived only in Russia and Scandinavia.

What moose live in the world today and where?

European moose - Alces alces alces. The height at the withers of an adult male is up to 190–200 cm, body length is 260–270 cm, weight can reach up to 500 and even 600 kg. Antlers with an undivided spade and deer-like shape predominate. The color of the body and head is uniform, brownish-brown, the lower part of the legs is light gray, whitish.

East Siberian or Yakut elk - Alces alces pfizenmayeri . Adult males are 190–205 cm at the withers, body length 260–290 cm, horn span 100–110 cm, the shovel is divided into two parts. There are 1–3 processes on the front blade. The color is like that of the European moose, but darker in winter, and with darker legs, sometimes not different in color from the body.

Ussuri elk - Alces alces cameloides . The smallest moose. Adult bulls are 170–190 cm at the withers, body length 230–280 cm. The weight of males is from 250 to 400 kg (rare), on average about 300 kg. The antlers are deer-shaped, the span of the antlers is 80–100 cm. The number of shoots is from 3 to 8 on one shovel. The coloring is dark, but the legs are usually light.

Alaskan moose - Alces alces gigas . The largest moose are along with “Buturlin’s moose”. The most authoritative researchers combine them into one form. Adult bulls have a height at the withers of 190–220 cm or more, a body length of 270–330 cm, a weight of 400–700 kg or more. The horns are very large, with a wide blade divided into two parts. The span of the horns is 120–150 cm, and can reach 195. The color is dark, with an admixture of black, and a dark stripe runs along the ridge.

Buturlina elk, or Chukchi elk - Alces alces buturlini . The dimensions correspond to the Alaskan moose, and even possibly larger (the author personally weighed a male with a live weight of 810 kg). Horns similar to Alaskan, head and top part the body is brown, the sides are dark brown, there is a dark stripe on the ridge, the belly, with the exception of the groin area, and the outer parts of the legs are black.

Apparently, the Alaskan and Chukchi moose have the same center of origin, which was once located in the now submerged land of Beringia. A certain giant river flowed through it, the tributaries of which were the paleo-Anadyr and paleo-Yukon, along which the giant elk settled in both directions. By the way, for trophy hunters: the elk in most of the Kolyma basin is Chukchi. The elk of the Penzhina basin is Chukchi. The elk in Kamchatka is doubly Chukchi, because it was BROUGHT there from the Anadyr basin.

Western Canadian moose - Alces alces andersoni . Height at the withers is 180–200 cm, body length of adult bulls is 255–275 cm, weight is 350–550 kg. The span of the horns is usually 90–115 cm, the number of shoots on one shovel is 8–12. The color is lighter than that of the Alaskan subspecies.

Shiras elk - Alces alces shirassi . Moose of small to medium size. The body length of adult bulls is 260–270 cm, weight 300–400 kg. The hooves are small, very lightly colored. The upper back is light brown, the ears are pale gray.

Eastern Canadian moose - Alces alces americanus . Medium sized moose. The height of average bulls at the withers is 180–185 cm, body length 250–290 cm, weight 350–450 kg. The horns are usually with a wide divided spade. It has a light brown color.

Here is a real, and not a “trophy” classification of the “Elk” species - as it is seen by researchers, and not by the compilers of trophy books of all kinds, which are based, in addition to purely biological criteria, on a lot of others - including personal and commercial ones.

However, regardless of the color of the skin, the size of the horns and the number of shoots, for the vast majority of the population, elk is primarily an important meat resource.

As Vitka Maslov, a commercial hunter from the Omolon River, once used to say, indignant at the behavior of the German trophy hunters entrusted to his efforts: “A good elk is one that has a lot of meat in it!” What else do they want?

How much meat is there in elk?

Hunters and commodity experts have established with irrefutable accuracy: the yield of marketable meat products from an elk is about 40–50% of its live weight.

Game experts E. Knorre and Y. Yazan, based on numerous measurements, developed a table that allows one to determine with some accuracy the live weight of a hunted animal without directly weighing it, using a tape measure. How it's done? The oblique length of the body (from the glenohumeral joint to the root of the tail) and its circumference in the chest behind the shoulder blades are measured. It is further calculated according to the table below.

That's how much meat there is in elk.

Moose hunting

Moose in European Russia has long been the subject of endless division of limits and licenses. In Soviet times, sole ownership of a license (not for a collective) for elk denoted belonging to the highest circle elected: regional committee or city party committee, corps of directors of factories or state farms.

I will never forget how a certain head of department of one of the regions persuaded me:

- Mikha, why do you need a license at all? Won't you kill without her? And so your license will go to the right person- some cop or the head of a department in the regional committee!

As they now write on the Internet, “this is all you need to know about the licensing system in the former Soviet Union.” THE USSR".

The vast majority of hunts in the densely populated part of the Central Federal District are carried out in a round-up manner (or in drives, as they now call it).

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To a lesser extent, in the same regions with developed hunting, hunting from a tower or ambush on feeding grounds or on salt licks is developed.

But to the east of the Urals, moose hunting on salt licks is already the main one, and, perhaps, surpasses driven hunting in popularity! And the degree of diligence of the owner is determined, primarily, not by the area of ​​sown fields, but by the number of solonetzes planted.

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In areas with low population density and weak hunting control services, moose harvesting for meat from an off-road vehicle, snowmobile or motor boat is widespread. The real blow to the elk population was the fall in purchase prices for sable skins. Unexpectedly, an animal with a slaughter weight of 150–200 kg, provided the meat costs from 150 rubles per kilo, turned into a source of very good income.

Unfortunately, in the vast majority of regions, elk is also the most accessible species for hunting; and at the same time the most vulnerable.

I remember how at the beginning of the 2000s we made our way deep into the Kolyma Highlands in our combat research “shishiga”, scouting the habitat areas of bighorn sheep. Suddenly, a Ural drove out from around a bend in the river, on the running board of which stood a man with a carbine in his hands.

The Ural stopped, and the man turned out to be a local game warden. He checked our documents, assessed our equipment and arsenal, and asked about the purpose of the trip. When we told him about it, he twirled his finger at his temple and offered to join him - of course, in search of elk.

“The ram is small, and you have to climb the hell out of nowhere to get it,” as proof, he pointed his finger at the tops of the hills that had begun to become covered with snow. “The elk roams below, more than ten times, but is taken easily. With two cars and such guns, in three days we will fill the bodies with meat!

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Hunting “by roar” - with luring a bull with a voice imitating the rutting call of another male - is an amazing hunt, in which the shooter reveals himself to the greatest extent as an expert in the habits of the animal, a naturalist and generally a smart person. The fact is that when beckoning, you need to very well understand the behavior of the animal being called, remember about many external circumstances, such as the direction of the wind, the density of the undergrowth, the presence of convenient access routes, etc.

In addition, in uninhabited eastern regions, it is not uncommon for a bear to enter an elk tree with the same goal as the hunter...

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Hunting for elk from the approach on a fattening or lying down is one of the most beautiful and sporting hunts known to me. large animal at all. But it requires absolute mastery on the part of the concealer and the remarkable skills of the forester: the elk on the bed and on the fat is extremely sensitive and careful, in which he is helped by his amazing sense of smell and hearing. The exception is approaching it through freshly fallen snow: in such circumstances, the shooter can approach the animal on the prone area almost closely.

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Glorified by romantics, moose hunting with dogs (mostly huskies) continues to spread, although its popularity is constantly declining. Keeping beast dogs requires special conditions in an apartment/house (huskies generally live very poorly in urban conditions), as well as financial costs and constant maintenance of the dog’s shape, which becomes difficult when the number of training stations and experienced instructors is reduced.

With all this, I consider individual elk hunting in the forest without huntsman support and use technical means one of the most interesting, exciting and challenging.

Here I would like to remind you how in noble houses they tested the cook for her cooking ability. She was asked to cook meat and potatoes. Not profiteroles, not poached consommé, not some kind of julienne and other delights of European non-cuisine (I won’t say for whom, from my point of view, it is intended - I’ll offend too many people). Namely, fried or stewed meat with boiled potatoes. And if the cook coped with this task, she was recognized as fit to serve in a noble Russian noble house.

So: the ability to kill an elk in the forest alone is exactly the same general quality test for a Russian game hunter as cooking meat and potatoes is for a Russian cook.

By the way, I suspect that in most cases the cook was given elk meat.

Text: Mikhail Kretschmar

Photo: Shutterstock / Fotodom.ru