From a cop to a snipe. Secrets of hunting swamp game - snipe, great snipe, harshnep with and without dogs Where to look for great snipe

Among the hunters there are lovers of certain types of hunting: for duck, with hounds, for ungulates, with flags, etc. There are fewer hunters for marsh game. This is understandable. To successfully hunt swamp game, you need to have and train a gun dog. The hunter himself, in addition to knowing the work of the dog, must also shoot well, since shooting is done only in flight.

Among the three representatives of truly swamp game (snipe, great snipe and harshnep), which is also called red or noble, great snipe among hunters occupies a special place both for the beauty of hunting and for its taste.

Great snipe hunting is purely Russian. In Western Europe, it happens occasionally, on a migration, on the American continent it is not at all.

Without dwelling in detail on the biology of great snipes, we only note that they arrive in central Russia at the very end of April - early May. At the beginning of May, currents begin, and from the second half of May - nesting. Great snipe nests in hummocky impassable places, always bordered by bushes. However, it lives in low-lying places, located mainly in floodplains of rivers that overflow widely in spring or adjoin lakes and ponds. Old hunters call such places sweaty: they are not very wet, swampy, but quite wet. Typical lands are reclaimed meadows with maps, on which hay is periodically carried out, and then aftermath grows. In freshly mowed areas, the great snipe does not hold, or it happens early in the morning and in the evening. He doesn't like tall grass either. Grass up to the knees is no longer a place for a great snipe. Mowed areas among high sedge, on which he finds both food and immediate shelter, are his favorite places, especially where haystacks used to stand.

In rainy times, the great snipe climbs to higher, which means dry places - wastelands, pastures, and even low mounds, where it feeds on insects. L.P. Sobaneev noted that such a wasteland great snipe is always more full than a swamp one.

I would like to emphasize once again that the word "swamp" is not entirely appropriate here. Where a hunter wanders in high boots through the thickets, driving out a duck and occasionally raising a snipe, there is no place for a snipe.

Walking on snipe lands is always easy - these are floodplain or low-lying places, meadows, and not swamps. However, the soil in such places is always chernozem or peat. So, on a hunt in the seemingly beautiful floodplain of a small river in the Arkhangelsk region, several Moscow hunters walked for half a day without raising a single great snipe. And only one experienced hunter, picking the ground with his boot and seeing sandy, even small-stony soil, explained the absence of great snipes by this. In general, it can be said that the great snipe occupies an intermediate station between the swamp, in which the snipe lives, and the dry meadow, in which the quail keeps. But the corncrake - an inhabitant of wet meadows overgrown with taller grass or even sedge - is adjacent here to the great snipe.

Precisely because the great snipe keeps in such seemingly empty places for a hunter of waterfowl or upland game, and even its “modest” behavior, in contrast to the snipe that catches the eye from spring to early summer or the corncrake (nicknamed for this dergach), led to the fact that, although many people read or heard about the great snipe, few people saw it or paid attention to it. Occasionally, a duck hunter, crossing a damp meadow from lake to lake, will see this bird rising from under his very feet and lazily pulling low above the grass. But the great snipe is well known to hunters with cops and spaniels. Not even hunters, but simply the owners of these dogs know it: great snipe is an excellent object for training and field trials, as it withstands STAND well.

I remember a funny incident. One Muscovite, the owner of an Irish setter, trained him in the floodplain lands of Beloomut, on the Oka River, where the base for training and testing is located, and all conversations in one form or another are devoted to the great snipe. Arriving for the summer in the Arkhangelsk region, she began to ask local foresters where there is a great snipe. To the great amazement of those who were talking, it turned out that she did not know either the capercaillie or the hazel grouse, and the foresters had heard absolutely nothing about the great snipe, which she so desired.

As with any hunting with a dog, successful snipe hunting depends on the hunter and his dog. The dog must have a sense of smell, a fast and wide enough search, as it is necessary to search large spaces, and, of course, a firm stance. All six breeds of pointers bred in Russia have such qualities: pointer, setter English, Irish, Scottish, or Gordon, and continental pointers (kurtshaar and drathaar). Spaniels are also good. They work without a stance, but with their active behavior and quickening movements of the docked tail, they clearly indicate the bird and serve it under the shot.

When hunting with cops, you should try to improve the dog's stance. If you are not sure of its hardness, you will always be in a hurry when the dog finds a bird, you will not always choose an advantageous position for shooting, and despite the fact that the authors of articles about hunting for a great snipe usually write that shooting is easy, give a miss. The ardor and the haste associated with it, the lack of self-confidence and the dog is the main reason for all misses.

Surprisingly, other breeds of hunting dogs sometimes work in the great snipe. I had to see how the Russian hound diligently sorted out the nests of feeding snipe and finally raised one of the birds on the wing. An even more striking example came when an East Siberian Laika belonging to my brother, in a meadow adjoining the Novgorod river Radol, pulled several steps against the wind and, raising its front paw, stood on a stand, perhaps, however, not as tense as that of a setter. When a great snipe rose in front and pulled low over the aftermath, I didn’t even fire a shot out of surprise, which caused great displeasure of my brother, who was watching what was happening from the side.

Great snipes are hunted not only in the morning and evening, but throughout the day. Often in the middle of the day, he can stand the dog's stance even better. When the dog is on the stand, do not run headlong towards it, as the great snipe holds the stand well, approach calmly. When you are level with the dog, quickly look around the area to prepare for a shot, and send it to pick up the bird. There comes a very crucial moment. After the bird takes off, the dog should remain in place, but rather lie down. When taking off, the great snipe makes an elastic sound “prr” with its wings and quite often grunts, as if dissatisfied with the fact that it was disturbed. Usually, with this quacking, he warns his relatives about the danger. It rises, as the hunters say, lazily, it always flies straight, or along a non-steep arc, not quickly compared to other types of game, calmly. Shooting it is not difficult, in any case much easier than snipe. Among the great snipes there are those that do not fly out from under the counter, but run away, literally like a corncrake. Spaniels work on such "runners" or "runners" very recklessly, often with a call on the hunter, after a successful shot they serve the prey. From the pointing dog, the supply of game, in this case the great snipe, is not required. There is an opinion among theorists that if a dog gives game, then, rushing towards it after a shot, it learns to chase it. Opponents, however, note that it is precisely those dogs that have never fetched game that are chasing game.

Here the dog caught the smell of a fattening great snipe, stretched out a few steps and became picturesque. The hunter approaches her, gun at the ready. Sometimes the bird does not stand upright and flies out when the hunter approaches. But more often the great snipe "strongly" holds the stance, and in order to raise it, the hunter sends the dog forward. Such an advancement of the dog to the bird, in order to raise it on the wing, to give it a shot, is called eyeliner. Different dogs perform it in different ways: quickly and even swiftly, especially if they feel that the bird is starting to run away, or slowly, as if bumping into an invisible obstacle all the time. Some dogs do not move towards the bird from the stance at all on command; they say about such people: "has a tight stance" or "suffers on the eyeliner." In field trials, points are reduced for a tight eyeliner to a pointing dog. When hunting, one often observes how a hunter, holding a gun in one hand, pulls a dog by the collar from the rack to the bird with the other, and even pushes it with his knee in order to eventually raise the game on the wing. And as a result of such actions, absurd for hunting, the game either runs off to the side, or suddenly takes off, and the hunter, who is not prepared for a shot, gets a miss. And this is a miss on the bird that the dog found and on which it became. How embarrassing for a hunter!

What to do in such cases when the dog on the hunt grieve and does not feed the bird from the rack? It is very simple: the hunter himself must raise the bird, who, having prepared for the shot, calmly moves forward. You will get the same exciting shooting as on the stand in the exercise "from the approach". By the way, in some countries (in particular, in the USA) a pointing dog is not required at all to pick up game after the rack. This is explained by the fact that quite often (and hunters know this) when lifting a game, a dog fails to shoot: there is a danger that a dog will fall under the shot. There are plenty of such cases in hunting practice. If the hunter himself

He moves towards the game, then in any case he is sure that the dog does not fall under the shot. I repeat, these are the arguments of the hunters of those countries in which they do not require eyeliner to the bird after the rack. It is customary for us to have a dog serve a bird from a rack, as if completing the work. But if she has a tight eyeliner....

Summer hunting for great snipes in most regions of Russia begins two weeks earlier than the opening summer-autumn hunting season, i.e. falls at the very end of July or the first half of August. By this time, young birds are getting out of strong places to open meadows. At the same time, old males, having molted in hard-to-reach supports, are the first to migrate to the south, along the way forming the so-called vysypka together with local great snipes. The second, more abundant, wave of autumn rashes usually occurs in the first ten days of September. In the old days, it was said that the flight of great snipes coincides with the departure of cranes. Sometimes great snipes are delayed even at later dates - until the end of September and even until the beginning of October.

Great snipe is a medium-sized bird of the snipe family. It lives in swampy areas, in flood meadows, in wet lowlands. Great snipe's coloration perfectly matches the surroundings: spotted, brown-gray with ocher spots, it allows you to perfectly camouflage against the background of swampy hummocks. From a relative of the snipe, the great snipe is distinguished by white stripes on the wings, a shorter and thicker beak and, of course, size. Great snipe is almost twice as large and reaches 200-300 grams, while the weight of snipe usually does not exceed 150 grams.

Description of the bird

Great snipe leads a secretive way of life, feeds on worms, various insects, roots. The bird belongs to migratory: with the onset of cold weather, it leaves its habitat and goes for wintering to Africa, to the equator region. Departure and arrival dates vary greatly depending on the area. In the spring, the mating season begins for the arriving birds almost immediately. Great snipes are characterized by displaying, which, as in the case of black grouse, occurs on the ground.

Usually, clearings and lawns in thickets of marsh vegetation serve as the current place. Currently, there are no significant leks in terms of the number of participating birds, which is most likely due to a general decline in great snipe populations.

Great snipes hatch at night, after sunset. Females are the first to arrive at the current and announce themselves with characteristic quacking sounds. Males join a little later, their behavior on the current is very similar to the behavior of capercaillie, black grouse: they make peculiar sounds, puff up their feathers, walk around the females. There are often fights. The mating continues all night, and only at dawn the formed pairs move deep into the swamp for mating. This is where the male's participation in the reproduction process ends. The female arranges a nest, looking for a small hollow in a dry place in the marsh thickets and lining it with grass and feathers. The clutch usually contains 4 eggs, which are incubated for an average of 18 days. Chicks develop very quickly, becoming completely independent in about a month.

Great snipe hunting dates

The hunting season for great snipe, as well as for all marsh-meadow game, opens at the end of July or at the beginning of August and continues until the birds fly south. In the spring it is forbidden to shoot the great snipe.

Features of hunting for great snipe

Great snipes are hunted with specially trained dogs - cops (setters, pointers, kurtshaar, drathaar and others). There is a distinction between local snipe hunting and rash hunting.

Hunting with a drathaar on a local great snipe (living in a given area) is usually carried out in the process of hunters leaving to catch any marsh-meadow game: snipe, great snipe, harshnep and other species. These birds live in approximately the same conditions, which makes it possible to hunt many representatives of this group in the same area.

It is very difficult to notice a great snipe among the marsh vegetation, it lets a person close, and then abruptly takes off from under the very feet. A well-trained dog finds a bird and, having made a stand, raises it on the wing. The flight of the great snipe is rather slow, straightforward and low, so it is not difficult to get it. Usually they beat the bird not immediately after takeoff, but after releasing it by 20 meters, so as not to break the carcass. If the shot does not reach the target, the great snipe flies off several hundred meters and sits in the thick of the marsh vegetation, immediately clinging to the ground and leaving almost no smell, so it is rather difficult for the dog to find it. Having obtained one great snipe, the hunter carefully examines the site, as several birds often sit close to each other.

Hunting on vysypka also takes place with the participation of a cop. It begins closer to September, when birds from more northern regions, migrating to the south, stop for a short time to rest.

The stopping places are repeated from year to year, therefore, experienced hunters, observing migratory great snipes for several years, have a good idea where they can be found with a high probability.

Having discovered outbursts, where up to several dozen birds can be found in a small area, a successful hunter is able to shoot a rather impressive amount of this beautiful game at a time.

Great snipe- slightly larger than snipe, carcass length up to 29 cm, but at the same time, it is more massive and reaches 300 grams in weight. The color of the bird is brown above with many inclusions, lighter below, a dark stripe stretches from the beak to the eyes and two white stripes on the wings.

bird biology

Great snipe nests in swamps, lowlands of rivers and in meadows of coniferous forests from Scandinavia to the Yenisei. Great snipe is a migratory bird and flies to the Sahel (tropical savannah of Africa) and southern Africa for wintering. Great snipe arrives for nesting later than snipe, and flies earlier for wintering.

An interesting feature of this bird is that it develops a speed of up to 100 km / h and can fly a distance of 6500 km without stopping. For this reason, the great snipe is one of the fastest migratory birds.

Great snipe swims on the ground, among bushes, trees and thickets of grass. By sunset, the female arrives on the lekking ground and reproduces sounds in the form of “croaking”, signaling the males about her arrival. The current of males is similar to the current of a black grouse, it also spreads its wings, tail and feathers, walks around the female and makes peculiar sounds. The current lasts until the morning and is accompanied by fights among males. After the current, they disperse to their habitats.

By the beginning of June, the female makes a nest in a dry place and lays up to 4 eggs. After 20 days, chicks appear, which after a month leave the female and live on their own.

By the beginning of August, great snipes move from secluded places to open spaces, where there is more food. The bird feeds on worms, insects and occasionally vegetation. By the time of the flight to wintering, great snipes become very fat and become inactive.

With the exception of the common snipe, the forest snipe also lives in our country, which is similar to the Asian snipe, but it is much larger. It is similar to the common snipe - the mountain snipe, which is slightly larger, the color is similar to the snipe, but has a large number of white spots and borders.

A shotgun for hunting snipe must be chosen with barrels of cylindrical drilling, and not with a heap fight. At a greater distance, it is much more difficult to hit a game with a heap fight, and at close range, due to the accuracy of the shot, the bird will turn into a sieve. The fraction must be chosen small, for example No. 8.

Great snipe hunting with a cop

Great snipe hunting is identical to hunting snipe with a cop. The hunter enters the grounds early in the morning with his cop, which he sets out in search of game against the wind. Hounding, stands up when game is detected, signaling to the hunter about the discovery of game. The hunter, having prepared for the shot, gives the command to the cop to raise the game. Great snipe rises on the wing without sound, does not create zigzags during flight and flies off for a short distance. It will be much harder to raise the great snipe a second time, because. having fallen to the ground, it presses strongly against the ground and does not give a smell to the cop.

The peculiarity in hunting for a great snipe with a cop is that the snipe is very lazy and calm, which makes it possible for the hunter and the cop to get very close to the bird. At the same time, the great snipe is patient with the pointer's stance. In this connection, many hunters train their pets when hunting for great snipe.

From the end of August, the great snipe, which lives in the northern regions, begins to migrate for the winter. When traveling, he stops in places where snipe lives: swamps of rivers, lakes and swamps, for rest and feeding. Having found the bird's resting places during the flight, you will enjoy hunting for great snipe, having obtained a large amount of game.

Great snipe hunting without a pointer is very difficult. We have already said that the great snipe is very patient, calm, and when the hunter approaches, it freezes, clinging tightly to the ground. Therefore, it is difficult for a hunter to raise such a bird on the wing.

Video: Great Snipe, hunting with an English Setter

Some lucky ones, who know exactly where the great snipe will be exactly, quietly remain silent in the fist, revealing the secret of the coordinates of these places only to their closest friends, and then under great secrecy. Most of the owners of spaniels, spaniels, cops and those “close” to them frantically rush around the Internet and call both their friends and hunting societies in the hope of finding this “mysterious bird”.

So why such an interest in this small wader, which is so often confused with snipe, and special "experts" - even with woodcock? Great snipe, a typical representative of the waders, lives in the European part of Russia and is not only known as one of the most massive hunting bird species that are hunted with gun dogs, but is also considered an enviable “trophy” among hunters. Yes, yes, the smallest, but a trophy. At a time when some go to Africa or climb the mountains in the hope of fulfilling their cherished hunt, others hunt in the meadows for "red" game. "Red" not by the color of plumage or some other part of the body, but by its value for the hunter. It was to the "red game" that our great-grandfathers and grandfathers attributed these small waders for several centuries. The Russian intelligentsia preferred this type of game to many other hunts. Turgenev, Nekrasov, Tolstoy, Aksakov and many other classics of Russian literature glorified the hunt for this small trophy no less than the hunt for a bear or a wolf. We are not far behind them either.

This year turned out to be a “litmus test” for checking the lands for the presence of the great snipe and, as most decided, its complete absence. Numerous rains in June and July soaked the fields so much that most state farms and farmers simply could not go to them.

“Technique gets stuck,” they complained, “impossible to mow.

“Yes, and what’s the point of mowing,” others justified, “if the hay does not dry, but rots, and then it cannot be taken out of the field.

In all places where there were usually hayfields and a great snipe, there was tall grass, and the search for the bird, according to most hunters, was inconclusive. But the snipe did not disappear anywhere. Abundant rains and damp soil have created an excellent forage base for him. But the search for it has become much more complicated: after all, both dogs and people quickly get tired in the thick grass, and the smell spreads much worse. The only winners were the spanielists, whose dogs, working short, literally picked the great snipes out of the grass. However, there were few birds. So where did she go, the hunters wondered. Probably moved south, they decided.

None of this happened. Great snipe, like snipe, prefers to stay in low grass, in which he can clearly see the approach of predators and humans, and either hide or fly away from danger. Therefore, most of the birds that fledged immediately migrated to floodplains with sparse vegetation, but plentiful food, or to pasture lands, where only cows disturb them. And rare meetings with great snipe this summer are explained by the area being too large due to rains for their resettlement.

Actually, all this was not surprising. After all, in the past dry years, great snipes kept to the same places, but more concentrated. After all, it was on the meadows and floodplain pastures that the most damp land was, and hence the abundance of food. When the meadows dry up, then all the sandpipers accumulate at the very edge of the water, where it is easiest to get food. We observed this in Pripyat, having arrived there to hunt several years ago. The summer was hot, and all the magnificent mowed meadows, so tempting for hunting with setter dogs, rattled like drums from the drought at every step. But the whole bird gathered in small damp old women and exploded in whole flocks when approaching it.

This year really turned out to be exceptional, especially in those farms that opened hunting with gun dogs in time. The bird was everywhere. And where they also mowed the grass, not for hay, as they complained in the Moscow and Tver provinces, but for silage, the bird was distributed over all the meadows and represented an excellent opportunity for hunting. Hunters only shrugged their hands:

“And how do we have so many of them here?”

Yes, nowhere. There was always a lot of it, only the hayfields dried up so much by the opening of the hunt that no great snipe sat on them: he simply had nothing to eat there. In the same year, he was distributed throughout the territory and fattened for his own pleasure.

The first hunts of early August were so impressive that there seemed to be no end to them. But literally in a week it was felt that the birds were getting smaller and smaller. If at first they met in rashes, and among them young birds that had not yet had time to accumulate fat prevailed, then by mid-August they were mainly singles or pairs of well-fed birds. Night fogs and cold rains affected the concentration of great snipes, and they began to migrate to the south, although there was no clear passage yet. It was necessary to comb the surrounding fields well in order to find feeding birds, although at the beginning of the hunt it was enough to visit only one meadow to give the dog plenty of work, and the hunter to fulfill the shooting rate. Once again, the thermophilic nature of these birds and the need to move to the wintering grounds had an effect. “Our” great snipes winter in Africa and, like all long-distance migrants, fly away from us quite early.

Therefore, the stubbornness of a number of hunting farms is incomprehensible, which, under various pretexts, do not open hunting with cops and spaniels in a timely manner, but earlier than the general opening according to the pen.

“Yes, we don’t have hunters with gun dogs,” some say, “so we won’t open the hunt ahead of time.

“If we open the hunt for you earlier,” others echo them, “then you will scare away all the ducks with us.

Dear gentlemen, but what about the law "On Hunting" and the Rules of Hunting, which spell out in black and white the terms for the opening of hunting, including for hunters with gun dogs? And not for individual farms, but for the entire hunting world of Russia without exception. You can’t continue to live the old fashioned way and according to the old Rules of hunting of the “eighties”. It's good that most hunters are inert people and have not yet gone to court to resolve this issue. In addition, most gun hunters do not need your duck in any form, as long as there is an opportunity to hunt swamp-meadow game: great snipe, snipe and corncrake.

Dupel deceived everyone this year. He ate, gave good offspring in tall grass and moved south to please us next year with abundant rashes, becoming for someone the most desired trophy!

The great snipe is similar in appearance to the snipe, but somewhat larger, the beak is shorter, the overall build is denser, the color on top is black-brown with ocher-yellowish stripes and spots. Great snipe is capricious in choosing places. It is located far from every swamp. The favorite habitat of the great snipe is swamps with springs and mud, sometimes hummocky and covered with bushes. The favorite places of the great snipe are visited annually with rare constancy. But where habitat conditions change significantly over the years depending on the abundance of rains or droughts, great snipes move to new places, leaving the old ones. In addition, artificial drainage or flooding of areas can completely drive out great snipes, and consequently, with the reduction of typical great snipe lands, the number of this game will steadily decline. Great snipes feed on worms, insect larvae, small molluscs and, in small doses, plant foods.

The spring migration of the great snipe begins later than the snipe and lasts a very long time; in the middle zone of the country, the migration begins in the second half of April and continues until the end of May. The further north, the shorter the period of flight of great snipes. During the migration, great snipes sometimes keep in small flocks, and the rest of the time and in nesting places singly, this is a solitary silent bird. Upon arrival at the nesting site, great snipes begin to lek, which by its nature resembles grouse currents. The current, as a rule, occurs from year to year in the same place of a dry meadow in the middle of a swamp, surrounded by thickets of shrubs or birch. Every evening, at sunset, females gradually flock here, then males fly to their croaking invocative voices. They assume characteristic poses, reminiscent of “courtling” turkeys, making very peculiar sounds that can be transmitted by elephants “beep perere”, finally they flap their wings and crack their beaks. In warm weather, the current continues all night. Several tens of individuals gather at leks. Great snipe currents end in the first half of June. In July, old great snipes begin to molt and go to the support. Great snipes nest among swamps with tussocks, thickets of willows, bushes, but with the presence of clean meadows and sweaty swampy places, laying 4 brownish-buffy eggs with purple and brown spots concentrated at the blunt end. In the Moscow region, in early June, full clutches are observed in the nests. The female sits very firmly and incubates for 17-18 days, the young remain with the uterus until the end of July.

Spring hunting for great snipe, as well as for snipe, is prohibited everywhere.

In the middle lane already from mid-July, the broods take to the wing and begin to move from the supports to more open meadows, and sometimes even to the grain, from where at night they fly out to fattening in the swamp. At the end of July, the old great snipes, having finished molting, also get out of the supports, this is the beginning of the eruption of local great snipes, and from mid-August, the gradual departure of the great snipes to the south begins, which the old birds begin. They usually move alone, and the juveniles often fly in flocks low above the ground, and so the migration of migratory ones begins. The passage of great snipes in the middle lane ends at the end of September. During the period of vysypka, the great snipe keeps mainly in swamps, sweaty meadows, especially overgrown with large aftermath or some cut strips. Summer hunting for great snipes begins in the first half of August and continues until their departure.

Hunting for great snipes is divided into two types

Hunting on local great snipes - from mid-August to the end of the month and on migratory great snipes - from early to mid-September.

Local spills are the result of the movement of great snipes from the supports to swamps and sweaty meadows, where their mass accumulation occurs; however, the great snipes on the outcroppings keep scattered, and not in herds. Migratory rashes are temporary stops of migratory great snipes for rest and feeding on the way of flight from the nesting place to the wintering grounds. Great snipes usually become very fat in late summer and autumn. Such heavy individuals linger, not flying away for a particularly long time, and sometimes they are in places unusual for a great snipe. During the summer hunting period, great snipes mainly stay on the outskirts of the swamp, among tussocks and bushes, but also in the drier parts of the swamp. In rainy years, great snipes move from marshes to pastures, unmowed meadows and other drier places.
As a rule, the great snipe is very humble and lets the hunter close to him. It handles the close stance of the dog very well, climbs low, flies straight and slow, and, if not frightened by repeated shots, does not move far. The great snipe takes off with noise, but without a cry, then only quietly quacks on the fly, it flies reluctantly, much quieter and calmer than the snipe, so shooting at the great snipe, if not excited, is much easier than at the snipe. Only a repeatedly shot great snipe cannot withstand the dog's stance. A displaced great snipe usually sinks and does not leave a trace, so it is difficult for a dog to find it. Hunting with a hound should be started early in the morning, when the great snipes are near the place of night fattening and leave a trail that the dog easily intercepts. And it is necessary to resume hunting in the evening, after a break in the hot afternoon.

Having raised at least one great snipe, you should carefully search the entire swamp, not missing a single suitable place where the great snipe could hide, since they are most often located on a vysypka, at some distance from each other. Great snipes very often fly out from under the rack in pairs at an angle, this allows the hunter to make a beautiful double shot. It has been noticed that in the middle of the day the great snipe sometimes stands worse in standing, because at this time they stand on bumps. Great obedience, proper search, excellent instinct and courtesy are required from a setter dog when hunting snipes, but, in addition, practice is required in working with a snipe, otherwise it will not always find it, and sometimes even frighten it away, this especially applies to work on snipes. displaced snipe.

A just moved great snipe, as a rule, sinks very hard, and therefore is poorly blown by the air flow and does not spread its smell. After sitting too long, he changes his posture, raises his head, straightens his feathers, and then becomes available for learning by a pointing dog, which even has a mediocre instinct. If the great snipe quickly took off and the hunter did not have time to distinguish it well, then it is better not to shoot at it. An unshot great snipe flies not far and almost always lands in full view of the hunter. It is better to let the dog work the snipe again, raise it on the wing and then shoot for sure.

The weather is not of particular importance for hunting the great snipe, but on hot days, the great snipe is still better able to stand the dog's stance.

The closer to autumn, the great snipe is fatter and, of course, stands up even stronger.

The snipe on the wound is not strong, the shooting is carried out at shorter distances than the snipe, therefore, a shot no larger than No. 8 is used for shooting. snipes.
Great snipe hunting with a pointing dog continues until departure and ends with the shooting of flying snipes on the outcrops. Hunting on the outcroppings of migrating great snipes usually takes place in the first half of September. This is the beginning of their gross passage, and the duration of the outbursts lasts 10-12 days. The migratory great snipe pour out in the same place where the locals also keep at this time, most often in sweaty meadows, along the edges of fields, pastures and drying marshes.

The migrating great snipe is quieter than the local one, and becomes very fat during the migration. Sometimes great snipes can be found where you do not expect: in potato, in skits, in hemp, sometimes in completely dry thickets, in dry cracked peat bogs and juniper bushes. Most of all, migrating great snipes love the places where last year's haystacks stood, here they are attracted by the abundance of insects and their larvae. In a dry year, there are no migrating great snipes in the usual places, they hide in impregnable supports, in thickets, where, of course, it is impossible to hunt them. In this case, you should hunt early in the morning, in heavy dews, the great snipes fly to their usual places at this time, but as soon as the dew subsides, the great snipes climb back into the support.
Among the flying great snipes, there are often great snipes that run rather quickly for a long distance, and run until they encounter obstacles in the form of a ditch, stream, etc.