Hunting activity among the Yakuts at the present stage

Gogolev Anatolii Ignatevich ORCID: 0000-0002-9694-7826 Doctor of History Professor of the Department of "World, National History, Ethnology and Archeology", Northeastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov 677000, Russia, respublika Sakha (yakutiya), g. Yakutsk, ul. Belinskogo, 58, of. 608 cafvi1990@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Fedorov Sviatoslav Igorevich ORCID: 0000-0002-8610-3689 Junior Scientific Associate, the department of History and Arctic Studies, The Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Senior Lecturer, the department of World and Russian History, Ethnology and Archaeology, Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University. 677000, Russia, Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya), g. Yakutsk, ul. Petrovskogo, 1 fedorov.si@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Man has been engaged in hunting activities since prehistoric times, and this activity has been tightly integrated into the human life support system since the earliest period. With the development of society, the ways and purposes of hunting changed. In primitive society, hunting was one of the main sources of food, and was also part of rituals and rituals. The composition of meat hunting on the territory of Yakutia was formed during the Late Paleolithic Holocene period . It included all kinds of local wild animals and birds, the meat of which was considered edible. Their edibility was determined by their appearance, smell, food and superstitious beliefs. Then various types of hunting amusements developed, and with the advent of different types of equipment and weapons, equipment and technologies, hunting has undergone visible changes.

In the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), according to estimates of the permanent population as of January 1, 2021, there are 54 urban settlements with a population of 651,070 (66.3% of the total) people and 582 rural settlements with a population of 330901 people (33.7% of the total), i.e. a third of the population lives in rural areas, in close proximity to hunting grounds, with easier access to the forest fund and wildlife resources. This shows that a large stratum of the population of Yakutia, perhaps, communicates with the animal world more densely, has a different idea about hunting and is engaged in it more often, therefore, hunting is still a very important part of the life of a rural resident. This is due to the fact that the functions of hunting in traditional culture remained almost the same as in the XVII century: for Yakut, who lived in the XVII century, and currently living, hunting performed and performs social, status, religious, economic, leisure and subsistence functions.

Traditional hunting activity is known to us thanks to the first ethnographic records of the XVII-XVIII and the works of researchers of later centuries ^{[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]}. Since the XVII century, hunting has undergone some changes. Of course, the fact of collecting yasak in the form of furs, or as they say in the Cossacks' replies of "soft junk", to the treasury of the Russian Empire played a huge role in this. Then, with the advent of new types of equipment and weapons, equipment and technologies, hunting became more accessible. However, at the same time, at the present time, not only the material part of hunting activity has changed, but also the basics of nature management, many ritual and ceremonial traditions have been forgotten or modified.

Currently, hunting is conducted for game, which is allowed by the state. It includes almost all kinds of animals and birds that the Yakuts traditionally hunted. The division into "Bayanaydaah bult" and taboo species is not currently adhered to. All activities are carried out within the framework of legislation. Of course, it is impossible to conduct hunting activities without special permits and licenses. Due to the tightening of the number of possible prey, now hunting is primarily excitement and sporting interest.

Due to the proliferation of firearms, hunting has become much easier. Now, even an ordinary amateur hunter is able to get almost any animal, there is no longer any need to conduct a grueling pursuit, wander through the forest for weeks in search of game, search, find or invent any tricks when hunting an animal. However, hunting requires large investments. The average price for a hunting rifle is about 20 thousand rubles, in addition, it is necessary to purchase minimal equipment (clothing, appropriate shoes, backpacks, bags, etc.), purchase provisions and ammunition and, finally, get to the hunting site, respectively, money is spent on fuel.

If we talk about cardinal changes, then modern technologies simplify the activities of hunters very much. For example, an informant from the village of Argakhtakh of the Srednekolymsky district reported ^[13] that hunting would be more successful in the coming year, since the villagers bought quite a lot of equipment, namely wheeled swamp walkers. Taking into account the marshy terrain around the village, this acquisition compares favorably with other equipment (cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, etc.). The informant also reported that hunters are currently successfully implementing IT technologies, namely using GPS trackers for dogs. This happens as follows: a tracker is attached to the dog's collar, which tracks the movement of the dog on the terrain map. Such trackers are attached to several dogs. Then the dogs are released for free range in hunting areas and the movement of these dogs is monitored. When the dogs (dots on the map) stop at the same place, it means that the dogs started barking at large prey, or the dogs found a furry animal and drove it up a tree. The hunter has to go to the place guided by the GPS tracker receiver map and get the beast. Thus, the hunter can sit quietly in one place and monitor the receiver screen, thereby facilitating his task.

Electronic decoys are also very popular when hunting waterfowl, but hunters do not like the use of these decoys, since within a kilometer this decoy attracts all the necessary birds without special training. You just need to connect the device and wait for the birds to be brought in. These devices are relatively inexpensive and are autonomous, but their power is too large. An informant from Yakutsk reported that "If there are electronic decoys on a nearby lake, then consider the hunt failed. You will sit and watch the birds fly high above you and sit down with the neighbors with a decoy, and only their shots will be heard. It's better to pack up right away and go home." At the moment, the use of such decoys has declined, since it has been banned as a device that is used to destroy too large a population of birds ^[14,15].

Speaking of prohibitions, it is necessary to mention the ban on bear prey in the den. According to almost all the hunters interviewed, due to the fact that bear hunting in the den has been banned, a whole layer of religious and ceremonial conventions disappears. It is no longer possible to conduct initiation rites in bear houses, old customs and conventions of hunters are forgotten. In addition, the bear population has grown greatly, which is a great danger to livestock and humans. Among hunters, the favorite tales before the campfire is a meeting of someone with a bear. Such stories have become more frequent, and almost every hunter, at least through one person, knows who survived a meeting with a bear. As hunters say, this indicates an excessive increase in the population and a change in the habitat of bears. However, despite the strict control of bear prey in the den, such hunting is practiced in distant hunting grounds. Bear hunting has been considered the most difficult specialization since ancient times. Only the best hunters were engaged in this business, it was a kind of sport. A very difficult, dangerous and gambling hunting sport ^[13,14,15].

At the moment, the manufacture, storage and use of a hunting idol-amulet is also no longer found. Now an amulet made from a bear's paw is more common, but it is not used as a purely hunting amulet, but an amulet of a wide range of use. Everywhere, as a ritual, modern Yakuts make do with feeding the spirit of fire, reservoir, and terrain.

To this day, when hunting a bear, only the initiation rite of a young hunter has been massively preserved, in which the initiated climbs inside the den, as well as the rite in which people shout the following: "Huh! Huh! Huh! We are not people, we are black crows," however, they shout it at the table, just before eating bear meat. And all family members and guests in the house join him. As we can see, there have also been changes among rituals and conventions.

According to hunters, in the second half of the last century, hunting activity was actively supported by the state. The population, in addition to basic earnings, had good incomes from hunting activities, namely from shooting and handing over furs, and this was not done by professional hunters, but by amateur hunters. Among other things, they were provided with equipment, provisions and ammunition, hunters were taken to the hunting grounds in an organized manner by various means of transport, in some years aviation in the form of helicopters was involved. In other words, according to the informants, the state was interested in the extraction of furs. Currently, hunting is a rather expensive activity, an impressive amount is spent from the hunter's personal budget for training, as well as for the hunting season itself, in this regard, many amateur hunters do not purposefully engage in furs, but hunt in nearby lands and do not hunt for money. For them, hunting is a leisure activity, a type of outdoor recreation ^[13,14,15].

In addition, hunters speak negatively about deforestation for the installation of power lines, oil and gas pipelines, which affects the migration of animals. According to the information received from hunters, the habitat of animals and birds has changed a lot, these changes are associated with the anthropogenic impact on changes in the world ^[14].

If we talk about global problems threatening hunting activities, it is necessary to take into account climate change and its impact on people's lives. Climate warming contributes to the migration of animals, the habitat of game animals and birds is changing, which entails new financial investments in the search for game ^[13,14,15].

An increase in the average annual temperature also leads to soil degradation. In the course of field research, informants from the village of Yunkur in the Olekminsky district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) noted the fact that the roads had deteriorated very much. Where previously hunters could drive cars, now you can only drive tractors or swamp walkers, which greatly complicates the already difficult type of activity for rural hunters. In addition, according to the informants of the same village, there were cases of drying up of lakes or the appearance of marshes and lakes in previously dry areas, which also negatively affects hunting activities.

Climate change is the cause of the spread of diseases in animals due to the ongoing degradation of permafrost. This problem is very serious, since diseases directly affect human life and health. Among them, the most dangerous are anthrax, brucellosis and necrobacteriosis.

Hunting in Yakutia is one of the important, integral parts of human life. Hunting activity has undergone many changes, but it still remains an important part of human life. Now for the majority of residents of cities and large settlements of Yakutia, hunting is a status leisure of a city dweller. If we compare traditional and modern hunting, now hunting is no longer the main component of the culture of life support. The changing climate also makes its own adjustments, which does not have the most favorable effect on the life and economy of local residents. 

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