Composition on the topic: hunting for a hare. Hare hunting: description, features, necessary equipment, tips An excursion into history

Russian hunters have long been especially fond of hunting hares, because they are widespread in forests almost throughout the country. As a rule, beginners believe that hunting a hare is much easier than challenging a boar or a wolf, but in reality this is not at all the case. The hunter will need certain knowledge and skills, as well as endurance and attention.

Features of the behavior of hares

The caution of these animals is one of the main problems when hunting a hare. Professionals act as carefully as possible, they approach only from the leeward side, otherwise the beast will most likely sense the approaching danger. The fact is that hares often rest on their beds with their muzzle turned against the wind so that the wind does not blow against their wool.

These animals are perfectly able to confuse their own tracks and knock their pursuers off them. Taking the hare by surprise, the hunter must shoot for sure, because he most likely will not have a second chance. When a hare runs away, it can reach speeds of up to 60 km / h and calmly get lost in the forest.

Types and habitat of hares

On the territory of Russia there are two main types of hares - hare and hare. The former prefer to live in areas with a complex relief structure, places with small ravines and tall grass. Often a hare can be found in an open field. White hares prefer wooded areas, as there is a lot of vegetation in the forest and it is easier to hide or run away.

Some mistakenly believe that winter season hunting for a hare, it is easier to catch a hare than a hare. In fact, the gray or white color of the fur coat is of no fundamental importance, because both species are able, if desired, to burrow deep into the snow, leaving only the nose in sight.

Required equipment and preparation

Of course, the hunter will need to acquire weapons and ammunition. Experienced hunters It is advised to choose shotguns with 12, 16 or 20 gauge. If the choice fell on a weapon with the largest caliber, then it is best to load it with magnum cartridges. To improve performance, you should learn the basics of how to hunt a hare with a semi-automatic weapon, because many beginners hastily shoot a double shot at a hare that has appeared right in front of them. Usually, after such a shot, it remains only to watch how the beast rushes across the field at full speed.

By the way, the size of the caliber in hare hunting is not so critical. An animal can be mortally wounded with fairly modest calibers, so the use of large shots is not at all necessary. It is always necessary to observe all safety measures, especially when hunting in the forest for a hare in winter. In semi-enclosed areas, shoot from a position below human height, and be sure to track the movements of comrades in arms and hunting dogs so that they do not appear in the line of fire immediately at the time of the shot.

Main types of hunting

Depending on experience, personal preferences, financial capabilities, seasonality, terrain and other factors, a specific type of hare hunting is prioritized: from the approach, trailing in the fall, with hounds.

Hunting with hounds

One of the most poetic types of hunting. The bottom line is that the dogs drive the hare from its bed directly to the hunter. With such a hunt, the level is important physical training- you will have to run a lot through the forests and fields.

Best time for hunting with hounds - early in the morning, when the dogs can easily find fresh tracks. The hunter encourages the hounds to search for hares with his voice, and alone or with his comrades slowly moves after them in anticipation of a flooding bark, which will mean the successful detection of a hare bed.

Tracking in autumn

Actual in the presence of the first snow and snow. The hunter easily finds fresh footprints and little ones. At the same time, you need to take into account morning or night tracks; walking along the older ones does not make much sense. You can learn how to find a hare's bed in this way only with experience, tracking the animal's ornate wanderings.

Every hare knows how to confuse traces and apply cunning - this fact should never be overlooked. In search of the animal's hiding place, it is best to walk next to the tracks, looking at the horizon. It happens that the hare returns on its own old footprints and is looking for a new shelter or couch in the area already explored earlier.

Stalking hunting

This species involves a measured and unhurried process of tracking down a hare. The hunter carefully approaches the beast, which immediately rises and starts to run away. As a rule, the hunter does not have much time to make a sure shot until the animal is out of sight.

With a long autumn and late onset of winter, hunting for a hare from an approach brings best results, because hare and hare already have time to go through the molting period and become well distinguishable in a predominantly monochrome area.

Experienced hunters no doubt they know some tricks and tricks that will help beginners make their first trip to the hare easier. Among the recommendations, professionals especially highlight the following:

Shooting more than 50 meters rarely makes sense.
The first shot usually decides everything, because the second shot almost never succeeds.
The best weather for hunting hares is about 15 degrees below zero.
You need to wait for the hare calmly, without unnecessary movements.
To warm up, it is enough to relax and strain your muscles without giving out your location.
Hares often show their main activity late at night, and lie down during the day.
To wait for game, you should take a high chair. It will not work to sit on a stone or a snag for a long time, as the back will get very tired.
Warm clothes will help not to freeze ahead of time and feel comfortable at all stages of the hunt.

The main thing to remember is that not every hunt is successful. This rule is true even for seasoned hunters. A gradual set of experience and competent following of advice will help not only to achieve success, but also to enjoy the hunting process itself.

HARE HUNTING

We were going on the road before dawn and expected to get to the hunting place in advance. Petya had to be locked up at one house as a punishment for the fact that the day before he jumped out without permission to the lake and, assuming that it was frozen, set off on skates on ice that had not yet strengthened, but since he was a useless swimmer, he had difficulty getting to the floating bridge, where his comrades, who were dying of fear, were waiting for him.

Instead of the delinquent Petya, Rostislav went with us, who had recently arrived in our region from Rostov and dreamed of creating

something out of the ordinary. When it became known to him that we were going to hunt, he immediately rode to us from a neighboring village.

With a beating heart, we made our way in our waterproof clothes through the shallow birch forest, remembering that hares prefer deciduous forests only in early autumn, and now they should lie in juniper thickets or spruce forests.

A real hunter does not climb into the thicket, but chooses clearings, paths or clearings. And when the forest is located on mountainous slopes, the hare exit holes usually extend along the spurs of the main ravine. Like all forest creatures, the hare loves to walk on

a toboggan, a well-trodden road, so the surest calculation is to lie in wait for a slanting one at the intersection of roads.

The dawn was late, the day was windless, the branches of the trees shone with hoarfrost. The snow, illuminated by pink rays, combined with the watercolor-blue sky, seemed like a fairy-tale dress of winter nature. No wonder the impressions of hunting always excite writers. I myself experienced the great joy of familiarizing myself with this incomparable beauty.

Finally, the dogs managed to pick up the hare. The beaters hurriedly lined up and drove the hare in our direction. I was burning with the desire to excel and dreamed that the hare jumped out at me. And suddenly I really saw an old hare, who was galloping, tightly pressing his ears. After my shot, the hare tumbled twice and, jumping once more to the level of the bush, fell dead.

Glossary:

- we were going on the road before dawn

- hare hunting dictation

- hunting for a hare dictation

- we were going on the road before dawn and counted

- an essay about a hare

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HARE HUNTING

Instead of the delinquent Petya, Rostislav went with us, who had recently arrived in our region from Rostov and dreamed of creating

Something out of the ordinary. When it became known to him that we were going to hunt, he immediately rode to us from a neighboring village.

On a toboggan, traveled road, so the surest calculation is to lie in wait for a slanting one at the intersection of roads.

I myself experienced the great joy of familiarizing myself with this incomparable beauty.

Finally, the dogs managed to pick up the hare. The beaters hurriedly lined up and drove the hare in our direction. I was burning with the desire to excel and dreamed that the hare jumped out at me.

And suddenly I really saw an old hare, who was galloping, tightly pressing his ears. After my shot, the hare tumbled twice and, jumping once more to the level of the bush, fell dead.

Glossary:

- we were going on the road before dawn

- hare hunting dictation

- hunting for a hare dictation

- we were going on the road before dawn and counted

- an essay about a hare

There were many hunters among my colleagues. I am not a hunter, I am a fisherman. And my friend Vitka (and Vitka because he introduced himself that way) was not just a hunter, he was a fan of this business. Although he was in a small rank - only a lieutenant - but in hunting matters he was a great dock. And how many hunting tales I heard from him! He was originally from Siberia and, as he said, he killed more than one bear in the taiga. His stories were mostly bearish. And here, in Germany, he was bored, because bears were not found here. So he hunted mainly for a hare, but he also hunted roe deer, legally or not, history is silent. In fact, there was a lot of game in the German forests, and our hunters had no competition, since the Germans were forbidden to have hunting weapons and hunt in those years.

And what brought Vitka and me closer was the fact that my wife was also a Siberian. Learning about this, Vitka somehow imperceptibly stuck to our family. On weekends, he dropped in on us for a home-cooked dinner, not forgetting to take with him a vial of intoxicant, and to it also the Russian ambassador's herring, which he had asked for from the foreman in charge of the officer's canteen. Having told us another story about how he hunted wolves and how a bear broke him, and, having thanked his fellow countrywoman for a delicious dinner, he went to the officers' dormitory, where in the evening the preferans gathered for pulca. And when Vitka returned from vacation, on the very first day he came to us with a bottle of Stolichnaya, a half-liter can of red caviar, homemade boiled pork, shangs and other homemade goodies.

However, about hunting for a hare. Hare hunting is one of the most massive among hunters. Hares are valued not only for their soft and fluffy coat, but also for good and high-quality meat. Cloudy weather is considered the best time to hunt a hare. late autumn or early winter.

Members of the hunting team have long and eagerly awaited the start of the hunting season for hare. My Vitka, longing for his first hunting trip, has already cleaned and oiled his 16-gauge Sauer several times and replenished the bandolier, which was emptied last season. But then the long-awaited September came, the hunt was sanctioned by the authorities and our hunters went to the opening of the hunting season. Vitka from the beginning returned satisfied and with rich booty. But hunting (for hunting) is worse than bondage. Vitka tried not to miss a single next exit.

Our hunters always had a lot of game, and they shared it with their colleagues, but the bigger jackpot, of course, fell to the authorities. It happened like this. Late in the evening the doorbell was heard. You will not have time to open the door, as someone threw one or even two dead birds with one stone into the corridor. It was the returning hunters who shared their trophies with us, not the hunters. Like it or not, you have to go to the basement to skin the hare. The reward will be the next day - stuffed hare stewed in sour cream. By the way, Vitka taught me how to skin hares and cook them deliciously.

Once, at a gathering with us over a “cup of tea,” Vitka told us about a hunt that had taken place the day before. There were seven people who wanted to go hunting, but the commander allocated only one car for the trip - a captured German one. How seven hunters with their guns could fit into a car is hard to imagine.

The hunt, like all the previous ones, was successful, and at the end of the day there were a dozen or two birds with one stone in the trunk of the car. The excitement of hunting was satisfied, running after hares across the fields tired, and from a long stay on fresh air everyone had a wolfish appetite, and therefore they decided to have a bite to eat on the way home, and at the same time celebrate a successful hunt in some German restaurant. Such on the way soon caught. A group of Germans who had just left from there was standing near the restaurant, and when the car stopped, their eyes turned to the hunters coming out of it. When the Germans saw that the fifth, sixth, and then the seventh began to get out of the car after the fourth passenger, their mouths opened in surprise, and they began to discuss something vigorously. And our hunters, as if nothing had happened, went into the restaurant, taking with them a couple of hares. And there the owner for these hares, in the order of barter, put out to the hunters a drink - a couple of “fausts”, and a snack - a large schnitzel for everyone, and in addition a snack for the driver, who was left in the car to guard the guns. For the uninformed, I explain that "faust" in the vocabulary of our officers is an 800-gram bottle of vodka. As Vitka later told me, after the hunt they practiced such barter all the time: they are game for the Germans, and the Germans for this - schnapps and a snack for him.

A group of Germans continued to stand by the restaurant, waiting for the hunters to leave, obviously they wanted to see how they would fit in the car. But nothing is impossible for a Russian - our hunters again successfully took their places in the car, some on the seats, and some on their knees.

And Vitka cooked the hares according to the following recipe. Blood clots, films and tendons should be removed from the skinned hare (the head and legs are chopped off when skinned), the carcass should be washed well and divided into portions; the number of servings, depending on the size of the hare, is 10-12. Put all the pieces in a saucepan, pour water over it, adding vinegar to it, and put it in a cold place for several hours, but you can do it all night. Then take out the pieces of the hare, dry them and stuff them with bacon and garlic (by the way, a special device for stuffing meat could be bought in German stores). Then salt, pepper and fry the hare pieces in a frying pan or baking sheet until golden brown, then put them in a goose dish, fill with broth or just water, add a glass of sour cream and juice left after frying, and put in the oven to stew. Also put carrots, parsley root, and a whole onion, and at the end of the stew - bay leaf. It is necessary to stew the hare at a low boil so that the meat does not boil. After readiness, put the hare pieces on a dish and pour over the sauce in which it was stewed. Boiled potatoes and stewed cabbage are well suited for garnish. By the way, you can also stew a rabbit.

My first experience with hare cooking was positive. And when my friends and I met a bargain New Year, our contribution to the festive table with my wife, among other things, was a hare stewed in sour cream, the taste of which was highly appreciated by all those present.

Well, what about Vitka? The military does not sit in one place for a long time, soon he was transferred to another unit and we parted ways with him forever. And the recipe for cooking a hare remained as a memory of him.

Reviews

yes, my father also apparently (plus or minus a couple of years) went hunting with his colleagues somewhere at that time. And although we lived in Jena, we traveled somewhere far away to some mountains. And they all went with their families, probably lived somewhere in a hotel? I remember mountains.
They got a lot of hares there and the whole company ate them. At the same time, I was warned to be careful, it was possible, allegedly, to get my teeth on the grain. I don’t know how much it really was, because. never hunted.

Therefore, your father served in the GDR in the mid-1950s, when you were quite young. During those years, I also served there. It is possible that in Jena we served with him at the same time. I served in Jena in 1958-1959. However, I do not remember that the officers lived with the Germans. Do you have any photographs from those times?

Perhaps the German woman lived in a neighboring house, or performed some duties in ours, but the fact that we constantly communicated with her and she treated me to strawberries was clearly remembered. There are photographs, but the houses themselves are not visible on them, only the gate to the site and the porch of the house. I am with the daughter of a colleague of my father in the arms of a soldier - he was his father's housekeeper.
There is a photo of the street along which these houses are, but they themselves are not visible, only it is clear that these are low houses, 2-3 floors maximum. On the other - we are in the garden on the site. With some woman, perhaps it was a German. The photo is written by my mother’s hand Kisyugil Strasse, KGB town, 1955, but she wrote when she was already over 90, that is, she may have forgotten something. Mom led a cutting and sewing circle there in the officers' house. So write to me at [email protected] I'll send a photo, maybe something will come to mind. True, in other photographs there are only feasts.

Alexander!
What a coincidence! After all, we lived on the street Am Kishugel (Am Kishugel). I mention this in the story "Houses for Officers", which you read. The street and the house can be found using the Google Earth program (Planet Earth). The house is three-story, stands at the beginning of the street, from it another street leads to a tram stop on Naumburg Strasse, by the way, the headquarters of the 27th TD was located on it. We lived on the second floor and this street was visible from the windows of the apartment. Did you also live in this house or in the house next door? Perhaps our paths crossed, but, apparently, in 1958 you were no longer in Jena.

Yes, we left at 58, if not at 57, because in Kyiv, even before school, I managed to walk in kindergarten near the House of Officers on Klovsky Spusk, I think. We then lived opposite the Arsenalnaya metro station, although the metro itself began to be built only in 61. So the houses were 3-storey. Strange, but I remember exactly that we lived on the second floor. Can you remember those houses in the photo? I read the story, but there is some kind of large house in the photo, multi-storey. At one time we also lived in some kind of high-rise building, but it was in the location of a military camp, which was surrounded by a fence. Perhaps it was certainly a tank unit? I only remember that when we moved there, we had to give our sheepdog to some colonel, because. there was no way to take her to Kyiv. And she left the new owner and found us. Those are childhood memories. It is a pity that my brother (7 years older than me) has already died, he went to school there and, of course, remembered everything better than me.

I found photos from the time of service in Jena, but you could not send them, the mail server is temporarily down, probably due to a deversion with a virus. Yesterday, for this reason, the mobile phone did not work.
In the photo preceding the story "Houses for Officers", a photograph of the barracks in the town of 27 TD. The picture is modern, I found it on the Internet.
I'll post pictures as soon as the server is up and running.

Alexander, good evening!
Haven't talked in a while. I remembered that a year and a half ago I promised to send you a photo from the time of my service in the GDR, but I found only one photograph from 1959. I recently published it as an appendix to one of my stories. I give a link: I know that I also had a photo on Am Kishugel street, but it got lost somewhere. I will find and send.

Now I'm very busy, but when I feel better, I'll look at your page. I'm waiting for you too.
Peace and goodness!
Sincerely -
Vadim Ivanovich

Good afternoon, Vadim Ivanovich! Thanks for the photo - archived. I also found a few photos of those times, but there is no time to scan. We need to do something with the archive, there are a lot of photos, but they are stored wherever possible. Regarding the GDR, I wrote a short story from those times, there will be time to take a look, maybe I made a mistake in something, correct it. Alexander

Some miracles, just read your review of the story How to early childhood I helped catch spies, and now the review has disappeared somewhere. incredible.

Alexander!
Of the photos you sent, one of them attracted Special attention. On it, your father in a ceremonial tunic is sitting on a bench in the company of three ladies and three children. A lady sits next to him. Do you know who this lady is? She is very similar to our friend, whose name was Valentina Vasilievna. I have a photograph in which Valentina Vasilievna and my wife and son go down the street from Am Kisshugel to the tram stop. I compared the lady in your photo with Valentina Vasilievna in mine - just one face.

Saturday is our busy day. We love to walk in the fields for a bunny, sometimes even to the detriment of animal hunting. We are a small and close-knit team that has already trampled hundreds of kilometers in search of long-eared ones. The soul of this company, its mind and conscience - Anatoly Ivanovich - an old hunter who loves and perfectly knows the hunt for a hare. He easily unravels the cunning lace of hare tracks in fresh snow. If the hare was stupid enough to leave a night trail, Ivanovich will definitely get to him. But finding a place to lie does not mean taking it. There are many subtleties and accidents in the technique of trampling and trailing a hare.

The second member of our team is the son of Anatoly Ivanovich - Alexander - nicknamed Macho. He earned his nickname thanks to a peculiar style of communication with the female sex. As Yesenin wrote: "guitarist and seducer of village fools……". But he went hunting with his father from the age of 10 and knows a lot about it.

The third - Volodya - is a merry fellow and a drunkard, married not for the first and not even the second time, but he does not change the hunt for women. Former lieutenant colonel - in a word. Well, so am I.

We have two dogs with us. Brother and sister, one and a half year old likes. The girl, Draka, belongs to Macho, the Boy Weis is Volodin's pupil. Likes on a hare hunt are somewhat unusual, but our dogs already on the second outing, without any training, understood what was required of them, and how spaniels run zigzags not far from us, picking up hares and other animals.

There are few hares in our lands. It seems that there are a dozen hunters for one hare. And there are no whites at all. A significant rise in the price of animal hunting and great difficulties with licenses forced the bulk of the hunting people to switch to a hare. The bunnies that survived this unequal war are smart and inventive. It is not for nothing that they say that God created us as people because a person did not have enough intelligence to make him a hare. Why we love hare hunting so much - I don’t know. Maybe for its extreme complexity and difficulty. Maybe for long, leisurely walks in the fresh air in good company, maybe for something else. Unknown. But we try not to miss these Saturday hunts.

So today we gathered to hunt, despite the weather. And it is actually repulsive: a strong, gusty wind carries charges of fine rain almost parallel to the ground. He walked all night and by morning, contrary to our hopes, did not stop. All the recent snow has already been washed away, so we can't see any fresh tracks. It remains only to trample the hare, combing the tall grass, shrubs and undergrowth.

There is little hope for dogs: the tracks are all nailed down by rain, and in such weather the hare was hardly fed intensively. Besides, Anatoly Ivanovich is not coming with us today. The motor bogged down. Sixty-five years is already old. But he left Alexandra detailed instructions and Macho is in charge today.

Leaving the cars on the shore of the lake, releasing the dogs, we set off. Taught by bitter experience, we do not release dogs without laying down and loading weapons.

GPS to zero, then to brag about the kilometers traveled with a reasonable amount of lies. And go.

We enter a hollow overgrown with tall grass, very promising, from our point of view. Too lazy to go far down, I choose myself upper part slope. After a hundred meters, I realized how wrong I was. Thickets of brambles hid in the tall grass and its long, thorn-studded branches clung to their legs, preventing them from walking. Like a clown, I had to raise my knees high in order to somehow move around. I understand that a hare in such thickets will not go far inland either, but I don’t want to break the corral and I wander on. After seven hundred meters, the muscles of my legs went numb.

At the border of an open field I stop to rest. Ahead I notice a low slope, all overgrown with rose hips. Protected from wind and rain, a spoon with a fallen tree and thick grass is an ideal place for a slanting day. If I were a hare, I would definitely hide here.

I call Weiss and try to send him into the thickets. But the dog, having poked his nose at me and received his share of affection, completely refuses to climb into the thorns. You have to. I go down, move the bushes, lift the branches of a fallen tree with the trunk. Nothing. I go upstairs; sharp, angry and prickly rain hits my face. It's still cozy downstairs. There must be a rabbit there. But there is nothing to do, I move on. I retreat about fifty meters and hear shots - Volodya pours lead on someone from his Fabarm. I don’t see anything, but I understand that after my departure, the hare jumped out of the hollow.

I come back and go down again. I carefully examine the plot after the plot in search of a bed. Here she is, under the fallen tree. But I was standing half a meter away from here and was diverting branches with a trunk, probably, I hit him on the mustache with a front sight. The bunny didn't flinch. And after my departure, he gave up. Well done.

Volodya's indignantly enthusiastic statements, traditional in such cases, indicate that he missed. As always, he opened fire eighty meters away. Usually he hits all the same with the fourth shot. But today he is unlucky.

I see something flashing in the grass, I follow him ... and he runs. The cartridges ran out ..., I try to load, the cartridges fall to the ground, my finger is pinched ... - then he remembers all the relatives of the hare, especially his mother.

Unlike him, I'm not upset at all. Well done bunny. Wiped my nose and me, and Volodya.

I think about my promise to bring a bunny tail to my eight-year-old daughter. She has been asking for this for the second season, but everything does not work out. I’ll forget that, on the last hunt, the dog tore off, then, as today, without prey. The daughter is very suitable because her dad is a hunter and sometimes frightens classmates with a gun in his children's showdowns. And as proof, she wants to bring the ponytail to school.

Alice, - I say - take the antlers of the roe deer to school, if they do not believe you, or take a stuffed animal.

No, daddy, I want a ponytail.

Well, what can you do, you need to get the tail.

Ahead is a floodplain of a stream overgrown with forest. We decide to arrange a paddock upstream. I go to the room, but Macho, Volodya and the dogs stay. We agreed that they would leave in twenty minutes: I would just have time to get on the number. On the way I see the freshest traces of roe deer and a large wild boar. Apparently, we shook them when we approached. After all, we went to the hare and did not particularly hide. There is a forest ahead, and the footprints stretched in that direction. I’m moving on, the three of us can’t tax this wood, and we don’t have animal licenses in this economy.

I get used to the room and wait.

A flock of small birds breaks off the ground. Instinctively I jump up, I understand that in vain and lower the gun. Mentally I praise myself, my favorite MC-shka lays down like a glove, fly, bar - everything is perfect.

A crack is heard ahead - the beaters are approaching. There are no dogs with them - apparently they followed the trail of a wild boar or roe deer. We smoke and wait for the dogs. Rain and wind whip in the face so that the cheeks are already numb. We all turn our backs to the wind. The out of breath dogs return, and Weis immediately pokes his head under the slope over which I am standing and from there, right at my feet, a hare rolls out. I jump up, but Weiss is hanging on his tail - you can’t shoot. I lead this couple at gunpoint and sixty meters away the hare, wagging, breaks away from the dog. I press the trigger, but there is no shot. Damn fuse. I, as always, put the safety on the gun after the drive. The hare hid in the bushes. Yeah, looks like today is not my day.

Volodya did not have time to think of anything, a cigarette hangs from his open mouth, and he mumbles something unintelligible. Finally, he comes to his senses and bursts into selective swearing. Macho, turning away at the wrong time for a small need, generally missed the whole performance.

Weiss comes back, and I pat him approvingly on the withers. The fight, having decided that this was not a woman’s business, did not run after the hare at all, but also sticks its nose in anticipation of affection.

Bad dog, I tell her, and she walks away embarrassed. And Weiss enjoys resting on my knee.

Guys, we have already covered five kilometers - I say, checking the GPS.

I saw a good place for a halt there - says Macho - there is an apple tree and apples are still hanging - it's beautiful.

We descend into the ravine, it is quiet here and the rain is not felt. We bring down the dried forest, sit down on it and lay out the food.

I wish there was a fire, I say dreamily.

This moment - answers Macho.

Where do you get dry firewood, and we don’t have paper - I don’t believe in the success of this undertaking.

But he, having opened a dry stump, and having cut thin chips, kindles a fire. Some breathing exercises and the light jumped merrily along the dry twigs. The guys drink first. They are almost at home, and I still have to go. I keep them company with tea. How delicious tea is in the fresh air, after a piercing wind with rain. I am slowly warming up. The fire, having flared up, warms our clothes, and steam pours from it in clubs. Warm and cozy, you don't even want to think about going upstairs. I share my impressions of the past hunt, and the guys listen enthusiastically. They had to work last weekend.

Time flies imperceptibly behind toasts and stories. Finally, we decide to move on. We go upstairs, and the wind is prickly and sharp hits us in the face.

Nevertheless, we line up and walk across the field. After walking five hundred meters, I understand that enough is enough for me.

- "Nymph" gives the wrong brush, - I say, going up to Macho.

Yes, Sanych, you're right, let's go home, the weather is not good. Although we have not walked the usual fifteen kilometers yet.

We turn towards the cars. For some reason the way back is shorter.

I'm calling home from the car.

Wife, put borscht on the stove, I'll be there soon.

Everything is ready, come, I have already put the vodka in the refrigerator.

Daddy, and you will bring me a tail, - the daughter pulls out the phone from his wife.

No, daughter, we didn’t get a bunny today.

Well, nothing in next time she quickly agrees.

A gray, dull road spreads under the wheels, the wipers silently wipe the rain from the windshield, the receiver plays softly. I dream of a hot bath, a steaming bowl of borscht with puff pastry, and a steamed glass of vodka.