Nikolai Nekrasov - Dog hunting: Verse. Complete dog hunting Russian dog hunting

Sergey DUKHANIN

In the middle of the 18th century, during the reign of Peter III, the nobility was released from serving the royal court. It was from this time that real story dog hunting in Russia. But it cannot be said that until that time there was no equestrian hunting with packs of hounds in Rus'. The imperial court invited specialists to lead flocks of hounds from England, France and Germany at the very beginning of the 18th century, but in general, horse hunting with hounds and greyhounds has its roots in the 15th century and earlier. The massive distribution of dog hunting was facilitated by the huge landowners' lands with an abundance of animals on them, a lot of free time for the nobility released from service and noble goals - the destruction of the wolf, the main pest of the landlord and peasant economy, and Russian national traits - dashing, courage, gambling, bordering on recklessness, which are fully manifested in this hunt. All this led to the fact that in all the central provinces on each noble estate they had a dog hunt, even if not very large.

Unfortunately, in our country the whole culture of real dog hunting has been completely lost, and this is a historical phenomenon that is unique to Russia. Connoisseurs passed away - trapping, reaching, vyzhlyatnikov, stirrup and other participants in this fascinating action, they had no one to pass on the experience of coming and driving flocks of hounds, coordinating greyhounds, and dog hunting traditions. Only in the old books of P.M. Machevarianov, P.M. Gubin, N.P. Kishensky one can find today information on the organization, preparation and conduct of canine and rifle hunts with packs of hounds. But these authors wrote their works, considering the hunt from the height of their position - the owners of canine hunts. The details, the subtleties, the secrets of coordinating, arriving and driving packs of hounds of dogs and organizing dog hunts have been lost, many of them forever. Bit by bit, this information is collected by the efforts of true lovers of horses, hunting with hounds and greyhounds.

Who can create a dog hunt in our time? Firstly, they must be people who are very enthusiastic about this idea - real enthusiasts, secondly, they must at least theoretically own this complex issue, thirdly, they must be people with enormous patience, so that every day doing small step forward, eventually get an independent complete dog hunting. And the last condition, one of the most important today, is that they must be sufficiently wealthy people, because keeping a dog hunt is an overhead event, but very prestigious, talking about the high culture of the owner of the hunt, about his desire to revive and preserve Russian national culture.

Dog hunting is a great work, a kind of art, science, and, like every science, it has its own laws and its own terms, its own special colorful, figurative, well-aimed language of canine hunters of past centuries.

In the history of Russian national hunting with greyhounds and hounds, the names of complete canine hunts and packs of hounds are known. No one specifically assigned these names, they arose from the stories of the participants in these hunts, from one publication or another in magazines or newspapers of those times. Names were usually associated with the location of the hunt - Pershinsky and Gatchina hunts - or with the name of the owner. Now any efficient hunter knows the names of the Tula landowners F.A. Svechin, S.V. Ozerov, the Nizhny Novgorod landowner P.M. Machevarianov, the hunting dynasties Glebovs and Yermolovs, who kept dog hunting for almost two centuries. The dog hunts of these people thundered throughout Russia. The hunting of the Oryol landowner N.V. Kireevsky, a friend of L.N. Tolstoy and I.S. Turgenev, is depicted in all colors in the novel “War and Peace” in the hunting scenes of the Rostovs. N.V. Kireevsky kept up to 200 bows of Anglo-Russian hounds in the lap! These were the hunts. Russian complete hunting cannot be compared with Western parforous dog hunting. The famous Russian hunts, in the kennels of which hundreds of hounds and greyhounds were kept, would simply be cramped in the lands of Western Europe.

History has put everything in its place. Private stables have reappeared in Russia, there are kennels, which means that there will be dog hunting. What is a complete dog hunt?

A set of independent dog hunting should consist of a pack of hounds from 9 to 20 bows (a bow is two hounds connected by special collars) and from 5 to 12 packs of greyhounds (3-4 dogs in a pack). All canine hunters must be mounted. Hunters with greyhounds are called greyhounds, with hounds they are called survivors. The senior greyhound is a visiting one, and the senior survivor is a reaching one. The head of the entire complete canine hunt is the hunter, in small canine hunts this role was played by the traveler.

In addition, the set of dog hunting included netters with nets - special nets with which strong participants fenced off the islands, through which the beast could “climb down” unnoticed by greyhounds. Rifle hunters were also allowed to hunt dogs, who usually located along the edges of the established nets and shot the animal walking along the nets. In the dog hunting kit - at the invitation of the owner - other hunters with their greyhounds and horses were also allowed. hunters who full set canine hunting was too expensive, holding 1-2 packs of greyhounds, were called small-grass. In Russian literature there is a work by E. Dryyansky, which is called just that - “Notes of a small-grassed one”. They say that the great L.N. Tolstoy, a great lover and connoisseur of dog hunting, wanted to write about it, but after reading “Notes ...”, he abandoned this thought, considering that it was impossible to write better.

In dog hunts, there was a uniform consisting of a caftan, trousers, a short fur coat, boots, a cloth cloak and a cap with a visor. The caftans of the survivors could have been bright colors, and the caftans of the greyhounds are only dark in color, so as not to frighten the beast that crawled out of the island into the manhole. In cold weather, a short fur coat was worn under the caftan. Every hunter has hunting knife for accepting a wolf from dogs and arapnik, greyhounds - belt packs and small horns for giving signals, vyzhlyatniks - bows and ringing horns.

A hunting horse is a separate conversation. In dog hunting, geldings and mares were mainly used, they are calmer than stallions. On the hole, where the horse behaves restlessly, the beast will never come out. In the catalogs of hunting exhibitions of the 19th century, horses were indicated for hunting, mainly of domestic breeds. The horse must stand calmly, not be afraid of an animal suddenly jumping out, including a wolf, not be afraid of a shot, overcome water bodies ford or swim, walk through narrow places, and must also be calm and humble so that it is possible to attach a prey animal to it.

Hunters say: "To ride is an art, to hunt on horseback is fearlessness." A good horse for dog hunting is indispensable. It should be strong and strong, light on the go. Such a horse is a very great helper in mating greyhounds, driving and driving a flock of hounds.

Ancient canine hunters believed that the most comfortable hunting saddle should be arranged like a Cossack saddle, the bridle must be with a tie.

In dog hunting, special one-horse field carts and various carriages were also used. The main requirements for them are strength and softness on the go when driving over rough terrain.

The passion for canine hunting among hunters is indestructible, canine hunters did not get off their saddle for weeks, chased hounds, poisoned the beast with greyhounds. It is known that the famous hunter, retired general A.V. Zhikharev from Tambov, who kept the famous Zhikharevsky mountain greyhounds, hunted wolves on horseback three days before his death. And there would be nothing unusual in this fact if one did not know that he was 91 years old at that time.

They hunted with complete canine hunting both along the black trail and along the white trail, hunting differed only in the object - a hare, a fox or a wolf. They hunted near the house or in out-of-town fields.

The preparation of the hunt was carried out in advance, especially if it was necessary to hunt in away fields, when day after day, moving from island to island along certain hunting routes, a flock attacked the island and poisoned the expelled beast. Sometimes the hunting routes of outgoing fields were laid along the rivers, forest islands were taken on both banks, and dog hunting was transported by ships. Hunting in the outgoing fields continued for several months. They were conducted strictly according to certain rules, binding on all participants, any violation of these rules could lead to the disruption of the entire, even very well-prepared, hunt.

The hounds were always thrown against the wind, so that those who arrived and the survivors could hear them. At the end of the work, it is easier for the traveler to collect the hounds remaining in the island, since now the horn in the wind will be clearly heard by the hounds.

The release of the hounds into the island was carried out at the signal of the horn after the greyhounds occupied the manholes. Greyhounds, if the beast's hole passed, for example, along a ravine, took their places on the side, without blocking it, they always stood under the cover of some bush. And if there was no shelter, then away from the island into some depression or, conversely, into the island itself, but facing into the field. During the hunt, before the hounds left the island, the greyhounds were not allowed to leave the occupied manhole. The greyhound on the manhole, when the beast appeared from the island, was obliged to freeze, even fall to the pommel of the saddle, withstood the beast and let it in moderately, taking into account both the distance and the terrain, after that, quietly zatuk, show it to the greyhounds. They pursued the dogs and the beast in silence, with an extended gallop until the capture of the beast or until it became clear that the beast had left.

Greyhounds for dog hunting must be well matched, the horse is driven out, a flock of hounds has arrived and driven. All this requires a lot of work from amateurs and professionals involved in dog hunting.

Hunting is interesting only when the islands are small and they have a sufficient number of animals, especially foxes and hare. If the island is too large, and the flock of hounds is small, then even from under the fox hounds the beast rarely leaves the island, and it is hardly possible to drive the white hare out of the island at all. Therefore, hunting routes, that is, departing fields, must be prepared in advance, it is advisable to carry out a flock drive in these islands and hunt more often, then all the animal’s holes become known.

You can talk a lot about dog hunting, but in conclusion I will repeat the words of N.P. Kishinsky, one of the most famous specialists in hunting with packs of hounds: “It is much better to learn this in a field with a good flock of hounds, where a young and sharp-witted hunter flair and skill that surprise people who are little familiar with this kind of hunting.

Yekaterinburg city

I have been invited to visit for a long time by my friends - Aleksey and Galina Adayevs, with whom we have known each other for many years thanks to pointing dogs. But in last years they also became avid canine hunters, and I always wanted to see how it happens. But in the fall, something didn’t work out, the winter flew by in worries, and suddenly it turned out that the next weekend was the last of the season! Must go! And, as luck would have it, the flu begins to break down on me ... I gnaw some pills all day, drink hot wine, and by the evening I already feel quite tolerably. I'll go in the morning.

Two hours of travel - and I'm on the spot. Besides the owners, four greyhounds and three setters come out to meet me from the house! Here is the team! Until I hugged everyone, they didn’t let me pass.

We drink tea and gather in the field. Galya also fell ill, stays at home. Alexey and I and four dogs (bandyuki, as they are affectionately called in the family) are loaded into an old field. And then the dogs sang!

What's this! - says Alexey. Now, if they see a dog on the road ... or a cat ...

So we met the dog ... how my eardrums remained intact - I can’t imagine.

Soon we move out into the field and fall out of the car. Here the dogs surprised me for the first time. Any self-respecting setter in such conditions would lay a few circles around the field to relieve tension, and just to warm up. Greyhounds don't run anywhere. Although howled in anticipation! No, they stand, calmly waiting for us to put on our skis and move forward. Done, let's go! And the dogs don't run. They go on foot next to the owner. This is amazing for me too! After all, the cop, working at a gallop, will comb the area in front of the hunter without stopping, sometimes all day (if he is in good shape).

What if a hare, and I'm tired? Alex explains to me. - the greyhound is so laid out during the race for the beast that in the heat it can even die. They save energy.

In the meantime, we're plodding along hunting skis sticking to the spring snow already, I’m covered in flu-like sweat, and the camera pulls my neck - Oleg Anatolyich purposely gave the healthiest lens ... iron, heavy ... and if you hang it over your shoulder, you will definitely miss all the most interesting!

From time to time, Alexey stops, examining the area through binoculars, and tells how he competed in this place with a fox, which nevertheless deceived him and the dogs, and left, leaving everyone with a nose.

After some time, Karay broke away from the company - he is the most mature and independent. He walks a hundred meters from us, thinking about something of his own. He sits on the mane and looks out for the beast while we crawl through the lowlands. Then he slowly moves to the next mane, and again sits in meditation.

Finally, we come across a hare trail, not too fresh. And then the dogs surprise me for the third time. They're on the trail! That's something I've never heard of! Of course, this is not a hound that will keep the smell on the flair, and rush at a gallop. They work "on the heel", plunging their anteater noses into all the holes, and slowly moving forward. Nevertheless, Alexei says, they often unravel the fats themselves and lift the hare from its bed. And now the whole company has moved to comb the peg - but, alas, to no avail.

After two hours we sit down to rest, drink tea. The dogs are impatient - why are we sitting, we must go!

But we are already turning towards the house, because the day is short and it will soon begin to get dark. And although we walked in a circle, the dogs immediately realized that the hunt was over. And now Azarnoy also broke away from the company, went through the bushes, hoping to finally frighten something off.

If it were sunny, - Lyosha explains, - the foxes would come out on the field, their rut begins. And so - gray, gloomy, windy, they sit out somewhere.

And suddenly one of the dogs galloped, the rest followed him, and the whole pack rushed away in the blink of an eye. What, who, where???

Behind the crows, - Alexey laughs. - since there is no game, at least warm up like that.

Alas, our campaign was not successful.

But I felt better, the disease went away with sweat, and I return to the car quite cheerfully.

Initially, one day of hunting was planned, but after a bath and evening gatherings, we decide to try again, to go to a new place, prompted by the huntsman.

So, new morning, new entry! We leave farther away, we find a congress in the field - the path was very successfully cleared by a bulldozer. We start to move out - and Alexey slows down, because a flock of partridges leisurely runs out from under the wheels, and runs in front of us along the path. I don’t know what kind of look I had then (Lyosha says - his eyes almost popped out on the hood)), but the first thought was - where is my dog, where is my gun ?!

So shoot! - Oh, right, I have a fotik on my knees! But while I opened it, turned it on - it was too late, they took off.

Well, a good start to the day!

We again go around the fields, and again there is no sun, but the light has already changed - it is quite spring, watercolor, with March blue.

There are many more tracks in this area, and I ask Saint Tryphon, the patron saint of hunters, so that we can at least see the beast.

We imperceptibly go down to the lowland, where there is much more snow than on the blown manes, go around several pegs trampled by hares and marked by foxes. At some point,

filled with grace, I break away from reality, merge with the sky and space ... And then the exclamation of Alexei brings me back to life - just about, just about, just about !!!

And immediately the dogs rushed, and I see a fox that rose from the peg in front of us, thirty meters away. Ooh and tail! And it seems to be running slowly ... I throw up my camera, - click-click-click, - and the jump is already a hundred meters away. Aleksey watches through binoculars and comments on what I can hardly see: Paramon caught up!!! That's it, the end of the fox, they'll take it right now !!! He opened it!!!

Indeed, the most frisky, Paramon, caught up with the fox and forced it to turn back, but ... Azarnaya and Twinkle, who were literally a couple of meters behind, did not have time to catch it, and, elegantly waving its tail, the beast leaves literally from under two pairs of dog noses.

Oh you! Dogs fall through the snow, and the fox went on the crust !! Leave!

Indeed, the distance between them increases, the cunning beast went along the puffs, along the snowy ridges, where the dogs drown up to their chests. Soon they are all out of sight, the bandits can not give up the pursuit.

Aleksey, red and excited, drags on a cigarette:

I was sure they would! How did he leave! And after all, he let him very close, he rose in front of us!

We go to look for a bed, and we find

almost on the edge of the split, on the leeward side, but on level ground - not under a bush, not under a tree. We move further along the tracks, and read the race - here Paramon overtook the fox, turned around, yeah, failed ... and the fox tracks - along the ridge itself, like soft cat paws, ran, not stopping anywhere.

After about ten minutes, Alexey takes off the horn from his shoulder, and begins to call the dogs - “well, that's it, they will be firewood now ...”

Dogs do not return immediately and reluctantly. They grab the snow, plunge their long snouts into the snowdrift up to their ears - and they really did their best.

Twinkle stops a hundred meters from us, and suddenly starts whining, kissing the snow.

Muscles cramped, - says Alexei, - he is already old.

We go to the suffering dog, we are sorry, Lyosha rubs his paws.

Something Karay is not returning ...

The horn plays again, but the dog is not visible. Alexey looks around the area through binoculars. And suddenly the barely alive dogs take off again, and again disappear over the horizon.

Karay drives the beast there !!! - and we follow.

But while they ran around the pegs, on wide skis, everything was already over. The dogs started chasing the beast from afar, of course, it left. There is no point in continuing the hunt, the dogs are exhausted, and I have to go in the evening.

This time, Alexei and I made the return journey all alone - the dogs trailed far behind, hid in the bushes, and did not even respond to the horn. In the car with difficulty assembled:

They know they didn't! Are experiencing. They want to work. Fall-fall!

After this walk, I can hardly climb the stairs, but I think that I will definitely not miss the next invitation to a dog hunt.

A. Kivshenko. Stringed wolf

Russian manor hunting, which does not mean the extraction of an animal for food and not military training, which Genghis Khan arranged, for example, for his soldiers, but some kind of theatrical performance for the upper class, is not only inseparable from the Russian estate, but is one of the most striking components of the estate life.

It lasted only a century and a half, but during this time a certain code of honor, its own rules, and its own lexicon managed to develop. With the extravaganza of the Russian manor hunting, no other, even the English parfors hunting, could be compared, although it is also very spectacular. Its essence is as follows: following a flock of hounds (foxhounds or other breeds), hunters on horseback in obligatory red suits, overcoming natural obstacles (as a rule, numerous fences in England), strive to be the first of all the other participants in the race to snatch the tail of a fox from a flock of hounds. The one who succeeds is declared the winner. For a modest English scale, this was a spectacle, but the Russian expanses, which were not available in Europe, required a different scale ...


Russian estate hunting can be divided into two subspecies: regular or complete and gun hunting. But we will talk about each one in turn.

A. Kivshenko. persecuted

1. Hunting as such in Rus' has existed for a long time, there is a mention of catching in the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh. Fragments with hunting scenes have also been preserved on the frescoes of the St. Sophia Novgorod Cathedral. But this is mainly hunting with birds. As early as the middle of the 17th century, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a great lover and connoisseur of hunting, wrote his "Supervisor or the New Code and Order of the Order of the Falconer's Ways."

It was then that the saying "Falconry - royal, canine - boyar, gun - kennel" arose. And although the Riga German Christian von Lessin wrote at the same time his "Hunting Regulations for Owned and Dog Hunting", the nobility did little hunting with a gun and dogs. There were few dogs, mostly English exports, foreigners also dealt with them, and black - firearms in the hunt for a red beast (wolf, fox) always preferred white - horns and knives.

However, from the same 17th century, falconry began to gradually lose ground and by the beginning of the 18th century it had almost disappeared, gradually being replaced by canine hunting. Oddly enough, but real dog hunting originates in Russia in the Kostroma and Yaroslavl regions.

N. Kuznetsov. On vacation

After the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible and the conquest of the Tatar Khanate, he settled the conquered Tatar aristocracy in the northeastern regions, and they also bring their eastern and hounds there. But it was difficult for the heat-loving southern dogs not only to hunt among forests and small glades, but even to survive. And therefore, in a natural way, new breeds of hunting dogs began to appear, which subsequently made up the whole beauty of the estate hunting. This applied to both greyhounds and hounds.

The latter, of course, have undergone much lesser changes; maybe dressed a little richer and adapted to the rugged terrain. And even in the 17th century, the Russian aristocracy rode out with hounds not to catch the beast, but to listen to the amazing choirs of the hounds, selected by voices.

Here is how later, when there were no such choirs, Nekrasov described it:

Varom-cooks a boiled flock,
The landowner listens, enthusiastically melting,
In a powerful chest the spirit is engaged,
Hearing basks in wondrous harmony!
Littermates musical barking
Takes the soul to that ideal world,
Where there are no payments to the Board of Trustees,
There are no restless police officers!
The choir is so melodious, melodic and even,
What is your Rossini! What is your Beethoven!

N. Sverchkov. Hunting with greyhounds

Compiling a pack according to voices was considered a real art, and a lot of money was paid for the right dog. The classification of votes has not changed to this day. The voices of the hounds are divided into bashur - a low bass, languid with a vile - similar to a mournful cry, figured - with graces and with a bay, when the dog barks for several voices in turn. Two hundred years later, in 1892, A. Safonov even wrote scientific work"The flock as a subject of musical study".

In it, in particular, he writes: “There are voices that are thick, velvety, juicy, soft; there are liquid, sharp, piercing, extremely unpleasant for hearing; is also very different ... Judging by hearing, I think that the limiting notes of dog voices are: down - F under the first line of the bass clef and up - F over the eighth of the treble clef ...

In their voices, one can observe, firstly, an endless variety of timbres, registers, ranges and strength, then - tonality and, finally, an abundance of forms ... As a vivid example, he gives a description of a survivor named Budilo: "His wonderful velvety bassocontente had a range from B flat to the second octave, which gave the impression of a whole aria ... With measured recitatives, Budilo reasoned with himself, checked his thoughts ... his voice took on an increasingly passionate character, drawn-out exclamations captured an increasing number of tones ... finally, he he screamed piercingly and burst into hysterical sobbing in the highest register ... "What is it like? There is another interesting work on this topic - the book of the musician Artynov "Dog Chorus". Kostroma hounds were especially famous for their voices.

But we are a little off topic. So, by the end of the 17th century, two breeds of Russian dog hunting had developed: and Russian hounds. However, the real beginning of estate hunting dates back to the era of Peter III, when his Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility of 1762, service people were exempted from compulsory public service. It was from that time that the real history of estates with their specific life began - and estate hunting as a phenomenon of this culture. The origin of this phenomenon is based, in general, on only three successfully combined conditions. Firstly, the nobility had free time that could be spent on improving and decorating life. Secondly, the huge landowners' lands with an abundance of animals on them and the noble goals - the destruction of the wolf, the main pest of the landlord and peasant economy, contributed to the mass distribution of dog hunting.

And thirdly, not the last role was played by Russian national traits - dashing, courage, gambling, bordering on recklessness, which are fully manifested in this hunt. Apparently, in some way, dog hunting met the deepest needs of the Russian people. And it was not in vain that Nekrasov already in 1846, at the last ebb of Russian dog hunting, wrote:

We have no ban on the open field
Amuse the steppe and violent will.
Blessed is he who surrenders himself to power
Military fun: he knows passion,
And to gray hair young impulses
It will be preserved, beautiful and alive,
Black thought will not come to him,
In idle peace, the soul does not fall asleep.
Who does not like dog hunting,
He will fall asleep in himself and destroy his soul.

P. Sokolov. Hunting fees. At the porch

All this led to the fact that dog hunting, even if not very large, was on every noble estate in all central and Volga provinces. Moreover, landlords appeared who literally spent their whole lives on improving hunting and its techniques, breeding dogs and developing a code of its unwritten rules. There were enthusiasts who hunted from the age of 14-15 to a ripe old age and died on the hunt (or immediately after it). And even now, every efficient (that is, a real hunter) remembers the names of Machavarianov, Yermolov, Zhikharev, Baryatinsky.

It is to them that Russian hunting is obliged, for example, by the rule not to take nesting wolves, but only perennials (one-year-olds) - this was a correct and subtle environmental policy that made it possible to maintain balance in the surrounding nature. It was they who also introduced the tradition of naming dogs by breed. Even today hounds are often called by their voices: Flute, Sobbing, Bassoon, and greyhounds - by crown tactics: Grab, Boa, Fly, Torzay. And they imperceptibly aestheticized hunting, turning it from a rude entertainment into a noble spectacle. Russian hunting has always been a highly moral phenomenon, surprisingly combining strict science and free art.

Hunting is inextricably linked with the estate - and as the golden age of the estates falls on the first half of the 19th century, so did the estate hunting experience its zenith at that time. During these years, even a kind of dictionary was created - at least 500 words, which at that time were known to almost all the inhabitants of the estate, and now even three-quarters of the hunters do not know. As an example, let us give at least the names of the tails of different animals: for a hound it was called a rut, for a greyhound it was a rule, y for a log, y for a rod or feather, a fox for a pipe, a hare for a flower or puff. We refer those interested to the excellent book by I.P. Myatlev "Words and expressions used in dog hunting". It can be read as a fascinating novel even now. What is worth even the expression "on the splashes", when the dog hunts while all the snow in the spring turns bloody, in some places it melts completely, and splashes fly from under the dogs on large bald patches.

R. Franz. Boyar hunting of the times of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

Everyone remembers the description of canine hunting in "War and Peace", in the verses of the same Nekrasov ... There is also a wonderful and undeservedly forgotten Russian writer who gave his soul and pen to hunting - I'm talking about Dryyansky and his psychologically amazing "Notes of a small-grass ". Poor landowners, perhaps, did not have royal scope, but no less nobility was always present.

I must say that the content of the hunt (until 1917 this term meant not the process itself, but a pack of hounds, a pack of greyhounds, their servants and maintenance) was really very expensive. For a real complete hunt, it was necessary to keep at least 20 bows (2 dogs each) of hounds and 10 packs (3-4 dogs each) of greyhounds. It was already a lot. In addition, the dogs needed kennels. True, greyhounds, as a rule, lived in the house, ate and slept with the owners, but these are still separate favorites; the main part was kept separately.

And the hounds were kept completely in the kennels - as one hunter-writer said, "the most unfortunate of the Russian breeds", since it is the hounds who find the beast and drive it tirelessly, and when only a little bit remains before the prey, they are taken to the bow and the triumph goes released greyhound. And the kennels were huge, arranged according to the latest veterinary science. In addition, after the abolition of serfdom, it was necessary to maintain psars, the composition of which was approximately as follows: with hounds - vyzhlyatniki led by a driver; with greyhounds - greyhounds, led by a visiting, and also - the main hunter. And the form, and the training of dogs! Young hounds first had to be whipped, greyhounds - to be welded, that is, to walk on a bundle. In addition to trained dogs, especially trained horses and supplies were needed, since the hunt could last from several days to a month in favorable weather.

Now, probably, it's time to tell how the hunt itself took place.

R. Franz. Huntsman with three greyhounds

It began with reconnaissance, that is, observing the surrounding broods and howling, when a wolf howl imitation specialist thus determined the number and age of animals. Then came the exit. Here is how a contemporary writes about his solemnity: “The picture was breathtakingly beautiful when, in turn, a flock of crimson hounds with reaching and vyzhlyatniks lined up in front of the audience, having on both sides horse-drawn greyhounds with greyhounds of dark colors in a pack, and then a flock of piebald hounds and greyhounds with 18 packs of greyhounds of piebald and light colors; like an echo of distant better times, the call of sonorous horns sounded in the quiet air; as if rooted to the spot, people and horses stood, near each different poses amateurishly selected breed packs settled down. The whole picture, illuminated by the rays of the setting sun against the backdrop of a rural landscape, breathed some kind of extraordinary strength and charm, understandable to one hunter.

We stood in silence, and fantasy was carried away into autumn fields and forests, where this flock would roar, and dashing packs would rush like a whirlwind. Quietly approached us one of the oldest canine hunters. "This, gentlemen, is nowhere else to be seen," he told us. "And has there ever been anything like it," one of us replied.

In principle, the departure retained many features of the gathering of the princely squad in Rus'. This is evidenced by the archaism of the rite itself, and the actions preceding it. Thus, a hunter before hunting had to take care of the purity of his soul and body, and more than once an unsuccessful hunt was attributed to some hot young man who could not resist spending the night with a woman. The celebration of trophies, accompanied by horn signals and cups accompanied by the singing of "Let's drink, brothers, on the blood," refers to the old Slavic feast.

But the hunt has begun. The initial alignment of the forces of the hunters is carried out and the attack of the hounds is carried out to the cries of the approaching "Ululu!". Then follows the exit “to the manholes” and the “view of the greyhounds”, after the burping of the hounds, that is, the recall of the dogs with the command “Open!”, the command to the greyhounds “Atu!”, chasing them after the beast and, finally, the reception (killing) or strutting ( tying) a wolf and taking a fox or a hare. And this whole process was accompanied by emotions of such strength that they were comparable only with the heat of a real battle or a frenzy of passion.

V. Serov. Peter I on a dog hunt

But by the middle of the 19th century, dog hunting began to yield more and more to rifle hunting. Already in 1860, Khomyakov wrote in Moskvityanin: “We also had hunting in the old days, perhaps not as advanced as in England, but very diverse and intricate, perhaps showing an even more excess of courage and strength of the people. But was ... yes, overgrown with past, and now it’s almost a shame to talk about her.

And in 1861, in general, dealt a crushing blow to the manor dog hunting. The total number of complete hunts has decreased by more than three quarters. The vast majority of landlords, having lost their source of income, sought to get rid of hunting. The sad fact is known that in the sixties the production of kid leather greatly increased ... Where did it come from, I think it is not necessary to explain.

Only after 1872, after the creation of the Imperial Society of Proper Hunting, did it begin to revive, but not in droves, but mainly among nobles and grand dukes. So famous was the Gatchina imperial hunt in Marienburg. A whole Jaeger settlement was built there: houses for huntsmen, a two-story house for the chief huntsman, office buildings, bakeries, shops, a school. By the way, hurry up, the remains of the settlement can still be seen. The dogs were already trained beyond Gatchina, near Verolanitsy. “Ahead is a gray-haired senior ranger on a horse with a large copper horn. Behind him, forming a square, the rest of the huntsmen, also with horns and rapniks. In the center of the square are hounds, some in groups of five. "With God!" - this is how an eyewitness describes the trip to the nataska.

The Pershinsky hunt near Tula of the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich Jr., which consisted of 100-200 dogs, became not only a large breeding center (its area occupied more than 400 acres), whose dogs still remain the standard, but also the swan song of a complete dog hunt. After the revolution, both hunts were sold to the West, the remaining dogs were exterminated by the peasantry, and the brilliant part of Russian culture ceased to exist forever, like the estates that gave birth to it.

Manor hunting ceased to exist forever.

Now many attempts are being made to revive it, however, as they are trying to revive the estates. But, alas, farmstead hunting, like a farmstead, is not a single event, in a separate place and at a separate time - it, like any cultural phenomenon, required an environment for its development, which now does not exist and cannot exist ...

And yet, I really want the Russian estate hunting to remain, at least in memory, that festive, beautiful and noble act that it was and captivated souls - because this is our history, our language and our literature.

Maria Barykova

Departing fields, the sounds of hunting horns, graceful packs of greyhounds, flocks of black-backed, crimson, black-and-white hounds, brocade caftans, scarlet jackets - all this was a long time ago, infinitely long ago, and that hunting life of our ancestors, in their original form, alas, will never be will not come back. They were surprisingly beautiful and sometimes gloomy and silent - all these dexterous, reaching, stirrup, vyzhlyatniks, hounds, screamers. They treated hunting and everything that surrounded her with great love. The old Russian hunting embodied their dream of freedom and freedom. Their beauty was in a blood relationship with nature: with grain-growing fields, with copses dressed in autumn gold, with quiet backwaters, with sunset distances and clouds floating in the heavenly heights. The beauty of the action itself was also in the fact that all this was native Rus' ...

It's time, it's time! Horns blow;
Psari in hunting gear
Why are they sitting on horseback,
Greyhounds jump on packs...

A. S. Pushkin

The history of Russian dog hunting, and primarily with greyhounds and hounds, is one of the most important pages of the past of our Fatherland, inseparable from the culture, traditions, customs and mores of Russian society. The very name “Russian canine greyhound” sounds the breadth and freedom of Russian open spaces, the antiquity of this unique breed sounds: “canine” - canine (obsolete) wool; "Greyhound" - frisky, that is, fast-running. Dog hunting, with its centuries-old traditions, is a whole layer of not only Russian but world history and culture.

N.K. Roerich. Prince hunting. Morning. 1910


Thanks to the works of art by Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dryyansky, Machevarianov, the scientific works of Gubin, Rosen, Sabaneev, Reut, Kishinsky and others, picturesque and detailed pictures of old national hunts have been preserved, written in an original language that vividly conveys all the passions that once boiled while baiting the beast graceful greyhounds, swift hounds, dashing greyhounds.


S.S. Voroshilov. Hunting with hounds. Chuvash State Art Museum, Cheboksary

Even in the most ancient Russian sources, we meet the word "fishing". In the "Initial Chronicle", dated 1071, it is said that Prince Vsevolod near Vyshgorod in the forests "did animal catches, swept the net." In the teachings of Vladimir Monomakh, it is said that all his life he worked “fishing”, “he himself kept a hunting outfit”, that is, hunting - a stable of hawks and falcons. In the annals there are indications that already in the 12th century under Vladimir Monomakh "the animals were poisoned by dogs."

The first Europeans to see the outlandish Russian hunting dogs were the French, who in the 11th century brought to Paris not only the new bride of their king Henry I - Anna Yaroslavna, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev, but also three canine greyhounds.

Alexander Gorbikov Russian hunting 2006

Vasily III was a passionate canine hunter, who went with dogs to hunt a hare. When the hunt was not entirely successful, he took his soul with cages (for a decoy hare). Up to 300 riders took part in such cages. In 1509, Vasily III formed a special Hunting Order at the court, which was in charge of “all kinds of amusing dogs, greyhounds, hounds” and from which he sent several of his greyhounds as a gift to the Danish king Christian II.

The son of Vasily III - Ivan the Terrible, like his father, loved dog hunting and observed the same crowd and splendor in its organization.

N.E. Sverchkov. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with boyars falconry near Moscow. 1873. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

After the end of the Time of Troubles, the new Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich faced an unexpected problem - there was not a single dog in his Hunting Order. Some died during the occupation of Moscow by the Poles, the other was taken away by the retreating gentry. In 1619, “two hunters and three horse kennels” had to be sent to the lands near Novgorod and Vologda. After a couple of years, life in the kennels of the Hunting Order began to boil with renewed vigor.

Alexei Mikhailovich, who replaced Mikhail Fedorovich on the Russian throne, was also fond of hunting. Loving orderly order, harmony and "rank" in everything, the Quietest personally wrote in 1656 a detailed instruction for his falconers - "The constable or the New Code and the arrangement of the rank of the Falconer's Ways." The period of his reign also includes the appearance of the first book dedicated to complete hunting- "A hunting regulation belonging to a dog hunt" (circa 1635), written by a certain Christian von Lesin.

N.E. Sverchkov. Hunting with greyhounds. 1889. Private collection

Peter the Great was not fond of hunting. He introduced other, European amusements for the nobility - assemblies with dances and issued a decree: “Near Moscow, in nearby places with their people through the fields and in them with a dog hunt so that they don’t go.”

But Elizabeth and Peter II were passionately ill and devoted themselves entirely to dog hunting, devoting a lot of time and money to it. Under Peter II, the Imperial kennel consisted of 420 greyhounds, 200 hounds, and there were 70 servants with dogs.

Hunting in Ropsha. 1857. Ulyanovsk Art Museum, Ulyanovsk

Paying tribute to fashion, hunting in Russia more and more became the main entertainment of nobles and landowners. By the end of the 18th century, huge kennels appeared, in which there were thousands of dogs. L.P. Sabaneev writes about this: “In those days, almost every independent landowner, especially in the provinces near Moscow, made it his duty to keep greyhounds and hounds, sometimes in significant numbers - hundreds.”

In Catherine's time, the owners of large kennels were known and noble, such as Prince G.F. Baryatinsky - the owner of the then famous thick-dog dog "The Beast", who alone, without a pack, took a seasoned wolf, Count Alexei Orlov-Chesmensky - the owner of greyhounds of all breeds . Orlov-Chesmensky, the one who brought Oryol breed horses, belonged to the initiative to set up a cage in Moscow (for a wolf, a hare), for which invitations were sent out in advance throughout Russia.

Sergey Potapov Dog hunting 2006

The significance of hunting was then great from a political point of view. Many important state and interstate affairs were decided during them. For this purpose, foreign ambassadors and major diplomats were often invited to the sound of a hunting horn. The fate of an entire state sometimes depended on a successful hunt.

Throughout the 18th century, there was an exchange of blood borzois with Polish and Courland nobles. And in the 19th century, aristocrats from Western Europe began to buy our greyhounds. At the same time, the first clubs of Russian greyhound lovers were created in England and Germany. Since the second half of the 19th century, Russian greyhounds have already spread widely throughout Europe and America. Numerous nurseries specializing in breeding this breed have appeared. Due to its refined aristocratic appearance and complaisant nature, the greyhound quickly won the sympathy of foreign dog breeders, who saw in it no longer a hunting dog, but a show dog and a companion dog.

The "golden age" of domestic dog hunting ends with the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861. The owners of large kennels lost their serf kennels and the number of kennels was sharply reduced. They were preserved at that time only among the true lovers of Russian dog hunting.

Mikhail Dianov Hunting trip 2007

The centuries-old tradition of hunting with dogs has firmly entered the mentality of Russian society in pre-revolutionary Russia. Scientific works were devoted to dog hunting, specialized magazines were published, where lovers argued about the exteriors of dogs, about the order of hunting, shared stories about their leisure time in the fields. In 1873, the "Imperial Society for the Breeding of Game and Game Animals and Proper Hunting" was created, which began to organize exhibitions, show the work of dogs for playfulness and malice, with prizes and incentives.


Nikolai Komarov Royal Hunt

The history of Russian canine hunting keeps the memory of outstanding connoisseurs-craftsmen, artists of their craft. These are Feopen Ivanovich from E. E. Dryyansky’s Notes of a Small Herb, Danilo from L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”, Akimka from F. A. Svechin’s story “Two Souls”, Leonty from the story of I. A. Bunin “ Huntsman, the tsarist hunter V. R. Dits, famous throughout Russia, the famous travelers of the Pershinsky hunt of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich Romanov - Efim Aleksanov and Mikhail Mamkin, this is the mysterious magician and wizard "B" from the story of N. N. Karamzin " Canine hunting”, efficient hunters from the hunt of K. V. Sumarokov, M. I. Alekseev and N. P. Pakhomov – Krasov, Pavlov, Milovanov and Nikitin and many others…

In the second half of the 19th century, in the village of Pershino, Tula province, the Pershinsky Dog Hunting of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke N. N. Romanov was created. Contemporaries noted that Pershinsky hunting was the only canine hunting in Russia at that time on such a large scale, with such thoroughbred dogs, with such knowledgeable hunters and with such a device for leading dogs.


Alexey Shalaev Russian dog hunting (sketch) 2007

Pershinsky hunt consisted of 365 dogs, including 125 Russian canine greyhounds, 15 English greyhound greyhounds and two packs of hounds of 45 dogs each: one pack of crimson Russian blood color, the other - nightingale-piebald (white with marks). Pershinsky "bloods" were supported by young animals - there were constantly about 100 puppies in the hunt, mostly greyhounds and hounds.

This hunt was known not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. People from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France, England, the USA came here to buy elite hunting dogs of the Pershinsky type, to participate in the hunt ...

Alexander Sychev Wolf hunting 2004

“Thirty versts from the city of Tula to the west, 4 versts from the large old Kaluga dirt road, on the elevated bank of the Upa River, the beautiful estate of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich of Pershinsky’s estate is widely spread,” this is how his story begins about the Pershinsky imperial hunt in a monograph published in 1913 by General D. P. Valtsov, the manager of this hunt.

The estate in Pershin was built back in the time of Empress Catherine II by the famous Russian banker Lazarev. The old Russian word "estate" itself comes from the verb "plant": the tsar then "planted" service people on the ground and gave them the opportunity to arrange life in their own way. Once upon a time, Russia was decorated with estates, like a meadow with flowers. About the Russian estate, the poet Fet wrote: “This is a house and a garden arranged in the bosom of nature, when the human is one with the natural in the deepest, organic flowering and renewal, when the poetry of native nature develops the soul hand in hand with the beauty of the fine arts, and under the roof of a manor house a special music of domestic life arises, living in the change of labor activity and idle fun, joyful love and pure contemplation.

Alexander Sychev Hunting expectations 2003

Under Lazarev, a magnificent two-story palace was erected, and the temple built here in 1696 in the name of the Kazan Mother of God was put in order. In the future, the estate changed its owners several times. In 1887, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov acquired Pershino as a hunting residence. The estate was rebuilt, many new buildings appeared, including stables for thoroughbred horses, carriage and barnyards, kennels.

The palace flaunted against the dark background of an amazing park with centuries-old linden alleys, and in front of it, on a wide platform, flower beds were laid out with a circular path, poured out with crushed brick powder. Hunting dogs were led out along the path for the guests. Spectators admired such broods from the lower terrace.

The interior of the imperial hunting palace was designed according to the purpose of this residence. The walls of the vestibule are hung with hunting paintings and portraits of purebred dogs from Pershinsky hunting. Stuffed wolves stood on the landing of the stairs. In the large dining room on the second floor, the walls were decorated with medallions of the heads of bison, bears, wolves, lynxes, wild boars, elks, deer, goats, capercaillie. Stuffed huge bears stood in the corners, holding lamps in their raised paws, and at the balcony door there was a stuffed animal of a seasoned wolf baring its powerful fangs.

Many interesting hunting stories were heard by the walls of this dining room from the guests of the owner of the estate. But even more heated conversations and disputes were held in a room on the ground floor, called the "club". Greyhounds were examined here, deals were made for the sale of puppies, hunting was discussed. On the walls of the "club" hung portraits of the best producers of the Pershinsky hunt by the artist and passionate hunter G. K. von Meyer.

Vladimir Doronin

Already in 1898, the greyhounds of the Grand Duke began their victorious march through the exhibition rings in Russia and abroad. At the same time, few people could compete with them in the fields.

The type of Russian canine greyhound is a calm, balanced dog, the true character of which wakes up only at the sight of the beast rising in front of it. The Pershinsky greyhounds were distinguished by their special nobility of appearance, powerful frets, exquisitely shaped heads, dressing dogs and had exceptional agility. Among them were the so-called spiteful men who worked furiously for the wolf.

A real old dog hunt has always been a “complete” one: it consisted of a set that included 5-12 packs of greyhounds (20-36 dogs), a pack of hounds (18-40 dogs), as well as a whole staff serving the hunt and consisting of a senior in hunting - hunter, greyhounds (with greyhounds), vyzhlyatnikov (with hounds), driving (senior over greyhounds), reaching (senior over vyzhlyatniks), stirrup (responsible for the greyhound packs of the owner of the hunt), several laborers-houndmasters, a special convoy for "departing fields ”, i.e. for hunting trips away from home, riding and draft horses.

In addition to greyhounds, the “set” of the Pershinsky hunt included a crimson flock of hounds, famous throughout Russia. According to the exterior, they were very tall, powerful hounds with excellent bones, rather dry, very well dressed, with a thick undercoat. The dogs of this pack were distinguished by malice and perfectly worked on the wolves. Many of them had voices with a bay. A flock of nightingale and piebald foxhound hounds worked here - mostly fox dogs.

Natalya Baronetskaya Royal Hunt 2007

N. P. Kashkarov, who repeatedly judged domestic hounds in the rings of Russia in those years, wrote: “Hounds of different breeds are common among Russian hunters, in the vast majority of mixed breeds; hounds of pure breeds are now almost never found ... Between modern hounds, a brilliant exception is the crimson flock of "Pershin" hounds ... "

Persh hunting was served by a whole range of livestock and poultry farming: blood herds of Swiss cows, English sheep, herds of Kabardian and Arden horses, Tamier pigs, Rouen ducks, French chickens, etc. - all this was kept in exemplary order and under the personal eye of the Great Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich. In addition, there were nine stone houses for greyhounds with rooms and kitchens, walking areas, kennels for hounds, a hospital for dogs and horses, a boarding house for "pensioners" - dogs that had worked out due to age or injuries.

Sergey Potapov Falconry 2006

In Pershin, old dogs were not destroyed. They were kept until death. And when the dog fell, she was supposed to have a separate grave and a cast-iron slab indicating: when she was born, when she fell, who her parents were. Strict tribal records and pedigree books were kept. In addition to local peasants, 78 former soldiers of the Life Guards of the Imperial Hussars worked here, headed by Grand Duke N. N. Romanov.

In the vicinity of the estate, a wolf-hut with an area of ​​10 hectares, with three ponds, a hare with an area of ​​about 30 hectares and a pheasant house located on an area of ​​more than 50 hectares were arranged. Wolves were brought to the wolf hut, hunted in autumn by greyhounds in the surrounding forests. Their separate maintenance was arranged there: a department for over-flyers (last year's wolves) and profitable ones (born this year). Young greyhounds and hounds were taught on the newly arrived wolves, they hunted with them in cages. About 3 thousand hares, regularly brought here from Siberia, were kept in the rabbitry. At least 2,000 pheasants were constantly kept in the pheasant farm.

In the monograph of D. P. Valtsov, we find information that a special train was used to transport people, horses, dogs, tents, kitchens, carriages and much more to the hunting place, consisting of 42 freight cars, including two passenger first and second classes . The Grand Duke himself and his guests arrived by separate train.


Natalia Baronetskaya Hunt 2006

More than 100 greyhounds, the same number of foxhounds and rangers took part in the hunt. Horses for hunting were specially selected, as were packs of greyhounds and foxhounds. When the whole group arrived at the place where, according to preliminary data, there were wolves, plans were made, preparations were made and the hunt began.

The beaters, accompanied by a pack of foxhounds, drove the animal, usually a wolf, out of the forest into an open field, where mounted hunters were waiting for them at a respectful distance, each with a trio of greyhounds on a leash - one female and two males. When the beast showed up, the hunter let the dogs off the leash. The greyhounds chased the wolf, and the hunters rode after them. After an exciting chase, if the wolf could not escape, the greyhounds had to grab it and keep it until the hunters arrived, who hurried at full speed to the place of the fight, so that, according to the accepted custom, they immediately got involved in the fight, plugged the wolf's mouth and tied it. After this, the wolf was often released and, of course, in next time he behaved smarter and much more careful. A fascinating story about such a hunt can be read in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.

And what hunts Valtsov himself described! The heart stops when you read: “... the yellowish color of his coat and his head held high proved that the mainland favors me. Knowing the edge of the forest close behind me, I was very afraid to let the beast loose and, moving towards it, pointed it out to the dogs. I had three males of my own pack and among them the handsome Armavir. Noticing the sleeping dogs, the wolf turned to the left, and they had to get him in good measure in very deep snow. All three males rushed to him together, and where they caught up, they laid him down, but I didn’t have time to drive up, the wolf broke and just rushed to the edge, when Golovin’s three dogs, hurrying to help me, covered him; six dogs squeezed the wolf into the snow, forming a star, I was already three steps away from them, how, in an incomprehensible way for me, the wolf twisted out from under a bunch of dogs from below and, while they managed and rushed after him, moved away 30 steps and in all legs laid down to the edge.

A.S.Stepanov. Hunting. 1885. Memorial Museum-estate of the artist N.A. Yaroshenko, Kislovodsk

Many times I have seen persecution by the most vicious dogs of the blood of Nazim and Novikov, and always in such conditions seasoned wolves left; having broken after two tricks at a nearby edge, the mainland no longer allowed itself to be reached, especially along the heavy field, and then my heart trembled: “It will leave!”. But the playfulness of the Persh dogs again came to the rescue: the red bitch from Golovin’s pack flew out of the heap of dogs, pulled out the wolf with a terrible throw and hung on his neck, the males covered him and lifted him into the air at the feet of Golovin, who had jumped off the sleigh ... "

First World War, the revolution and the civil war that followed them became a sad milestone in the history of domestic canine hunting and the development of hunting dog breeds. Keeping, for example, greyhounds at that time in Russia became almost impossible. Their main elite composition was taken abroad, and those who remained at home were declared "lordly" and subject to mass extermination.

N.E. Sverchkov. Horses and greyhounds

With the outbreak of war, the reduction of the Pershinsky hunt began, and the World Hunting Academy, as it was once called by numerous foreign guests, ended its existence in 1919. Most of the greyhounds were taken to Czechoslovakia, the hounds and the remaining greyhounds went to the hands of the local population.

This eradication of "bourgeois survivals" continued for more than 15 years. As a result, the Russian population of greyhounds and hounds was inflicted huge damage. It seemed to many at that time that everything had gone to dust and domestic dog breeding could no longer be revived.

The October Revolution was a disaster for canine hunting and dog breeding. Was it up to dogs when they blew up temples and burned estates. For several years, the breed of domestic greyhounds practically died. And it's not that they killed out of hatred for the attribute of a class enemy. The population, hunters-traders dismantled dogs in the yards without any idea about the appraisal and selection work with them. But in a purebred dog, the main thing is “pure blood”.

It is possible to restore an architectural monument according to the drawings, but a line of breeding animals, even once having launched alien blood into it, will not return many generations to purity. Dissolved blood greyhounds at that time among the balls and tuzikov. There were greyhounds, but there were “selections”. The rescue and restoration of the wonderful breed, and with it the re-creation of Russian canine hunting, is a long, dramatic story.

The fate of the Russian hounds was somewhat more successful. And only because they were more adapted to the Russian climate and did not look as aristocratic as greyhounds.

As for the Russian greyhounds, it was only after the end of the Great Patriotic War the first blood representatives of this breed, found in the nurseries of occupied Germany, returned to Soviet Russia. Then the gradual return of the Russian canine greyhound to his homeland began.

In 1962, the nursery "De Norois" was registered in Switzerland in the name of Ursula Vera Trueb. being hundreds of kilometers from Russia, the breeder of the kennel then, and then in the next more than 40 years, devoted herself to the preservation and breeding of the classic type of Russian greyhound. And before starting breeding greyhounds, this amazing woman studied the history and culture of Russia, visited Pershino. It is impossible to recreate the breed without getting acquainted with its origins, roots, as Ursula believed. Today, the positive impact of the De Norua kennel on the restoration and conservation of the number of greyhounds in our country, which already number several thousand, is well known.

An even more difficult task turned out to be the revival of the once world-famous Pershinsky type of greyhounds ... Moscow, Rusich kennel, breeder Irina Korshunova: about twenty years ago, Irina brought a greyhound from Germany, the roots of which went to the dogs of the Pershinsky hunt. This dog was also of Pershin type. Today in the kennel it was possible to restore and consolidate this type of Russian greyhounds.

The metropolitan nursery "Lunnaya Raduga", breeder Elena Balakireva, today specializes in breeding thick-dog Russian greyhounds of the Pershinsky type and has the most titled pack of Russia.

Kennel "Borzoi Romanovs" (Moscow), breeder Inna Estrina, working in close contact with the nursery from Sweden "De Norua". It was from this nursery that Inna once brought Hurricane. It was a dog, a real hunter, full of dignity and some kind of masculine strength. Hurricane aroused respect for himself not with a formidable look and a roar that put everyone in their places, but there was something special in his large, expressive dark eyes that spoke of him as a person.

And some time later in this kennel, from the parents of the blood of the kennel "De Norua", a fiery-bred aristocrat, a black-and-tan male of the Pershinsky type Bursh was born .... So in Russia in the last century this type of Russian canine greyhounds was recreated ...

Kirill Datsouk
Kirill Datsuk name:
"Fox hunting in Kostomloty on the feast of the patron saint of hunters St. Hubert"


The beginning of the 80s of the last century is on the calendar ... In those years, Vasily Terentyevich Urvachev, an honorary hunter, was a frequent guest of our family regional society hunters, a native of the village of Pershino. We lived side by side and had a lot in common. Urvachev helped me in preparing a book on the history of the region, advised me on the creation of museum expositions, where I worked as a director at that time, and often went hunting together. How many then were lucky to hear hunting stories from the lips of this amazing person and talented hunter. About, for example, how he hunted in the local forests with academician Boris Stechkin, the main developer in the Soviet Union of rocket engines for spacecraft. But that, like many others, is another story...

N.E. Sverchkov. Hunting. 1881. National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk

Urvachev was born in 1902 and from childhood he was a witness, and then a participant in the royal hunts, which came to his native places in spring and autumn. His father, Terenty Eliseevich, served in the Hunt of His Imperial Highness and early began to accustom his son to hunting tricks, caring for hunting dogs.

For a long time, Urvachev's words that dog hunting, unlike gun hunting, is not the extermination of animals, will be remembered for a long time. This is, first of all, sports, adrenaline and a beautiful sight. This is a competition between two animals - wild and bred, grown by man. There are no wounded animals in dog hunting. Hunting is carried out in strictly limited terms, when there are no more young hares and pregnant hares. The hunting greyhound herself practically does not touch the hares, because she only knows how to poison and catch up. If the animal is gone, good. It means a strong animal. Overwinter and give healthy offspring. More than once, the old hunter expressed regret that after the revolution, along with thoroughbred hunting dogs, national dog hunting also disappeared into oblivion, and today's greyhounds are mainly urban "sofa" dogs ...

N.E. Sverchkov. Hunter. A hunting halt. Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum, Nizhny Novgorod

Two more decades have passed since those meetings with a well-known hunter in the Tulshchina. And I happened to be at the head of the development of the project for the recreation of the Pershinsky dog ​​hunt, to take part in the beginning of the return to the original homeland of the Pershinsky type of greyhounds. Alas, all this is far from being so simple in our today's world, with its predominantly technocratic mentality...

And although central and local publications wrote about the work that had begun at one time, there were reports on television, the first dog hunts with greyhounds took place, so far it has not been possible to break the minds of many that Pershino should stand in Russia, on Tula land in one row with Yasnaya Polyana, Polenov, Kulikovo field.

N.E. Sverchkov. Wolf hunting. 1873. Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia, Petrozavodsk

And with the revival of the national dog hunting here, perhaps even brighter, more significant ...

But everything in the world once returns "to its own circle." That is why I want to end this essay with the words of a passionate hunter, a talented Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev:

“Now I will limit myself to the desire that hunting, this fun that brings us closer to nature, accustoms us to patience, and sometimes to composure in the face of danger, gives our body health and strength, vigor and freshness to the spirit ... - would still flourish for a long time in our Motherland!"

Unusual adventures of the Austrians in Russia, or what Herberstein saw

It seems that many books and articles have been written on the history of dog hunting, on the origin of Russian greyhounds. The number and volume of sources could be the envy of any other breed of hunting dogs. However, in order to get a more or less clear picture of events, one must not only read, but also, by comparing, analyze what has been read.

With surprising ease, some authors speak of greyhounds in the dowry of the Kievan princess Anna Yaroslavna (XI century) and at the same time argue that the Russian canine greyhound owes its birth to the Mongol-Tatar conquerors.

The same breeders with the same fervor promote the strictest selection for the first signs of bloodlines, while at the same time extolling Yermolov's "Description" (1888), full of compromises regarding mixed greyhounds.
Why is this happening? Where do myths come from and why are they so tenacious? It seems to me interesting to sort out step by step the mistakes and misconceptions of a number of popular authors, often leading the reader to an erroneous, or even completely absurd interpretation of the history of canine hunting and the Russian canine greyhound breed.

I am going to tell about this and many other things in my future monograph. In the meantime, I suggest readers of the magazine "Hunting and Fishing XXI Century" to get acquainted with one of its chapters dedicated to "Notes on Muscovy" by Sigismund Herberstein. This widely known source in Russia and in the West has been addressed by many authors, ancient and modern. But the conclusions that they made were so strange and inexplicable that one can only doubt whether they read these very “Notes” on which they rely in their conclusions ?!

So, the diplomat of the Holy Roman Empire, Baron Sigismund Herberstein (1486-1566), twice visited Moscow on an embassy mission: in 1517 and 1526. He left detailed travelogues Notes on Muscovy, which became a real bestseller and went through dozens of editions during the author's lifetime. Notes contain detailed description Russian dog hunting at the court of Father Ivan the Terrible, Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Ioannovich III.

Two author's editions of Notes on Muscovy have survived to this day - the Latin edition of 1556 and the German edition of 1557. In addition, Herberstein's Autobiography has been preserved, which in many respects supplements both editions of the Notes. Using the publication of "Notes on Muscovy", carried out in 1988 by the Moscow State University publishing house and containing both (Latin and German) author's editions of the book and the autobiography of its creator, I will try to acquaint the reader with the most complete description of the Moscow Grand Duke hunting.

A few words about Herberstein himself. Brilliantly educated, fluent in the main European languages ​​and having been on diplomatic missions at almost all European courts and even met with the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Sigismund Herberstein, during his two trips to Muscovy, managed, by his own admission, to learn spoken Russian , which allowed him "in the description of Russia to consciously use Russian words when designating objects, areas and rivers." It can be assumed that this was largely facilitated by the knowledge of the diplomat - a native of Styria (Steiermark) of the Slovenian language, which was native to a significant part of the population of this Austrian duchy.

Herberstein arrived in Moscow from Vienna to mediate in Russian-Polish affairs, as an envoy of Emperor Maximilian I. In the Muscovite state, he encountered well-established, but unknown to the ambassador, canine hunting and local breeds of hunting dogs, with which he did not fail to acquaint the European reader.
A little background. Vasily Ioannovich III (1479-1533) began to hunt from early youth and spent the autumn months in the outgoing fields near Mozhaisk, Volok Lamsky or in the villages near Moscow - Ostrov, Vorobiev and Vorontsovo. The tradition of opening a dog hunt on the day of St. Simeon the Stylite, or Semyonov Day, which resulted in the 19th century. in the "holiday of hunters, the first outgoing field", is rooted in those distant times: in 1519, Vasily III hunted "in Voloka from September 14 to October 26."

In 1496, the Grand Duke organized a special court institution - the Stable Order, to which not only the Grand Duke's riding and draft horses, carriages, but also birds of prey, "amusing" hunting dogs, hunting tools and various hunting utensils. The decree on the creation of the Stable Order speaks in detail about the rules and terms of hunting, its rituals. At the head of the new Order could be "the first boyar with rank and honor", who received the post of Sovereign Stable Boyar. And in 1509, another Order appears - the Stalker.

Accordingly, the rank of Sovereign Hunt Boyar is also established. The first Hunter was the boyar Mikhail Ivanovich Nagoi, who served from 1509 to 1525.

In the year of the first visit of Baron Herberstein to Moscow (1517), having concluded a trade agreement with the Danes, Vasily Ioannovich sent as a gift to the King of Denmark Christian II several Russian greyhounds from the kennel of the Hunt Order, which Christian, in turn, presented to the French king Francis I.

Note that all these events refer to the time when, from the point of view of Kishinsky (and Sabaneev), there was no Russian dog hunting and could not be! Indeed, before the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible in 1552, there were still decades, namely, after this event, accompanied by the “settlement of the Tatars” in Russian lands and the breeding of their greyhounds with local dogs, the history of the formation of the Russian greyhound began, as the authors saw.

What did a foreign diplomat invited by Vasily III to the "sovereign's fun" see in 1517 in the vicinity of Moscow?

“Near Moscow [half a mile or a mile from it] (hereinafter in square brackets the text from the German edition of Zapisok - A.O.) there is a place overgrown with bushes and very convenient for hares; in it, as if in a hare's nursery, there is a great multitude of hares, and no one dares to catch them, as well as cut bushes there, for fear of the most severe punishment. The sovereign also breeds a huge number of hares in animal pens and other places ... He has a lot of hunters, each of whom leads two dogs ... Fast dogs are kept in front, they call them "kurtzen" (kurtzen).

“... Arriving at the place of hunting, the sovereign turned to us, saying that they have a habit whenever he is on a hunt and his fun, to him and other good people to lead hunting dogs with their own hands; he advised us to do the same. Then he assigned to each of us two people, each of whom led a dog, so that we could use them for our amusement. To this we replied that we gratefully accepted his real mercy, and that the same custom existed among us. [So noble gentlemen lead the dogs themselves when hunting.] He resorted to this reservation because the dog is considered an unclean animal among them and touching it bare hand[for an honest person] shameful. Meanwhile, almost a hundred people [on foot] lined up in a long line; half of them were dressed in black, half in yellow. Horsemen stopped not far from them, blocking the way for the hares to escape. At first, no one was allowed to release hunting dogs except Shih-Ali and us.

“The sovereign was the first to shout to the hunter, ordering him to start; he immediately rushes at full gallop to the other hunters, whose number was great. After that, they all begin to shout with one voice and lower the dogs, Molossians (molossi) and bloodhounds (odoriferi). It was a great pleasure to hear the manifold barking of such a great pack. And the sovereign has a great many dogs, and, moreover, excellent ones. Some, called “kurtzi”, are used only for baiting hares, very beautiful, with shaggy ears and tails, as a rule, bold, but not suitable for chasing and running over long distances. When a hare appears, they release three, four, five, or even more dogs that attack him from everywhere ... When the hunt began, I took one dog as a lead ... I began to poison the hare that I got, only then when he ran far enough. However, I caught few of them. Dogs can't stand a long chase."

“When the dogs are overtaken, the hunters all shout: “Oh-ho! Ho! Ho!" - as if hunted down a big deer. A lot of hares were caught, and when they were taken down in a heap, they asked me: “How many are there?”. I answered: " More than a thousand", which they were very pleased with, although there were not even three hundred." (According to Herberstein, the more Vasily III catches them, "... with the greater, in his opinion, fun and honor will end the day.")

“In the same way, one could see how the sovereign himself applauded the ambassador (i.e. Herberstein - A.O.), whose dog caught a lot of hares.

Let us now see how the description left by Herberstein corresponds to the stories about dog hunting in Russia in the late 19th - early 19th century. XX centuries other authors.

As we know, traditionally, participants in dog hunts were divided into two groups: greyhound hunters - hunters with greyhounds and vyzhlyatnikov, or kennel - with hounds. The greyhounds, having taken places along the perimeter of the forest, bush, swamp or ravine, into which the hounds were launched, poisoned the animals put out of the island into the open space, while the greyhounds had to do their best to help their hounds to induce and force them to leave the island as much as possible. the number of the beast.

For this purpose, the coloring of the hunting dress of greyhounds and vyzhyatnikov also served. The dark clothes of the greyhounds helped them go unnoticed by the beast and let it in at the “measured” distance necessary for successful persecution, and the bright costumes of the greyhounds frightened the hares trying to stock up and hide. The yellow and black colors of clothes, marked by the ambassador, remained quite traditional for canine hunters three centuries later.

By the way, Herberstein's "Notes on Muscovy" offer the modern reader one more additional touch, indicating the continuity of the traditions of dog hunting - at the beginning of the 16th century, as well as many years later, moving to the hunting place, greyhounds go ahead of all other hunters (in Herberstein - "fast dogs are kept ahead").

In order for the beast not to leave the island without persecution, greyhounds were placed around the entire perimeter, and in the intervals between them - the remaining idle part of the foot or horse snipers, forming an almost continuous chain. This rule was observed regardless of the size of the island or weaning. The hunt described by Herberstein in an area limited by foot and horse hunters from one to four thousand square meters draws us a classic example of island riding.

Dog hunting is not the modern field trial of greyhounds or hounds. Its main goal is, according to Gubin, “the destruction of any animal, i.e. wolf, fox and hare, and in every place accessible to hunting with greyhounds. Setting such a goal, the old canine hunters tried their best not to leave a single animal on the island and not to miss a single animal without persecution. And constantly, when driving in impassable places with limited visibility (and dense bushes are just such a place), reaching along with improvised skimmers with a deployed front, along with the hounds, they combed the island on foot, loudly chirping (that is, cheering exclamations) encouraging dogs to search in the climb. Hence the hunters on foot and the loud cries in Herberstein's description.

It is easy to see that there are special differences in the organization and conduct of dog hunting in the 16th and 19th centuries. we couldn't find it. It remains to answer the last question: what kind of dogs took part in the Grand Duke's hunt and what were the mysterious "kurtsy"?

It can be seen from the text that the ambassador divided the dogs he saw while hunting Vasily Ioannovich into two groups. He attributed to the first one molossi et odoriferi (it would be more correct to write: canes odorisequus), i.e. Molossian - etching and "sniffing" or "wind", and to the second - "fast" dogs, "named" kurtzi "(kurtzi)". Already from this it becomes clear that Herberstein did not see hounds and greyhounds in Rus' in the understanding of these breeds accepted in the West. An inexperienced person is unlikely even today to catch the relationship between, say, the Russian hound and the Bloodhound. At first glance, there is no more in common between the Greyhound and the Russian canine. These dogs are fundamentally different in the manner of their work.

Therefore, being quite correct, the ambassador of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire gave the dogs he saw names that fully corresponded to their functions. In other words, speaking of "pickling and wind" dogs, Herberstein perfectly described the work of the hounds during the island ride. As we know, the hounds in the old days not only pursued the beast, driving it out of the island into the open area, using their instinct - “spirit”, but often independently caught (“poisoned”) the beast in the island.

The ambassador described the second group of dogs - “kurtzi” in much more detail. Since, as we know, European monarchs maintained close ties with Turkey, Persia, and the countries of the Middle East, and the ambassador visited all European courts, we can say with confidence that Russian dogs had no analogues in Europe and the Middle East . The ambassador notes not only that these dogs are very beautiful, but also repeatedly emphasizes their main feature - the inability to jump for a long time. Thus, we see that we are talking about a native breed of greyhounds, adapted to hunting in wooded areas. These dogs differed from their eastern and western neighbors by short work and drew attention to themselves with their beauty. And although the author's mention of "furry ears and tails" may suggest an oriental greyhound such as the Saluki, the author's characterization of dogs as frisky, but absolutely not hardy, this assumption strongly refutes.

What Herberstein says specifically about greyhounds follows from his own words: "fast dogs are kept ahead." This phrase is an exact translation of the Old Slavonic word "brazy". Having learned from the grand ducal hunters that they lead greyhounds, the author could not translate this word otherwise than “fast”.

When the diplomat began to ask about these dogs in more detail, he heard the word “kurtzi” in response. But neither in Russian, nor in Polish, nor in any other modern language, there is such a word. The question arises: did the translators and publishers of Notes on Muscovy correctly transliterate it into Russian as “kurts”?

Comparing “kurtzi” in the original source with other Russian words, for the transliteration of which into Latin Herberstein resorted to the same letter construction - “tz”, as suggested by O. Egorov, we will see that in most cases the author used it to convey the sound “ch ", and not at all "c". For example: "UgliTZ" - "UgliCh"; "tissuTZe" - "thousand"; "kreTZet" - "KreChet"; "japenTZe" - "epancha", etc. So, it will be quite fair to read “kurtzi” not “kurtsy” or “kurtsy”, but “kurchi”. The word “kurchi” has long existed in the West Slavic language and, being a derivative of the well-known “hort”, denoted a greyhound dog.

In the so-called Lithuanian status of 1529 - the first written code of feudal law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, written in West Slavonic, in article 12 "The price of dogs", dedicated to the "imposition", i.e. compensation for the theft or murder of a dog, the section "On robbery and imposition" we can read: "... and for kurcha ten kopecks of pennies ...".

Here it is worth mentioning that in the language of the peoples who inhabited the borders of Kievan, Novgorod, and later Moscow Rus, the word "greyhounds" in its modern meaning did not yet exist. The adjective "borzoi" was used until the 16th century. only to indicate the speed of the horses. But along with this, we come across the ancient word "hort" or "khrt", meaning a greyhound dog, a hunting dog.

Similar words existed in addition to Old Church Slavonic and in the languages ​​​​of other related peoples: chrt and chrtice (feminine gender) (Czech), chart (Pol.), hart or hert (Bosn.), hrt or rt (Serb.), chrt (words .), khirt (ukr.), kurch (white), etc. In all cases, they designate precisely greyhounds. In addition, consonant words are also found in the languages ​​of the neighboring Baltic peoples: hurtta (Fin.), hurt (Est.), Kurtas (Lit.) - a hunting dog.

All of them, according to Professor A. Alqvist, are borrowed from the Russian or Lithuanian language. According to linguists, the word "hort" is close in origin to the German Windhund, which literally means: a dog as fast as the wind. It is likely that four centuries ago all these words were much closer in pronunciation than they are today.

In order not to go far for an example, we note that the imperial envoy himself is called “Zhigimont” in Russian official correspondence and annals of that time.

Suggestive and another characteristic of dogs - "as a rule, bold." It is clear that the hare's "fun" did not give the slightest opportunity to be convinced of the courage of the dogs, and this characterization itself looks out of place in the context of the story. So isn't the word "bold" an exact translation of another well-known characteristic of greyhounds, such as "daring"? In this case, Herberstein's phrase - "as a rule, dashing, but not suitable for pursuit and long-distance running" takes on a completely different semantic meaning.

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