Caspian Sea

Passion for hunting was imparted to me by elder brother Vasily. Even as a kid, he often took me with him to the sea, to the mountains for kekliks, or to the sands for hares. Hares there live in the desert sands and at the foot of the rocky mountains. I remember both my first keklik, and the first hare, and the first kashkaldak (coot), I will devote to this bird a separate article. Unlike the middle belt hunters, Caspian hunters respect kashkaldak.
The village in which I was born and raised is in Azerbaijan, south of Baku, on the Caspian Sea, formerly it was called Duvanna, then renamed Gobustan, meaning “land of ravines and gorges” in translation. Nearby in the mountains is the Gobustan Reserve, which is known for its rock art, which has been preserved here since the Mesolithic period. At the top of the article, the landscape of our village against the background of mountains, there you can see how close the village is from the sea and it’s very difficult not to become a hunter or fisherman, and all childhood is connected with the sea. Pay attention to how the cut top of the mountain, when it was the correct form, but inside the mountain is a strong mineral from shells and sand, which was cut into cubes for construction. The weight of the cube was 32 kg. So cut the floor of the mountain.
Keklik Keklik, beautiful stone partridge. When a flock of kekliks noisily flew up beside me, I shuddered in surprise and did not always have time to shoot. To find these birds, we had to work hard, keep stone partridges on the open slopes among the rocks, but it is not easy to see them. In case of danger, they run more often and not take off. Even if there is a big stone on the road, the keklik will not use its wings, it will jump over it. Kekliki take off only as a last resort. Their close relatives – the chickens – behave in the same way.
Meat from kekslikov excellent quality. Stone partridges are the main object of sports, and in some places commercial hunting in the mountains. In addition to humans, kekliks are pursued by golden eagles, eagle owls, various falcons and kites, wolves, foxes, stone martens and other four-footed and feathered predators. The stone partridge is not a very strong bird to the shot, and for shooting it is enough to use a medium-sized fraction – No. 7-5. To avoid wounded game, which is almost impossible to find, a gun for shooting kekliks should have a rather sharp battle and moderate accuracy.
Kashkaldak (coot) I love to hunt these black birds. I can safely say that this is the most interesting hunt, especially when you do a corral in the reeds, they run up against the wind towards the beater and fly in on the right shot.
kashkaldakiHood proceeded as follows. As soon as the strong north wind blew, huge flocks of coots-kashkaldaks rushed into the reeds, there is food and shelter for them. It was then that in the morning, the hunters gathered 5-6 people, put on rubber suits, with a bag of ammunition on the chest and with a gun in their hands, walked along the chain of wind along the reeds, as a rule, the depth was knee-deep and slightly higher, and occasionally nabried on the flock Kashkaldaks, who knew how to take off only to the wind, and sometimes they simply ran within the limits of the right shot. The hunt was always successful, there were even ducks and even geese. The batted game was tied up and it stretched for every hunter on a string.
I want to note that the Caspian stumps are much larger than their counterparts from other regions. Our so-called Guryevskys, most often migrating to the south of the Caspian, feed up to the “slider” state on the way, i.e. they are unable to fly, and can only run through the water, acquiring the size of good mallards.
As a schoolboy, especially in the cold north wind, I came to the beach, hid in skradok from fragrant sea grass, and waited for the kashkaldaks to swim. Despite the fact that in front of the pack, the hunter put the stuffed animals and hid in the skradok, after 30 minutes they still swim up to these stuffed animals, and this can be repeated many times, apparently from similarities in the chicken they had similar brains. Caspian hunt
If there was ice on the coast, and this is rarely with us, but it happened, they went out directly on the ice, and after the shot, ridiculously gliding with clawed paws, scatter over the ice for takeoff. By the way, a wounded kashkaldak can inflict a decent wound with its claws, so be careful with them, you can see in the photo below how he does it.
At that far time, as soon as winter came, in the sea, especially in calm weather, one could observe huge flocks of ducks and kashkaldaks. When the gale north wind was played, the game tried to hide in the reed thickets. If snow was added to this wind, luck was guaranteed.
There were other methods of hunting in the reeds, some of the hunters, in the water on the edge of the reeds, buried a huge ellipsoid barrel in which two hunters could easily be accommodated, and if the barrel was not occupied, it was possible to shoot a lot of game around rubber stuffed animals. .
In addition, if you go on a motorcycle far into the mountains, then in the valleys among the mountains, there are specially equipped places where rainwater accumulates. This is an art