Yekaterinburg ethnographer and avid hunter Semyon Dmitrievich Krasnov devoted more than three decades of his life to collecting unusual memories, stories, or, as they say in the Urals, tales of his friends and colleagues in the hunting craft. Much of what he wrote down can be attributed to the invention of the purest water, such as, for example, five partridges killed with one shot or a connecting rod bear defeated by a blow from a hunting rifle butt. However, a number of stories and eyewitness testimonies deserve attention, since they lift the veil of secrecy over the still unexplored world of the Ural taiga
For centuries, information about the so-called reserved places, which are the most abundant in game and taiga animals, has been transmitted from mouth to mouth. According to legends, these places are owned by the owner of the taiga, called Svyadun or Zvyagun by the indigenous peoples. This mysterious creature supposedly helps hunters who honor him and leave gifts for him in reserved places - salt or sugar, loaves of bread or pickles. However, the owner of the taiga is capable of punishing the greedy hunter.
So, in the northern regions of the Urals, there is a story about a wealthy peasant who lived at the beginning of the 20th century in the village of Suslov. This wealthy peasant once went to the taiga to catch a bear in the spring. Having found a den, he raised the bear and her three cubs, killed the entire bear family, and returned home with the prey. The next morning, his torn body was found by the household in the courtyard. Not far from the deceased peasant, a reddish dung was found, which is called mummy by the local population. According to legend, such traces are left behind by the owner of the taiga. Having learned about the death of the greedy peasant, fellow villagers guessed that it was Zvyagun who punished him for the extermination of helpless babies and their mother.
Escaped
from the Swamp
A completely different story happened to a close friend of Semyon Dmitrievich - Andrei S. In the fall of 1986, Andrei with a group of colleagues in an army "UAZ" set off to fetch partridges to Elanskie swamps. Hunters have been to those places more than once, and therefore the impenetrable swamps did not frighten them. It so happened that Andrei soon lost sight of the other hunters, stumbled, and in the next instant felt himself being sucked in by a cold viscous fluid. The situation became hopeless: no one answered his cries, and there was not a blade of grass, no branch, or a bush around to grab onto and, thus holding on to the surface, wait for help. So he took his last breath and plunged headlong into the swamp.
And in the next instant, some unknown force squeezed him and pulled him out of the swamp. Andrei regained consciousness only a few minutes later and saw that he was sitting on an earthen bump, and frightened colleagues, to whom he soon told about his miraculous salvation, were jumping from bump to bump. Having carefully examined the place where the tragedy almost happened, the hunters saw several lumps of mummy and immediately remembered the legends about the owner of the taiga. Andrei, who never believed in the existence of Zvyagun, arrived at the swamp the very next day and left a bag of sugar and a bag of salt for his savior in gratitude.
Capercaillie king
Hunting tales include the legend of the wood grouse king, known since the 18th century in the Urals. According to the beliefs of the Old Believers who settled along the Yaik River, there is a special wood grouse bird that can be caught only on Christmastide. Brought to the current and tied with a red thread to a tree, the capercaillie king summons his congeners to him, who become easy prey for a happy hunter.
The Old Believers who lived apart have long been considered the most skillful hunters who knew many secrets, only a small part of which has reached modern taiga hunting lovers. For example, for winter hunting before sunrise, the Old Believers uttered a special slander on the snow, washed themselves with charmed snow, sprinkled their outer clothing, then rolled snowballs and threw them in the direction where they were going to go for prey. Often using a knife or spear in their craft, the Old Believers performed secret rituals with these fishing tools. So, going to a bear with a spear, one should first coat it with the charmed fat of a young, nulliparous bear. If a knife became a hunting weapon, then the previous evening the cold weapon was ignited on an open fire, then it was poured three times with cold well water on the spruce hand and hid under the pillow on which the hunter slept. Going to bed, the hunter read the conspiracy and, no longer talking to anyone, fell asleep.
Blacksmith sorcerer
Until the outbreak of the First World War, it was not customary for Old Believer hunters to go hunting with a rifle. For these purposes, they made bows and crossbows of a special design, which were distinguished by an amazing range and accuracy of fire, as well as different penetrating ability. Metal tips were made by hunters in a special way, the secret of which was borrowed from the ancient Pskov and Novgorodians who hunted in the northern forests. However, there were master blacksmiths who had the fame of sorcerers who carried out the "secret" orders of hunters.
Such masters included Ivan Krechet, who lived in the small village of Shi-pelovo, not far from Yekaterinburg, in the first half of the last century. According to the recollections of old hunters, even in the fifties of the XX century, fishermen came to him - some for the cherished knife, some for a special pentahedral arrowhead. The young generation of hunters cast special bullets from the Krechet, which always hit the target.
After the death of the blacksmith-sorcerer, residents of the surrounding villages came to his grave to collect land, which they wrapped in rags and took with them to hunt as an amulet. A similar amulet was kept by Semyon Dmitrievich Krasnov for a long time, invariably bringing him hunting happiness.
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Dead Hunter
Another legend is associated with a dead hunter. About two hundred years ago, a skilled and successful hunter went to the taiga in winter for prey, and so he froze there. Since then, his ghost, living in abandoned winter huts, appears in the evening and before dawn, demanding from hunters to share their prey with him. Despite the eerie touch of this legend, it is considered a great success to meet with a dead hunter at the fishermen, promising rich prey. Once Semyon Dmitrievich himself had a chance to personally verify the veracity of this tale.
In the winter of 1992, he went to the taiga for several days. The area where Krasnov went was well known to him, and the hunting lodges scattered several kilometers from each other, in which there was always a supply of necessary products, gave the hunter the opportunity to sleep safely. Having wandered through the taiga for the first day, Krasnov went out to one of these huts, where he stopped.
At night, the hunter was awakened by strange sounds: as if someone was walking around the house, creaking floorboards and coughing. Semyon Dmitrievich's sleep seemed to have disappeared by hand. He got up, lit a candle, walked around the gatehouse, but found no one outside or inside it. Then, remembering the eerie legend, Krasnov jokingly promised the invisible one to pay for the accommodation and went to bed with a calm heart.
The next morning, barely finding himself again in the taiga, Krasnov met nose to nose with a fox, which he shot without much difficulty. All the next day, the animals seemed to go out to the hunter themselves. Returning to the hut, Semyon Dmitrievich remembered this promise and, putting a couple of hares they had caught under a bench in tiny sents, settled down for the night. Going home the next day, Sergei Dmitrievich looked under the bench and did not find hare carcasses - the dead hunter took the guest's payment … The
world of the taiga is rich and diverse not only in its inhabitants, but also in mysterious creatures that closely watch a man with a gun who has come into their possession … And the disposition of the mysterious owners of the taiga towards him depends on how careful the hunter's attitude to the gifts of nature will be.