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Predator hunting

Let me introduce myself first. My name’s Robert Atanassov. I’m publishing the “Bulgarian Hunter” magazine and hosting the programs “Time for Hunting” on TV7 and “ Hobby” TV. Meanwhile I am a professional hunter, which doesn’t mean I earn my bread by selling furs the way the trappers used to do. I organize hunting expeditions for people who are ignorant about certain terrains and game habitats. I’m saving their time, ensuring a good hunting day, week or longer periods.
Predator hunting in Bulgaria ranks among the most emotional hunts. Why? In spite of their self-preserving instinct herbivorous animals are less intelligent, what they care for is grazing only. Predators have to outwit their prey, to approach it near enough so that to knock it down. As a rule, they are smaller in size than herbivores and are expected to have social behavior being members of the pack. Predators are also useful because they help decrease the number of rodents. However, in areas frequented by jackals and foxes, the number of partridges, quails, geese and other fowls is falling down severely which makes regulating the population of predators absolutely necessary. Their population should be regulated and not annihilated altogether. I have to repeat this time and again: to regulate and not annihilate. I will be the first to defend certain predators if I notice that their population diminishes badly. But, frankly speaking, I will be also the first to raise his gun when I see a predator for this is a very emotional hunt. In this way I will be helping useful game or, in other words, I’ll be acting in favor of keeping the balance in nature. Unfortunately, it has been very much damaged in this country, especially after the political changes of 1989. People have stopped tilling the soil. As a result, predators have severely diminished the number of useful game. Most regrettably, people start shooting predators for fear they might scare the pig, the doe or some other animal they have gone out hunting for. As a rule, predators always come out first. Thinking that way is something we won’t get rid of soon. Our young fellow-hunters should not hunt for the piece of meat only. They should do that for the sake of coming into contact with nature or for the thrill of outwitting a cleverer opponent or even a rival. That is what the supreme game is about: that man is the best of all best hunters, namely predators. Firing is certainly the climax. If you are a lousy shooter all methods turn useless. Predators have a sixth sense and can easily avoid being a target.
How does one go predator hunting? Sure, everyone has got his own method but there are three major ways of doing it. One of them is the battue. The shooting party forms in columns: the hunters from one side and the drivers from the other. Under the pressure of noise the entire pack of predators runs in the opposite direction. Then the ambushing hunters shoot the game, which is permitted for shooting and which catches their attention. There is an all year round permission to shoot predators. What I have in mind are mainly wolves, foxes and jackals. I can take into account also the easel, the badger and the wild cat, until recently. Due to wrong taxation we were forbidden to kill it. When we had been asked for information on the part of the EU someone put a dash in the column. People misunderstood it thinking that there was not such an animal in this country. What we actually meant was that the number of wild cats in Bulgaria was not known for certain. I have seen dozens of wild cats in one place in the course of a day. You can meet them along the Danube river valley, in the vicinity of the Yambol town, mainly in plain areas. The cat is a very clever predator its natural enemy being the man. When it is in danger it climbs up the first tree it sees. Neither the wolf nor the fox or the jackal can be its rival. None of those predators is eager enough to deal with cats whose hind claws are frightful. It usually lies on its back letting its rival attack it. It keeps it back by using its front claws and in the same time is capable of tearing its belly with its hind ones. Otherwise, the cat avoids coming into conflicts. But let’s go back to the methods!
The second method is luring by using corpses. Baiting sites are set, the bait being dead animals, stinking fish, etc. The point is that stinking smell may attract predators. Gradually, animals start visiting the baiting site. In winter we can get clear information about the visitors because of the tracks they leave behind. When the weather is warm we can recognize the animals by their excrements, that is to say their dirt. Tracks are easy to discern if the soil is soft. It is recommendable to bring a sack of sand and scatter it round the baiting site.
The third method is luring by sound imitating either a female in her mating season or an animal in danger.
There isn’t a sweeter sound for the jackal than the scream of a hare caught by a marten. The fox also loves it. By the way, it is disputable which of the two animals is cleverer. If you ask me, I think that the jackal is more intelligent than the fox. There is no doubt to me that first of all predators and animals in general inhabiting our territory are the wolves. They are far ahead of all animals. I am going to pay a special attention to it because wolf hunting is not just a thrill it is a mania which you can’t get rid of.
Let’s talk about sounds. Some skillful hunters imitate them by using their palms. There are whistles too which not only imitate but also cast the sound over a large area. That is important for the predator might be some kilometers away. Certainly, there exist digital devices as well. They imitate the recorded sound of a hare.
Let’s talk about taxation of the area now. At night is the perfect time for doing it because all predators come out then leaving tracks for us to read.
Foxes can be met from sea level up to 2 000 meters above sea level. However, jackals are predominantly plain inhabitants living up to 500-600 meters above sea level. There are exceptions too, a friend of mine managed to gun down a jackal at an altitude of 1 000 meters, but that’s not typical of jackals. Initially, jackals could be found mainly in the Strandja and the Sakar mountains. Gradually, they spread to the north and at the time being those animals are quite numerous in this country. I have had the honor of setting a personal record by gunning down 25 jackals for 8 hours in the Yambol region. I have done the same with a colleague of mine along the Danube River gunning down also foxes, martens and wild cats at the time their hunt was permitted.
I’m going to give away a secret to my readers concerning my method. I combine the methods mentioned above when predator hunting. I set up baiting sites at several places where there are plenty of predators. Following our watches we go round those baiting sites. When we come up to the first baiting site we usually see that there is an animal. If there is not one, there will be at the second baiting site. Then we use our sound signal. Sometimes we come upon two jackals and we shoot. If one of them is wounded it runs away and hide. Anyway, the predator reacts to a sound signal and raises head. And while we are waiting to put an end to its suffering by the so called coup de grace we notice the other two jackals attracted by the sound signal.
When predator hunting I use a high tech rifle with a vario scope of 2, 5 to 10 and a front objective glass of 50 mm. The large front lens permits the coming in of more light which makes it possible to hunt till late during the day. A good extra is the inbuilt light pointer. Imagine we see the black silhouette of a pig or some predator on the background of yellow grass. But the line on the scale is also black which makes it impossible for us to understand where we are aiming at. Here comes to rescue a tiny red light, point or cross which show us in a perfect way the spot the bullet is going to hit.
I use usually small caliber: 222 or 243. The average distance in Bulgaria is 150—200 or rarely 300 meters. And this is a fairly enough serious distance which requires a good shooting training and an excellent support. The first shot is the most important one with predators. At the beginning, when I was too hasty, I often used to wound the jackals or the foxes and I couldn’t find them after that. I learned how to wait for the right moment to come. The first thing is to hit the animal at the right time, the second: not to make it suffer. We should not be cruel to predators they’ve got souls as well.
How about night hunting? In this country using artificial light is forbidden. If you asked me, it is far more unethical to use loops or poison, but we are obliged to stick to the law. The optimal time for night hunting is the winter when the snow is in full contrast to the color of the animal. I have had the chance of being in the Razgrad region touring around in my car and being capable of seeing in an excellent way every detail at a distance of 200 meters.
In conclusion, I would say that predator hunting is worthy enough and it doesn’t deprive nature of useful game, on the contrary-it helps it. Meanwhile it is the source of extreme satisfaction because it can be practiced all the year round. First, it is not banned by law. Second, if you asked me I prefer hunting in cold weather when the fur of predators is best. There is down under the long
hairs which makes them look valuable and lovely. After all, it is after January when you cannot hunt other game!

ROBERT ATANASSOV