Page 70 - WUT Magazine

one line was still available and due to extraordinary circumstances on my first line, they would like to o er me this one as the replacement line. Of course, I could also withdraw; it would be solely my decision. Happy and very delighted I said yes and was told to have a second go when all other teams had finished. While I fell asleep in the sun on the softest moss under pine trees, the others had to go on their lines. Just in time for lunch the last participant came back safe and sound with his Dachshund out of the endless woods. Although nobody had managed to find the end of the line in the given time, everybody was very impressed and had seen elk or single huge wild boars. The 5 cm wooden marker with pink ribbon was shown around with special pride. Ex- cept of the 40 hour dog, who ran into wild boars immediately after he started, all the other teams found one of these precious souvenirs on their line.
Now it was the turn for me and my bitch again, and nearly everybody from the basecamp fol- lowed. After driving another 15 minutes through the 30000 ha big trial ground, I was standing at the start of the replacement line and Nixe started her brilliant work again. After 250 meters with- out any blood she sat down on a tree stump, waited until I was with her and poked her nose straight on the stump, where I could observe a microscopic small stain of blood! On she went, very concentrated and calm. Just before a bushy cover she found one of these precious wooden plates with pink ribbon, and while I was at the end of the 12 m tracking lead, she disappeared in the bush. Suddenly a female elk jumped up with much noise and vanished with long strides. Due to the boggy underground, it felt as if the whole forest was shaking. Very interested and com- pletely focused on this fresh and extraordinary track, my Nixe wanted to follow. I took her back, but could not move her forward on our blood line.
At the basecamp, everybody was cheering and following our track via GPS. Finally, time ran out, and I decided to go around the bush and try to find the blood line on the other side. Due to the wind coming from the direction the elk had disappeared, my bitch had little enthusiasm to help
«Genius loci», huntsman Nikolay Belov
68 WUT Magazine. 2017/#1