dr. Béla Takács, a correspondence university student, caught his first golden jackal in January of this year in the Váchartany area of the Pest County Eagle Hunting Association. In recent years, this resettled predator appeared in an area not far from Szentendrei Island.
Photo: dr. Béla Takács – Agro Jager News
Local hunters shot the first individuals two years ago. Béla Takács’s jackal was the third, which received a bronze rating after the judging. The jackal is looking for its place here as well, it was expected that the migrating individuals would settle sooner or later – Béla Takács began his report.
By chance, Béla, who has a legal degree and works as a notary public, met Balázs during the second degree course in wildlife engineering, who, along with another classmate, very kindly offered to help him with the field part of his diploma work. The topic of the thesis is the application and practice of the use of different game calling devices in game management, with particular attention to the red fox. Balázs comes from Ormánság, in the vicinity of Sellye. Their common passion is hunting, and for Béla, it’s also duke hunting. In practice, the field work means that he uses different call sounds and, if he can, he also kills the predators with a firearm, and records the reaction of the wild animals called into the shooting range in a protocol.
Photo: dr. Béla Takács – Agro Jager News
The aim of the thesis is to test the different wild call sounds per season, to record and examine the results. Predator calls are known to be one of the most difficult genres of hunting, with furry pests reacting differently to different decoy sounds. It takes a lot of time and patience to get to know the different species.
The thesis mainly focuses on the red fox, but the reactions and behaviors of other predatory species are also recorded. A badger, red fox or golden jackal reacts completely differently to the sounds of different prey animals. With the appearance of the golden jackal in Ormánság, the red fox has almost disappeared, you can hardly observe one or two individuals, it was quite amazing to experience this. said Béla.
The first day of guest hunting ended without results. . Although he saw a lame golden jackal heading towards a row of stumps in broad daylight, the shot failed. Compared to his disability, the jackal disappeared in the covered area in a flash. He didn’t get a chance to repeat, and after that there was no more action until the fog cleared
The next day he tried to make a giggle sound. After the call, almost out of nowhere, a golden jackal appeared, which regularly scanned the area. When the predator was about 70 meters away, it fired a shot at the game. Now he made no mistake: the golden jackal, after the shot, fell into the fire. After that, he imitated the cry of a rabbit with his whistle. A red fox appeared, but as soon as he saw the high spot, he immediately disappeared. Most likely, this was the fox that later showed itself in the same place without calling, and disappeared before the appearance of the later jackals.
A little later, Józsi the Ant’s wild boar picked up a whistle. At the malachang, the forest came alive. It was impossible to say exactly what kind of animal was moving in it. The distress cry of a wild boar can also trigger the wild boars’ instinctive defense mechanism, i.e. they protect each other, especially in the places where the jackal hunts them. After the call, nothing happened for almost 40 minutes, and then three golden jackals came out of the forest. Maybe they were tactical and waited 40 minutes after the call? It can happen with the jackal, but it could be due to the luck of the hunter.
He fired another shot, followed by two more. Another jackal was placed on the table, the other two scattered in the direction of the forest.
According to experienced predator hunters, there is little chance of fooling golden jackals in the spring, where they have already been recognized. The red fox responds more to this bait sound. According to their experience, the preference for decoy sounds changes periodically, but in some cases this change can even occur suddenly. The individual experiences of hunters show many similarities in different regions of the country.
In areas where red foxes and golden jackals are regularly hunted with whistles, the well-known decoy sounds have a more alarming effect. That’s why you always have to change – because they know the hunters. It is very difficult to correct the mistakes made, those who do not develop, do not educate themselves, will be ineffective. In addition to calling, it is also important to change locations, because foxes and jackals also learn the location of high places. One of the most effective methods is the practice introduced by Mihály Horváth: staying in a given area for a short time. In this way, a large area can be combed in a relatively short time.
The presence of the golden jackal also generates nature conservation issues, since the reintroduction of the originally native golden jackal enriches the Hungarian fauna, but also causes serious wildlife management and nature conservation problems. The population of domestic predators, which has been continuously increasing for decades, can be kept in balance with planned and professional thinning, in order to ensure the living space of significant or even other protected and highly protected species from the point of view of wildlife management – university student Béla Takács concluded his report.
Written by Dr. Gergely Szilágyi
Photo source: dr. Béla Takács
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