Hunting
Looking Back (1938): What is golden jackal?
Gyula Éhrig wrote an article about the golden jackal in 1938
Lajos Méhely’s excellent article about the reed wolf was published forty years ago, in 1898, in the »first year of Nature. »In the case of the reed wolf, writes Méhely, we are in the darkest state of ignorance. We don’t know if we can see a definite subspecies of the wolf or just a difference in color, and we can’t even know if the jackal is hiding underneath?! “Since then, there has been no receipt for the specialists to shed light on this question; every year, an article about the reed wolf was published in one or the other magazine, but the data collected in this way were by no means sufficient to lift the veil of mystery about the racial nature of our reed wolf, in fact, the many myths and legends confused our knowledge even more. Kálmán Kittenberger also kept the exciting question on the agenda in his paper, with whom eight or ten years ago we traveled a part of the country to examine suspicious wolves buried here and there. The lack of results did not discourage us, we continued our research relentlessly.
A reed wolf shoted in the border of Tyukod, on Ecsedi-bog. Shot by Lajos Nusser on January 25, 1937. Recorded by Sándor Őry. Photo: A természet
A year ago, there was a lot of excitement in the editorial office of “Nimród-Vadászújság”, I argued with Kittenberger about the letter of Lajos Nusser, the elementary school director in Tyukod, what did they shoot in Túkod, a dog or a jackal or a reed wolf? Kittenberger, no matter how enthusiastic he was about the matter, could only be distrustful based on his experience, I myself took a wait-and-see position. We wrote to director Nusser, to send the strange animal shot on the Ecsedi moor to be viewed. Days full of anticipation followed, peppered with twice-daily phone calls; we didn’t have a receipt until the package arrived. Then we were both happy, because the animal that had been shoted was indeed a jackal. At our request, Lajos Nusser donated his skin and skull to the Hungarian National Museum, and work has begun to give an accurate opinion on him.
Some were also shot in Szeremség, Valpovo; in the Nyárd forest (near Eszék, Verőce County) on November 7, 1879; Puszta-Petersliofon (near Ruma, Szerém County) on December 23, 1890; Between Zupanja and Gradiste in Lukno (Szerem County) on January 11, 1902. According to the latest data from Zagreb university professor Hirlz, the jackal lives not only on the island of Cursola and the Peljesac peninsula, but is also common everywhere in the Tustica mountains between Biograd and Zár, especially around Kotari, as well as in the coastal areas of Dalmatia and Croatia — in the Velebit. According to Calinescu’s research, the jackal also occurs in the Romanian Dobrudsa (Ghidiciu, 1929).
Detailed comparative studies revealed that the skull of the Tyukod jackal is the largest among the jackal skulls known so far. If this animal had only weighed more than the other jackals, we could only have said that it was well fed. However, his body weight — 13 kilos — did not exceed the average weight of the jackal, but his skull was still different from the others; this indicates that we are dealing with a new subspecies, which has developed in our country, in the favorable habitat of the once endless reeds of the Great Plain, over centuries and millennia. I named our animal Canis aureus hungaricus. I could not use the name Brusina-élé (Canis aureus balcanicus) because he applied this name to Croatian and Hungarian jackals without a description and he had not even seen a Hungarian jackal. And with this method, anyone, dividing the area of the earth on paper, you can name in advance all the unknown animals of the world to be discovered. I also had to omit the name Canis lupus minor that Mojsisovics used for the reed wolf. Not to mention that in this case I should call our cane wolf Canis aureus minor, i.e. “little jackal”, even though it is the largest among the jackals. Mojsisovich firmly believed that the reed wolf was a real wolf of small stature; also states that the jackal is often mistaken for the jackal. He also describes the jackal based on an incomplete skin, which could be a jackal based on the description, but what it was like, small or large, cannot be determined from the description. So Mojsisovics also just gave a name to an as yet unknown animal. It was reasonable to think that the Hungarian jackal was the same as the reed wolf. When I first expressed this thought, someone in the »Nimród-Vadászujság« said that the Hungarian animal divers should give grace to the memory of the cane wolves, which have merged with the memories of the old Hungarian wildernesses and were also sung by János Arany. But is it a crime if it turns out that the reed wolf was a jackal trained for the Hungarian steppes? Hardly! I am well aware that since János Arany wrote his »Toldi«, every single word of it has become a part of our Hungarianness. János Fadrusz also did not want to be disrespectful when he modeled his excellent statue, Toldi fighting with reed wolves, even though he depicted the reed wolf – very correctly – as the size of a fox rather than a wolf. that the reed wolf was a jackal trained for the Hungarian steppes? Hardly! I am well aware that since János Arany wrote his »Toldi«, every single word of it has become a part of our Hungarianness. János Fadrusz also did not want to be disrespectful when he modeled his excellent statue, Toldi fighting with reed wolves, even though he depicted the reed wolf – very correctly – as the size of a fox rather than a wolf. that the reed wolf was a jackal trained for the Hungarian steppes? Hardly! I am well aware that since János Arany wrote his »Toldi«, every single word of it has become a part of our Hungarianness. János Fadrusz also did not want to be disrespectful when he modeled his excellent statue, Toldi fighting with reed wolves, even though he depicted the reed wolf – very correctly – as the size of a fox rather than a wolf.
Toldi’s fight with the reed wolves. Sculpture by János Fadrusz. (Property of the National Casino.). Photo: A természet
In the old literary data, it appears that in János Arany’s well source, in Péter Ilosvai Selymes’s »Toldi«, there is no mention of a wolf at all, and even less of a reed wolf. It follows from this that at the time of the creation of the poetic work, the people still knew the reed wolf, but until now we did not know what he called it. The reed wolf was first mentioned by Kramer GH in 1756 in his work Elenchus Vegetabilium et Animalium per Austriam inferiorem observatorumc, where he says the following about the wolf: »It lives in larger forests, in reed beds, especially around Lake Nezsideri (Lake Fertő!). Since the hunters observed two versions, the one between the reeds – although its body is smaller and grayer, but still wilder – was called the reed wolf. It mainly feeds on meat.« Among our domestic writers, János Grossinger Ker. in the first volume of the »Universa História Physica Regni Hungáriaét. »The pack of wolves is evident in Hungary due to the damage caused to cattle and the numerous wolf skins.
Every winter they show themselves in groups, there are individuals or pairs that wander. The people have established two kinds among us, those who live in dense forests and those who live alone in the reeds of swamps; they are somewhat smaller and less wild than the ones in the forest, which is why they got the local name »reed wolf« from the reeds. They inhabit the islands of the Danube, Drava and Sava and the fields (plains) of the kingdom. The larger ones live scattered in the forests; most of them hide towards Dacia, in the forests of the Limestone Mountains and the Copper Forest, although the Olachians often capture wolf cubs. The old and very wild wolves are called “bearded wolves” by the people of Tiszántúl, because of the wild judgment, as if evil people turn into wolves or dogs.* Two years later, in 1795, in his book “The History of Nature”, István Gáti write about the wolf but he does not mention the jackal. In his book »Natural History« (1801), János Földi already mentions something more interesting about the wolf, because he also mentions bearded wolves. »’. . . Wolves attack much larger animals, wild boars and bears in droves, and eat the reeds and the earth when they are hungry.
The dead body is also dug up, and night appearances of something like this in Czinterem may have given the opportunity to talk about the Bearded Wolves.« Ferenc Pethe Kisszántói writes about the wolf very aptly in his book »Natural History and Craftsmanship* published in 1815, but he does not mention the reed wolf in his description of the wolf either. , nor does he mention the bearded wolf. What he writes about the jackal is all the more remarkable! »This is as cruel as the wolf we know, and it has the same predatory nature, it also digs up dead bodies. And as it may once have happened that it strayed from Asia towards us; it is more likely that the famous bearded wolf rumor would have arisen from this name than from the fact that the common wolf would have roamed around the Tzinterem: because why would they call it bearded in Hungarian and not devil-wolf; if, wouldn’t the name Jackal be the origin of the tale?« From the quotations we see that the name »reed wolf« appears in literature when the name »Jackal-wolf« is lost in the fog of legends, which name, according to Pethe, was originally a jackal-wolf, i.e. could mean jackal. In any case, it would be interesting to find out the original, old meaning of the bearded wolf even more precisely, because Pethe’s assumption is not perfect proof that the old Hungarians knew the jackal as the jackal wolf.
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In relation to this question, it is worth mentioning that János Földi describes the jackal as »Jackal or Turkish fox«. I would be willing to assume that the name jackal came to our country during the Turkish rule, that is, it is of Turkish origin; but I could not prove this, because I could find no record of the origin of the word jackal. In the third year of »Vádász és Versenylap« (1859) Sándor Havas writes the following about the wolf: »The German writers, especially the older ones, have two sexes of the wolf, forest or mountain wolf (Wald-Wolf) and meadow wolf (Sumpf oder Rohr- Wolf) distinguishes k ; we also have two types of names for this, although scientifically there is no difference between the two. Not even from a hunting point of view, anyone who has hunted wolves in Szabolcs can confirm that.
Here it would be very difficult, in fact, it would be impossible to distinguish a meadow wolf from a forest wolf, because as soon as the forest is driven, it disappears into the nearby reeds, but as soon as the rumble of hunters, hounds or greyhounds disturbs it from the dry or frozen reed thicket, it immediately takes its way to the forest or thickets . And so that during the rotation, when the bitch gathers the slovenly suitors around her with her prolonged, unpleasant pull every night, the two supposedly different species do not mix, especially here, where the meadow and the forest are so close to each other, the wolf, by his canine nature, cannot do anything up. It is also not true that the prairie tail is smaller, lower and thinner than the mountain or forest one; — I saw it a couple of years ago in Karcag, near which there is no forest for 12 square meters,
Contrary to the claims of some experts, who make too much of the differences in everything, and the wolf, as I said, is known only after the description of others, I found that the meadow wolf of the Great Plains, which breeds sheep, steers, steers, foals, horses, oxen, pigs it gets plenty, it grows almost stronger than the forest or mountain ones, which do not have such a rich selection in the end. In my opinion, the abundance or paucity of food is the only factor in the wolf that presupposes the external development of the game. It is said that the so-called meadow wolf tends to have a paler color than the one that always hangs in forests and meadows, but this can only be attributed to the influence of the sun, because the meadow does not provide such perfection and shade as the forest, and it is not even protected against rain. protecting game, his fur immediately turns pale, while the inhabitant of the forests in the cold prefers to keep its brownish, ashy color mixed here and there with mottled.* This observation about real wolves (Canis lupus) is very notable because Sándor Havas knew half a century earlier the basic rule of taxonomy and zoogeography that an animal species has the same two different subspecies cannot live in the area at the same time. Although he does not state this rule, he sees its essence with a keen eye and correctly reasons it.
Today, based on this rule, we can definitely state that the noticeably smaller reed wolf could not have been a lowland version or subspecies of the common wolf, but just another wolf-like animal. The hunting dictionary of the 3rd volume of »Vádász és Versenylap« also says: »There are two types of tails: mountain and reed. The latter is smaller and more cowardly than the first. In different landscapes: worm, roundworm or roundworm, scurvy, meadow dog; jokingly: forest-eared.« Based on the old literary data, we can only say that the reed wolf was undoubtedly smaller than the common wolf; the other notable result is that the Hungarian transformed the foreign-sounding word jackal, jackal wolf, into bearded wolf, which later he did not know what to do with, so it became an imaginary monster, which is slowly disappearing into the mists of folklore. We had to search for other defining data in order to determine what the reed tail might have been; I managed to find two pieces of data from which it can be determined without a doubt that it was racial. One of them is data on the size, or rather the weight, of the jackal. In a letter dated January 28, 1932, Károly Borovszky wrote the following: »In the 1900s, the reed tail was very common in the area of the Jamina and Morovici forest managements belonging to the Vinkovce forest office. Róbert Bokor, a relative of the former forester there, and I talked a lot about reed wolves. He never mentioned they were rare. He classified them as common, as there were quite a lot of them, at least at that time, in the reeds and forests along the Sava. from which its racial nature can be determined without a doubt. The z is one of the data relating to the size, or rather the weight, of the jackal. In a letter dated January 28, 1932, Károly Borovszky wrote the following: »In the 1900s, the reed tail was very common in the area of the Jamina and Morovici forest managements belonging to the Vinkovce forest office. Róbert Bokor, a relative of the former forester there, and I talked a lot about reed wolves. He never mentioned they were rare. He classified them as common, as there were quite a lot of them, at least at that time, in the reeds and forests along the Sava. from which its racial nature can be determined without a doubt. The z is one of the data relating to the size, or rather the weight, of the jackal. In a letter dated January 28, 1932, Károly Borovszky wrote the following: »In the 1900s, the reed tail was very common in the area of the Jamina and Morovici forest managements belonging to the Vinkovce forest office. Róbert Bokor, a relative of the former forester there, and I talked a lot about reed wolves. He never mentioned they were rare. He classified them as common, as there were quite a lot of them, at least at that time, in the reeds and forests along the Sava. »In the 1900s, the reed tail was very common in the territory of the Jamina and Morovici forest wardens belonging to the Vinkovce forest office. Róbert Bokor, a relative of the former forester there, and I talked a lot about reed wolves. He never mentioned they were rare. He classified them as common, as there were quite a lot of them, at least at that time, in the reeds and forests along the Sava. »In the 1900s, the reed tail was very common in the territory of the Jamina and Morovici forest wardens belonging to the Vinkovce forest office. Róbert Bokor, a relative of the former forester there, and I talked a lot about reed wolves. He never mentioned they were rare. He classified them as common, as there were quite a lot of them, at least at that time, in the reeds and forests along the Sava.
On the part of forester Bokor, the weight of the cane wolves in Vinkovce was indicated as 12-25 kilograms, while the weight of the wolves in Szerem was determined to be 30-40 kilograms. . . « In 1906, I was invited to the Rezét desert in the Danube, belonging to the Kalocsa archdiocese, for deer hunting. On one occasion, I managed to shoot an animal that appeared suddenly in front of me and looked like a wolf dog; because I wounded him, I sought him. We found it in an unusable condition a few days later. It was a jackal, also with a slapped tail; it could have been at most 12-15 kilograms. It was a male.« So Borovszky and Bokor’s cane wolf weight data are almost identical to the jackal’s weight data. The “slapped tail” also suits the jackal better than the wolf. However, the most famous proof of the reed wolf’s status as a jackal is a picture depicting a reed wolf hunt in the possession of the Ötömösi Geréby family.
Golden jackal hunting in Adac, Pest county, in the middle of the last century. The rider carries the jackal tied with gauze on his arm. (The work of an unknown Italian painter, owned by the Otomosi Geréby family.). Photo: A természet
In the 1830s and 40s (the exact year is unknown), the late Geréby Pál Ötömösi organized a reed wolf hunt in Adacson, Pest County; an Italian painter friend also took part in this and immortalized the hunt in three pictures. The first of the pictures shows the beginning of the drive. In the second picture, two greyhounds are fighting with a jackal. From this, the reed tail and its species cannot be determined. The third picture is even more interesting; on this, one of the riders is carrying the jackal tied in gauze on one arm. The cane wolf’s too short tail is striking; not only is it short and shaggy, but it is also bluntly lowered, that is, like a jackal. The other thing worth noting is that you cannot easily carry a 40-50-kilogram live wolf home with one hand, even when tied up! In contrast, the jackal weighs only 10-13 kilos; an animal of this weight can already be carried with one hand.
According to our only authentic image of a reed wolf, the animal was short, blunt-tailed and light. Only one kind of wolf could live in our country, namely the jackal. It follows that the Hungarians knew the jackal as the reed wolf. The cane wolf escaped the attention of experts for a long time. But why? For those who knew him esteemed him nothing because of his rough quiver; if he dropped it, he left it where he shot it. Those who did not what is it thought that it is stray dog; it is not customary to brag about dogs that have been shot to death, nor is it customary to take them home today. By the time we realized what the reed wolf could be, we could say: it was, it is not, the spreading public culture swept it away along with the reeds of the Great Plain. It’s a wonder there was even one! However, I strongly believe that where there was one, there will be more, which is why I am asking you, fox-like, white-throated, short, shaggy, with a down-tail,
Written by: Dr. Gyula Éhik – A természet March 1938, vol. 34. No. 3 59-63.
Source of photos: nature photographer Zsolt Tankovics
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Hunting
HUNTING: The forester candidate shoted the first roebuck of his life
Bence Halmai was able to go on his first roe deer hunt in the border of Tatárszentgyörgy. He was accompanied on the hunt by his father’s good friend, professional hunter Gábor Balogh.
Bence Halmai is 19 years old and this year he applied for the technician qualification exam at the Alföldi Agricultural Vocational Training Center Ferenc Kiss Forestry Technical School in Szeged. He comes from a family of foresters and, after his father and grandfather, he is the third forester in the family, and what’s more, he also hunts. These two professions were never far from each other, and there was a time in this institution when ornithologists took their turn, many of whom are still working in various fields of nature conservation today.
Candidate forester Bence Halmai with his first roe deer in the border of Tatárszentgyörgy Photo: professional hunter Gábor Balogh, employee of Szentgyörgyi Vádászó Gazdák of Tatárszentgyörgy
Bence and his family are among the foresters who have chosen the path of life to add saplings to the many newly planted or renovated forests in the country. A full-blooded country boy who hunts with his father when he can, walks the border. The time has now come for me to start hunting for roe deer, too – the forestry technician candidate told Agro Jager News.
The young hunter lives in Kunszentmiklós, in the heart of Kiskunság, in Bács-Kiskun county, in the middle of the Alföld. The landscape is mostly dotted with pastures, mowing fields and, of course, lowland forests. It is an extremely dry, arid area of our country, and the foresters, even if they can plant trees on the sand, can provide plenty of drinking fountains for the game, which the hunting companies in the area also do. Acacias and gray poplars alternate, and it is known that these forests have a weak ability to hold game. However, the gamekeeper and the forester can do a lot for the roe deer, and with it also for the small game, which of course benefits the protected and specially protected mammals and the birdlife as well. Water brings life to this landscape.
On the first evening, the roe deer was spotted several hundred meters away Photo: professional hunter Gábor Balogh and Bence Halmai
The other day, he and his father went to the territory of Szentgyörgyi Vádászó Farmers in Tatárszentgyörgy. Kunszentmiklós, Kunpeszér, Kunbábony, which lie in their immediate vicinity. We can also say that this is Imre Bogár’s favorite region, where, if we pull ourselves together, maybe the outlaws of the old world will still greet us today. Who knows? That’s all you have to do to slow down, get out of the car and leave it far behind you, because it’s impossible to get to know this landscape from there, and hunting isn’t real either.
Sunny, slightly windy weather awaited them and, of course, his father’s good friend, Gábor Balogh, whom, as Bence says, I inherited a little from my father, because I’ve known him since I was a child and loved him very much.
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We left in the afternoon and set up an ambush – Bence recalled, but nothing moved there in the twilight. My friend suggested that we go shopping. We also ran into two regular six-year-olds and a small young, even do-it-yourself roe deer. They were exciting moments, because we had to look at “them” and even if the rifle didn’t go off, we both knew that we had narrowed them down to a shooting distance. I think this capital hunting and forestry profession is also about this for me, even if I am now a guest. Maybe in a few years I will be able to accompany a guest or take my father’s good friend hunting.
Hunting a wild animal is not an easy task, especially when two people try it: these are what give the hunt its flavor, and the fact that after all this, even in a professional sense, we have to decide…
Forestry and wildlife management, including nature conservation, are one and there is no good or bad in them. There are balances that we need to help. It is the same in wildlife management, as in forestry, that invasive tree species must be cut down because they are not native to the Hungarian flora, and valuable trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants would be displaced if we did not do anything about them. Non-native plants can suppress our valuable plant communities and we can lose these areas. This phenomenon can also be observed in wildlife management, as it also affects nature conservation. The profession must find answers to the aggressive expansion of a particular species and the explosive growth of its populations.
I enjoyed hunting – Bence told the newspaper, as it not only gives me free time, but also my profession. We came to a big hill. We settled on top of the hill. Next to it was a sandy road, beyond that there was a small forest, and after that a line of bushes ran off into the distance. Then meadows and pastures stretched away, and even if you can’t see it there, the Apaj steppe stretches up there. As the crow flies, maybe 20 kilometers from us. Kunpeszér Great Forest, to mention one or two more famous areas. It is certainly a magical place here, below Budapest, where the roe deer feels good.
We teleported. Me with the binoculars, and my professional hunting friend, Gábor Balogh, with binoculars, when a roe deer appeared. The first branch on the left stem was a little shorter. A real scumbag, he whispered – but he was so far away from us that he could have said it out loud: but we usually talk like this when we’re out. Of course, everyone is a forester. Scrap. It will never be capital and this antler shape, undesirable in the herd, would spoil the antler shape of the following generations of bucks. Sure, it was a known roe deer, but it was many hundreds of meters away from us.
We waited
The evening was approaching and our chances were dwindling, but he kept getting closer and closer to us. It was barely 80-100 meters away when my friend spoke: if I think I want to drop it, then let’s not wait any longer.
Before the shot. Bence Halmai’s roebuck stood on the cross Photo: professional hunter Gábor Balogh
I aimed
My gun is a Sauer 202 .30-06 caliber pellet rifle with a Swarovski Z6i scope on it. I use Geco Plus ammunition, its 11 gram bullet is ideal. Several forestry companies use these cartridges, they are effective and the profession likes them.
He crossed himself, that’s what I was waiting for – he continued. I don’t know, I was also nervous and my friend also said that he stepped at the moment of the shot and I felt that I was also pulled into him. He kicked out and disappeared past the row of bushes. It drifted away, but we watched it with the binoculars and, waiting for the right time, we started from the place where it was shot towards the bed. Anyone would think that if we have seen where the game is, then the hunter has an easy job, but this is never a guarantee. Unexpected events always happen when hunting, and our fears were confirmed: the roe deer was watching us and disappeared into the night apparently healthy.
The mistake hurt me a lot. It consumed my boyfriend and my father as well. Neither of them was sure if I had hurt him. Both of them were determined that bloody help was needed. Meanwhile, I knew: I must have hurt him.
Bence Halmai’s Roebuck from Tatárszentgyörgy Photo: Bence Halmai
In the morning, István Szloboda, a known hematologist, picked up the trail. His dachshund has legendary results behind him and he also brought the work-tested Hungarian greyhound with him. Unique search engine in Hungary. In no time, the dog picked up the trail and we set off. He let his dog work, as did we. We found the location. We managed to record team signs: we found a drop of blood and a small piece of meat, so we made a good professional decision to ask for help.
We were standing on the line of bushes when István Szloboda started using binoculars and, although the area was unfamiliar to him, he spotted the roe deer. We all watched it and he was of the firm opinion that the fawns were healthy and that even if they had a shot, it would be completely unnecessary to chase them. My father and his friend have been hunting for a long time and spoke the same language with István. Everyone remained convinced that I would return and not to hunt for other deer, but only for this one.
Father is like this and so is his friend. Of course, I didn’t want to go on another deer hunt either. I would have felt so impersonal and I didn’t bring this from home, this is not what we learn at school and the profession itself, the forestry profession, does not represent this at all. It was very bad to go back to Szeged. My friends in class knew that I was going on my first stag do. For us, in Szeged, hunting goes hand in hand with forestry. There are no boundaries. There is no separate forestry and wildlife management. We can only manage the forest as a unit. There are no boundaries and many of us are passionate about hunting, observation, and nature conservation.
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When school was over, I had to help my father at home. It’s spring, we have a lot of tasks, the season is starting. Soil work and sowing were waiting for us, it was impossible to leave everything behind and go hunting. My father also knew that I was really going, he saw it on me, and my friend, a professional hunter, also called me: don’t worry, because he saw the roe deer, he didn’t get lost there, and if I have time, they will wait for György Tatárszent again. My father and I started over, and then the two of us continued to walk. We went straight to the hill and settled on the very top of it.
Bence Halmai’s first roebuck . Photo: Halmai family
It was gray when he stood up a good 500 meters away. Of course, we didn’t even have a chance to shoot him and had to wait. I had plenty of time to look and I was glad that there was nothing wrong, although I believed that I had hit it, which was finally confirmed by István Szloboda. Then he just moved closer, always closer and closer. When he got in range, I took aim. I’ve shot a lot of bullets. I know my gun and I still like to shoot targets with an air rifle. I knew what I wanted and aimed for the neck. I wasn’t nervous anymore.
Bence Halmai was initiated by his father’s good friend, professional hunter Gábor Balogh Photo: Halmai family
I was waiting for my first roe deer hunt in my life, and on the first evening as well, my friend waited for the roe deer to come very close. After the injury, more than a week passed with difficulty. I didn’t want to either, but my father wouldn’t have let me go to another roe deer. No, hunting can’t just be shooting for its own sake, and we foresters don’t represent that either. I blew out the air and as I pulled the trigger, my doe fell in fire…
This is how it happened that I was able to shoot my first roebuck in Tatárszentgyörgy with my father’s good friend. I will always be grateful to him and I will be grateful that his friends can be my friends as well, that they accept me and I am still only a forester candidate. My family and my school have loaded my backpack with travel guides, and I am sure that the forestry profession and the love of the wild will accompany me in my life, just as it accompanied my grandfather and my father.
We set the age of my first doe to four years old. The weight of the trophy is around 200 grams, but we can only give exact data after the judging – Bence Halmai informed Agro Jager News about Kunszentmiklós.
Dr. Péter Szilágyi Bay LL.M.
Photo: Bence Halmai’s family and friends
Hunting
The hunters united againts the golden jackal
Hunters from Bács-Kiskun county have united againts the golden jackal
Bátmonostor is located in the southwestern part of Bács-Kiskun county, just a few kilometers south of Baja. The second longest river in Europe, the Danube, meanders just a few kilometers from the settlement. Here, between the Danube and the Tisza, the Széchenyi Zsigmond Hunting Company of Bátmonostor farms approximately 3,200 thousand hectares – Tamás Juhász began his report.
Photo: Széchenyi Zsigmond Hunting Association of Bátmonostori
The area is extremely diverse and provides an excellent habitat for many species. Due to the proximity of the Danube, the proportion of swampy and boggy areas is significant. Some places are impassable to humans all year round. These are the jackal’s protected areas, where they are almost always found.
About 11 years ago, the once native golden jackal, which had always been present in the area, reappeared. Migrants always came and went from the south, from Serbia. However, the species, which enjoyed a protected status for years, has lost its “foothold” in the southern counties of Hungary, to such an extent that the regionally competent game managers are slowly becoming powerless. Number of jackals are unknown. There are periods when the packs are quiet, they don’t cry at all. It also happens that only one individual from a larger family breaks the silence.
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Bátmonostor is well known among golden jackal hunters. Attila Oszlánszki shot one of the biggest golden jackals in Hungary. Due to the temporary border closure erected a few years ago, the migration routes of the golden jackal have ceased, and the local population has been “trapped” in the territory of Hungary. Before the construction of the fence, the migration of jackal packs could be observed. From time to time they appeared and then continued to stand. Before the construction of the fence, the jackal population in Bács-Kiskun county was more manageable.
No one could foresee what this species would do to the domestic fauna. For the first time, local hunters were happy with his appearance.
Taking advantage of the protected status, it became stronger. Their population grew year by year. After it became a huntable species, few people hunted it. In recent years, however, it has become clear that, in addition to mice and voles, it also does not spare small game and arthropods. The predator species, which also feeds on rodents, can destroy prey animals much larger than itself, and it also attacks the youngest and most vulnerable age groups.
Photo: Széchenyi Zsigmond Hunting Association of Bátmonostori
The problem of the hunters in Bátmonostor is not unique, the jackal families move from one area to the area of the neighboring game farmers.
The situation in Bátmonostor and its surroundings deteriorated significantly after Sándor Németh, an extremely skilled trapper, changed his profession and stopped his work. In two years, he caught about 250 predators, at least half of which were golden jackals. After he left, a vacuum effect was created on Bátmonostor. The golden jackals living in the area immediately occupied the new territory. In the blink of an eye, the local jackal population doubled. The species became more and more confident, soon realizing that it had no natural enemies. In some places, it can be observed at any time of the day.
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Tamás Juhász and his friend János Pál, the hunting master of the Miklós Kriskó hunting company in Nagybaracska , talked about golden jackals many times, both in person and on the phone. The communication with the hunting companies in the area also became stronger. The rise of the golden jackal brought together the neighboring hunting societies, which are always in good contact. The grassroots cooperation has reached ever greater levels. Each company talked to each other separately. After that, the leaders of eight hunting companies agreed to sit down together and find a solution to the problem.
In Bátmonostor, game managers from Vaskúti Kossuth, Garai Nimród, Jóbarátok, Dunafalva Nagybaracskai Kriskó Miklós, Dávod Délvidék, Bátmonostori Széchenyi Zsigmond and Mélykút Hunting Associations met each other. The sharing of information started at a level that had never been seen before in the landscape unit. The local experts listened to each other’s advice and observations.
Photo: Széchenyi Zsigmond Hunting Association of Bátmonostori
It is an obvious fact that the jackal reduces the population of useful game to a level that has become unmanageable. If substantial progress is not made now, there will be no hunting for the jackal in the coming years and decades. In Bátmonostor years ago, 100 deer were seen in some places, now only four or five at the most. The wild is constantly nervous. The population of small game has decreased significantly.
The local game farmers agreed on specific plans during the consultation, which lasted for several hours. All participants accepted the joint decision to increase the hunting and taming of the golden jackal under the conditions set by the hunting law.
The local hunting societies helped each other and formed hunting groups in rotation. They hunt golden jackals together, in the territory of the hunting companies participating in the cooperation. The brigade of work is carried out by the professional staff, with the cooperation of the members. The biggest challenge was fuel and vehicle costs. Everyone finances this expenditure themselves.
For years, this was an insurmountable obstacle when jackals hunted from the neighboring area, although professional hunters told each other whenever possible. In those parts of the area where jackals were hunted more intensively, they became more cautious and periodically moved to neighboring hunting grounds. By joining forces, they can now keep the cane wolf, which reproduces extremely quickly, under constant pressure. Recently, hunters from Kunszentmárton found ten jackal cubs in a ditch near a fishpond, which was also reported by Agrojager.
In addition, new traps were purchased. Trapping jackals is also extremely difficult, but many methods have already proven successful in the county. Different baits are often the key. Some swear by duck head and beef tongue, while others consider smoked salami to be the best bait. They also bought digital devices as a test, which only works if the trap is set off. As a result, the rangers’ fuel costs and time spent can be greatly reduced.
Predator hunters also bought new whistles at their own expense, with which they imitate different prey sounds. The hunting of the skunk is one of the most difficult. In addition to material tools, it also requires many individual observations and individual skills that are almost impossible to learn on your own. The most skilled golden jackal hunters of our country were also invited, in order to speed up the transfer of knowledge.
The initiative can already be quantified since 12 pieces of jackals have been put on the table since March. Another goal is to make the cooperation as widely known as possible. Other game farmers in the county can also join the coalition if they are unable to handle the pressure of the jackal alone – Tamás Juhász concluded his report.
Written by Dr. Gergely Szilágyi
Photos: Zsigmond Széchenyi Hunting Association of Bátmonostori
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Hunting
Tamás Retkes met with jackals – he photographed them
Tamás Retkes has been taking photos since childhood. He was born in Szekszárd in 1977 and following the example of his father and godfather, it became a part of his life. His favorite terrain is Gemenc and he regularly walks a 15-20 kilometer circuit. He knows every opening and cut, and as we learned in the ranks of the foresters, from the old men, the forest knows us too. He doesn’t get used to your smell, said an old Mátra forester, but he knows you’re there. Tamás Retkes also walks the thickets like a ghost, when fate brought him together with golden jackals one morning. It was faster than attentive predators, readers of Agro Jager News can now enjoy a glimpse of this.
Jackals and red deer in the Gemenci forest Photo: Tamás Retkes
From an early age, Tamás Retkes enjoyed capturing a moment and sharing it with others. For his primary school graduation, he received a Smena 8M camera, with which he started taking photos. Later, at his first job, he bought a Kyocera Finecam L3V digital bridge machine with his first salary. He also sent the photos he took to tenders, as a result of which some of his photos were published in books. In 2006, during the excavations of the M6 motorway, during the excavation of the track, he was hired as a photographer at the Wosinsky Mór County Museum. It was here that he started and learned to work as a large-scale photographer with serious machines and studio equipment.
In addition to museological tasks, nature photography is still the closest to him today. Most of the time, he starts taking photos around Szekszárd. Szálka, Gemenc, Sötétvölgy, Lengyel-Annafürdő, Óbánya, to mention a few places. It is natural to take landscape and macro photos, but he also often captures the city itself, Szekszárd. He likes nighttime astrophotography and regularly takes 360-degree spherical panoramas. In recent years, he has also dabbled in aerial photography, which he also enjoys very much.
Every year at Pentecost, he presents a photo exhibition, titled GEMENC, in his birthplace and residence: Szekszárd.
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He took the photo on the front page in Gemenc, where he has been going for 10-12 years. His permit was issued by Gemenc Zrt. and the Danube-Dráva National Park, where he has been visiting for 6-7 years. He always walks the same circles in the famous forest, so he already knows the openings. He usually travels 15-20 kilometers and always starts at dawn. He gets out while it’s still dark and takes photos until noon.
That day, he sat down at an intersection where he saw four openings. He always sees movement in the clearing in front of him, and several of his deer and wild boar photos were taken there. All of a sudden, he became aware of movement and saw two jackals emerging from the forest. He started taking photos of “them”, and soon after them, the third, slightly darker colored jackal came out.
Jackals and red deer in the Gemenci forest Photo: Tamás Retkes
I have photographed jackals before – he said, but until now he was always alone, we never met in a pack. Interestingly, they were heading towards him, but since he was wearing a camouflage suit, he wasn’t suspicious until they were close enough and probably smelled him. At that point they stopped, then went back to where they came from, turned back into the thicket. He had a hunch that they would also go through the left arrow! That’s how he held himself and turned over to that opening.
His expectation was confirmed: they also came out of the other opening and headed towards him very curiously. At this moment, the deer came out from the other side in the background. It was just an encore and a lot of luck. I was in the right place at the right time! said the lucky nature photographer.
When the jackals were close enough and they became suspicious again, they turned and started walking with their backs towards the deer. And the deer came from the left side of the arrow and left on the right side. Finally, the jackals continued to where the deer came from, to the left of the clearing, and disappeared in the thicket.
It was a great experience and I forgot to breathe while I was taking photos! I sat and looked up at the sky for minutes! It will remain an eternal experience for me and no one can ever take that away from me – told Agro Jager News about Tamás Szekszárd Retkes.
Pictures of Tamás Retkes’ exhibition organized in 2022 can be viewed here. You can access it by clicking here!
Tamás regularly gives away his photos after exhibitions. He has already donated more than 130 photos to the János Balassa hospital, but you can also see photos in the waiting room of pediatrician Dr. Mária Gonda. You can view the photos displayed in the waiting room here!
In addition to his work, Tamás Retkes regularly takes photos on the weekends and also photographs portraits and weddings with his friend. You can access their website here!
Dr. Péter Szilágyi Bay LL.M.
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