Kazakhstan travel guide

Culture of Kazakhstan

Hunting of kazakhs

From the earliest times hunting (anshylyk) was one of the main occupations for inhabitants of Deshti Kypchak. Peculiari­ties of hunting in this region were in many respects stipulated with a specific character of the Steppe nature.
Fauna of the steppe and forest-steppe zones covering the most part of modern Kazakhstan 's territory is very varied and includes a considerable number of animals which from time immemorial had been of vital hunting-trade interest. Largely it concerns mountain oblasts both in the east and south-east of the country.
Animals were taken both for food and also for the sake of skins, fur (photo 1199-481) and horns. Tra­ditionally several forms of trade were prac­ticed. In the Middle Ages battue hunting was widely practiced which in the conditions of nomad life had its aim not only getting animals, but also had important organizing functions promoting to consolidation of fel­low-tribesmen ana for this reason it often practiced on the threshold of or even during military actions.
One of the most spread and popular in the traditional Kazakh society was hunting with hunting birds (sayatshylyk), especially more widely were used golden eagles, dif­ferent kinds of hawks and falcons, gyrfal- cons, sapsans.
Hunting with hunting birds was very effective and often had its trade meaning, though it was a prerogative in the first place of the representatives of well-to- do estates, since the cost of feathered help­ers was very impressive.
Catching birds, their training, and also looking after were (kusbe- gilik) difficult occupations which demanded considerable qualification and time, and knowledge about them often were handed down from generation to generation, forming entire dynasties of ex­perts of catching trade. Hunting golden eagles used for hunting on such large animals as foxes, wolves, some kinds of hoofed had the most value.
Smaller bag - bustards, pheasants, geese, ducks, quails, hares became the trophies of the owners of hawks and falcons. Some kinds of game were hunted practically the whole year round, but however the most important time was period from the end of September till February, when the fur of fur-bearing animals was the most qualitative and expensive.
Hunting was usu­ally carried on from horses, the hunting bird was held on the arm, but seeing a bag it was freed from hobbles and an eye-shade and tost up.
Hunting with borzoi dogs (tazy), a local breed of which had perfect characteristics differing in considerable endurance and speed has its centuries-old history. The chase was carried on main­ly on fox, hare, badger, marmot, wolf, hoofed and took place in late autumn and winter. Ways of hunting with borzois were highly various - battues, bringing to bay, chasing.
Hunting was carried on both from horses and also on foot. Usually hunting with hounds was carried on without any guns. It should be noted that gener­ally gun-hunting was spread weakly in the region. Partly it can be explained with rarity of guns in the Steppe, one of the reasons was their high prices, and also a prohibition for having fire-arms by local inhabitants.
Partly this fact also was connected with low effective­ness of old fuse-guns often made by handicraftsmen. Such situation somewhat changed with appearance of new more effective patterns of arms and also with the inflow of the Russian population at the end of XIX c. Hunting with traps (kakpan) and use of different snares was widely spread.
Traps were put mainly on larger bag, including a bear and even a tiger which from time to time was met in the Aral region and the lower reaches of the Syrdariya. For hunting on small game were used all kinds of snares, nets, nooses, etc.

From the book “Kazakh traditional culture in the collections of Kunstkamera”. Almaty. 2008