As every year, the second Sunday of August is the day on which the hunting season opens for quail, wood pigeon, turtledove and migratory game species. According to the established rules, hunting can only take place during the day, one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset. Small game hunting takes place on Saturday and Sunday, turtledove hunting – only on Saturday.  

In connection with the start of the season on 9 August, we talk to engineer Vasil Vasilev, chairman of the board of the National Hunting and Fishing Association “Union of Hunters and Anglers in Bulgaria”. He urges hunters to be extra careful to avoid causing fires, intentionally or not, with their actions, now that wildfires which have already burnt tens of thousands of hectares of woodland to ashes.

“This is vital because the role of a hunter is, first and foremost, to preserve the game and the animals’ habitats,” says engineer Vasilev. “Wildfires kill the animals physically but those that survive lose their habitats in the flames and are forced to leave these regions. Hence the call to be extra careful, to be responsible and not to allow a fire to occur after us. 
Unfortunately, nobody can provide objective information as to what the real damage inflicted by the fires is, but forests are first and foremost habitats for a number of game species, and also of protected species of birds, mammals.”  

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There are more than 2,700 hunting parties in Bulgaria with permanent structures locally, with their own channels of communication in the event of a fire or any other emergency. That is why the first people to react and to join the efforts to extinguish the flames are the hunters from the national hunters’ union. “And that is something normal because hunters are people with a sense of responsibility, people who have always helped the community, the local authorities, the police, the firefighters,” says engineer Vasilev and goes on:

“I will not forget what a hunter I highly respect once said to me – that a real hunter is someone who has given nature more than they have taken from it. I am happy to say that life has given me an opportunity to meet so many people like that. It is true that to be able to hunt and to practice our hobby, we need to take care of the game, and most of all of the animals’ habitats. Because even if we try to move the game from the territories affected by the fires, until there is natural wild vegetation there will be no environment where they will be able to find food and shelter, and the animals are not going to stay in these regions. It is important that we come in contact with nature in the way we consider fitting, and that we give our children and our grandchildren the opportunity to do the same.”

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As to the restoration of the wooded territories and whether afforestation is a solution for the burnt woodland, engineer Vasilev says that in recent years, forest practices have been targeted at preserving the natural ecosystems. Artificial afforestation is an extreme measure only taken when huge territories have been affected.

“In any case, after a certain period of time, if there is no natural self-restoration, then we should go ahead with afforestation. I am sure that when the forestry authorities call on hunters they will respond, as has been the case so many times in the past. It should not be forgotten that back in the 1950s and 1960s, hunters were at the core of a powerful afforestation movement which helped gain control of the situation after major flooding. This restored many damaged territories, today they are forests and there is enough water and biodiversity to put us in the top 3 of Europe.”

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Engineer Vasil Vasilev ends our conversation by saying that he would like to wish hunters luck and success in their hunting expeditions, but that they must not forget to be very careful when handling hunting weapons.

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Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: BTA, slrb.bg, sidp.bg, facebook.com/lovIribolovBulgaria