“Previously, I mainly hunted in the mountains associated with the Chui-Bishkek Society of Hunters and Fishermen. However, a few years ago, I developed an interest in a deeper study of nature. I began to wonder: what happens in the mountains when there are no people? When I came to hunt or as a tourist, it seemed to me that animals were virtually absent, and the gorges looked dead. But after installing camera traps in the places where I usually hunted, I was amazed: life in the mountains turns out to be quite active. For example, in one gorge where I had never encountered badgers, I saw that it is a 'badger kingdom' in the videos from the cameras. The lenses captured grouse, eagles, pheasants, foxes, jackals, and even a large number of rodents,” shares Vitaly.
He emphasized that the videos recorded with the camera traps open one's eyes to the amazing aspects of mountain animal life.
“From the recordings, it is clear that predators have a high sensitivity to human scent and react negatively to the presence of people in their habitat. For example, one jackal, noticing the camera with the battery, chewed through the wires and pulled out the battery. In another case, a fox marked the camera with its scent,” added the hunter.
Vitaly plans to explore more remote areas where people appear very rarely to find traces of disappearing animal species and possibly capture footage of the yeti.
Despite his passion for hunting with camera traps, Vitaly noted that there are risks involved. In the mountains, there is a chance that local poachers or trackers may steal, damage, or simply remove the camera if they discover it.
