I used to think that the whole Communist system was bad in the very black and white thinking of my youth.
I've just returned from a boar hunting trip to Lithuania and I thought I'd share this with you.

Six of us sat up at various locations around the forest until it was too dark to see.
Then I was collected and driven off to a barn up a dirt track in the back end of nowhere.
One of the guys had got lucky and shot a boar which lay on the floor.
Having been to one of these before, I knew that a lot of vodka was about to go down and, to try and avoid getting totally trashed, I mucked in with the hanging and skinning.
A gambrel was made of a bit of 2 x 1 with some nails to stop the legs sliding together and the whole lot sliding up.
I got stuck into skinning and the two of us started at the hocks and worked our way down to the nose in about twenty minutes.
Then another guy took over whilst we got plied with vodka. Someone calls your name, pours you a shot and you down it in one. Then you look round, try to remember someone else's name, call it and pour them a shot.
All too soon, its your turn again.
After it was gutted and a sample taken for trichinosis testing, a third guy took over the butchery and started cutting the animal up with a knife and axe,
With some discussion and vodka, the meat was divided up into six piles and each had a selection of cuts from various parts of the animal.
Then the oldest guy faced away whilst someone pointed to each of the piles in a random order.
Each time he called out the name of one of the hunters.
So we all ended up with a few kilos of meat in various cuts from fillet to ribs.
I don't really know whether the tradition predates communisms or is a legacy of it but I was impressed by the system and their sense of community and equality.

Trapper Dave - Seriously? You cannot distinguish the camaraderie and cooperation of fellow hunters from the dismal oppression of communism? I'm sure your hosts would find that quite offensive.

Davie,

Uplander obviously does not know & appreciate your keen Analytical mind as we do ..... his comment though; astute. You must still be suffering from the Vodka aftermath not having picked the main Theme from your Essay; as you normally are quite quick to separate the "Wheat from the Chaff". I read between the lines as you're describing an enjoyble Lithuanian hunting experience.

..... and Yes, I've participated in the Central & Eastern European Vodka consuming Penchant both professionally (can I put my now slightly enlarged & hardened Liver on my Expense Report; since I'm pushing the Company's business Forward with a Shot Glass?) and socially while hunting.

Actually the misery of both Socialism & Communism is still quite prevalent throughout these Countries and my experience has been the following:

1. Those who don't have Pot to Piss in; share all of their Life's Little Pleasures.

2. Those Orwellian "Pigs who are more equal than the other Pigs" share their Grand Pleasures alike, the only difference is they've more to share.

The "Sharing of the Meat Ritual" transcends boundaries though; whether Vodka or Schnapps, the division of a Red Deer Stag "mistakenly" brought to Bag springs vividly to mind, as the Beast was reduced from an entire carcas to it's basic component Bits & Pieces, divided evenly (and fairly, using a similar System to what yov've described), the hide, hooves & head deposited in a "Black Hole" in the forest, this all occuring in @ 20 minutes; everyone's illegal portion stowed neatly in Coolers, Plastic Bags and Boxes in the trunks of our autos - leaving the remainder of the evening to our Primary Task - Schnapps consumption!

Waidmannsheil,

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry:
. . . everyone's illegal portion stowed neatly in Coolers, Plastic Bags and Boxes in the trunks of their autos . . .

Good thing you had coolers and plastic bags, as then there's no explaining required when you go thru the Kontrolle and there's blood dripping out of the trunk of your car on the ground

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry:
The "Sharing of the Meat Ritual" transcends boundaries though; whether Vodka or Schnapps, the division of a Red Deer Stag "mistakenly" brought to Bag springs vividly to mind, as the Beast was reduced from an entire carcas to it's basic component Bits & Pieces, divided evenly (and fairly, using a similar System to what yov've described), the hide, hooves & head deposited in a "Black Hole" in the forest, this all occuring in @ 20 minutes; everyone's illegal portion stowed neatly in Coolers, Plastic Bags and Boxes in the trunks of their autos - leaving the remainder of the evening to our Primary Task - Schnapps consumption!

Waidmannsheil,

Gerry, next time we meet ove a beer I'd like to hear more details about this supposedly quite memorable event. By the way, DUK Jr. last Saturday successfully passed the "Jägerprüfung", dad's very proud as you imagine.

DUKie,

Please convey a Hearty Waidmannsheil to DUK Jr.!

I trust he already has ambitions for the current Roe Buck season, too?

OK, I'll take my tongue out of my cheek then Gerry.
I have since been told that that method of sharing is far, far older and more widespread.
It seems that the journal of the infamous Captain Bligh of the Bounty records the use of this method to divide and share seabirds between the company whilst sailing across the sea of Timor in an open boat after being cast adrift.

Uplander,
Sorry it was all a bit tongue in cheek and directed at those that know me.

As one of my hosts pointed out, they were invaded by the Germans but kept some stuff like their hunting methods and invaded by the Russians and kept stuff like sharing and caring.
On both occasions, they kept their own rifles and hid them in the forest.....
Yep there's bits of truth here and there in the Baltics against a background of war, genocide, gulags deportation etc etc.
They are the children and grandchildren of the survivors and the survivors had to do things they weren't particularly proud of....but they don't necessarily see the Communist era as all bad against a current background where the bulk of young people in the town have migrated to cities throughout the EU just to find work.
More depressing then than now? Perhaps not.

Trapper Dave - On this world-wide forum, differences of perspective are inevitable. Sportsmen sharing meat, good times (and alcohol ) is something I have found in many countries, my own included. So I found your musing that it could be a legacy of communism to be worthy of an objection. I have no doubt the Lithuanians maintained their traditions in spite of their communist government rather than because of it.

Let's put the politics behind us. I congratulate you on a successful hunt with worthy companions. Do you have pictures to share?

Our hunting areas include several landowners and the rules of hunting together were made to manage deer and moose populations. (The hunting laws for common people were made in 1700c. made moose almost extinct in 1890)

Looking back through my photo's, there's none of hunting!
Interesting fungi, a wood ants nest waking up in the Spring sunshine, early wood anenomes in flower and the curious ecological problem of a Birch Bark Beetle which still has me pondering:

When the bark comes off a fallen Birch trunk, the pattern of tunnelling of beetle larvae through the cambian layer is revealed.
The female lays her eggs in a hole in the bark and the larvae burrow outwards in a fan pattern covering an area of about a square foot.
I inspected the entire tree and could find no instance of a pattern overlapping or a tunnelling collision nor of any significant wasted or unused area.
How do the adult females know how to space their laying so equally apart as to maximise the opportunity without coming into conflict?

Has a funny effect on the mind, Lithuanian pot still Vodka and Bread Beer don't it?

Sveiks.

Growing up in Commie Czechoslovakia. Pretty much the same. Nobody had nothing so we all shared and drank till under the table. Hunting was fun and traditions far predated Commie era. Eastern Europe is definitely different from Western Europe. More relaxed I'd say. Western Europe is too stiff in my opinion, rules are too rigid and laws are overbearing.

quote:

Originally posted by Joezed:
Sveiks.

You did say everything in a single word. I take advantage of this opportunity to recommend everyone the lecture of Jaroslav Hasek's great book! Even though I read it already several decades ago, it still impresses me and did open my eyes.

Excepting the "slightly enlarged & hardened Liver" part of it, this entire deal sounds EXACTLY what nearly everyone on AR would love to do.

And I think most American hunters would tell you the equal division of game is, more or less, something that occurs many times here in group hunt situations.

Especially with bird hunts.

After that Kansas pheasant hunt, everybody helps clean the birds and they go into the "pot" and are divided evenly.

After a duck hunt at an Arkansas duck club, same deal.

The main difference I think, is that the really heavy drinking usually occurs the night before the hunt. That is, Opening Day is a huge deal here with certain types of hunting and night before and sometimes all night partying and drinking (and frequently poker) is an attraction to being there in the first place.

And it always seems the guys who stay up the latest and drink the most are the ones up earliest and most ready to go next morning.

quote:

And it always seems the guys who stay up the latest and drink the most are the ones up earliest and most ready to go next morning.

Being the European board and all, I don't know if everyone here wants to hear us chatting about U.S. hunters' drinking habits, but...

I remember this old boy who they said consumed a whole bottle of JD during the poker game that didn't break up til 2 am, and if I recall he was doing OK til he tried to get up from the table, then kinda fell in the general direction of the bunk. But when the alarm went off at 4 am, strangely enuf he felt totally rested and was up and ready to go at dawn after them mallards. How 'bout that...