Wood grouse courting songs are being logged in forests run by JSC “Latvia’s State Forest”.

Osoon in the Estonian TV, ETV, is well worth watching. Grain was spread on the observation ground. How else would the brown bear know to come?

Watching the web camera yesterday evening at around eight o’clock it was quite clear that lovemaking was in the air, but the raccoon dogs ran off. I would not have guessed that they would return to complete the act in camera view a little before half past ten in the evening.

In Switzerland, one of the few direct democracies in the world, voters have repeatedly shown approval of hunting with a two-thirds majority at the polls. Recently, a referendum against drive hunting held in the Swiss canton of Aargau was rejected by 103,000 votes against 50,000.

In late autumn we saw the first “stick“ antlers on young roe deer bucks. In February these were shed. New, proper antlers start to grow in March-April, but on some individuals budding antler bumps can already be seen.

Priit met this ”walker” on the snow at Abja in Viljandimaa on Estonia’s Independence Day.

Our largest water-living predators; we can see them even in daytime in the winter, and such a meeting can be quite amusing, but the observer must stay as unnoticed as possible.

A Swedish hunter, attacked and mauled by a fully grown bear over the weekend, woke in hospital on Tuesday after a nine-hour operation.

The cold weather has forced the weasel family animals out to forage for food. The terror of little birds and animals, the pine marten, is on the move too. Spreading of rabies vaccine meant for foxes has increased the number of pine martens too considerably; moreover hunting has decreased.

Germany has seen a tenfold jump in the number of women who hunt over the last 15 years, according to the German Hunting Association, heralding the fall of another male bastion. AFP’s Kate Millar reports.

Wolves are emotive creatures. The relationship between man and wolf is interwoven in our history and shrouded in myth. Hunted to extinction in many countries, they evoke a certain nostalgia for a lost wilderness.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: Hunting with firearms is safe; in fact, hunting with firearms is one of the safest recreational activities in America.

FACE (Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU) on their web-page have published an interesting overview of European Hunters Day celebrations in Ireland.

Everybody has heard about the damage done by American mink to bird populations, but it turns out, that it has also had a deep negative impact on the population of European mink.

Since the beginning of wolf hunting season on the 15th of July, already 82 animals have been bagged, according to State Forest Service. This year hunting has been more successful, compared to the previous years. This is due to the number of driven hunts and the fact that number of wolves in Latvia has increased.