Hunting Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)

Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is widely widespread in a zone of taiga woods of Eurasia. In the West its natural habitat covers almost all northern and significant part of the Central Europe, including the territory of Belarus. In our republic the capercaillie meets seldom, in except some remote spaces of large forests in the Brest, Minsk and Vitebsk regions. Its number is estimated in 9,3 thousands of birds. The capercaillie lives settled and can be met in lands at any time of the year. It lives in seldom visited deaf spaces of a wood, conducts reserved mainly ground way of life. Except for a spring it’s practically possible to hear its voice as it is extremely silent. Possessing sharp sight and hearing, the capercaillie at a great distance notices the approach of the person and has time to disappear. In rare cases when it is possible to approach to it closer, it is possible to observe its noisy rise which, nevertheless, seems easy enough for such large bird. Typical habitats of the capercaillie are ripe pine woods or the old mixed woods with a significant share of a pine. Thus it lives both in upland space and in sphagnous pine forests on riding bogs or boggy pine forests. In southern areas the capercaillie occupies also oak-pine and oak-fir forests. In all cases it prefers large spaces of a wood, especially if it possess the mosaic structure caused by alternation of dry ridges and boggy downturn or riding bogs, the close forest stands and the clearings, growing cuttings down and glades. The presence of mixed spaces of afforestations is favorable for its places of dwelling.