A nyírfajd (Lyrurus tetrix L.) vadászatának története és visszatelepítésének meghiúsult kísérletei Magyarországon = History of Black Grouse (Lyrurus tetrix L.) hunting and repatriation in Hungary

Bende, Attila and Bozó, László (2025) A nyírfajd (Lyrurus tetrix L.) vadászatának története és visszatelepítésének meghiúsult kísérletei Magyarországon = History of Black Grouse (Lyrurus tetrix L.) hunting and repatriation in Hungary. MAGYAR APRÓVAD KÖZLEMÉNYEK, 17. pp. 131-156. ISSN 1418-284X

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Abstract

The Black Grouse was considered „main game” in the game species of historical Hungary, but Hungarian hunters never had a way to hunt it widely, so no real hunting cult could develop in Hungary. Already in 1872, under Law VI of 1872, the hunting season was limited to the spring displaying (March, later April-May), and the chicks had to be spared all year round. Restrictions were introduced for the first time in Hungary to protect the Wood Grouse and the Black Grouse, which can be considered the first step in bird protection in Hungary. Hunting was typically a well-known individual hunting method, hunting from a hide, which was made more effective by calling. Cocks were lured partly by imitating the calls of younger competitors and partly by imitating the calls of hens. There are also references in the literature to the use of decoy birds, or „artificial cocks”. Hunting with dogs, drive hunts and bush hunts are also mentioned in domestic descriptions of Black Grouse hunting, but their importance is not significant, and trapping, which was already part of poaching in the second half of the 19th century, was not as important as for the Hazel Grouse. Although its meat was described as tasty and it was traded, it was not a significant economic factor compared to commercial game meat but was consumed for its curiosity. In the period 1884-1909, the main area of known Black Grouse hunting bags (n = 2 723 specimens) in historical Hungary was the North, East and South Carpathian regions. The most stable populations at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries were found in the highland regions (counties of Árva, Gömör-Kishont, Liptó, Szepes, 28.3% in total). The Transylvanian areas showed an earlier decline of the species than the Felvidék. In the present territory of Hungary, the last occurrences of the species in the lowlands were in the late 19th century, while only occasional occurrences are known from the first half of the 20th century in Northern Hungary. Its decline is certainly not due to overexploitation, and this is supported by the hunting bag data from the manors. With the suboptimal habitats, the species had almost completely disappeared from the territory of former historic Hungary by the 20th century. Within our current borders between 1883 and 2010, several attempts at introduction, initially for hunting and later for conservation purposes, were made, but all failed due to the lack of suitable habitat for the Black Grouse.

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