EUROPEAN GAME 
on most forest districts. In Southern Sweden the winter climate is so mild 
that many birds and animals of temperate regions flourish there. The 
finest roedeer in Europe are now found in South Sweden, where they are care- 
fully preserved , and there is a good stock of pheasants , partridges and hares . 
FINLAND. There is now a very fair stock of elk in Southern Finland, 
and shooting may be hired from local agents, but the elk are much smaller 
than those of Sweden and Norway. In Eastern Finland bears are fairly 
numerous and “ ringed ” bears may be bought as they are in Russia. 
RUSSIA. There is a considerable variety of big game in European 
Russia. The elk is found throughout the Northern and Central districts 
and extends south through the Baltic provinces to the Polish frontier, 
including the Governments of Minsk and Mohiler and eastwards to the 
Governments of Tambov and Saratov. It is also found in the Urals and 
extends its range almost to the Arctic Ocean. The usual methods of 
hunting the elk in Russia are by the use of the led or loose dog, by driving 
and by calling in September. The shooting season lasts from the end of 
August to December 31. The art of calling the bull elk is little practised 
owing to the difficulty of finding efficient callers, so that few elk are shot by 
this method. In the Urals the professional hunters who visit the Taiga for 
elk rely on tracking the animal in deep snow. 
Bears are still fairly numerous in Russia and grow to a large size. They 
are usually hunted by driving in winter after their cold-weather retreat has 
been ascertained. They are then “ sold ” by the peasants at so much per pood 
(32 lbs), the price per pood varying with the facilities of getting the beast 
and the distance from the nearest railway station. Bears were formerly 
very numerous near St Petersburg, but they are now scarce, the Govern- 
ment of Olonetz and others to the east being now the best districts. 
Prince Demidoff tells me that the largest European bear he has seen killed 
weighed 800 lbs (25 poods). 
The European bison, known in Russia as “ zubr,” is now only found 
wild in the Grand Duke Serge’s hunting grounds of the Kouban in the 
Caucasus, but a large number are preserved in the Emperor’s park at 
Bielovege in Russian Poland. The Bielovege Park is an immense enclo- 
sure of over a hundred square miles. Once a year the Emperor and his 
guests shoot over part of the ground, where drives are organized and forty 
or fifty of these animals are killed. Prince Demidoff estimates the number 
of wild bison in the Caucasus at 500 head, and the Grand Duke Serge 
only allows three animals to be killed in September. 
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