Trapping wild chickens

(Baonghean) - Nowadays, eating wild chicken and raising wild chicken as pets is a "trend". This has created an unprecedented wild chicken hunting fever in the forest areas of Nghe An.

Hai - a veteran trapper in Quang Thanh, Yen Thanh agreed to take me on a wild chicken hunting trip. The equipment Hai brought was quite elaborate: decoy chickens; cassette tapes; 10 traps and countless traps, trail traps; quite enough food and water...

A wild chicken used as bait costs 3 million VND owned by a chicken trapper in Quang Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district.

The place we went to was the forest area of ​​the Youth Volunteer Team 6 (bordering the three districts of Yen Thanh, Nghia Dan, and Tan Ky). We came to a valley with a lot of bushes. Hai went into the bushes to set traps for the trails. According to Hai, one must have experience to identify the trails that wild chickens often pass through to set traps. If wild chickens pass through and step on the traps, they will be suspended.

After setting more than 10 traps on the trails, Hai continued to lead me deep into the forest, choosing an empty space next to a small stream to set the traps. These traps were made of bicycle brake cables connected to a noose made of parachute cord. Hai tied all 10 traps to forest branches, screwed nails into the ground, and covered them with dry leaves. Then he placed the decoy chicken in the middle. He also caught this decoy chicken, brought it home to raise and train it, it has the ability to attract wild chickens very well. The final step was to turn on a cassette player to play the sound of wild chickens crowing to support the decoy chicken. Hai said that this "wild bird" species is very smart, just a slight noise will make them fly away and never come near again. So, after setting the traps, we hid behind the bushes and waited, holding our breath...

A wild chicken being used as “bait”.

As if understanding its owner, the decoy chicken stretched its neck and crowed loudly throughout the forest. The decoy chicken crowed a few times before standing still to rest. The sound of the wild chicken from the cassette player hidden under the tree, turned on at full volume, continued to "crow" in support as if it were real. More than 2 hours passed without any movement. I was frustrated and told Hai to go home, but he whispered: Trapping wild chickens requires perseverance. The June sun is as hot as fire. They go out to find food, but they will definitely come to this stream to drink water. The wild chickens in this area are as numerous as those in the forests of the high mountainous districts.” Hai had not finished speaking when a wild chicken crowed in response from the bushes in front of him. After the crowing, a beautiful wild chicken with red feathers, leaden legs, long, sharp spurs, and white ears flew over. It puffed up its neck and looked at the decoy chicken - the intruder in its territory as if it wanted to attack, but it still kept its distance to probe. At that moment, the decoy chicken also stretched its neck and crowed provocatively. Unable to bear it, the wild chicken rushed in furiously. Suddenly, “phụt”, it was hung up and struggled, squawking loudly. Hai winked and smiled, then ran out to remove the wild chicken and put it in the cage.

Looking at the “trophy” Hai exclaimed: You’re in luck, this one is one of the best and can be sold for nearly 3 million VND. Let’s go home!

We collected the traps, returned to the valley, removed the traps and got 2 more female jungle fowls. With the current price of meat jungle fowls at 300,000 VND/kg, Hai had 600,000 VND, plus the five-colored rooster that was sold to the rich for pets for 2.5 - 3 million VND. It was a lucky day for a chicken hunter.

Hai confided: “There used to be a lot of wild chickens, there were days when I could catch a dozen, but now there are so many hunters that it’s rare. In my village, there are more than a dozen people who are professional chicken trappers. There are countless amateurs. Every household in this area knows how to trap wild chickens.” Taking a shortcut through another forest to return, we heard the crowing of wild chickens, but according to Hai, those were decoy chickens and the sound of chickens in the castsete of wild chicken trappers.

To learn more about wild chicken hunting, we went up to the mountainous districts: Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Que Phong... In these localities, wild chicken traps are more numerous than in the forest areas in the lowlands. Chicken traps are spread everywhere, many people even go to Pu Huong Nature Reserve and Pu Mat National Park to trap wild chickens. Many people even bring flintlock guns and sports guns to hunt wild chickens. Ha, a hunter in Bai Phu area, Con Cuong said: "We go into the forest for a day and a night like that and shoot about a few dozen wild chickens. These spoils are imported to specialty restaurants at 150,000 VND/bird (dead chicken)". I asked how many people hunt chickens in Con Cuong? Ha said: "I can't count them, just in my hamlet alone there are a few dozen professional "trappers" and "shooters".

According to our research, nowadays, hunting wild chickens is not only a job for farmers to make a living, but there are also some "rich people" who ride cars, carry sports guns to hunt wild chickens for fun. These rich people also bring Western wine, electric grills and many other things for a hunting trip of a few days...

Mr. Vi Van in Mon Son commune, Con Cuong mountainous district confided: In the past, in the villages, there were countless wild chickens, they even came to "communicate" with domestic chickens. Every morning when we woke up, the wild chickens crowed loudly. However, due to being hunted too much, they are now sparsely populated. Now hunters have to go deep into the forest to hunt and shoot wild chickens. Mr. Van sighed: "With the current speed of capture and extermination, it won't be long before the rare wild chicken breeds listed in the Red Book in the forests become extinct. Destroying the environment means destroying the living environment...".

The increase in hunting of wild chickens not only puts this “wild bird” species at risk of extinction, causing ecological imbalance as Mr. Van warned, but it also brings many unsafe risks to the forests. Because many people take advantage of hunting chickens to hunt other rare animals and illegally exploit forest products.

Furthermore, hunting wild chickens is also a dangerous profession, because there have been many cases of people being bitten by poisonous snakes or being shot by mistake while hunting, causing death in the following localities: Ky Son, Que Phong, Quy Chau...

It is known that, in the face of wild chicken hunting, the Forest Management Board has also coordinated with Nghe An Forest Protection Department to take many preventive measures.

However, in reality, the hunting of wild chickens is still increasing day by day. Many markets and restaurants in Nghe An still openly sell wild chickens...

Tien Dung