Unique wild bee hunting profession in Nam Hung

(Baonghean.vn) - This season, on both sides of National Highway 15A, through Nam Hung Commune (Nam Dan), people are selling many wild bee specialties such as bee pupae, honey, and bee wine, which are very attractive. That is the result of days of climbing mountains and wading streams by local bee hunters.

According to Mr. Nguyen Phung Quan (29 years old) in Hamlet 7, Nam Hung Commune, the wild bee season starts from May and lasts until the end of the 8th lunar month. The bee hunting profession has appeared here for quite a long time, at first people only hunted bees for their own use, then brought them to the street to sell, seeing that they sold well and made money, many people in the area invited each other to go bee hunting. Currently, Nam Hung Commune has dozens of people specializing in bee hunting, concentrated in Hamlets 7, 9, 10.

A group of people went into the forest to hunt bees.

On non-rainy mornings, bee hunters from the hamlets march into the forest early, carrying some tools such as helmets, face nets, gloves, boots, raincoats, knives, hoes, etc. They divide into many groups, each group of about 2 people, to hunt effectively.

To catch bees and honey bees, observe them on trees, and to catch bumble bees, follow them as they fetch water to find the location of the beehive. Nowadays, no fire is used to catch bees, because if fire is used, the bee pupae will die and they cannot be sold, so all are caught alive.

A hornet nest was discovered.

When seeing a painted beehive or honey bee, the beekeeper will wear protective gear, climb a tree, remove the adult bees, use a knife to cut the nest and put it in a bag or plastic bag to carry. This method has the advantage of not causing forest fires and protecting the bee species because only the nest or honey is collected, keeping the adult bees. When encountering a bumble bee, the nest will be dug up underground, and the adult bees will be caught to soak in alcohol or sell to traders.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Vinh (86 years old) sells honeycomb wine.

Bee hunting also requires experience, to avoid being stung and taken, to keep the beehive or honey intact, not crushed. In the past, there were many bees, so people went to bee nearby, now the job of hunting wild bees requires going far, searching all over the hills and mountains of Do Luong, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, including Huong Son Duc Tho, (Ha Tinh). If you go near, you will leave in the morning and return at noon, if you go far, you will return at night.

Beehives are sold by people in Nam Hung commune along National Highway 15A.

The difficulty and hardship of bee hunting is that you have to go far, climb high, especially cliffs and tall trees, which is extremely dangerous. Besides, when it is sunny, you have to cover your face when catching bees, which is even more stuffy and hot...

When hunting for wasps and bumblebees, you can find nests every day, more or less, but honey bees are only found occasionally. According to bee hunters, the best way is to ask the locals wherever you go. If you can guide the honey bees, you can share the honey, and if you can guide the bees or bumblebees, you can pay them fifty to seventy thousand for the guide fee, both sides benefit.

Passersby buy bee pupae to make a snack.

The small painted honeycomb is as big as a bowl, the big one is almost as big as a brass tray. The whole painted honeycomb has many layers, the large one can get several kilos of pupae. The sale of wild bee products along Highway 15A has only appeared in the last 3 years.

A young man was excited to buy a quilted honeycomb.

After each trip back from the forest, the bee hunter will import the honeycombs to traders or sell them on both sides of the National Highway. The price of the honeycombs depends on the size, ranging from a few tens of thousands to 500 thousand VND. Each bottle of wild honey costs about 250 - 300 thousand VND. The blanched bees are soaked in alcohol, each jar (about 3.5 kg) costs from 300 - 500 thousand VND.

Mr. Nguyen Tat Binh (33 years old) in hamlet 9 said: "It depends on luck, each day going into the forest also earns a few hundred thousand VND/person, if you find honey bees, you get more money".

Huy Thu