(Baonghean.vn) - When the weather starts to get cold, it is also the time when bee hunting season begins in the Western districts. For many people, this job is not only a way to make a living but also a hobby.
 |
| These days, all over the mountainous districts, people are bustling with bee hunters for breeding. Thanh Chuong, Anh Son, Con Cuong… are the localities with the most people coming to hunt for honey bees. Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| The two indispensable items of a bee hunter are the net and the bait tube. The net is sewn from a tulle curtain with a handle and a pole. The bait tube is a hollowed-out curved wooden tube about 0.7m long and 0.2 - 0.25m in diameter. Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| From the ninth lunar month onwards, when winter comes, honey bees will move from high mountains to the foot of the mountains and lower areas to avoid the cold. On this occasion, beekeepers and bee enthusiasts will bring their tubes to hunt. They often go to cliffs, wood lots, etc. to catch visiting bees - the bees whose job is to find shelter for the hive. Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| Bee hunters in Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong are waiting for bees to visit in the middle of a large wood lot in the border commune of Thanh Thuy (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| When they find a location where bees are visiting their nests, the hunters immediately hang bait tubes all over the trees, fences, and walls. They try to catch a bee and put it in their bait tube, then wait for the bee to visit the tube. Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| If someone’s bait tube has many bees visiting, many people will immediately come to catch bees to share. Catching bees also causes a lot of trouble and disputes between bee hunting groups. Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| When they catch a visiting bee, they gently put it in the nest, cover it for a moment, then open it and monitor it. If the bee stays in the nest for a long time, and when it flies away, it attracts one or more other bees, then that bait tube is likely to be the bee colony's shelter. Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| The time it takes for bees to visit the tube lasts for hours, sometimes days before they return. Bee hunters are required to be patient, hard-working, and passionate, sometimes forgetting to eat or sleep. Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| Mr. Pham Van An (61 years old) - a long-time bee hunter in hamlet 12, Nam Giang commune (Nam Dan) said: "There is only one bee colony, but there are dozens, hundreds of bait tubes brought, in the end the bees only choose the best tube to "land". Hunting for breeding bees is like a 100-person arena, at the end of the game there is only 1 winner, the rest go home empty-handed". Photo: Huy Thu |
 |
| After the bees have all entered the bait tube, the bee hunter carefully plugs the hole and then takes it home to transfer it to the feeding tube. Whether the bees stick to the feeding tube or not depends on many factors. Currently, some people hunt bees to raise them, while others hunt bees to sell them. For many people, bee hunting and beekeeping is not only a job, a profession, but also a hobby. Photo: Huy Thu |
Huy Thu
