In the Bialowicz Primeval Forest
Event ID: 634
01 January 1918
Source ID: 55
“The Commander-in-Chief East had given me permission to shoot a deer in the Bialowiczer Forest. At the time of the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk, around New Year’s Eve 1917/18, I set off on my journey from Cambrai to Brest. In the unheated compartments, this was of course a special treat. After a three-and-a-half-day train journey, we reported to the Commander-in-Chief’s headquarters. Unfortunately, the Russians had already left that day for their ten-day conference, so we could only see them on the way back. The next day, we continued our journey to Bialowicz. Bialowicz is a crown estate of the House of Romanov, the only place in all of Europe where the character of the primeval forest has been preserved. It is no longer a true primeval forest, as proper paths and clearings have been systematically cut through it. But this is precisely what made it possible for me to penetrate to its very heart. We stayed as guests in the Tsar’s castle, which leaves nothing to be desired in terms of tastefulness. For many generations, the Russians had never managed the primeval forest scientifically. It was only the war and our occupation of the forest that prompted them to make use of the giant stands that make every forester’s heart leap with joy. This is the work of forestry councillor Dr. Escherich. The Tsar had used the forest solely as a game reserve. Red deer and especially bison are native there. It is the only area in Europe, indeed in the world, where bison still roam in the wild. Unfortunately, our efficient columns, etc., have very energetically depleted the herd of about seven hundred head, and many a bison has ended up in a musketeer’s cooking pot. Now the herd is estimated to number only about one hundred and fifty. It is a great pity that this animal has been almost completely exterminated by the war.
I was very fortunate with my stalking trips. The snow was half a metre deep, making the jungle look even more beautiful than usual, a sight I will never forget. I stalked with a sledge and two good Panje horses. The German forester Gürtner guided me. I was very surprised to find so little game in the Tsar’s game park. I travelled for six days without seeing a single stag, even from a distance, until I finally attempted to stalk my way through the thicket on foot. Then, two hundred paces away, I saw a mighty stag standing. Soon I saw a second, then a third, and finally I counted at least fifteen to twenty huntable stags in a herd. They headed straight for me and, with the wind in their favour, passed me at a distance of one hundred and fifty paces, until finally the one in front spotted me and the whole herd took flight. That was my last chance. I was standing in such a way that the large stags had to pass me in a narrow clearing. But it happened so quickly that I could hardly distinguish the strong from the weak, and since I was only supposed to shoot one deer, I naturally didn’t want to shoot a small one. I looked through the scope of my rifle and counted about ten to twelve antlers, which were already too far away for my rifle.
Suddenly, a strong stag came along at a steady pace. You can recognise a good stag without a scope. I could immediately tell that it was a strong stag. At the moment I pulled the trigger, a very small stag pushed its way between the strong ones and me. Angry at myself and my haste, I said to the forester, ‘Either shoot past it, or the small stag will be hit.’ Since there must have been a hollow or something similar at this spot, I could no longer see which stag had actually been hit. The stags had disappeared from the ground. We went to the spot where I had fired and found nothing.
Suddenly, five steps in front of me, lying in a fairly large hole, was the stag with an impeccable shot through the shoulder. I was overjoyed. Apparently, the tailor had not pushed himself between the stag and me, but behind the powerful stag. The bullet had not penetrated, so there was no danger of him being killed too.
I drove back to the Tsar’s palace in high spirits, and the next day we went to Brest. The Russians had arrived there in the meantime, and our diplomats and those of our allies were also present. So I had the opportunity to witness the whole hubbub of the peace negotiations on the spot and to meet the gentlemen concerned in person. I almost had Mrs Bicenko as my dinner companion. It would have been a great, entertaining conversation. I was really looking forward to it, because she too had hunted down some of her enemies. They were ministers and grand dukes and the like, for which she was banished to prison in Siberia, but at least it was a starting point for conversation.”
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