Nature photographers gather over the weekend to catch bears in front of the camera in Alutaguse National Park 20.05

Bloodless Hunt, occurring for the 25th time this year, will take place from the afternoon of 20 May to midday of 22 May, during which photographers will gather in the base camp at the visitor centre of the Alutaguse National Park.

“This year, Bloodless Hunt is taking place in Alutaguse because Ida-Virumaa is the most bear dense region in Estonia, thus photo hunters are the most likely to photograph bears in these forests,” zoologists and organiser of photo competition Tiit Hunt explains. According to the official data, 17 bear dens had cubs in the winter before last. A bear has two to three cubs on average. These 30-40 almost one and half year old cubs have been left without parental care during the recent mating season of bears and they now need to survive by themselves. Such abandoned bears, which are still quite aimless at first, can also become easy prey for Bloodless Hunters,” explained the choice of place by the zoologist and organiser of the photo competition Tiit Hunt.

According to Hunt, 40 photographers are participating in this year’s competition, some being annual participants and some are new.

Each participant chooses up to ten of all the nature photographs taken during the spring photo hunt. From there, the jury will pick out around 65 of the most interesting photos, which people can admire at the photo exhibition in RMK Tallinn office aka Forest House’s courtyard (Toompuiestee 24, Tallinn) near Toompark.

Throughout years, photographers have hunted mammals, birds, fish, plants and characteristic landscapes. Game animals have been beavers, wild boars, Western capercaillies, moose, elks, lynxes, pine martens, badgers, grouses, otters, woodcocks, roe deer, ravens, raccoon dogs and minks.

Bloodless Hunt is a hunting activity that is similar to regular hunting but the weapon is a photo camera, the bullets are memory cards and the prize is lots of nature and animal photos. No gunshots, only the quiet clicks of the camera shutter. The goal of the Bloodless Hunt is to depict the landscapes and animals of a region through pictures.

Bloodless Hunt is organised by the State Forest Management Centre (RMK) and Overall Eesti AS.

This year, Bloodless Hunt’s photographers are trying to capture a bear.
Photo: Tiit Hunt

Further information:
Tiit Hunt
Zoologist and Bloodless Hunt organiser
tiithunt@gmail.com
+372 506 7488

Sille Ader
Head of the Communications Department at RMK
sille.ader@rmk.ee
+372 5666 5896