Mongolia: Taiga Hunting Dogs on the Eastern Steppe
Eastern Steppe
And following the Taiga Dog
Some times you’re pulled and sometimes you’re driven. In the case of traveling to Mongolia I was pulled. I didn’t know why I wanted to go. But, I felt a pull to be there. I wasn’t sure what I would photograph, but I felt a pull to find out. What I found was unexpected and more than I had imagined.
I left Bozeman and arrived in Ulaanbatar after some 38 hours of travel. After getting locked out of my hostel I found a neighboring bar where I called from their phone and proceeded to sample the local beer selection. The next day I tried photographing around the city, but after 5 hours I had to retreat to my hostel. I had been battling cold hands all day. I really thought I was just being soft, but once back in the warmth of my hostel and with access to wifi I checked the temperatures. My phone read -32F. The rest of my trip would be marked by this. Cold. Isolation. And barren landscapes. From day one the tone was set.
Still jet lagged, and still getting feeling back in my hands from the day before, I set out the next day to wandered the city some more. My hostel was located by the train tracks… something I’ve learned to avoid. But I thought it would be visually interesting. So I walked down to the loading docks and milled about. Trains came and went all day. They were loaded with coal - which I would learn were from huge open pit mines and came and went all day. The surrounding markets were full of vodka drinking men playing cards and selling goods. At some point I approached a group of men playing cards and attempted at taking photos when one grabbed me by the jacket. He was more interested in getting a rise out of me than actually harming me but it gave me a good startle. I kept my composure and half-assedly asked “no photos?” another strike out for the day.
When I got home to my hostel I warmed up with instant coffee and checked my email. In my inbox was an invite from a local ex-pat - inviting me to a winter horse festival. I figured this would be a good opportunity to meet some people and shoot a little so I RSVP’d and joined.
The first day of the festival was great. Riders from all over participated and it was a decent turn out for being in the middle of the winter. The second day of the festival was supposed to be much like the first but this day was to end with a fox hunt - featuring the Taiga Hunting dogs. I asked my guide what exactly a Taiga dog and if she’d ever heard of it. She answered no, so we abetted our time until we saw it first hand.
The dogs were lead down a stretch of road and a Toyota Prius ripped down the road as the dogs chased the rabbit hanging from a stick held out the window of the car. It was a peculiar sight. After two “races” it felt like the last of the festival. Tourist started to wonder back to buses and a few people left. However, the dog organizers started milling about and once again we were all questioning what exactly was happening as we were ushered to the side of a field. As we watched from a distance, a man pull a wolf out from the small hatch of the car. He carried it away from the car, untied it, removed the muzzle and jumped back. The wolf seemed disoriented and unsure of what it was supposed to do. It stood there for a bit and slowly walked a few steps away, looking behind periodically. The whole “fox hunt” experience turned out to be nothing like a fox hunt. However, as the dogs were released the wolf stopped looking back and slowly kept its head down as the dogs over took the wolf as it nervously ran off. The wolf immediately surrendered nipping at the dogs but to my surprised seemed utterly submissive. When the men realized the wolf would not make a dash for it, they ran over, got the dogs off, and scared the wolf off once more. This time, instinct seemed to guid the wolf as he sprinted for the hills.
After my first encounter with the Taiga dog and seeing the “fox hunt” I was brimming with curiosity. I had hundreds of questions, but when I talked to people, the majority had no answers. The Eastern Steppe is not the popular tourist destination most people go to. And the Taiga dog is no comparison to the Golden Eagles in western Mongolia that are used for hunting. But I still wanted to know. Was this just some tourist trap, or did locals really use these dogs for hunting and protection. How prevalent was it? Or was this some revamped “tradition” used to entice tourist. Nearly three weeks later after planning and waiting for local holidays to be over, I was able to lock a trip to the Eastern Steppe to spend time with breeders, trainers, and hunters to find out. I had more questions than I started with and after that first encounter I was ready to learn about and photograph the people claiming to be upholding an ancient hunting dog breed.