These hunters must have been borrowing heavily from the British traditions. Two setters or a setter and pointer in the cart and black retriever in the front. These men may have even been British who brought their dogs in the Russian wild for a some “primitive” rough shooting in the Irkutsk region of Siberia.
I cannot make out the birds they were hunting. Maybe snipe?
Fascinating. I have several old photos of dogs almost identical to the dog in front, but without the white markings. Such coats were not uncommon back in the day when retrievers were so often interbred. It would seem likely that these are British dogs. Must be a story as to how they came to Siberia.
As there was no color film in 1907, this must be a hand-colored print: and very nicely done, too. Except the artist forgot to color the pied dog’s tongue!
The dog at the front seems more liver than black and is not unlike a Muray River Retriever or IWS…I beleieve such dogs were common in Europe at the time
Maybe the curly working retrieving dog was common in many areas? As a child I had a blue book five reading book from the 1930 I think; about a dog in China. The dog wasn’t liked as it’s curly hair used to pick up grasses etc and make a mess inside dragging it all in. Then they had a huge flood. After the flood there wasn’t any food. No rice. The dogs coat had rice grains in it so they picked them out and grew the rice. Then they liked the dogs velcro coat!
The dog looked like an Australian Murray River Retriever In coat type and ear length I recall.
East Siberia was a popular destination for wealthy sportsmen in Europe according to A. A. Cherkassov (who wrote a book in 1865), much like how Alaska and British Columbia were the ultimates for elite sportsmen from eastern United States.
Well, it still is for people who are looking for cheap hunts. Mongolia used to be the top destination for Americans with mediocre budgets who want to hunt something similar to our mountain goats and sheep.
It’s unfortunate that New Zealand is now the cheapest place to hunt int he world (including the air fare).