On November 11, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Frenchmen hunt woodcocks in the Vitebsk region and then take the game to their restaurants to prepare it. Specialists from the Vitebsk State Production Forestry Association told a BELTA correspondent about the preferences of foreign hunters. Romantic Frenchmen, when visiting the hunting grounds of the association, prefer the most poetic hunt for woodcock over all other types of hunting. No matter how much the gamekeepers tried to persuade them to try shooting wild boar, they only shook their heads negatively. As a rule, foreign guests freeze their prey, and always with feathers, so that later, back home in their restaurants, they can prepare exquisite dishes from it. Cheerful Italians, who also hunt game birds, are in solidarity with the French. Woodcocks, capercaillie, and black grouse are their favorite prey in the Vitebsk forests. By the way, they also freeze woodcocks to prepare them in their own kitchens, somewhere in Milan. Pragmatic Germans, on the other hand, prefer wild boar, and not just any, but the largest boar with huge tusks. They only take the tusks home as trophies. For Russian hunters, the most coveted prey is wild boar and elk. Hunters from neighboring Russia are frequent guests in the Vitebsk region, despite the vast hunting grounds in their homeland. They explain this by the fact that there is more game in the Belarusian forests – it is rare to return from a hunt without prey. They also note the professionalism of the gamekeepers, who know both the animals and their habits, and organize hunts excellently. The forestry enterprises of the regional forestry association have 15 hunting grounds. Since the beginning of the year, they have organized 132 hunts for more than 300 hunters from Russia, France, Poland, Italy, Germany, and Ukraine. The latter came not only to hunt but also to gain experience in organizing work with foreign tourists. Income from the organization of hunting tours exceeded Br1.1 billion. For the comfortable accommodation of hunters, 20 hunting complexes operate in the association's hunting grounds, and five more will be commissioned by the end of the current year. As assured by the forestry association, despite the growing demand from foreigners for hunting in the Vitebsk forests, no harm will be done to wildlife. All hunting is carried out under licenses. For example, out of 50 capercaillie allowed for hunting, hunters took only 22; out of 217 elk, only 106; out of 1.6 thousand wild boar allowed for shooting, only 617 were taken; out of 210 roe deer, 85 were taken. -0-