HUNTING

By Marketa Kalabova

I would like to write you something about my big hobby – it is hunting. This hobby is usually typical for men, but somewhere you can find some women too, who are interested in. A lot of people think that it is only untimely (bezohledné) killing of wild animals. But I will try to explain you that it isn’t true. One of hunting rules is that a hunter doesn´t breed (chovat) wild animals for shooting, but he shoots them to breed them. Firstly I would like to tell you, what you have to do for being a hunter. At first you must want to do it. Then you must find some association of hunter where they would like to take you. You will have to absolve 77 lessons of some special subjects. It is

1. Education of hunting
There you can learn hunting terms, historic of hunting, hunting culture, personality of hunter, hunting habits and tradition.

2. Hunting and legislature
There you can learn legislation about hunting, weapons, ammunition. You must study program of hunting management and hunting statistics. You must know when you can hunt different kind of wild animals. During all year you can hunt for example a fox, but some kind of wild animals, you can hunt only in some period or you must not hunt – it is for example an owl or kites (dravci). These wild animals are protected.

3. Hunting zoology
In this subject you can get knowledge of zoology and biology of wild animals. It means you learn about main diagnostic (rozpoznávacích) signs of wild animals and their life way.

4. Care of wild animals and keeping wild animals
There you can learn how you should behave to wild animals and how you should keep them. You must know that you have to give them some fed during a winter. Next you can learn about forest ecology, animal ecology, and behaviour of wild animals.

5. Cynology
You have to get knowledge about every our hunting dogs. We have got 7 basic groups. The first it is hound (ohaø). We divide them between English and continental hound. It is dog for every casual work during hunting - for example for finding and bringing wild animals or for hunt (vyhnat) animals from thicket (houština) or from reeds (rákosí). Tracker dog (slídiè) is a next group. We use them for finding wild animals. There are dogs like cocker spaniel and other spaniels dogs. No less important group is a retriever. They are dogs for working in water. There are dogs like golden retriever, Labrador retriever or flat coated retriever. But this group isn’t used so much, because nowadays these dogs are usually cradled (chovaní) like social dogs. Next group is hunting dog (honiè). They have got a very good sense of orientation, that’s why they could truck a pug of definite kind of wild animals and don’t lose track. There are dogs like beagles or basset hound. Bloodhound is next special group. These dogs truck wild animals by way of blood. Next group consist of dachshunds. These dogs are used for working under ground or like bloodhounds. Last but not least group is composed of terriers. These dogs have got an all round usage. Next scope (náplò) of this subject is knowledge of illnesses of dogs and wild animals.

6. Hunting weapons and ammunition
There you must learn everything about weapons -especially about their construction and mechanism that is why I don’t like this subject so much. You have to get knowledge of rules of their using and safety device. The others are basics of first aid.

7. Game hunting
In this subject you learn about methods of hunting, hunting rules, hunting slot marking, how you should appreciate hunting trophy.

When you absolve this course, you must do practise in a hunting association. It means you should help hunters, feed animals, go to the forest and learn to use a theory in hunting practise. During a collective hunt you must run off wild animals. After one year you do exams from the subjects. Every exam of certain subject takes 15 minutes. You have got 20 questions from every subject and these questions consist of 3 questions. For example 1 questions of Education of hunting look like this:

a) Hunting clothing
b) Hunting in 19. Century
c) Hunting tradition in different life events

During the year, when you do a practise, you must do exam for weapons card. It consists of theory and practise. You must write a test, which you can learn from 500 questions – the style is similar like doing a test from school of motoring and then you must dismantle weapons and then you must shoot at a target, but you have got only one hit off the target from 5 shots. If you pass every examination you get shooting licence and hunters initiate (pøijmout) you.

GAMES FOR PARTIES

By Pavlina Hableova

CHOOSE A PAIR

The instructor holds a bundle of many-colored ribbons by its middle. The ladies come to one end of the bundle, the gentlemen to the other. Each of them takes an end of the ribbon. The instructor lets the bundle go. All the partners are now connected by the ribbons. They are the pairs for a dance.

DANCE COMPETITION

Five (5) couples, paired at random, be invited to perform 3 types of dances. The Emcee with help from a professional dancer will first give a quick demonstration of these dances. The winner shall be judged based on the loudest applause from the audience, after which they will be asked to perform a repeat of the winning dance. Best Dance Award to be given to the winner and consolation prizes to the rest.

DETECTIVES

At the party some girls secretly fill in the questionnaires on index cards. In these questionnaires the girls indicate their distinctive marks: height, color of the eyes, dress cut, jewelries. The leader puts all the cards into the box. Between the dances, the leader asks the most attentive boys to act as Sherlock Holmes or Hercules Poirot - to find a girl with help of the description given in the card. The boys take the cards and begin to search for the girls. The boy who finds the girl the first is the winner. Then the boys have a dance with the girls they have found.

DOMINOES

As the players (boys and girls) enter the hall, they are given dominoes cut out of cardboard. They pin it to their clothes. There are 2 complete sets of these cards (28 pieces in each set). The cards of one set are given to the girls, the cards of the other set are given to the boys. If there are more than 56 persons at the party you may take 2,4, 6, 8…more numbers of the complete sets. Before the dance begins the players at the leader's signal make pairs according to the principle of dominoes. C.f. the boy with the card 5-2 may ask to a dance a girl with the card 2-6; 2-4; 2-3; 2-0 or 5-6; 5-4; 5-3; 5-1; 5-0. Sometimes the leader may announce the change of the partners. (In this case the leader gives advance notice to the guests about his/her intentions while they are dancing). Then all the pairs change, make the pairs according to the same principle.

DUMMIES

It's a variant of the well-know children game "Day-Night" for grownups. As the music suddenly stops the people who are dancing stand still in the pose they are. The person who cannot keep his/her balance must pay a forfeit (fulfill the leader's task).

ENDLESS DANCE

All the players are dancing in pairs. The leader is in the center. He/she holds a stick in his/her hands. The leader throws the stick and all the dancers change their partners. The leader tries to take up somebody's place. The player who has no pair is a leader. He/she takes the stick and does the same as the previous leader.

EXCUSE ME!

Gentlemen ask ladies to a dance. 2-3 gentlemen are given special cards with the phrase "Excuse me!" written on them. With this card the gentleman may come to any of the pairs, give it to the gentleman and begin to dance with his lady.

FIND YOUR OWN PEOPLE

Cards with different pictures are cut into 4-5 parts. The teams must find their own people. Or cut the cards into 2-3 parts. One part is given to the girl, 2 other parts are given to the boys. The boy who finds the girl first asks her for a dance.

GAMES TO PLAY WHILE DANCING

Ladies ask gentlemen to a dance. The master of ceremonies announces that during the dance ladies may ask the gentlemen, who are dancing with their ladies, to a dance. On coming to a dancing pair, the ladies clap their hands. On having received this signal, the gentleman begins to dance with this lady. While his lady asks any other gentleman to a dance in the same way.

HAS IT THE PLAYER NEXT TO YOU?

The participants get into 2 circles. The circles are moving clockwise. The instructor asks: "Have the players next to you shoulders?". The players answer: "They Have!". The instructor asks the players to put their hands on the shoulders of the players next to them and to continue moving. The questions of the leader: "Have the players next to you noses?", "Have the players next to you ears?", "Have the players next to you waists?", "Have the players next to you knees?", "heels" etc.

MAKE A PAIR!

The boy or the girl is blindfolded and led to the center of the room (hall). He/she is a leader. Any player takes a little bell and pass by him/her with it. The leader's task is to choose a partner for dance at random. If the leader (girl) chooses a girl, the latter becomes the leader. If the leader (girl) chooses a boy, they both make a pair for a dance. The fillet is given to the other person, chosen with the help of the reckoning. This game continues until there are 10-12 pairs. After that the master of ceremonies announces the pair dance.

PEOPLE DON'T DANCE WITH HATS ON

One of the participants is given a hat. As everyone is dancing, this participant puts the hat on a gentleman's head who is dancing and says, "people don't dance with the hat on" and begins to dance with the partner of this gentleman. The gentleman with the hat moves to any other pair and put the hat on the gentleman's head so that he now dances with a new partner and that gentlemen must find a new partner etc.

POST

At big parties and discos, in large halls it's very interesting to have "a postman". The guests ask him/her: "Give a note (a letter) to the girl in white dress". This girl writes her name on the sheet of paper and gives in to "the postman". All the guests communicate with the help of "the postman" until all of them learn each other. This game may continue for several days in camps, sanatoriums etc.

SNOW-SLIP

This game will help you "to warm-up" shy people. As the music plays, one pair begins to dance. At the instructor's signal this pair splits up and asks 2 more partners to dance. Again, at the next instructor's signal these 2 pairs break and ask to 4 more partners to dance etc. The number of dancing pairs grows like a snow-slip.

COMPUTER GAMES

By Jakub Kotas

Counter Strike...

The best computer game in the World has many modifications. The most favorite are Counter Strike 1.6 (CS 1.6) and Counter Strike Source (CSS). CSS is newer than CS 1.6, but older version is played by many ProGamers. Official professional league off CSS will start next year. USA will sponsor this league by one million dollars. The main idea of game is fight between two teams. First are Terrorists (T) and second are Counter Terrorist (CT). Terrorists must plant bomb on the one of two bomb site and Counter Terrorists must defend bomb site. If Terrorists plant bomb they have to defuse it. Other possibility is that terrorists have hostages in some building and Counter Terrorists must rescue them. Most people, who don’t understand it, think that Counter Strike is only shooting game. But main thing, which you must do if you want to win, is to have a good tactic. It is very important and very difficult. There is one very big in Czech Republic, it’s called UNITED GAMES. There are also many tournaments and prices are really great. The most famous team is Sky Riders. They won 30 000 Czech Crowns. They are ProGamers, but if you want to start to play Counter Strike, download CS nonsteam. It is freeware in internet, you can play it on United Games, there isn’t so high quality of players. nad prices as in Steam version of CS 1.6 or CSS.