Olavi Hiiemäe wins the Bloodless Hunt 14.07

Olavi Hiimäe’s photo of a roaring bear was selected as the winning photo of the nature photography competition Bloodless Hunt. Today, the best nature photographers and winning photographs were presented at the opening of the exhibition at RMK Forest House.

According to the main organiser of the Bloodless Hunt, Tiit Hunt, the competition was held at the same time and in the same format as always. In the penultimate weekend of May, a collective traditional photo competition took place where the characteristic species of the Alutaguse National Park, which cannot be easily found in other regions, were captured.

37 photographers participated in the competition, organised by RMK and Overall, and they managed to capture predators, large and small wildlife, rare birds as well as insects, a few even got shots of flying squirrels.

The prey of this year’s Bloodless Hunt were brown bears. The entire quarter of a century history of the Bloodless Hunt has not seen and captured as many bears as this year.

“There were many good pictures but twenty photos of bears caught the eye of the jury and the winning photo was one of them,” Tiit Hunt comments. “Olavi Hiiemäe, who had captured a roaring bear in dangerous proximity to himself, won the grand prize, a horned Viking hat and a prize from Overall. The prey of the Bloodless Hunt and, of course, also the Animal of the Year brought this year’s championship. It is quite rare that the prey’s photograph wins the championship.”

Olavi Hiiemäe’s winning photograph of a roaring bear.

In addition to that, the jury gave special prizes to the following nature photographers:
  • RMK Prize – Meelis Kalev. Flying Squirrel
  • ‘Estonian Nature’ Magazine Prize – Remo Savisaar. Egg Thief
  • ‘Estonian Forest’ Magazine Prize – Olavi Hiiemäe. Hazel Grouse
  • ‘Horisont’ Magazine – Olavi Hiiemäe. Common Sandpipers
  • ‘Estonian Hunter’ Magazine Prize – Ingmar Muusikus. European Pine Marten
  • Estonian Hunters Society Prize – Richard Viidalepp. Lynx
  • Tallinn Zoo Prize – Mart Arrak. Bear
  • Hotel Pesa Prize – Andres Killing. Great Spotted Woodpecker
  • Nature Omnibus Prize – Remo Savisaar. Wild boar with her piglet

The exhibition of the best Bloodless Hunt pictures can be seen for the first time outdoors in the yard of the RMK Forest House (Toompuiestee 24, Tallinn) until the middle of September.

RMK Prize – Meelis Kalev ‘Flying Squirrel’

Photo gallery of prize winners can be found at RMK Flickr.

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

Further information:
Tiit Hunt
Bloodless Hunt organiser
tiithunt@gmail.com
+372 5067 488