In the remote village of Ottuk, Kyrgyzstan, men protect their precious sheep by heading into the mountains to hunt wolves. Photographer Luke Oppenheimer went to document them and stayed for four years.
Life in the Tien Shan Mountains
In the winter of 2021, Oppenheimer travelled to the Tien Shan mountains for a short assignment on wolves preying on livestock in Ottuk, a village of shepherds. Each year, wolves kill dozens of horses and countless sheep, forcing the men into the surrounding mountains during the harshest months to hunt and protect their herds. What began as a short trip soon grew into a much larger story.
An Intimate Portrait
The month-long trip evolved into a four-year project as Oppenheimer was gradually accepted into the community and adopted by one of its families. His body of work, titled "Ottuk," is an intimate portrait of the villagers, their ancient way of life, and the landscape that has shaped them.
There is a saying in Kyrgyzstan: 'It only takes one frost' – meaning that a single night can wipe out an entire family's livelihood. In valleys littered with frozen sheep, life is precarious, shaped by the elements, injuries, illness, and feuds. The villagers' existence is stripped to essentials: hospitality, loyalty, filial duty, and the weight of one's word.
The Harsh Climate
In the mountains, temperatures can swiftly drop to -35°C. If the sheep are out overnight, they will all die, and an entire family's livelihood can be lost. A snow-packed valley littered with frozen sheep, still upright like thousands of stone statuettes, is a common sight. The elements that carve away at the rocks likewise chisel into the souls of the shepherds. What remains are the essentials of the human spirit – principles and dogma shaped by necessity and experience.
Legends and Myths
Kyrgyzstan is a land of legends, shaped by mythology and experience. The Kaiberen, a magical deer that once punished a greedy hunter by making him shoot his own son before burying them both in an avalanche, still incites caution in local hunters when choosing their prey. Members of the Bugu tribe refuse to hunt deer out of respect for their ungulate ancestry: according to legend, a mother deer saved a pair of orphans and brought them to the shores of Lake Issyk Kul, where they founded their first village.
These legends are innumerable and seldom written down. They were told to Oppenheimer on mountain passes, in jeeps crossing endless stretches of plateau, or in remote villages over cups of tea. Park rangers often live in huts for months at a time with little to no human contact.
Stories of the Hunters
Nuruzbai, 62, learned how to hunt from his father at the age of 10. His father was a renowned marksman who narrowly escaped being drafted into the sniper division in the Second World War because his ability to shoot wolves at mining sites and collective farms was deemed necessary for the survival of the villages. Nuruzbai still hunts to this day.
Ruslan, 35, started hunting when he was a teen and now travels around the country shooting wolves for villages suffering from attacks. He is paid in sheep or horses.
Ninety-two-year-old Tokush remembers when wolves entered her house and destroyed her home: 'During collectivisation, our family managed 40 sheep. We would smoke the wolves out, make scarecrows and sometimes shoot them … it was never enough. They tore up everything. A local hunter scared them off. It was an act of desperation by young wolves looking for food in a time of scarcity.'
The Soviet Legacy
In Soviet times, all herders had support from the government. They had pre-approved corrals everywhere and their own transport to move from corral to corral. The government used to limit the number of livestock and also show where to graze. After the Soviet Union collapsed, these corrals were destroyed for construction materials.
As Oppenheimer reflects: 'As I look out of the window and into the mountains, I feel as though my friend Ishinbek is sitting right beside me. Legends preserve not only the memory of a place and time but of the people who tell them.'
