Hunters cover a dead wolf after the hunt in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus November 4, 2016. Wolf fur grows thickest in winter, so Belarussian hunter Vladimir Krivenchik only sets his traps once snow is on the ground. He and his wife live on the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone – 2,600 square km of land on the Belarus-Ukraine border that was contaminated by a nuclear disaster in 1986. The zone's resurgent wolf population poses a threat to nearby livestock, so local farms pay hunters like Krivenchik a flat fee of 150 Belarussian roubles ($80) for each wolf they kill. Wolf numbers are more than seven times higher in the Belarussian part of the Chernobyl zone than in uncontaminated areas elsewhere in the region, according to a study published in scientific journal Current Biology in 2015. According to official data, about 1,700 wolves were culled in 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





A killed wolf is seen in a bag in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik, a hunter, and his wife Nina Skidan are seen after hunting for a wolf near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Nikolay Skidan, a hunter, carries the skin of a wolf in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik (L) and Nikolay Skidan, hunters, drag a dead wolf which they caught in a trap near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Nikolay Skidan, a hunter, releases a wolf's leg from a trap near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik (L) and Nikolay Skidan, hunters, strangle a wolf which is caught in a trap near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





A wolf is caught in a trap near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik, a hunter, looks at a wolf which is caught in a trap near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik, a hunter, installs traps in a field to catch a wolf near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik (R) and Nikolay Skidan, hunters, ride a motorcycle near the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus November 4, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik, a hunter, prepares traps for wolves in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus November 4, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik, a hunter, repairs a trap for wolves in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





A pig's head lies on snow in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 3, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Nikolay Skidan, a hunter, carries pork in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 3, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Hunters Vladimir Krivenchik and Nikolay Skidan clean the pig after slaughtering it at their house in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 3, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik and Nikolay Skidan (R), hunters, walk a pig to slaughter, at their house in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 3, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Vladimir Krivenchik, a hunter, feeds the pigs at his house in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Nina Skidan, wife of a hunter Vladimir Krivenchik, holds a rabbit at her house in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters).





Vladimir Krivenchik, a hunter, checks weapon in his house in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 3, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Nikolay Skidan, a hunter, holds the heart of a wolf, which locals use in folk medicine, in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus November 4, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Nikolay Skidan, a hunter, skins a wolf in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus November 4, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)





Oleg Krivenchik plays at his house in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)