The male occupation of the indigenous Far Eastern people — the Nanai people — was originally hunting. Depending on the type of hunting, various weapons were used. Large animals were hunted with bows and arrows, which were usually carried in quivers. They could be cylindrical or semicircular in shape, flat, made of skins, wood, birch bark and leather.

The Nanai made quivers 10–20 centimeters shorter than arrows. Sometimes an additional lid was made, which could protect the arrows from rain. Usually the quiver held from 15 to 20 arrows, which were painted in different colors depending on the purpose and placed in the inner compartments with the fletching facing up. The quiver was worn on the right side or behind the back. The arrows were shot from the ground or from a boat by a standing person, as well as from a knee.

In autumn and winter, the Nanai people were engaged in trapping, in early spring they hunted deer and elk on the snow on skis, in summer they ambushed prey at watering holes and solonets. Fur hunting gave the Nanai people marketable products which they could exchange for food and necessary utensils from merchants.

The aborigines of the Amur region began to comprehend the basic skills of understanding life among nature at an early age. When the boy turned 12–14 years old, he received a bow and arrows from the eldest man in the family, went to the taiga and did not return until he killed the first animal. Only since that time, the teenager was considered a man capable of feeding his family.

Getting ready to hunt was a significant matter for the Nanai people. The men were seen off by the whole camp and according to special rituals. The Nanai people considered any luck in hunting to be a message from the spirit, the owner of the animals, so he had to be appeased. Before leaving, everyone prayed to the spirits. Arriving at the hunting site, the hunter took out wooden images of spirits, placed them nearby, fed them porridge and meat; these same treats were left throughout the taiga.

The fur arrow quiver from the museum’s collection is a flat brown case. This object has a rectangular shape; the craftsman made it from deer skins in the second half of the 19th century. The creator of the quiver attached a strip with a beige ornament made of tanned leather to the lower part. There is a beige leather flap in the upper part of the quiver. The craftsman gave the wooden base the shape of an oval.