Hello to All from Russia, Saint-Petersburg

[AndreyJ]

Welcome! There must have been some nice fish in that river, not just bears on the bank.... Kamchatka has always been a dream destination so it is nice to see the result of someones trip there.

With fish I was think what will be much better to be true. I was in there 22 Sep - 2 Oct. Fish season is end as Im understand. I fish only this one (no normal fish on spinning) :





5meters out (at night ) :

[AndreyJ]

Welcome to BB. I'm sure your english is better than my Russian. Hunters across the world share more in common than many people within our own countries. I was just in Moscow opening a lab there and I have visited Saint Petersburg many years ago. The bears you hunt in Kamchatka are identical to the ones we hunt in Alaska so we may have more in common than you think. That, and we love the Blaser R8. I also have one in 9.3X62 but I chose the 6.5X55 rather than the .243 for my smaller caliber. Very good shooting for 600 meters.
Bob

6.5x55 exellent , but we can't buy factory cattriges for that calliber at normal price Reload illegal. Thats why I choose .243

[trazman]

Andrej when you say elk you mean european moose or no?

[AndreyJ]

Hello Trazman,

Mmmm, I think European Moose , yes. As on photo :

In September with our hunting team



P.S. Im not bragging , just sometime for me hard explain by word and show picture easy.

[dinsdale]

P.S. Im not bragging , just sometime for me hard explain by word and show picture easy.

Cool pics, I think everyone here likes to see what other hunters/shooters are up to in far off lands.

Keep bragging.

[thechamp]

Andrey, sure want to thank you for the detailed response. Here in the states many of us know absolutely nothing of your hunting traditions or what you hunt or the guns you use, etc. Also amazed how inexpensive it would be to go to Russia and do a hunt with a local to act as your guide/host. I'll have to study your post further to digest everything there. Thanks!

I have to ask just how common are the Blaser rifles in Russia? Can anyone purchase a rifle or what is the process there to acquire a hunting rifle? I'll add that here gun laws are fractured badly with those requirements varying from what state and what city you might reside in. The only Federal requirement is when you purchase a gun from a licensed dealer you have to undergo a computerized record check. In person deals are legal in most jurisdictions.

Also don't sweat the pictures, as Dinsdale said 'keep bragging', it's a great way for us to see the sites there. Your fishing camp photos are very nice as well. Nice batch of fish there.

[AndreyJ]

Thanks to all for interest in my posts.

Will try to explain more as I can .

1. About Blaser rifles here . Yes, very popular . R93 and R8 . Blaser shotgun also too . Just go to gun store and buy. Some info what need to do for buy shotgun/rifle is : firstly for buy centerfire rifle you ("future gun owner") need to have shotgun (any model) during 5 years without any issue. After 5 years you get right to buy centerfire rifle (rifled barrel) . In any case before buy each shotgun/rifle must get gov. license with permit for buy gun. One license - one gun. With license go to gun store and buy one gun. Full circle time from "want to buy" and "have gun in hand" typically take 1.5 month. You can request up to 5 licenses one time , each license valid for 6 month (during this period you must buy and register ordered rifle/shotgun. Not fast , but not so long... Also we have a limit: one hunter/shooter can have not more then 5 shotguns and not more then 5 centerfire rifles. Thats what we have here. I hear what in USA just go to store and buy . Here not like this


2. About what rifles people use here : hmmmm, I think the same as all world. Blaser, Beretta, Benelli, Mauser, Sauer , Remington, Merkel, alot of Turkish shotguns (good price) , Browning (Happy birthday Mr. Browning ) , Zoli, Tikka, Sako, local manufactures with models like SKS, Vepr, Tigr .

Prices for brands much higher then in EU/USA

Regarding calibers, most popular : 308Win, 30-06Sprg, 9.3x62, 7.62x39 (very cheap cattridge, 8 US cents per short) , .22LR , .243Win. Specific calibers (very limited choose of cattridges in stores) : 6.5x55 Swedish , all WSM group. Not popular very good (for me ) 7x64 - no idea why, cattridges was only in Moscow gun stores.

3. About hunting. We have 2 seansons here. 1. is Spring Hunter time. Open only 2 weeks per region. In my location usually open in mind of April. Neighboring southern region on one week early. Neighboring north region in one week later. As result we drive and to Neighboring regions and can hunt not 2 weeks but up to 1 month in total. All types of male duck, woodcock, blackcock, capercaillie, goose.

In 1 June also open hunt for wildboar.

Second season is Summer-Winter . Long season. Open in 3th Saturday of August and end 28 February. Can hunt for all types Spring time + in Sep opened foxes, hare, moose, all type of wildboar , bear. I don't know about Siberian roe deer and like marmot hunts, not live in my region. European roe deer - very small population here and if I remember right hunt closed many years for roe deer here.

For illustrate some hunts where I was pics again :

Spring 2014 (few hunts in different places)



(Ducks inside) :



"Decoy" in mid. day (need them go to swim in a little water before hunt on lake)


Some fun from this hunt.... all dogs are male, hehe :



Another hunt on Ilmen like , main is goose (I very like goose hunt) :



Left side :


Front side:


Result :




Other spring duck hunt in MAY!:




Next day :






In September for grouse :

[AndreyJ]

Ops, last photo from 2 years old hunt (not fresh ) , don't know how to delete.

[mchughcb]

Great information. Spasseba bolshoi!

[thechamp]

Ops, last photo from 2 years old hunt (not fresh ) , don't know how to delete.

It's still a good pic so no big deal. Again lots of info that I would never have thought possible. The little bits I had heard about gun ownership in Russia were obviously not correct or say accurate. Glad to hear that hunting is that big there and that gun ownership is thriving much more than I thought it would be. Stokes mentioned in an earlier post how hunters the world over are very much alike and I've learned via this website that his comment is so very true. We all desire good hunting guns and appreciate the game we harvest. Most of us don't have to kill anything to have had a great day in the woods/forest.

Don't know if you've ever been the USA but if you ever do come over you're certainly invited to South Texas and we'll find something to hunt. Probably be feral hogs but we do have an assortment of game ranches here that have Axis and Red Stag among other animals. Whitetails have seasons where the animals I mentioned first do not have government regulated seasons. Male Axis and Red Stags do become rather pricy on the game ranches while hogs are very inexpensive to hunt here.

Certainly glad to have you on board. Maybe you can talk a few of your friends into joining up as well? And they don't have to be Blaser, Sauer or Mauser owners to be welcome here.

[hunting-ben-hur]

OSHEN KORROCHOW

Great shots with 243!