RUSSIA: Kamchatka Brown Bear

chonk34 said:

Our military service was one of the factors in our risk assessment for this trip. My dad is a retired Colonel, and I am a retired Sergeant First Class and currently work for the military as a federal civilian employee. We did get interviewed about our government connections. It definitely adds a little risk to the equation to have that background.

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Had you mentioned that upfront, I would have read your description in a different light. It would have explained the lengthy interrogations and the focus on your military connections.

It sounds as if the sentence you ended up serving was merely for the two counts of breaking Russian law which you did commit, albeit acting on bad advice in both cases.

It sounds as if the Russian judge and jail system did not use your military ties against you. On this count you should count yourself lucky.

Your story can serve as a cautionary tale as how deeply we depend on local advice, when we travel to hunt in a foreign country. It is a tale of bad local advice landing a traveler in jail.

Not worth it to me, not even close....

Kalthoff said:

Had you mentioned that upfront, I would have read your description in a different light. It would have explained the lengthy interrogations and the focus on your military connections.

It sounds as if the sentence you ended up serving was merely for the two counts of breaking Russian law which you did commit, albeit acting on bad advice in both cases.

It sounds as if the Russian judge and jail system did not use your military ties against you. On this count you should count yourself lucky.

Your story can serve as a cautionary tale as how deeply we depend on local advice, when we travel to hunt in a foreign country. It is a tale of bad local advice landing a traveler in jail.

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I didn't ever get the sense that they were really pursuing us on account of our government service. Even the special interview mid-sentence felt like they were training a new guy on interviews with Americans they happened to have on hand. I agree that we were dependent on faulty local advice, which got us into trouble and then got us into more trouble, leading to a jail sentence instead of merely paying a fine. I got the impression that in Kamchatka, far away from Moscow's flagpole, they recognize the value of hunting income for the region and don't want to harass too many hunters if they can help it.

dogcat1 said:

Whew! Glad you made it out.
I worked in Russia and Kazakhstan for 4 years, as well as other hell holes - Nigeria and CAR.
What happened to you is pretty consistent with my experience. Even with a guy on the inside to get you in and out, there are issues that all solved with money.

Russia and Nigeria are the worst. "Facilitation payments" are the norm no matter who well connected the insiders are. I think the insiders are part of the problem.

I hope to never set foot in Russia or another "stan" country again. Life is too short to be threatened and potentially jailed as a hostage.

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i lived and worked in CAR at the end of 80s and it was defintely not as bad as it became in those days ... except the sudanese invasions and the yaringas (today called road blockers) and of course the corruption ... but nothing to compare with that story that reminds all of us how in a foreign country everything can go that fast in a situation you cannot control at all especially with the language issue ...

thank you for the story and the adventures that came with.

Wow, that is one heck of a write up!

For better or worse it will be a hunt you will never forget. Personally... I'd be willing to try it.

That's a hell of a story and I'm glad it had a happy ending.

I don't mean this personally towards you, but in general...visiting Russia without a very, very good reason is a dumb idea. I can't imagine going there as an American citizen at the moment.

It's too easy to become a pawn in a much larger game, through no fault of your own.

Hard pass, although the bear does look great.

The question is why so light sentence.
I went to search on internet.

Found this source:

Translated by google:
Citizens of Russia and other countries from July 15 will be able to rent a hunting rifle. According to RIA Novosti, the condition for this will be the availability of an appropriate permit, as well as a hunting license.

Foreigners will be able to rent guns from legal entities and individual entrepreneurs who have permission to rent them out, and Russians from any legal entities and individuals who own such a gun.

To rent weapons, foreigners must obtain a permit to own firearms abroad or apply for a permit from the diplomatic mission of their state in Russia to issue a permit to rent such weapons.

(c) gazeta.ru

How I read this, conditions to rent a rifle are following:
Foreigner must provide his own firearms license to outfitter (and authorities), or optionally to provide some statement from his embassy in Russia that he can rent a firearm
And he must obtain hunting license by outfitter
Registered outfitter must have license to rent firearms.

Due diligence for a foreign hunter would be to confirm all this paperwork is available.
My educated guess, the authorities saw this as a minor offence, and kept the hunter detained till this was sorted out.

Few years ago, I was considering to hunt in Russia for siberian roe buck, moose and cappercaille, But the war broke out, and now I have no intention of going till this situation is settled, It can also mean - never to go there.