This does not look good.


Russia Closes Hunting Season until Further Notice – An Update
SCI has just received a clarification of yesterday’s news about hunting in Russia – only brown bear hunting is currently affected; however, other hunting may also be affected in the very near future. As reported, SCIF’s Asian Program Coordinator, Dr. Andrey Subbotin, has been meeting with Russian outfitters to discuss the extent of the hunting closures. This morning, Dr. Subbotin spoke with staff at SCI's DC Office to give a brief update of the situation. He reports that, at this time, only the spring Brown Bear hunting season (May) is closed, but that other species, including ibex, wild boar, mountain sheep, and moose, may be in jeopardy in the next few months. The reason for this is that it would take at least three months for governmental agencies to work through the process, thus potentially eliminating all hunting from June through August. A meeting is scheduled Thursday between Russian governmental officials, all Russian outfitters and Dr. Subbotin. After this meeting, SCI will again publish a further update. Please stay alert as information continues to come in. Questions or comments may be directed to Bob Byrne, Conservation Program Manager, at bbyrne@sci-dc.org or 202-543-8733.

Hey you can't be a commie like Putin and have foreigners running around armed on mother russia soil spending thousands in only a few days. Might get some people thinking about free enterprise and not relying on a government handouts.

Russian Hunting Update – April 28th


At this time, we are still hearing that Spring Brown Bear hunting throughout all of Russia is closed and will be for the entire month of May. We have not been notified of any additional hunting season issues, but it has been mentioned that more closures may occur. We have heard conflicting reports from various sources that certain provinces remain open to hunting but SCI cannot confirm these reports at this time.


Dr. Andrey Subbotin, SCIF’s Asian Program Contractor in Moscow called today with the following report:


Dr. Subbotin met today with representatives of the following hunting companies: Safari Outfitters, Russian Expeditions, Profi Hunt, Safari and Expeditions, Hunt Rex, Open Russia, Association of Hunters of the Ministry of Defense, Hunting Consortium, and Russian Safari Hunting Magazine. They discussed the current situation and the possible problems with the opening of other hunting seasons. The group agreed that there are two core problems – the government is both slow and disinterested in hunting and the hunting community in Russia has not been actively engaged in the process.


Dr. Subbotin also learned that, according to Russian law, the provincial governors could issue orders opening hunting seasons in their own provinces and that this action cannot be nullified by the federal government. Despite that, it is believed that as many as 16 Russian provinces took no action to open spring bear hunting this year, even though they had the power to do so.


Together, the group agreed to create a new organization, which they will call the Association for the Right to Hunt. That organization plans to work at the provincial level as well as with central government to improve the administration of hunting.


Following that meeting, Subbotin consulted with the deputy director of one of the two key wildlife management and hunting universities in Russia. The deputy director is a hunter, a wildlife manager and an attorney.


In their discussion, Subbotin and the deputy director agreed that in order to achieve action at the provincial level, several problems have to be overcome. One problem is the lack of organization and activism within the Russian hunting community at the provincial level. The new organization that was agreed to earlier in the day can deal with that issue. The second problem deals with the current lack of organization of the administration of hunting in Russia at the federal level. The Russian federal government has been working on this for more than a year and a half, but has not completed its work. However, one of the results of the on-going reorganization is that the provincial institutions for hunting that used to exist have started to deteriorate or to disappear. This makes it more difficult for provincial governors to take action on their own to open hunting seasons.


Complicating matters further is the fact that due to national holidays at the beginning of May, many federal government people in Moscow will be on vacation for the next two weeks. This makes it difficult to achieve any progress at the federal level, at least for the near term.


SCI still encourages any hunter planning a trip to Russia to contact their outfitter for information specific to the province in which they are hunting. SCI is will continue to provide the latest information as it becomes available.


If you have further questions, please contact SCI’s Washington DC office at 202-543-8733 or bbyrne@sci-dc.org.

Russian Hunting Update – April 29th



“Hunter Activism Opens Some Brown Bear Huntingâ€



SCIF’s Asian Program Director, Dr. Andrey Subbotin, worked with a group of outfitters in Moscow to remedy the brown bear problem. Thanks to the increased activism that has resulted, provincial officials have been alerted in a number of provinces and have agreed to issue the necessary proclamations to open brown bear hunting in their own province.


According to our sources in Russia, three (3) provinces are open for Spring Brown Bear hunting is Russia at this time. It seems that the provincial representatives of the Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk and Magadan regions have reinstated bear hunting.


The USFWS is aware of the situation in Russia. Documentation of legal hunts will need to be provided for trophies coming into the US.


Due to unforeseen changes that could occur at any time, SCI continues to advise hunters to check with their outfitter immediately for the latest information.


If you have further questions, please contact SCI’s Washington DC office at 202-543-8733 or bbyrne@sci-dc.org.