From the editor: We are going to publish the series of interviews with the experienced mountain hunters and the beginners who have just started to hunt in the mountains. Today we suggest you the interview with Vladislav Reznik - the Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
Vitae:
Vladislav Reznik was born on May 17th, 1954 in Leningrad.
In 1976 he graduated from the biological faculty of Leningrad University, candidate of biological Sciences. He worked as a Junior researcher at the Institute of antibiotics and enzymes for medical purposes, was a Director and performer of tricks at film studios.
From 1987 he worked as a chief deputy of the company «Russian video»,
From 1989 - the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank «Russia».
At the beginning of 90s he was member of the political Council of the St. Petersburg branch of the movement «Democratic choice».
From 1990 to 1995 he was the President of the insurance company “Russia” (Saint-Petersburg). He was included to the management of several insurance companies, banks and join-stocks companies. From 1995 - he is the Chairman of the Board of ROSGOSSTRAKH JSC. In 1999 he headed the Supervisory Board of Russia insurance company. He also served on the boards of Directors of Mosbusinessbank and St. Petersburg oil Bank.
In 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 he was elected to the State Duma from the parties “Unity” and “United Russia”. He is the member of the Supreme Council of the “United Russia” party.
“The Magic of the Real Safari”: Vladimir Matusovich, Let’s start from the traditional question. When and how you hunting career has started?
Vladislav Reznik: As long as I can remember I interested in hunting. And began to hunt when could do it. My first rifle was the air one, I hunted for birds and squirrels when we lived near Leningrad. My relatives had summer house in a small village not far from the town. I didn’t know the difference between hunting for a game and not game. I tried to skin and to fabricate squirrels but wasnt’ successful in it.
My first hunting trophies were thrushes. My friend and I shot them on rowans near Leningrad, in the village Siverskay. My friend's granny cooked them and It was very tasteful! So we tried the fall thrushes from time to time. The famous writer Aksakov highly appreciated their taste. From that time, I began to collect books about hunting and now have a really good library devoted to this theme. The first book, which opened me the world of hunting, was “The hunter's calendar” written by Leonid Sabaneev.
The Magazine: What was your first real rifle?
V.R.: A single-barreled TOZ rifle. I entered the Hunters Society at 18 years old and bought it. From that time, I used any opportunity to drive to suburban and to hunt there, but usually not far than the Karelian isthmus. Often, I hunted for birds because it was the most available hunt for everybody.
At 90s I’ve purchased the rifled weapon and this hinting was much interesting.
The Magazine: How do you treat to the weapon?
V.R.: I respect it but not fetishizing. My first rifled carbine was “Tiger”, the sniper gun DSR, improved to the civil weapon. I think, it was the unfortunate alteration. But the accuracy of shooting for 300 meters was good enough. I began to hunt for boars and moose in Pskov and Novgorod regions. Few times I tried to hunt for a bear in a den but that gun didn’t suit for such kind of hunting. The bullet came through the body and wounded the animal.
The Magazine: Do you collect trophies?
V.R.: Till last years I hunted just for food. We always shared the game between the hunters and our friends and I divided all game into edible and non-edible. The first time, I thought to hang the trophy at home was in 2010. I seriously interested in the trophy hunting just in the last years.
The Magazine: Did you start from the mountain hunting?
V.R.: Not so, I started from Africa, Tanzania. Edward Bendersky introduced me to Yury Morozov and Ludmila Baranova, who organized for me the 21- days hunting trip in 2010.
I was impressed by the variety and plenty of game there. There I began to realize what did the trophy hunting is. My first trophy was the Hartebeest. I perfectly remember that trophy but telling the truth, I remember all my shots. I used the rented Blazer 300 WinMag and fired from 250m. The results of that trip were 11 trophies - 10 antelopes and the leopard. I was really scared from it. Three days I sat near the bait. A leopard is a smart animal but mine was the smartest one. It went to the place where the bait was before or after my leaving. And fully understood where I waited for it. Once I came to the blind and found its excrements inside. The animal explained me that he knew where I sat. I sat in 100m from the bait. We had to remove it to 250m from that place after that case. The male came at the early dawn. It was the old cat. Not big, about 50kg. It’s very hot in Selu, where the hunt took place, and all leopard there aren’t big. I shot, but the bullet hit him in the moment he was pulling the bait, and went in 2cm below the heart but punctured a lung. He jumped down, made a circle around the tree, howled and ran away to the Bush. We waited about two hours. It was morning. Somebody gave me the shotgun and out group, which consisted of me, PH and two scouts, followed the wounded animal. We followed the bloody tracks. Each time we saw the bush we throw the stones or sticks there. Suddenly we’d heard the noise. The PH sat down and shot to the bush from his Chezet, cal. 416. The noise became stronger! The PH flipped the shutter but the the cartridge jammed. He shouted: Run away! I ran but understood soon that it was much harder to ran for me then for my companions. I was 56 years old not 29 like my PH. My physical form was much worse in comparison with them. It meant that the leopard catches me first.
I stood in time and turned around; the leopard was in 15m from me. I shot a doublet. The leopard disappeared in the grass. The runners stopped and came back to me. We began to look for it and found very quickly. It laid in a thick grass and was dead.
I didn't feel nothing except magical happiness, the hunter felt after getting the desired trophy. I realized that avoided the very serious problems.
The Magazine: Did you want to visit Africa once again.
V.R.: Yes, I did. The second expedition was to Masaland. I’ve got there very interesting endemic species such as gerenuk, and several antelopes. Unfortunately, there weren't tsetse flies and the area, where we hunted, suited for cattle and people.
There were several expeditions to the South Africa, which I did after Tanzania. I was interested in hunting for the Big Five. I got it twice. We followed the lion's tracks both times. A lion always stood up and left when heard a human approaching. It can do it several times but at last it grows impatient and it can attack. But you never know when it’ll be.
There were elephants. I also followed them by tracks. The same method we used when hunted for rhinos -white and black. The second leopard I took in Zimbabwe and we used dogs when hunted for it.
The Magazine: How did you dabble in mountain hunting?
V.R.: It started in 2012 when I flew to Mongolia to hunt for the Gobi argali and the ibex. The trip began from hunting for the ibex. I got not bad but not a big trophy though it was old. I prefer to get large trophies but always try to look for the old males who had got out of reproductive age, not younger than 9-10 years old. I shot from the rifleAccuracy InternationalAWM.338 LapuaMagс distance 360 meters. After I hit to its lungs the ibex went about 200 meters more.
I have to note that after 2007 I began to interest in the long-distance shooting. For long distances shooting I use the gun, I mention above, created by Malcolm Cooper. It's heavy but allows accurate long-range shooting.
I couldn’t take the argali at that time and even didn’t see it during the week while we were hunting. Then we drove to Hangay mountains where I got the Hangay argali.
That trip showed me exactly that the best hunt which could ever be was the mountain hunting. It’s more interesting than hunting in Africa even hunting for the Big Five. After Mongolia I visited several countries in Asia. Today I have 23 sheep and 15 ibexes in my collection. 20 sheep are ranked in OVIS classification and 12 ibexes in CAPRA.
The Magazine: Did you hunt in Russia? On Kamchatka, for example?
V.R.: Yes. Hunting on Kamchatka is amazing. I got Kolyma, Kamchatka and Koryak snow sheep there. Also, I took part in the hunting for moose. I’m impressed how Sergey Kallin organized there everything.
The Magazine: What outfitters do you prefer?
V.R.: The Stalker company organizes most of mountain hunts for me. Evgeny Kharitonov accompanies me often. He is the professional game-biologist, who has defended his PhD thesis on sheep.
The Magazine: Let's talk about highlands…
V.R.: Yes, I reached Pamir and the Tian Shan mountains. I shot my Marco Polo on the altitude 4800masl. It’s a really good trophy -63 inches.
The Magazine: Is it necessary to be in a good physical shape for such hunts?
V.R.: First of all you need to have a great desire to hunt in the mountains. It’ll make you to keep the form. When I began to hunt in the mountains, I lost about 30 kg. My wife jokes: “It’s one of the most expensive fitness”.
The Magazine: I want to ask you to share your hunting life hacks you have known during your hunting career.
V.R.: I’m not very experienced yet. I use the heavy weapon and always carry it by myself, as the backpack. And use the sight “Schmitt and Bender” 3X20. This classical sniper sight allows to shoot on 700 + meters. The average distance, I shoot, is 550-600 meters.
The Magazine: Do you prefer to shoot on the long distances in the mountains?
V.R.: I’ll be favor to shoot at 50 meters to be sure. But it's almost possible in the mountains to approach the animal for such a short distance. Moreover, you always have time limits. The closest distance I came to the trophy was 130-140 meters but it was the exclusion. Once in Mexico I came to the bighorn so close and another time in Mongolia, when hunted for the Altai argali.
When I talk about shooting for 600-700 meters I mean, that not all hunters like it but I interest in that kind of shooting.
The Magazine: What was your longest shot?
V.R.: The longest one was 819 meters. It was in Iran. I got the Bezoar Ibex by the one shot. It stood on the rock. First of all I did all calculations, then shot and missed. The bullet was taken down with the wind and the male didn’t understand what had happened. But it helped me to understand what the correction had to be done and I took it by the second shot. The main factor when you shoot at long distances is the wind.
The Magazine: Does it mean that the hunter relies on luck more than to the calculation?
V.R.: I hunt with the ballistic calculator and the “windblower”. And always take the slope. Not go back and forth again.
In recent times I try to shoot on 50 meters further each year. Because I’m not a good walker at the last time. I don’t have joints problem yet but better to be ready…
МНС: You need to train to shoot at such distances.…
V.R.: Yes, I have to. I have hunting lands in Smolensk region where I've built the “shooting paradise”, as my shooting teacher says. There is a cabin with tables which you can use for shooting from the position of "lying", "sitting". The rolls open the target field for 750m long. There are targets or gongs - for practical shooting on that field. It sounds if you hit it. I train a lot when I arrive there. I always drive there before each hunt and do not less than 30-50 shots.
The Magazine: What cartridges do you use?
V.R.: 250, gran bullets Scena, made by Lapua.
The Magazine: Do you train yourself before hunting?
V.R.: I do special exercises with the training mask- the simulation of rarefied air. I do it regularly not only before hunting. I drink diuretics and vitamins for the highlands. It helps to reduce the adaptation period.
I don’t eat fat food when being in the mountains. It makes me feel bad and is the stomach ache reason. Fat meal doesn't suit to the highlands.
The Magazine: What do you have in your backpack when go to the mountains?
V.R.: A bottle of water, an apple and dry fruits- dried apricots, dates. I like it.
The Magazine: What you like in the mountains except trophies?
V.R.: I just want to tell about it. I love mountains not only because of hunting or impression they make on me. I enjoy meeting with new people, culture, countries. The reality exceeds all expectations often and turns everything upside down. I’ve known Iran from another side and that new knowledge was far from the image created by mass media during the last years. I was astonished by the hospitality and open-mindedness of people who live there. I didn’t see any woman in the veil when I was there. They all were dressed according their Islamic dress code but all smiled and talked to me. Once when we changed a wheel while driving to the hunting lands. It's prohibited to transfer weapon by the domestic airlines and the hunter has to be ready to drive a lot. The owner of service got us coffee and cakes three times! This is an indicator.
The Magazine: Vladislav Matusovich, thank you very much for the interview. We know that few month ago you celebrated your 60th anniversary and did a present for yourself. It was the needed number of sheep and ibexes to get the Ovis World Slam, Ovis World Slam Super 20 и Capra World Slam. The editorial team of our magazine congratulates you and wish not to stop.
