I know of at least a handful of people who read this who are fellow hunters and/or gun enthusiasts so I thought I might inform you about what I've learned regarding these subjects since arriving in Ukraine. From what I can tell, hunting in Europe is available, particularly in the more heavily forested nations. The more common and (as you can imagine from the above photo) desirable game animal is the European Red Deer. The species is sub-divided into eastern and western varieties, of which we supposedly have the larger, eastern type here in Crimea. Apparently this is one of the larger deer species and actually rivals the elk in size.Regarding gun laws, a pastor friend told me that everyone can legally own 2 smoothbore weapons, but I have not clarified whether this is a national law or one limited to Crimea which is a nearly autonomous region. This means that one can own any variety of shotgun (or probably musket) which presumably precludes limitations such as barrel length, type of grip or even magazine capacity (if you are interested why this is surprising, check out the AK-styled Saiga shotguns). I have to believe that in town it is uncommon to own firearms, but in the villages I can see them being fairly common. With ownership of rifled firearms (ie. any modern pistol or rifle) being illegal, hunting is probably a challenge, particularly when the game is not as common as in North America. None of this really affects me since as a foreigner so I'm sure I'm prohibited from owning any guns and if I could, I couldn't afford one anyway.
The late-breaking news is that I will get a chance to do a little pest-control hunting as the camp is overrun with what I think are crows (they may be ravens; for clarification on the difference, ask Marshall) and I have been entrusted with at least 1 and maybe 2 pellet guns. I expect this to be an interesting challenge as both crows and ravens are pretty clever, have good eyesight and my maximum range is less than 40 yards. Tomorrow morning I will get geared up in my camo (yes, I brought some because they are rugged and warm) and out early; much in the same way I am for turkey. So this is my hunting and will have to accept what I can get.
Posts
Thank you buddy for your MANY link to my humble little web site that gets a third if that compared to yours. ;)
ReplyDeleteI would love to see pics of the crow hunting in the Ukraine. Make sure there are some with you camoed up.
ReplyDeleteMany people use the terms 'raven' and 'crow' interchangeably, but they are actually quite different.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, since ravens belong to the crow family of birds, they can be called crows...but that means not all crows are ravens (hence the confusion).
Biggest difference is size: ravens are larger than crows. They are about the size of a hawk, where crows are approximately the size of a pigeon.
Let me put it another way: ravens, when exploding, make a really really big puff of feathers compared to the smaller puff of feathers a crow makes when exploding.
Thanks for the clarification. The only reason I used to care is that ravens are federally protected are crows have an open season with a small game tag which I had. Here it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of saving up and moving to Ukraine. I am looking for any information I can get on the country. my e-mail is st45215@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteContact me at xplod96b@hotmail .com
DeleteI have been there 3 times, for a total of over 110 days.
I have been in the central, south, south west, south east, and a lot of time in the Crimea. My favorite place in Sevastopol.
The exchange rate stays around 8 to 1
so if you bring in about $2000.00 US a month you can live well.
Rent is the same as here, as are houses.
Most single people work at least 2 jobs to make it. Families have to have 2 incomes. Family is everything over there, no matter where you might be in a woman's life if something happens in the family or if the family makes a decision that is the way she will go.
Don't even think of getting a job there.
And every 90 days you have to leave the country, even if only for an hour to have the exit visa stamped in your passport. The people are very intelligent, most have 2 degrees.
There are 2 major cell phone companies and it is best to buy 1 from each.
I am currently selling off all that I own so that hopefully by next year at this time I will be moving over there.
You have to learn Russian.
Kiev is noisy, expensive, and the people are not very friendly .
We can talk more on this and other things.
I'm going to Kiev for 1 month. But for the 2 legged type of BIRD aka CHICK, without feathers and considered magazine cover quality!
ReplyDeleteI have a Weirauch HW-80 .22 airgun. Will I be permitted to take My lovely airgun to Kiev? What is the airgun pwer limit in Ukraine? Is it same with Spain (limit 18fpe) or UK (limit 12fpe)? Please help me in getting correct information of airgun laws in Ukraine. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreat knowledge, thanks for passing it on:) As a guy looking for a nice girl in Ukraine, I've definitely wondered about this subject. I do love guns, but stone age methods are my passion, ie, the spear, selfbow, sling - I wonder how much trouble I'd get in if I made and used them there? No shipping or explaining luggage, ya know? LOL 'Probably best to bring "her" here anyway if I'm so lucky, I guess it really would be quite insane to leave my little North Dakota town with all these whitetails, pike, and cottontails all over the place! LOL 'Still studying my Russian, though...
ReplyDelete