Sergei Lisovski is an eminent person – senator, lucky businessman, one of the pioneers of Russian show and advertisement business. In hunting, which is his passion for not that long, he also made shift for serious success. He is one of 3 best hunters in Russia and some of his trophies are concerned as the most rare in the world.

It all happened suddenly to me – we went hunting more like a business-meeting, and I lucked to get a wild boar. Thus an interest appeared. After that Paver Gusev (Moskovsy Komsomolets' editor in chief – ed.) invited me to Africa with him. After Dakar (in year of 1995 Lisovsky participated in Paris-Dakkar rally and finished 11th in category of off-roaders – ed.) I had a special feeling toward Africa, wanted to go back there. And I got back, but as a hunter and I still do return there. I've got a lot of trophies, an African Big Five too. Gusev, by the way, has two of them, although lacking the second rhino I also have two…

Rifles

I have around 30 rifles. The very first ones were more like for interior then for hunting. Good looking was the most important criteria. I have very rare guns: single made Austrian ones, English "Holland&Holland" – five items. Of course, I go out hunting with such weapons, when it's of high society fowling in Europe for instance. And if not, one needs a carbine with no decoration. Minimum weight, with a good flight-shot. The first good 375mm carbine by English company "Holland&Holland" I bought according to advise of Gusev - this is a classics of African hunting. So I've started to collect rifles for Africa, later for more complicated mountain hunting. When mountains aren't very high weight of a rifle isn't that important, but when you go to high mountains every gram plays a role. I have three carbines for mountain hunting: 7mm Remington Magnum, Blaser Supermagnum 300 and an unusual carbine Blaser R-95 246 calibre. Such a weapon is very rare used for hunting because it needs very accurate hit. It looks like a toy – very light, compact, single-barreled with one cartridge only. You have no second shoot and it becomes like a game with yourself. My favored weapon is 375mm "Holland&Holland" for African and universal 300-mm "Holland&Holland" for European hunting. Actually, with these two guns one may go hunting anywhere.

Mountains

The most hard hunting is mountain hunting, not African as many people think. It's physically very hard. In mountains all animals see pretty good and they don't let you approach too close, especially old argali and goats, i.e. those trophies that you need. If they see you, they don't allow coming closer then one kilometer or even 800 meters. So you need to go around a brute and it's three kilometers minimum - up and down all the way. Well, often it happens that you walk out on a peak and the animal is gone already. And you need to go watching again and again.
It's very difficult to imagine all the load: climbing to a peak for even 500 meters with full ammunition is very difficult. I think, one will lie flat-out after such a walk. And then, I think, mountain hunting is much more dangerous then African one. One day I faced a group of alpinists – they were all equipped – with climbing irons and ropes. The height was over 500 meters and I climbed wearing just tourist boots with a backpack and carbine. They gazed on me spaced out and I just kept climbed further.

By the way, when you go to the mountain in excitement, get to the peak finally… and then look around wishful thinking how to get down.

Rules

Hunter is not a person who is dong meat purveyance but who enjoys the whole process of tracking down and chasing an animal, I suggest. Someone gets to this idea through meat-purveyance, someone remains at that point forever. I know such people. Perhaps it deals with culture and education. For instance, fair hunter never shoots from helicopter. My friends, and me never shoot female animals, youngsters, almost never we shoot young males.

The main point in hunting is to track an animal, to take it. One may get an animal in 10-15 minutes, but to get a good trophy it takes days and weeks of rambling around. There are lots of sly beasts. Well, it's interesting to hunt for a lion. It roars and it's an inconceivable sound. When you hear it for the first time you don't even understand it's an animal…and then it falls upon you. I can assure that Russian brown bear is much more dangerous and much more smarter then lion or even leopard. Predators take people as object of attack. If you turned out to be too close they don't think too long. But the most dangerous animal is hippopotamus. It's stupid and falls upon you immediately…

Trophies

I have a lot of trophies, so number of them is not that interesting for me now. It's more important to improve quality of trophies. I may go for hunting and get nothing – I feel no disappointment. It's important for me to get a trophy better then I already have. I have, by the way, some records in Russia: Kurgan roe, of course, European roe – 6th place in the world, European fallow-dear, Marco Polo. By the way, getting ordinary record animal is harder then something rare, because they are shot a lot – the competition is very high. Very valuable trophy is all known African BIG Five, but also there is so called Grand Slam – 12 argali. This is extremely high score. In Russia only Pavel Guev has 12 argali, I suggest. My score is 9. But I have the highest world score in mountain hunting – for Marco Polo, it's considered as the most prestige trophy in the world. Marco Polo abounds at a height of 4,5-5 thousand meters – this is very difficult sort of hunting.

Philosophy

We you start hunting you start understanding people better. You look at a person and notice, how much he looks like an animal. We often communicate with people, but we don't keep eye on each other. And when you hunt, you may observe an animal for an hour or two, or for a day. When I was hunting for a lion, I lied in ambush on a lake bank for five days. And animals come to watering place according to schedule. The earliest – small antelopes, then bigger ones and toward evening buffalo come, after sunset elephants go out. And only in the night predators come out. Each group spends an hour or a half of an hour at watering place. And you just lie and having nothing to do you watch. You see the way they communicate, fight and rest. After a while you start transfer their habits to people. Well, there are people-antelopes, people-giraffes, I on my own is like a fox. And foxes don't fear me - and I never hunt them.

Text: Stas Yushkin




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