Jani, you are correct. Your estimation about the content of the articles is exactly what they are about.
King, no, not to my knowledge. It's just that most Russian publications copy American patterns. This is understandable, if you remember, that 20 years ago there was exactly ONE gun\hunting national circulation monthly, available on subscription only. Cyrillic letters don't work here, but the publication's title translated as "Hunting and wildlife management" and it was supposed to be for game wardens and such. It's still there, and it's still available on subsctiption only.
When new competition appeared in 1990s, they did their utmost to position themselves differently, adopting either pre-1917 patterns, or following the world standards. The latter approach proved the most successful, although at present, with the USSR-nostalgy on the rise, at least one publication, dubbed simply "Hunting", is delibaratly trying to copy the old "Hunting and wildlife management" layout and approach.
Russian publications HAVE to be all things for all people, because Russian gun\hunting press market is surprisingly limited. Probably it's because noone has been able to come up with a product good enought to convince the hunters to part with their hard-earned - because, really, our magazines aren't half as good as Field&Stream and such.
Don't know the reason why. Most editors complain they have trouble funding copy to fill the pages. On the other hand, writers complain that the fees are too low to make a living on, and so, well, there aren't many professional outdoor writers, except for the few that are on the staff of the magazines. Most of the articles are written by non-professionals, like me, for whom writing is a hobby or a vanity thing. Here there's the usual problem that those who have something to say can't write or don't have time, and those who can and do have little to say.
I have to confess that at least a half of information in the articles I published I learned on this forum. It doesn't sound too ethical, since the information here is supposed to be provided for personal education, and not commercial use. So, if that's a crime - guilty, m'lords.
Now, for other magazines mentioned. Hunter's Cortyard is rather an pbscure publication, I haven't seen it on the shelves for a while. Hunting and fishing in the 21st century is the biggest, and arguably the best one in the country. It's what I think they call "sindicated" publication, part of one of the country's bigges media holdings whose biggest shareholder happens to be an avid hunter. If only they hired someone to proofread their copy - there's hardly a page without a misprint, bad grammar or such.
Basic instinct has been recently rebranded, and called (rather unimaginatively I think) "The Russian Hunting Magazine". The new editor has been my LiveJournal friend for a few years, and he prints my stuff. You can view some back copies by following the link:
http://huntandfish.ru/magazine/2012/10_2012/ click on the cover of the issue you want to read and then hit the button that looks something like 4NTATP HOMEP UEANKOM under the covers. E.g. October issue
http://pressa.ru/Flexreader/show?id=30603 
