Here's a Russian gun joke that wouldn't probably bring out a laugh here. A Russian hunter gets his hands on a hi-end Brit shotgun, and is surprized not to find sling swivels. He writes to the gunmaker asking why so, and gets the reply: "We expect that a person who is able to afford one of our guns can afford to hire a man to carry his gun". That's where you laugh.
Actually, slings make LOTS of sence when you have to cover a few miles with a load and knowing you have a very limited choice of getting a shot as you go.
To begin with, hunting here is normally an overnight affair - you go out say Saturday morning, hunt, spend the night around campfire, hunt Sunday, go home. So you're already loaded with a backpack to start with. Then, while Russia is a vast land, sweet spots offering good hunting are few and far between, and don't forget that personal cars came into everyone's reach only since 1991 (and were practically non-existant before 1960s). And even now the best places are the ones unaccessible by motor vehicles. Finally, in most traditional hunting styles you cover a few miles before you can get a shot, but when you can, you have the time to prepare. Take hares over a scent hound - first you walk until the hound kicks up the hare and gives bay, then you run to where you think the hare will pass, then you take the place and wait - at least 2/3 of time you just carry the shooting piece around, you're not shooting with it.
So, a shotgun without provisions for sling attachments would be extremely inconveniet for about 80% of the traditional hunting situations in Russia.
Now hinting is more and more often done in the "hi-tech" style, get in in cars, shoot, go home. For an overnight trip, get in in cars, sleep at a lodge, be delivered to your peg or blind by boat or ATV, shoot, reverse. But the role models date back to the days when the above was the norm.
