Thank you for your kind comments! It's so rewarding...
Now for the questions.
tanky - I have no personal experience, but what I know from the Internet is Belarus is a very hunting country, with lots of game and reasonable gun laws, similar to Russian. Outfitting is a sort of a national business there, lots of Russians go hunt there regularly. There shouldn't be any native pheasant in Belarus, but some shooting preserves release birds and they survive with feeding.
There are numerous war relics in Belarus, but they're all military stuff.
We do have a number of sporting publications, both about shooting and hunting and other field sports. To think of it, Russia is actually a very normal country, we seem to have everything other countries have too, from gun control to hunting mags ;-) But strangely, there's never been anything remotely like NRA. Even in the wildest days of early democracy, when all kinds of parties were formed, up to Beer Drinking Party (they even tried to get into Parliament!) there wasn't even talks about forming a hunters or shooters party.
all - I'd like to clear up the idea of "hidden treasures". Any gun that was buried in 1917 or even 1941 is as good as dead now. I vitnessed the uncovery of a couple of guns hidden, according to Militia estimate, around 1941. Both 12 ga. sidelocks, one looked Brittish or Belgian, the other had Monte-Carlo stock and Krupp "drei ringe" barrels. But we couldn't even read the names of manufacturers, or proof marks, the guns were so rusty. They went to scrape metal. Geno, if I remember right, also posted a very nice (once) German BPE/Cape gun/ shotgun three barrel set combo found in someone's garden - also rusted beyound repair.
