How is hunting regulated in the Scandanvian countries? I am curious as to how licenses are obtained and how much they cost, were one can hunt, and what game animals are available, etc.

I know that we have several Swedes, Finns, and Norwegians that post here and would appreciate it very much if they would enlighten me as to how it is done in their countries.

Casey

In Sweden the landowner has the right to hunt or lend it.

On the goverments land in the Scand.alps anyone has the right to buy a license for smallgame. Lappmens has the right for big game.

Many areas in Sweden has jointed hunting (protected by law for animal saving)with several landowners Huntingclubs or similar

Kimmo

You were faster than me Kimmo but I'll leave my post anyway.

As for Sweden hunting is regulated in many ways:

By law as for what species of animals can be hunted and during which time of the year. All animals are protected except those that are listed in these rules. The season starts in earnest in August with the roe-deer bucks and some birds and ends for most species in January/February. Some (pests) can be hunted all year round. We have limited hunts in the spring, ie beaver in the north and roe-deer in the areas polluted by the Tjernobyl (sp?) catastrophe.

For some game, this has varied over the years and nowadays it's only moose, bear, and lynx, the government issues "tags" to decide the number of animals that can be taken in an area. The "tags" are distributed among those with hunting rights.

The right to hunt is strongly tied to the ownership of property. We have almost no areas that are free to hunt for everbody except some goverment owned areas in the mountains up north where you can apply for a license to hunt for ptarmigan and other small game.

In many areas the land is divided in small properties so it would be difficult to hunt properly. There many land-owners join together to conduct all hunting and game-control and -support as a group; a hunting-team.

It's common practice to rent a license to hunt from a land-owner who doesn't use it himself. You can also aquire the right to hunt by leasing the hunting-rights for enough property from several land-owners so you can become a member in a hunting-team.

There is also a market for short-term hunts, everything from a license for a day to the more "sophisticated" hunts in fenced in areas.

The most important game-animal in Sweden is hands-down the moose, closely followed by roe-deer in the southern part of the country. Other big-game animals are fallow deer, red stag, wild boar and (very limited) brown bear. As for small game we can hunt hare (two species), red fox, badgers, beaver, marten and mink.

We can also hunt for geese (four species), several ducks, ptarmigan, black grouse, capercaillie, hazel grouse, grey partridge, common pheasant, woodcock and doves plus a few species considered as pests, ie crow, magpie, jackdaw and several gulls.

[This message has been edited by Wachtel (edited 02-25-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Wachtel (edited 02-25-2002).]

CASEY,

I'm not Swedish but before hunting you need to pass a shooting exam in Sweden.

You shoot 2 times on moose silouette moving at 80 yards. You have two tests before the beginning of the exam.

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BER007
Keep the faith in any circumstances
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BBER007@HOTMAIL.COM

BER007,

a slight correction. If you are a Swede you must pass several both written and practical tests to obtain a license for a hunting rifle or a shot-gun. I've been an instructor/teacher myself training people to take these tests.

But you don't need these as a guest from a foreign contry if you already have a valid license in your home-country.

It is however very usual for hunting teams to have as a rule that you must pass the pratical test on moose every year. In some cases this also extends to invited or paying guests.

Beer 007

not everywhere

I would suggest you use the "Search" function. We had an extensive thread a couple of months back that covered this rather extensively. Good Luck!

Wachtel,

Thanks to correct me. In Belgium this is the same thing for hunting examination first written on fauna, flora and hunting rules. I need to pass this exam, no problem for me to pass pratcical exam (I'm a handguns/rifles shooter), but the written exam it is an other thing. I need to study for it.

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BER007
Keep the faith in any circumstances
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BBER007@HOTMAIL.COM

Here in Denmark the land owners has all the rights and no baglimits. The area must be larger than 20.000m2 if you own it or 50.000m2 if you just rent it. If you live in Denmark hunting at sea is free, but regulated to some areas. Areas owned by the state are normaly rented to small groups of people for periods of normaly 5 years.

To get a hunting licens danes need to pass a written test that not that simple (to some). You also need to pass a practical test ..... 5 shots with a shotgun, and you dont even need to hit anything. To go riflehunting in woods owned by the state, you must be able to hit a 8" target with 5 out of 6 shot a 100 meters....prone if you like but no bipods or othere benchrest like equipment..

Menander,

I'm curious to know what kinf of animals we can hunt in your country. Same as in Sweden or...

Thanks.

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BER007
Keep the faith in any circumstances
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BBER007@HOTMAIL.COM

Hunting is cheap in northern Sweden. If you sell the moose you shoot to a butcher (moose meat is paid $3/kg) you still have money left after licenses (about $300 adult moose and $50 for calf) and lease is paid for. And many hunters still complain that hunting is expensive!! However all land is locked up so don't expect to come here and get rich on hunting

Permission to hunt small game cost around $5-$20/day and $50-$1000/year. 2-4 Capercaillies and you got your costs covered for a year.

It's a different situation in southern Sweden and the other countries. Maybe someone else can comment on that

BER007 -

A quick look at a map shows that Denmark and Sweden/Norway are not the same when it comes to hunting. We had 1 (one) moose some years ago but it was hit by a train.... We also had some few wild pigs but they was exterminated by the STATE ......

But we still has a lot of deer, both roedeer and "real" deer. When it comes to other kinds of hunting we have too many geese and a lot of ducks.

Norway is a lot like Sweden in hunting regulations.
The landowner has the legal right to hunt his land, but regarding big game, the different Countys Wildlife dept. set the baglimit on behaf of the government. There are among other things a minimum area limit.
The Norwegian State are the biggest landowner and lease out a lot of hunting areas, both big game and small game.

As an urban dweller one has usually two options, eighter rent an expencive huntig area from a private landowner, or join in the official draw on government land.
For big game hunting one must have, or have access to an sertified "spoor dog".

When a youngster want to start hunting, one must pass a hunters exam, same as in Sweden Denmark and Belgium, and in addition pass a shooting test each year ( with all the rifles you want to hunt with ).

Big game are moose, red deer, rain deer and roe deer. We also hunt seal on the west coast. Bear, wolf and wolverine, are hunted, but only when inflicting harm on livestock, and then only by hunting teams issued by the authorithies.

We have lots of fox, small game and waterfowl as well.
Hunting is a wery popular activity in Norway, and competition shooting and gun ownership are a big part of our culture.
According to UN figures we are no.2 in Europe after Switzerland regarding private gun ownership.

Trophy hunting is a strange bird here, big antlers are taken as a nice bonus, since almost all hunting are for the table. Therefore she-animals and calves are regulars on a bag limit.
That mean one can hunt a lease for years withouth having licens to kill a big buck.

My precent lease have two red deer bucks 1,5 year old ( spikes ) and five roe deer (free sex). Not much to hang on the wall, but wery good eating !!

Arild