Ok, talking to my american friends, of course, I am an american.
They say that in order to hunt and own guns in just about any european country one must be rich.
See here, anyone can hunt, it doesn't take alot of money to hunt.
But in Europe I am told that only the rich can own guns and hunt, and that the hunt is expensive.
For instance, I can buy a used rifle here for 200 us dollars.. about the same in euro dollars. I can go to the 2 million plus acres my state has and hunt for no fee. Add in 20 dollars for a liscence, and a few dollars for gas, I can take a deer for almost nothing.
I hear that in europe that is not the case, that the average person can not just get a gun and hunt.
Is this true?

Not exactly right

In Sweden you have to lease land or get rights to hunt at someones property. On goverments land you can buy a license for grouse, like in north of Sweden. The price depends on were in Swedenit is and can be quite expensive

You can buy a very nice FN mauser 98 in sweden for less than 200 $. In general most things are higher here than in USA. Sometimes the opposite, like euro optics.

I always end up with overload on the plane back home. I wonder why . There is a lack of competition in Europe, which results in higher prices. Why is Norma brass cheaper in USA than in SWEDEN

Hope this helps you a bit

/ JOHAN

[ 10-27-2002, 14:18: Message edited by: JOHAN ]

Very much more expensive than in the U.S., all right. In Belgium, there's no such thing as public hunting land as every acre belongs to somebody, private or public, who leases hunting rights. Unless, very rich, few hunt alone and most become part of a hunting group (cost, depending on quantity/quality : between 870 - 10.000 euro / season = 6-8 hunting days). An annual national hunting licence costs 4.090 euros (NB. : this gives the right to hunt where you have leased hunting grounds, see above). Guns & assorted gear are more expensive, too. E.g., a Sauer 202 Luxus Europa (= U.S. Supreme) sells for 2.395 euros and a Tikka Master std. for 1.015.

Hello the Rich,
not so here in Scotland, you can shoot Roe buck for less than �50.00 per outing
Roe doe �35.00 per outing
Red stag �100 per outing
Red hinds �50.00 per outing
no bag limits either.
We have several thousand acres which we lease the deer stalking rights, we shoot as many as we wish!!
There are many large estates that charge a reasonable amount for you to stalk (�35-�100).
So there is no end of cheap stalking in Scotland.
There is also pheasant/grouse/duck shooting, which can cost as little as �200 a day for pheasant, �25.00 for a duck flight, Grouse, for the rich only,an average price for grouse is �150.00 per brace.
If anyone needs any info e-mail me and I can send you details!

good shooting

Griff

a bad days shooting is better than a good days work!!

Grif

What do you mean by outing. Everytime you leave for the woods?

Ii the hunting woodlands or highland moor.

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Johan,

Normally an outing might be an morning or evening in summer or all day in winter...But we do not have to pay any other fees as such..no tags ect.
When i started stalking I used a club on the Scottish borders. It was �35 for 3 days stalking including the use of a static caravan to stay in. The only addional charges was that if you got a beast, you had to buy the carcass off the club; as this was roe stalking it was around �25-�30 per beast on average.

Leasing stalking by the day is generally the most expensive way of doing it here..If you can lease it by the year it is a lot cheaper. I pay �500 for 12 months stalking ie I can actually stalk every day of the year and thats on about 3500 acres of woodland and moor in Scotland. Down south the price does go up alot but many stalkers still get their hunting "free" by sharing the venison with the owner of the ground...
Sport in the UK tends to be as cheap or expensive as you want...once you are in the right circles the price comes down considerably.

regards,

Pete

All this is very surprising to me, an American, who has been believing like most Americans that the average guy can't afford to hunt in Europe.

Questions - does all this mean that an average guy can buy a license and a two-day hunt for deer, then cover all the other expenses (travel, ammo, etc.) on less than a week's salary?

I was also surprised at Pete E.'s reference to hunting in the summer. Does the hunter get to keep the meat? We don't hunt in summer for at least three reasons I can think of - it interferes with the animals raising their young (usually born in spring), the meat can go bad very quickly and likely won't taste that good in summer anyway, and the summer vegetation is too thick, making the game harder to find.

Interesting.
Many people here have leased land, or belong to a "camp." Dues can be cheap, or expensive.
In my state we have millions of acres of public land to hunt on.
The quality of the public land varies. Some of it is prime hunting territory, some of it is mountain top waste terrain.
Some of it is heavily hunted. Some of it is as remote as you can get around here.
The other part about hunting public ground is that you often run into non-hunters who ride bikes, jog, and annoy hunters.
So, if you want your own piece of hunting paradise, you'll either have to hike to it, own it, or lease it.
There are farms around me that charge 500 usa dollars for three days of hunting.
The first day of buck season (antlered whitetail deer) in the public areas can look like a pumpkin patch, lots of hunters.
So figure for someone who doesn't pay dues to a hunting camp,
20 for the licence, 30-50 for butchering, plus the added tags for other animals, ammuntion, gas, food, it probably ends up costing at least two hundred dollars to shoot a deer here, more if you stay for a week at the cabin.

Hallo Matt,

You can not say in Europe is this or this. Each country has ist own rules.
In Germany even the public ground is not free if you have a license.
Here we have different ways, that you can hunt.
First at all you need to make a training with a test. The costs therefore are very different, but including ammo and all other things the costs may be from 1500€ to .... (not req. for visitors from other countries).
Then you have to make an insurance and pay an yearly fee about 50-150€ dependent on the state. Now you are a „hunter“
And then you can look for a possiblity of hunting.

Normally all hunting ground is parted in areas which have at least 0,75 km�, which only natural persons can rent (for 9 or 12 years). This is different to most other countries in which hunting clubs can also rent hunting ground. Mostly these areas are the whole ground of a village with all meadows, wood and fields.
The price therefore is also very different. From 100€ to 15000€ per km� and year you will find everything. The more you have to hunt the more expensive. But also you can sell all the shot deer, boar and so on. Or you can give somebody for some money a shot for a deer, boar. This is then the decision of the one which has rent this area, and the contract do not forbid this (also possible). Or you give an other guy the allowence to hunt in this area, if he helps to make the stands, to take the shot deer and boar out, or something else. But this req. the allowence of the owner of the ground. But now we come in details which are very different. But this gives you the possibility of cheap hunting.
Also the guy which rents the area have to pay the damage which the boar or deer makes on the fields of the farmers (somtimes very expensive).

The government ground (mainly forest) can also be leased, but in a lot of areas it is not leased and the forrest rangers are hunting (but also defined in areas), and there you can buy a single shot or you can try to get an area in which you are hunting. This costs about 200 to 500€/year.

For myself f. e. the hunting costs all together (incl. Insurance and fee) is only about 150€ and I shot about 10-15 boars, 10 roe deer and some foxes, bagders... So hunting for me is not expensive.

The costs for the guns are a bit higher than in USA as I can see. Also the ammo. Due to the restrictions from the government, our traders have a lot of costs for security and licenses. That results then in less competition and high prices.

In some other countries the law is total different. In the most of the southern Europe countries the hunt on birds is cheap an easy as I know.

If you are interested in a specific country, you have to ask especially.
But I think in the states there are also very different rules for hunting.

Have a good hunt.

audsley,

I will post a link to our seasons when I can find it and you can see how they overlap such that we can hunt 12 months a year. Two of our deer species Chinese Water Deer and Muntjac have no closed season on either sex as they don't breed seasonally. Muntjac for instance breed every 7 months and the does are perpetually pregnant.
With Roe, which are the bulk of my stalking, the does have their young in early summer and are out of season till mid October. However that is when the roe buck season runs...so when the bucks are in, the does are out and visa versa...each season is 6 months long.. Fallow bucks have an even longer season at 8 months!

Yes we retain the venison in the summer. There is a great deal of emphasis these days on handling the venision properly as a lot is sold on to gamedealers and eventually ends up on the table in Europe. Most stalkers have a flyproof larder and some have cool rooms of one sort or another. In some areas it is usual to take your still warm beast straight to the game dealer if the weather is warm, while in other areas the gamedealers will collect if you have more than a couple of carcasses.

If you want top quality trophy hunting you will struggle in some areas on the budget you suggest. if however you are happy for does, cull bucks, you can easily stay in your budget.

Lets say we have �200 to spend. Two days roe doe stalking at �60 per day plus 2 nights B&B at �20 per night leaves you a little for food and travel costs..if you are local enough to travel to the location on the morning of the hunt it works out even cheaper of course. There are no tags or licenses to buy...once you get known it is surprising how many people cut you a good dealif they like your attitude. More than once I have not been charged if the stalker feels he has not shown me a decent chance of a beast while others will take just a few pounds to cover petrol ect.
Of course there are a few rogues out there too unforetunately...

Regards,

Pete

Well, here's a short summary of my personal hunts and expences for this (a very normal) hunting season here in Finland.

I have passed my hunters' exam at the age of 12 (cost: 20 euros/US$) and every year I pay the compulsory government's fee for hunting (it also includes an insurance for accidents that happen while hunting) for 25 euros.

My parents own some land (40 hectars, about 80 acres) so I'm naturally accepted to be a member in a local hunting club, which has about 100 members and 20 000 hectars of hunting land. For them I pay an annual fee of 10 euros. Joining the club is free.

At the club's hunting land I'm allowed to hunt small game and birds without any extra expences and there are limits for only capercaillies (1/hunter/year) and wood grouse?(you swedes know, orre, 1/hunter/year).

For moose and bear hunts there is a different kind of system, since a license has to be allocated by the government for each animal. For moose, the individual or the club applying for a license, has to have at least 1000 hectars of hunting ground. Therefore, moose licenses are 95% applied by clubs, since individuals having that much land are quite rare in Finland.

This season, I've hunted as often that I've had time and bagged 5 ducks, 4 pigeons and one wood grouse while hunting by myself. I also took part on a bear hunt without paying any extra (didn't bag any )

Our moose season is still on, and our club has a total of 50 moose licenses, which have been divided between smaller parties. Our party (or whatever the right word is?) had 10 licenses, and we still have two left (1 big and 1 calf). I have been lucky and shot 3 moose this year. For every moose there is license fee (about 100 euros for big/ 50 euros for a calf, if I'm correct) and at the end of the season we pay the government by the number of animals bagged. Since we sell the meat of one or two moose to finance the licenses, it doesn't cost any extra to anyone. Rest of the meat is divided between hunters (10 in our party)without any fees.

To shoot moose, you have to pass a shooting test every 4 years, and every try in that test cost about 6 euros (not very difficult).

If you don't own any land, it's a bit more difficult to go hunting, but there is A LOT of government-owned land in Finland, and you can buy relatively cheap licences to hunt there (about 100 euros/week for smaller game and birds).

Guns and ammunition are not significantly more expensive than in US and are cheaper than in Germany, for example.

So in my opinion, hunting in Finland is very cheap and I have no complaints about it.

Couple of things more:

We do the butchering of bear, moose and whitetail deer (we don't have deer where I hunt) by ourselves, so that doesn't cost anything either.

In Finland, hiking andcamping for a night or two is legal everywhere, meaning that you can walk and put up a tent to anyones' land without any fees. Also ice-fishing and fishing with a hook and aline is allowed almost everywhere without permits and fees.

Well said, LD100. Finland never really had landowning nobility (with a few exceptions); the farmers owned their land, and hunting is the tradition of the average man rather than the privilege of a few lords. I believe the same applies for northern Sweden and Norway.
Thats what we are; if you breed hunters, farmers and fishermen for a thousand years you still get hunters, farmers and fishermen.

Boha

I must correct that last comment a little; more land in Sweden is privately owned in the south if you don't classify large companies as private. The northern part of Sweden is where the large companies (like StoraEnso) have their properties. Much of this is of course rented out to the hunters in the area. The "nobility" in Sweden don't own more than a small part of the total land area. The properties are big but there are many more small ones!

Aye Pete whats the charge for me to come over there in my kilt with targ & claymore to stalk a few Englis?

Doug,

A couple of months ago we had two Scots, a Welshman (me) an English guy and an Ulsterman all staying at our stalking cabin the same weekend...After a glass or two of malt in the evenings the conversation got very interesting!

regards,

Pete

Pete I bet it did, wish I had been there!
It's in the blood!



Trophy from our last little Clan Douglas outing.

[ 10-29-2002, 05:32: Message edited by: Bear Claw ]

THREE MOOSE!!! Well, I'm all finished feeling sorry for you guys. I didn't know you had it so good.

Thanks for all the info.

Hallo friends from Finland,

sounds very good.
But don't forget how many peoples you have per km� and what is the percentage of the inhabitants of your country which were living in a town. That's the problem of Germany, UK, ...
I wish also that the countryside could more decide what and how to do.
Here all owners of a land outside the village are member of a legal-cooperative if their property is smaller than 0,75km� at one place. And all owners together decide what is happened with the hunting.
So theoretically it is also possible in Germany, that the owners of the land hunt on their land, but the most of the farmers don't hunt and wants to see money and so the land is rent to a guy.
But some villages do the way, that they manage their own hunt. Especially near the mountains.

Best regards

As an American who travels to europe pretty often on business let me say this please. ALL the hunters I know, and I know quite a few, they are all normal guys. I mean normal guys with normal jobs, welders, superintendents, low level managers, engineers and such with kids, a mortgage and a wife who puts up with their antics. Hunting in Europe is very reasonable. Costs vary but not excessively so. If you are a guy who likes to get out with friends hunting, talking, drinking and doing guy stuff there is no discernible difference between the US and Europe. Actually it might be considerably cheaper in some cases. Some of the government regulations are a little intrusive for my tastes, however. The big costs start to come in crossing country borders. Each government both USA and EU stick their noses in and drive costs up, through paperwork and fees.

I live in Italy, where hunting is not really expensive at all, in fact it is more of a poor mans' sport.
You can pick up a shotgun for anything like $50US for something like a Breda spring operated automatic, with which you can hunt pigs and game birds. There are licence taxes and fees that run up to several hundred dollars per year, but othere than that there are no further cost. No premission is needed to hunt on any private property - a law that I despise, as any landholder can do nothing about their property being invaded even by the less responsable hunters.

Hello Sauenj�ger1,

It's true that we have quite a low population density and as a hunter I do consider that as a very good thing. However, quite a big part of the land of our hunting club is owned by non-hunting people, and they rent their lands for hunting FOR FREE!! That's just the way it has always been, and I sure hope it'll be that way forever!

I do think that hunting is Finland is still quite good, but I must admit that we have also had our share of the ridiculous EU-regulations, which have so far closed some traditional forms of hunting (like waterfowl hunting in the springtime on the coast) and are threatening many more. For example, the status of bear-hunting is not stable, since it appears that we are assumed to take care of the whole bear conservation of the EU-area. Same goes with the wolves.

Commercial hunting has also made its way to Finland little by little, and in the future hunting in is probably getting more expensive.

So, it's quite good at the moment, but I'm afraid it's going to be much worse 10-15 years from now.

I don�t know if you are interesting in hunting Iceland, bud here are some information.
The only hunting licences we have to buy are for the Reindeers and the prices wary depending on the terrain you hunt in. This year I went to a "hard to hunt" part and had to pay ca $800 for the bull I shoot. In the ease parts the same licences would be ca 1100 us dollars. All other hunting is free and there are no bag limits although some farmers are beginning to sell access to there land.
If you would like to know more of hunting Iceland feel free to ask
Best regards

Doug,

Love the picture...but which one is you?

Pete

Pete unfortunately i'm not in the photo. These are some friends in Edinburgh.

I know its not Europe but, down this way all you need is land owners permission and away you go. You can hunt till you run out of ammo or animals. Some states allow access to crown land or forestry land, for a small fee. The biggest cost involved would be the petrol used to travel to and around the paddocks, which can be up to 40,000 acres here in the Northern Territory.

Bakes

Solvi, what are there to hunt in Iceland besides the blonde women?

Norseman

I have heard that they have caibou/ wilde reindeer on iceland and a few speices grouse.

I'm not sure about the population of huntable blondes, any of the scandinavian countires would be better

/ JOHAN

The blond is a very common trophy but their seams to be an everlasting demand for them, mostly they are hunted on local watering holes all over town and there you can hunt so called brunet�s as well.
Did you hear of the blond that went to the doctor, for she believed that she got water in her lungs, she told the doctor that every time someone squeezed her breasts she could feel dampness between the legs.

As Johan stated we got reindeer and grouse and they are the most popular, then we have all kind of ducks and Gees
Many hunt seals just for the sport. In the winter we hunt the Artic Fox. There is a lot of see birds that we hunt from boats and from the cost.
If there is anything you want to know of hunting in Iceland just ask
S�lvi

Johan, in Italy you may hunt/shoot chamois (with many restrictions), but forget Ibex; it's a strictly protected species!

Finland has about 300 000 registered hunters of a total population of ~5.2 million. They can't all be rich. I know I'm not.

Hi there Niels.
I don�t think it is exspensiv for you to come and hunt in Iceland. Starting in February a new airline named EXPRESS start flying from Cobenhavn to Keflavik and the roundtrip is ca 1300 dk including tax. All the info is available at http://www.hreindyr.is/english/index.html. If you are thinking of a hunting trip let my know and I will help you in getting in contact with someone not so expensive regarding guiding and maybe get you involved in a hunting party. If thinks go according to plan EXPRESS not the airline but the hunter here in the forum, will be going with my next autumn and maybe you can join in.

S�lvi

your link didn't work to the iceland hunting info.
Can you please try posting it again?
thanks

Sorry,
try this
http://www.hreindyr.is

solvi,
thank you.