On 12 April 2022, amendments to the Hunting Regulations came into force, providing for a changed procedure for completing the register of hunted animals. The register must be completed by providing information on all animals (mammals and birds) hunted and wounded in the hunting area, identifying them down to the species level. Unlike in previous years, from this season onwards, the sex and age must additionally be specified for any moose, red deer, roe deer, and wild boar hunted.

To facilitate the submission of data, the State Forest Service has developed a standardised register template for hunted animals in MS Excel format, which is available in the “Hunting resources” section of the service’s website. The register consists of two worksheets: one for recording large ungulates (moose, red deer, roe deer, and wild boar), specifying sex and age, and the second for recording other game animals and birds. The register of hunted animals can be completed in paper form or electronically. The Service encourages the use of the aforementioned standardised template when submitting it electronically, signed with an e-signature.

The State Forest Service reminds us that the register of hunted animals must be completed by the person responsible for the hunting area within one day of the hunt. When hunting individually in public water bodies, the hunter themselves must register the hunted waterfowl in the log within one day of the hunt. Within one month after the end of the hunting season, or by 30 April of the current year, the person responsible for the hunting area shall submit information to the Service’s supervisory unit regarding the animals hunted and wounded in the hunting area during the previous season. Information regarding waterfowl hunted individually in public water bodies is submitted by the hunter themselves. The submission of information is necessary so that the State Forest Service can compile data on hunted animals, assess the state of their populations, and implement environmental monitoring.

The State Forest Service is a state administrative institution under the supervision of the Minister for Agriculture. The Service oversees compliance with regulatory enactments governing forest management, hunting, and nature conservation, and also carries out forest fire protection. The mission of the State Forest Service is to take care of responsible forest use and conservation for future generations.