Photo: Valeri Štšerbatõh

Hunting and trophies in Estonia

Hunting and trophies in Estonia

www.ejs.ee: Kuristiku 7, 10127 Tallinn+372 602 5970ejs@ejs.ee

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• Estonia is a unique hunting land. Our game fauna is versatile and rich.

2• The area of Estonia is 45,227 m , the population is 1,3 million.

• Forests cover 48% of the territory, swamps and mires cover 20%.

• A lot of game that are allowed to be hunted here, are forbidden to hunt or extinct in Europe, for example the bear, wolf, lynx, beaver and elk.

• The Estonians may also be called a wild fowl nation, because half of our border is the sea and in addition to that we have thousands of lakes.

Welcome to Estonia

Regulations of hunting for foreigners in Estonia

• The Estonian legislation states that a member of a foreign country may hunt in Estonia, if he/she has a valid hunting license and has a permit to hunt in the given hunting territory.

• EHS gives out a temporary license for foreigners.

• A member of EU may bring his/her own weapon to Estonia, if he/she has a EU weapon passport issued by his/her own country’s respective institution.

• In the case of big game hunt Estonia accepts foreign hunters' big game shooting test granted to him/her in the previous 2 years or he/she has to pass the test in Estonia.

Hunting season

May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April

NB! During the nesting season of birds, fowl hunt is forbidden.

Wild boar (drive hunting, hunt with dogs)

Fox

Raccoon dog, mink

Pine marten, polecat

*

Woodcock, cormorant

Geese and Branta

Wood pigeon

Pheasant

Water and mire fowl, hazel grouse

Water and mire fowl at sea, in Peipsi, Võrtsjärv and Narva catchment

Partridge

Hooded crow, dove

Grey Heron, rook, common raven, fieldfare*

Beaver

Badger

Muskrat, hare

Elk

Red deer

Roebuck

Roe deer, kid

Lynx (except female with cubs)

Wolf

*

*

Bear (to avoid damages)(except she-bear with cubs)

Wild boar (except sow with piglets)

NB! This table is not complete! Additional rules are set in the Hunting Rules

Trophies• The honouring of trophies is as old of a tradition as hunting itself. It is a sign of high hunting culture.

• The honouring of trophies in Estonia is highly developed.

• Trophies of several game species of Estonia are of world class, especially big predators.

• The trophies of wolf, elk, red deer, roe deer and wild boar are most valued among hunters.

• The Estonian trophy exhibitions and trophy experts are approved by CIC.

No Year Place Number of Number of species trophies Gold/silver/bronzeevaluated evaluated

I 1968 Tallinn 3 31 5/14/18II 1988 Viljandi 9 652 93/125/174III 1991 Viljandi 12 493 166/192/200IV 1995 Tartu 19 464 108/97/117V 2002 Tartu 22 726 220/171/189VI 2004 Sagadi 30 883 202/203/230VII 2006 Sagadi 29 1005 223/269/302VIII 2008 Sagadi 32 1225 245/343/396IX 2011 Sagadi 27 1175 294/311/389X 2013 Jäneda 33 1150 280/337/381XI 2015 Tallinn 20 1072 202/326/412

Summary of the trophy exhibitions

Top trophies of Estonia

Species Owner CIC points Bagging yearElk Elmur Kuusik 342.10 1969Red deer Kari Tanninen 232.71 2004Roe deer Juhan Kais 191.48 1976Wild boar Voldemar Mangus 138.40 1973Bear skin Aivar Savelli 492.59 2004Bear skull Ants Pehk 67.46 1993Lynx skin Andrus Teemant 214.84 1988Lynx skull Jaan Liiv 28.99 1987Wolf skin Andrus Teemant 149.78 1987Wolf skull Ivar Kanter 44.78 1994Beaver skull Aivar Tempel 27.73 2003Fox skull Vahur Sepp 25,74 1988Racoon dog skull Jüri Kaju 21,69 2012Badger skull Kalev Männiste 24,58 1995

Interesting facts • The beaver is one of the biggest rodents in Estonia. This indigenous

animal was extinct in the 19th century due to over hunting. The beavers reappeared in 1957. Now it has spread countrywide,

even to the islands. In some parts of the country, the beaver causes huge damages.

• The brown bear is the biggest predator of the Estonian forests. Bears living here belong to the average size race

with the weight of 90 to 340 kg.• Wild boars first appeared in Estonia in the 1920s.

At present they occupy the whole country. The weight of wild boars caught in Estonia range from 50 to 150 kg.

The biggest bagged boar weighed 350 kg, the biggest sow 300 kg.

• The lynx is the only local wild cat in Estonia. Its average weight is 20–25 kg.

• Through ages elk, the most majestic animal of our forests, has been the most valued species of game in Estonia.

Bulls weighing more than half a tonne have been bagged. • The most feared predator in the Estonian forests.

The biggest wolf caught weighed 82 kg.

•

The Estonian Hunters' Society (EHS) (founded in 1967)The Estonian Hunters’ Society (EHS) is the biggest organisation in Estonia that unites hunters and most of the 15 000 hunters of Estonia are our members.

The Estonian Hunters' Society:• Organises events regarding hunting, the most popular of which are annual hunters’ summer days with almost 5000 participants. • helps do develop hunting shooting, photo shooting and other sports relevant to hunting• hosts hunting guests and organises hunting tourism• helps to develop the activities of member organisations and creates hunting related interest and speciality associations• participates in developing laws regarding hunting• participates in nature conservation activities and arranges bucolicism.• gathers information about hunting and distributes it through its magazines, of which the Estonian Hunter comes out periodically • participates in research concerning hunting• evolves co-operation between the state and local self-governments• represents the EHS in the EU’s hunting organisation FACE and in other international organisations and institutions. The EHS is a member of the C.I.C since 1994 and a member of FACE since 1991.