Weapons and alcohol don't belong together in Moose hunting

Publication date 12.10.2022 8.46
News item

Police collaborated with other authorities to implement intensified controls during two first weekends of elk hunting season

During the elk hunting season opening weekends, the Police collaborated with other authorities and parties to control the opening of the elk hunting season, working together with the Border Guard, game management associations and Metsähallitus (National Board of Forestry) game and fisheries wardens. 

The Police focused the controls not only on the appropriate hunting methods but also on the safety of hunting in general. The focusing of controls aimed at reaching and impacting as many hunters as possible as well as at informing the general public about the Police operations.

The nationwide control operations of the Police amounted to 400 working hours, which translates into about 55 person-workdays. The public was actively informed about the controls locally as well as through the social media channels. The controlling authorities met 700 hunters in person.

During the controls, the Police recorded 19 cautions, one fine request and one crime report. The most common legal classification was hunting infraction. A negative observation during the controls was that a few of the hunters encountered were mildly under the influence of alcohol. 

- Although hunting is not covered, similarly to traffic, by a alcohol content limit expresses in per mille, the elk hunting instructions of the Finnish Hunters’ Association, among others, are very clear about the fact that hunting under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants is prohibited. Hunting when drunk or intoxicated may lead to sanctions imposed by the hunting society, and in the worst case scenario, to consequences under the penal law, including loss of gun licenses and game licenses. Guns and alcohol are not compatible, Chief Superintendent Vepsäläinen of the National Police Board underlines.

The intensified controls by the Police have been well received not only by the cooperation authorities but also by the hunters. Wilderness controls in collaboration with other authorities and the respective information operations were efficient and impactful, and the controls were widely seen as a positive and necessary exercise. The National Police Board expresses its gratitude to the hunters, the cooperation partners and the Police Departments for a successful thematic control operation.