The police organised intensified elk and deer hunting controls during 7 – 29 October in cooperation with other wilderness supervision authorities responsible for hunting and fishing issues.
The police carried out intensified elk and deer hunting controls across Finland in cooperation with, among others, the Finnish Border Guard, local game management associations and Metsähallitus game and fisheries wardens. The police focused their control not just on the appropriateness of hunting methods but especially on the safety aspects such as the ability of hunters to handle their guns properly and compliance with safety regulations.
The police communicated the control campaign locally also in social media. Nationally, the police spent a total of almost 1,000 working hours on the controls, almost double the number of hours spent in 2022. This is partly explained by the fact that the control period was four weeks instead of two this year and police departments were able to focus control during the time they deemed best locally.
Encounters with hunters and game and fisheries wardens were considered important
The authorities carrying out the controls encountered more than 2,000 hunters in person, compared to around 700 a year earlier. In conjunction with controls, the police recorded 53 warnings, seven petty fine orders and six crime reports. These numbers were almost double compared to a year earlier.
The most common legal classification was a hunting violation, which as a rule either involved failure to pay the game management fee or transportation of a firearm in a manner which is prohibited. Two hunters had also forgotten to wear the right type of orange or orange-red clothing as required under the Hunting Decree. This is of particular importance from the aspect of hunting safety.
The number of irregularities observed in relation to the amount of control was quite small. More important than this were the encounters with hunters and game and fisheries wardens. Wilderness carried out as cooperation between the authorities and communication about it were widely seen as a positive and necessary exercise. The National Police Board would like to thank hunters, the cooperation partners and police departments for a successful thematic control operation.
The police departments will communicate the outcomes and/or local characteristics and observations in more detail.
