Hunting season set to open in France: key information and calendar

The 2024-25 hunting season opens in many departments of France this Sunday September 8 at 7:00, with most other areas set to follow within the month. Here are key points to know.

How many hunters are there in France?

Hunting is a popular - albeit controversial - rural activity in France that regularly involves around one million participants according to government figures. 

How to keep hunters out of your garden in France

How are they organised?

Hunters must be members of an association that is part of the departmental federation, which in turn receives state funding due to the hunters work in managing animal populations and protecting farmland.

In case animals cause damage to farmland, farmers can be receive compensation that is paid by the departmental hunting federation, which gives the hunting associations an incentive to fulfil their role .

What can they hunt?

They hunt deer, hares and rabbits, however, hunters' time is increasingly monopolised by hunting boar, which cause millions of euros of damage to farmland as well as thousands of car accidents each year.

Read more: Why are there more boars in France in 2024 - and will it continue?

Who sets the dates?

The hunting season in France is set by departmental prefectures according to local requirements.

Some, such as the metropolitan Ile-de-France department, have no need for a hunting season, however, most allow for a regular hunting season that lasts around five months, between September and February.

In some situations, this season can be extended, as was the case for the 2023-24 hunting season in Lot.

What days can hunts take place?

Organised hunts are set locally, however Sundays tend to be the busiest day.

Departmental prefectures can set a ‘hunt-free day’ each week, but this is not mandatory and intended for the protection of animals rather than hikers.

You can check the rules in your department on the website of your prefecture, the local hunting federation or the Office Français de la Biodiversité here.

There is also a smartphone app called  Chassé & Croisé that promises to inform users when hunts are taking place, however this depends on local hunting groups registering their plans in the app.

Read more: Farmers plead for help over increase in boars in south-west France

Rules for hunt days

Hunts in France are subject to relatively strict rules and regulations, including holding valid gun licences, zero alcohol consumption, wearing hi-vis vests and putting out signs indicating “Chasse en cours” to warn people that a hunt is underway.

Nonetheless, a number of fatal hunting accidents happen over the course of each hunting season, some of which are inevitably firearm related. 

In 2023-24, there were six fatal and 97 non-fatal hunting accidents.

While the vast majority of victims are the hunters themselves, some are bystanders. In particular, this was the case of Morgan Keane, a 25-year-old Franco-British man who was shot dead while chopping wood in his garden in 2020.

Read more: Dismay as court lowers payout over Franco-British man shot dead by hunter

French 2024-25 hunting season start dates by department: