Hunting 2019

Game and hunting

Statistics

A total of some 308,000 hunters paid the annual game management fee in 2019. 204,000 of them engaged in hunting. The number of hunters has decreased in the 2010s, but the numbers have remained roughly the same for the past five years.
More grouses were harvested than in the past year. Approximately 122,000 black grouses, 31,000 wood grouses (capercaillies), 45,000 hazel grouses and 32,000 willow grouses were caught.
Mallard is by far the most commonly hunted waterfowl in Finland, followed by teal. In 2019, 201 000 mallards and 82 000, teals, including garganeys, were caught. The bag of mallard was bigger than in the previous year.
The most commonly hunted animal was the wood pigeon (307 900 birds). The average bag of wood pigeons for one hunter was 10,5 birds.
Less small predators were caught than in the previous year: some 20% less raccoon dogs were hunted than in the previous year. The bag amounted to around 138 000 animals. The next most commonly hunted small predators were mink and fox (some 40,000 both).
The number of mountain hares caught remained still small (80,000 individuals). The total number of animals hunted last year, and the two previous years was only one-fifth of the high bags in the 1990s.
The statistics were compiled from a questionnaire sent to 7,500 hunters. The response rate was about 50%. The response rate has declined in recent years. The larger the response rate, the more reliable the catch estimates. In general, the catch estimates for the most frequently hunted species are also more reliable.