Hunting 2022

Data from year 2022 corrected on 22.10.2024.​​

Read more on the page Changes and corrections in the statistics.​

A total of 306,106 hunters paid the annual game management fee in 2022. Around 195,000 of them hunted. The number of hunters has been decreasing since early 2010s.

• Around 129,000 black grouse, 35,000 capercaillies, 32,000 hazel grouse and 40,000 willow grouse were bagged in 2022. The black grouse harvest decreased slightly, while the capercaillie harvest increased.
• Mallard is by far the most hunted waterfowl in Finland, followed by teal. In 2022, a total of 165,000 mallard and 44,000 teal were bagged. Waterfowl bag decreased compared to 2021.
• The most hunted game was the wood pigeon (250,000 birds). The average wood pigeon bag was 10 birds per successful hunter.
• The raccoon dog harvest was around 121,000 animals, and a total of 38,000 mink, 38,000 foxes, 16,000 pine martens and 9,000 badgers were bagged.
• A total of 96,000 mountain hares and 72,000 brown hares were bagged. These volumes remained close to the previous year’s level.
• The moose harvest was 37,055 animals. The white-tailed deer harvest was 67,183 animals.
• There were around 160,000 small-game hunters, including around 64,000 waterfowl hunters and around 102,000 grouse hunters. The total number of moose and deer hunters was around 116,000.
• The game harvest resulted in around 9 million kilos of carcass meat, of which more than half was moose meat. The nominal value of the game meat was around EUR 70 million.

Information about the statistics

• The information concerning species within the scope of a hunting permit and the reporting obligation (including deer, large carnivores, grey seals, otters and European polecats, as well as long-tailed duck, goosander, common eider, wigeon, northern pintail, northern shoveler, tufted duck, greylag goose and bean goose) has been obtained from the Finnish Wildlife Agency and reported at the accuracy of individual animals. (Other species are reported at the accuracy of 100 animals.)
• The statistics were compiled based on a survey submitted to 7,500 hunters. The response rate was 60%. The exceptionally game bag of few hunters cause uncertainty in harvest estimates, especially at regional level. The reliability of the harvest estimates is usually higher for the most commonly hunted species than for less frequently hunted species.

Because the data collection method changed for certain waterfowl in 2020 due to bag reporting obligation, their bag quantities are not comparable with the estimates presented in the statistics before 2020.

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