Blood in the Snow: Winter Hunting Robs Animals of Their Strength

In the depths of winter, hobby hunters lie in wait for weakened wildlife. From raised hides, shelters, or at baiting stations. While the canton of Geneva has long scientifically demonstrated that wildlife management functions without hobby hunters, other cantons cling stubbornly to hunting practices that maximise animal suffering and undermine ecological principles. A critical look at winter hunting practices in Switzerland.

Editorial team Wild beim Wild — 29 November 2025

Winter is no pleasure for wildlife.

Food is scarce, energy is precious, and fleeing is arduous and often life-threatening. Deep snow means:

Restricted movement
high energy losses with every escape
increased stress

And it is precisely during this phase that hobby hunters lie in wait with raised hides, night-vision devices and thermal imaging cameras, luring animals with baiting stations or waiting for the perfect shot from inside a shelter. One expert once remarked:

Hunting in winter is like tying stones to the feet of people who are drowning.

This is no exaggeration. For wildlife, hobby hunting in the snow is a matter of life or death under maximum stress.

Baiting Sites, Pass Hunting, Special Hunts and Night Hunting – Methods of Cruelty

Particularly insidious are baiting sites: animal carcasses or slaughterhouse waste are deliberately laid out to attract foxes, martens or badgers — in a season when every gram of energy counts.
In too many cantons, this practice continues to be tolerated. The animal comes, the animal feeds, the animal dies. Nothing to do with “conservation” — this is deception and animal abuse, and reveals the true character of hobby hunters.

Even more extreme is pass hunting from raised hides or shelters, often permitted at night. Animals are deliberately taken by surprise when they are exhausted and hungry. Here the boundary between regular hobby hunting and systematic animal cruelty becomes blurred.

Scientifically Documented Criticism

Numerous studies on winter ecology show:

Physiological state of exception: Every escape through snow consumes massive energy that the animal urgently needs to survive. Repeated disturbances increase mortality rates.
Predator regulation does not work through hunting: Intensive hunting leads to broken social structures and higher reproduction rates – population control is not achieved.
Ethics: Hunting is supposed to minimize animal suffering. Winter hunting does not meet this criterion.

The scientific evidence is clear: those who hunt in snow unnecessarily endanger animals and destroy their natural social and population structures.

Geneva as a Role Model

The canton of Geneva demonstrates that there is another way:

No hobby hunting
Decisions made by professionals
Interventions only scientifically justified
Wildlife experiences less stress

The results speak for themselves: wildlife populations regulate themselves, conflicts remain minimal, and biodiversity benefits. Geneva demonstrates that modern wildlife management works without unnecessary suffering – and better than any recreational hunting.

Genf Jagdverbot

The Ethical Assessment

Winter hunting in many Swiss cantons is:

unnecessary
cruel
ecologically counterproductive
a relic from an era in which humans regarded animals as objects

Pass hunting, bait stations, night hunting – these are all practices that can no longer be justified in the 21st century. Those who hunt in snow do not hunt ethically. They hunt in a backward, unnecessary, and cruel manner.

Switzerland prides itself on animal protection. Yet while schools teach animal ethics and zoos preach respect for wildlife, the majority of cantons permit hobby hunters to kill wildlife in winter.

It is high time to put an end to this grievance. Geneva has shown what modern wildlife management looks like. The remaining cantons have no more excuses. Hobby hunting in the snow must be abolished. For the animals, for biodiversity, and for a contemporary ethic.

Dossier: Hunting and Animal Protection

Natural Disaster: Hobby Hunters

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of stewardship and management by hobby hunters , the proportion of threatened species is greater than in any other country in the world – Switzerland. The contract killers have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultural landscape for decades, with sometimes dramatic consequences (protective forests, diseases, agricultural damage, and much more). Over a third of plant, wildlife and fungal species are considered threatened. Switzerland also ranks last in Europe when it comes to withdrawing protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these circles of hobby hunters with their lobbying efforts who, through politics, media and legislation, have been responsible for this for decades. They are the ones who notoriously block contemporary, ethical improvements in animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Hobby hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland, because their concern is not nature, biodiversity, species protection or animal welfare, but rather the cultivation of their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are being liquidated?
that hobby hunters lie about the assessment of game meat quality, and that according to the WHO, processed game meat is carcinogenic — like cigarettes, asbestos or arsenic?
that according to a study, nowhere is the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures higher than in the Swiss Alps, due to the ammunition used by hobby hunters?
that the fair chase ethics of hobby hunters are diametrically opposed to animal welfare legislation and are nothing but a mirage?
that hunting is war, where animal competitors are simply eliminated?
that there are countless illegal and unmarked hunting blinds in our countryside, some so rotten that they pose a danger to children and can cost people their lives?
that year after year, countless people are killed or injured by hunters' weapons, some so severely that they end up in wheelchairs or have limbs amputated?
that in Switzerland, approximately 120,000 perfectly healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots and chamois are killed each year, mostly without purpose?
that because of hobby hunters it is now barely possible to live in harmony with wildlife or even to observe wild animals?
that shotgun blasts make hares scream like small children, and that the entrails of “shot” roe deer and red deer are torn apart so that they leave a trail of blood during their flight for trackers to follow?
that the claims by hobby hunters that the cruel wildlife massacres are necessary to regulate animal populations have been scientifically refuted?
that hobby hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “pleasure of killing” and “the joy of making a kill” — a pathological obsession?
that hobby hunters have no sixth sense and yet regularly claim to shoot only sick and weak animals, which is of course not true in practice?
that hobby hunters travel abroad for trophy hunting, far from all species protection and hunting regulations, and that there are even Swiss hobby hunter travel agencies organizing such idiotic hunting pleasures?
that the vast majority are not legitimate professional hunters, but pursue hunting as a hobby, sport, and leisure activity, which is immoral and actually contradicts the Animal Protection Act?
that 99.07% of civilized people in Switzerland are not hobby hunters, meaning only 0.3% of hobby hunters take pleasure in these bloody activities?
that these wildlife killers do not hunt on the basis of scientific justifications?
that protected species do not actually belong under hunting law, because hobby hunters are overwhelmed by species conservation and repeatedly shoot animals listed on the Red List — such as lynx, wolf, hare, partridge, quail, etc. — for sport?
that hobby hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species in order to eliminate competition for their unnatural behavior (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey, etc.)?
that wildlife dies before the hobby hunter can even fire a single shot, that this must be prevented, and that this is arguably the central idea behind wildlife management, stewardship, and hunting planning?
that with wild boar (and foxes), normally only the lead sow gives birth, but due to her being shot, all female animals within the sounder reproduce, and this is also why we have a wild boar surplus?
that grazing animals — deer, roe deer, etc. — originally lived predominantly during the day in fields and meadows, like goats, sheep, and cows, and not in the forest?
that the wolf is vitally important in the long term for maintaining the health of wild ungulates, because it hunts sick or weak animals with incredible precision, for example, and is thus vastly superior to hobby hunters?
that foxes usually end up in the trash after pointless hunting?
that foxes today are hunted primarily so that there are more hares, etc. for hobby hunters’ frying pans? Yet the fox feeds on hares in fewer than 10% of cases and would never catch a healthy hare?
that in animal protection, one cannot confront hobby hunters with gentleness alone — street festivals, prayer chains, etc. — (you need a hard wedge for a hard block)?
that hobby hunters, with their hunters' yarns engage in a disrespectful mockery of living beings?
that it is frowned upon to shoot big game at feeding stations or during mating season, yet the hobby hunter has no scruples about doing so with the fox, a competitor for prey?
that in some cantons hobby hunters go hunting solely for the sake of the tender meat of a young animal?
that hobby hunters shoot pregnant mother animals in front of their young, or shoot only young animals during the rearing season (post-special hunt)?
that hobby hunters poison the environment, nature, humans and animals with their ammunition?
that bestiality, barbarism, cruelty, bloodshed and senseless suffering cannot be considered cultural heritage in a civilised society?
that hobby hunters shoot approximately 10’000 roe deer fawns every year?
that hobby hunters in harsh winters lure starving animals with food only to shoot them in a treacherous and cowardly manner?
that hobby hunters chase attack-trained dogs into burrows to eliminate foxes and badgers (earth hunting)?
that hobby hunters lure peaceful living beings into box traps, where they may suffer for days awaiting their killer, or subject animals to an agonising death struggle lasting hours (trap hunting)?
that hobby hunters cowardly ambush and shoot or injure peaceful wild animals while they sleep or bask in the sun, using state-of-the-art precision weapons?
that hobby hunters support awards, fur markets, prize-giving events for trophy cults, trophy exhibitions, fur trade, and so on?
that hobby hunters place firearms in the hands of underage schoolchildren and practice killing with them?
that hobby hunters often carry out their cruel acts in isolation, which encourages the mistreatment of animals?
that hobby hunters seriously wound many wild animals, and the victims often suffer for hours under immense pain and fear until a tracking dog finds them and they are shot dead?
that hobby hunters (aside from vivisection) inflict the most suffering and abuse on animals, including through the manner in which they kill?
that the hunter's supposed love of animals and nature does not take pleasure in the existence of the beloved object, but rather aims to possess the beloved creature body and soul, culminating in reducing it to prey through the act of killing?
that hobby hunters actively promote browsing damage through hunting pressure, particularly on predators such as foxes, lynx and wolves?
that hobby hunters are responsible for antisocial, unethical and unchristian behavior free rein open the door?
that hobby hunters withhold normal natural animal observations and interactions from the public?
that there is no greater torture product more contaminated with ammunition residue than venison?
that there is no uniform regulation across Switzerland regarding vision tests, shooting practice, etc. for hobby hunters?
that there is no psychological character assessment for hobby hunters?
that there is no alcohol ban for hobby hunters when they shoot at animals with their weapons?
that hobby hunters infiltrate school institutions in order to impose their hunting folklore and their violence on children?
that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting associations promote virtually everything that is cruel, unnecessary and heartless?
that the association «Jagd Schweiz» primarily cultivates disrespect and a culture of violence — the exact opposite of what a civilized person in our society should aspire to.
that in the canton of Grisons alone, over 1’000 complaints and fines are issued against hobby hunters every year?