Carinthia: Recreational hunter falls around 200 metres while recovering a shot animal

On the morning of Sunday, 8 November 2026, a 38-year-old recreational hunter fell around 200 metres down a snow-covered steep slope on the Blekowa in Finkenstein am Faaker See. He had shot an animal from a high seat and wanted to carry it up the slope. After a call from his father, his 15-year-old son alerted the rescue services. The man was recovered by rope with serious injuries, reports ORF Kärnten.

What happened on the Blekowa

According to the Carinthia State Police Directorate, father and son went recreational hunting in the Villach-Land district at around 8 a.m. From the high seat, the 38-year-old shot an animal, after which both climbed down. Because the terrain was steep and snow-covered, the father went alone to the dead animal to gut it. As he tried to carry it up the slope on his shoulders, he slipped and fell down the mountainside through partly dense, rocky undergrowth.

The man remained conscious and phoned his son, who was waiting above, and who set the rescue chain in motion. The rescue helicopter C11, the police helicopter «Libelle Lima», the Villach mountain rescue and two police patrols were deployed. By around 10:20 a.m. the injured man had been recovered and was flown to Klagenfurt Hospital, as 5min.at reports, citing the police. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Which animal died remains unclear

The accident reports cited mention that the man had previously shot an animal. Which animal it was, however, remains unclear: roe deer, chamois or red deer, a mother animal or a young one. It appears mainly as part of the accident sequence, as a load carried on the shoulders, and not as a living being whose life ended that morning.

Hunting seasons for several species run until New Year's Eve

In Carinthia, snow does not automatically mean peace for wild animals. According to the implementing ordinance to the Carinthian Hunting Act the regular hunting seasons for chamois, red deer, hinds and calves, as well as for roe does and fawns, run until 31 December. Recreational hunting may therefore continue into early winter, including the killing of female animals and young.

The consequences that hunting pressure, flight and altered behaviour can have for wild animals are explained in our article How does recreational hunting stress wild animals?.

In Switzerland, too, recreational hunting extends into November. Uri announced a follow-up hunt for 119 female red deer, that is hinds, calves and young hinds. It was expected to begin on 7 November. For this purpose, parts of hunting-ban areas are also being opened, at a time when the deer are returning to their winter ranges. The details can be found in our article Follow-up hunt from 7 November: Uri opens hunting-ban areas.

Hunters urge winter sports enthusiasts to show consideration

The Carinthian hunting community is a partner in the provincial campaign “Respect your limits”. It is aimed at ski tourers, skiers, snowshoe hikers and tobogganists, accusing them of disturbing the “winter rest of wildlife” with thoughtless behaviour in the terrain. For this purpose, hunters are putting up information boards on wildlife quiet zones, as 5min.at reported in December 2023. As early as 2021, the Carinthian Chamber of Agriculture said that leisure athletes had massively disturbed wildlife, with the animals fleeing under considerable stress.

Comment: Winter rest must also apply to recreational hunting

Anyone moving through the snow in the habitat of wild animals can startle them. With recreational hunting, the deliberate killing is added on top. Those who demand consideration from winter sports enthusiasts must therefore also be asked how their own recreational hunting in the snow squares with that claim. The appeals to walkers and ski tourers must not distract from the fact that recreational hunters pursue the very same animals until New Year's Eve.

A 15-year-old accompanied his father on a recreational hunt and had to set the rescue chain in motion after his father fell. The Carinthian hunting act prohibits the use of persons under 14 as beaters. However, this provision concerns work as a beater, not accompanying a parent on a recreational hunt in general. It is not the first Carinthian case involving a minor: in October 2025, a 16-year-old was hit by shot during a driven hunt. Why children and young people have no place on a recreational hunt is shown in our article Children and recreational hunting.

Carinthia is no stranger to controversy when it comes to its treatment of wild animals: since 1 November, Conibear kill traps against otters have once again been permitted there, even though the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, the Council of Europe's species protection treaty, has been treating the case as an open proceeding since December 2025 and has called on Carinthia to withdraw or amend the ordinance.

Anyone who is serious about winter rest must also question recreational hunting in the snow. Consideration for wild animals must not be demanded only of walkers and winter sports enthusiasts. For IG Wild beim Wild, this also means excluding minors from recreational hunting, as our petition demands.