Roe deer Switzerland: Most shot wild animal of recreational hunting

Around 40,000 roe deer are shot annually in Switzerland by hobby hunters, including thousands of fawns. No other wild animal is killed more frequently. This dossier demonstrates why roe deer hunting in its current form is ecologically questionable, ethically problematic and politically driven by vested interests.

Profile

The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is the smallest and most common antlered deer species in Europe. It belongs to the deer family (Cervidae) and inhabits forests, forest edges, hedgerow landscapes and increasingly also open cultivated land. In Switzerland, the roe deer is distributed throughout the territory and occurs from the lowlands to the subalpine zone. It lives as a solitary animal or in loose family groups, forms so-called troops in winter and is a pronounced concentrate selector that preferentially feeds on protein-rich plant parts such as buds, young shoots and herbs.

Biology and social behavior

Doe roe deer give birth to one to three fawns in May or June, typically twins. The fawns are so-called hiders in their first weeks of life, remaining motionless and almost odorless in tall grass while the mother forages nearby. This strategy protects them from predators but makes them extremely vulnerable to mowing machines and unleashed dogs.

A special characteristic of roe deer is embryonic diapause: fertilization occurs during the rutting season in July and August, but the embryo only continues developing from January onwards. This ensures that fawns are born during a nutrient-rich period. Roe bucks are territorial and mark their territory by fraying young trees. This fraying damage is often cited as justification for recreational hunting, even though it belongs to the natural processes in healthy forest ecosystems.

Roe deer in the wild rarely live longer than eight years. Recreational hunting is the most common cause of death, followed by road traffic and diseases. Natural regulators like lynx and fox (for fawns) play a central ecological role that is systematically undermined by recreational hunting.

Population Numbers

According to the Federal Hunting Statistics, approximately 135,000 to 140,000 roe deer live in Switzerland (as of 2022/2023). However, this figure is based on rough estimates from the cantons, not systematic surveys. The actual population could be either higher or lower. Despite this uncertainty, the cantons establish ambitious culling plans every year.

Roe Deer as the Primary Victim of Recreational Hunting

The roe deer is by far the most shot wild animal in Switzerland. Approximately 40,000 roe deer are killed annually by hobby hunters. In addition, several thousand animals die as roadkill in traffic accidents, are killed by mowing machines, or are torn apart by dogs. In individual cantons like Aargau, more roe deer per forest area are killed than in any other canton in Switzerland.

Particularly alarming: A significant portion of the culls affects fawns and yearlings. The hunting of roe fawns from late summer onwards is officially marketed as 'population management.' From a biological perspective, this involves killing young animals that still need their mothers, and whose loss leads to considerable animal suffering.

Compensatory Reproduction: Shoot More, Get More Deer

Swiss wildlife research has documented a mechanism in the Zizers Field in Graubünden that calls into question the entire logic of roe deer hunting: Through one-sided hunting pressure on bucks, the sex ratio shifts in favor of female animals, thereby increasing the reproduction rate. In the study area, the increase was 70 percent of the total population. At the same time, the population largely self-regulated through natural fawn mortality. Recreational hunting was not sustainable regulation because it did not sufficiently target the juvenile class, but primarily removed territorial bucks.

This finding corresponds to the fundamental problem of recreational hunting with numerous wildlife species: High hunting pressure destabilizes the social structure and can even stimulate growth rather than slow it down. Roe deer are capable of completely compensating for an entire year's reproductive loss despite heavy hunting pressure. Recreational hunting thus often creates precisely the problem it claims to solve.

More on this: Hunting and Biodiversity: Does Recreational Hunting Really Protect Nature?

The 'Forest-Wildlife Conflict': A Constructed Narrative

The central argument for massive roe deer hunting is: Roe deer browse young trees and thereby prevent forest regeneration. Only through consistent culling can the forest be protected. This narrative is equally promoted by forestry authorities, hobby hunters, and part of the scientific community. It is deeply anchored in the political system and determines culling planning in practically all cantons.

What the argument conceals

The so-called 'forest-wildlife conflict' is in reality a conflict between forestry and wildlife, not between 'the forest' and 'the wild'. Roe deer have been browsing on young trees for millennia. Browsing only becomes a problem when forestry planning prescribes tree species that would not naturally dominate in the respective location, when forest edges and clearings are lacking because forest management is too dense and monotonous, when natural regulators like the lynx or fox are systematically decimated or politically obstructed, and when recreational hunting itself drives roe deer into the forest through constant disturbance, where they then cause more damage than in open cultivated land.

Roe deer that are frequently disturbed retreat into dense stands during the day and only graze at dusk and night. This concentrates browsing on the cover-rich forest areas, precisely where forest regeneration is most severely affected. Recreational hunting thus intensifies the browsing pressure that it claims to reduce.

The role of the lynx

The lynx is the natural regulator of the roe deer population in Switzerland. Studies by KORA show that in areas with stable lynx populations, roe deer numbers decline, the deer show altered spatial behavior, and browsing on young trees decreases as a result. The so-called 'ecology of fear' (landscape of fear) causes roe deer in lynx areas to avoid certain forest sections, which benefits forest regeneration.

This mechanism is ecologically more effective than any shooting plan because it permanently changes the spatial behavior of roe deer, instead of removing individual animals that are quickly replaced by others. Nevertheless, the lynx is massively opposed by hobby hunters and their lobby, not because it would be ecologically problematic, but because it is perceived as a competitor for the 'resource roe deer'.

More on this: Dossier: The Lynx in Switzerland and Hunting Myths: 12 Claims You Should Critically Examine

Animal suffering on the hunting ground

In many cantons, recreational hunting of roe deer fawns begins as early as late summer. The fawns are only a few months old at this time and not yet independent. An orphaned fawn whose mother was shot usually has no chance of survival. Conversely, fawns are also deliberately shot that are allegedly 'too weak' – a practice presented as selection but which in reality replaces the natural selection mechanism that would be regulated without recreational hunting by predators, diseases, and winter mortality.

Wounding shots and tracking

Swiss hunting statistics also record as fallen game roe deer with gunshot wounds that were not immediately killed. The Swiss Animal Protection (STS) has documented in a report that the proportion of fallen game with gunshot wounds among roe deer is between 1 and 2 percent. Extrapolated to the total population and shooting numbers, this means: Every year hundreds of roe deer are wounded and do not die immediately. In hunting concession cantons, hunting supervision often lies not with state game wardens but with the hobby hunters themselves, raising questions about bias and unreported cases.

Mowing machines and traffic

Besides recreational hunting, thousands of roe deer die annually in road traffic and from mowing machines. In Canton Aargau alone, around 1,000 roe deer per year fall victim to traffic and agricultural machinery. While drones are increasingly used for fawn rescue in the latter case, there is hardly any prevention for road deaths. Wildlife corridors and wildlife bridges that would protect roe deer and other wildlife remain insufficiently developed in Switzerland.

More on this: Hunting and Animal Protection: What Recreational Hunting Does to Wildlife and Wildlife Corridors and Habitat Connectivity

Geneva as a counter-example

In the Canton of Geneva, recreational hunting has been banned since 1974. Professional game wardens manage wildlife populations. Despite the absence of recreational hunting, Geneva does not have an uncontrolled roe deer population. The game wardens intervene selectively and precisely, the forest regenerates, and biodiversity benefits. The Geneva model demonstrates that professional wildlife regulation based on expertise functions without widespread recreational hunting.

More on this: Dossier: Geneva and the hunting ban and Dossier: Arguments for professional game wardens

What would need to change

Abolition of widespread fawn hunting: The killing of wild animals that are only a few months old and still need their mothers is ethically unjustifiable and ecologically pointless. Natural fawn mortality through predators, weather and disease regulates the population more effectively than any shooting quota.
Promotion of lynx as natural roe deer regulator: In areas with stable lynx populations, roe deer numbers decline, roe deer spatial behavior changes, and browsing decreases. This ecological solution works permanently, without the constant disturbance from recreational hunting. Instead of politically combating the lynx, its role as a keystone species must be recognized and its expansion promoted.
Adaptation of forest management instead of increased culling: The 'forest-wildlife conflict' is a conflict between forestry and wildlife. Structurally rich forest edges, light-permeable stands and site-appropriate tree species selection reduce browsing pressure more effectively than mass removal of roe deer. Using roe deer as scapegoats for forestry misplanning is scientifically untenable.
End of constant disturbance: Widespread, months-long hunting drives roe deer into the forest, where they concentrate their browsing. Large-scale rest zones and spatial and temporal restrictions on recreational hunting would reduce browsing pressure where it causes the most damage.
Professional wildlife management instead of recreational hunting: Population control of roe deer must be transferred to professional game wardens who intervene selectively, systematically and with expertise, without shooting interests and without the constant stress of recreational hunting.

Arguments

'Without recreational hunting, roe deer populations would explode and destroy the forest.' Population ecology shows the opposite: intensive hunting triggers compensatory reproduction. Research at Zizerser Feld has documented that roe deer are capable of completely compensating for an entire year's offspring loss despite heavy hunting pressure. Recreational hunting creates the problem it claims to solve. Geneva has shown since 1974 that wildlife management works without recreational hunting.

'Browsing by roe deer prevents forest regeneration – culling is essential.' Browsing becomes a problem when monotonous forest management, lack of clearings and forest edges, and decimation of natural regulators like lynx combine. Recreational hunting itself drives roe deer into the forest through constant disturbance, where they concentrate their browsing. The solution lies in adapting forestry and promoting predators, not in higher cull numbers.

'Fawn hunting is necessary population management.' Natural fawn mortality through predators, disease and weather regulates populations more effectively than shooting young animals. Fawn hunting is not management, but the killing of animals that still need their mothers. In areas with natural regulators (lynx, fox), it is superfluous.

'Hobby hunters actively contribute to forest protection through roe deer culling.' The attribution of forest protection services to recreational hunting is a reversal of causality. It is recreational hunting that combats the lynx, drives deer into the forest, and increases browsing pressure. Those who want to protect the forest don't need hobby shooters, but professional wildlife management and natural regulators.

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Our commitment

The roe deer is not a pest. It is a sentient wild animal that has belonged to Europe's forests for millennia. The fact that it is the most shot wildlife in Switzerland says more about recreational hunting than about the roe deer. Research shows that mass hunting triggers compensatory reproduction, destabilizes social structure, and exacerbates browsing pressure through constant disturbance. The lynx regulates roe deer populations more effectively, quietly, and sustainably than any shooting quota. A system change toward professional wildlife management and natural regulators is not an experiment, but an adaptation to the state of science. This dossier is continuously updated when new figures, studies, or political developments require it.

More on recreational hunting: In our hunting dossier we compile fact-checks, analyses, and background reports.