In the hunting community's self-portrayal, stand hunting is presented as a controlled, quiet, and humane alternative to driven hunts. A closer look, however, reveals a more nuanced picture. Stand hunting often takes place in high-light conditions, is highly mechanized, relies on a high-seat infrastructure that is illegal in many parts of Switzerland, and is by no means free from stray shots, misfires, and the need for tracking wounded game. Furthermore, according to the Swiss Animal Protection Association (STS), the success rate for tracking wounded game varies only between 35 and 65 percent, depending on the canton. This means that around half of the wild animals shot during recreational hunting are never found and die slowly without assistance.
Stand hunting is therefore not the "harmless form of hunting" it is often portrayed as. It is a form of hunting with a high degree of technical reliance, a legally problematic infrastructure in public spaces, and structurally induced animal welfare problems that arise regardless of the skill of individual hunters. This report exposes the reality behind the ideal.
What awaits you here
- How stand hunting works in practice: procedure, locations, methods and the difference to driven hunting.
- Twilight, moonlight, fog: When "quiet" is not "safe": What the STS report says about shooting conditions and glancing blow risks.
- Grazing shots, misfires, tracking: The reality behind the ideal: What the Swiss data and the STS report specifically prove.
- Hunting blinds as infrastructure: From planks to hunting stands: How stand hunting turns the forest into a hunting installation area.
- Illegal hunting blinds: When hunting practices circumvent building and protection regulations: What spatial planning law, forest law and cantonal practice say about illegal hunting blinds.
- Dangers to the public: Rotten, unmarked, uncontrolled: Why illegal hunting blinds are also a safety problem.
- Thermal imaging, night vision, silencers: When technology lowers the inhibition threshold: What modern hunting technology means for animal welfare and safety.
- Ethics: Hunting from a stand as an ambush and the question of asymmetry: What it means when an animal is not supposed to recognize the threat.
- Demands: What minimum standards for hunting from a fixed position would mean.
- Argumentation: Answers to the most common justifications.
- Quick links: All relevant articles, studies and resources.
How stand hunting works in practice
Hunting from a high seat is typical at dusk or at night: The hunter sits motionless for hours on end in a high seat, a blind, or a raised platform. They observe game trails, clearings, forest edges, or feeding stations – places where wild animals are specifically attracted – and wait until an animal comes within shooting range. High seats vary from simple wooden ladders to elaborate structures with camouflage nets, heaters, sleeping platforms, and mobile versions for flexible use.
In hunting communication, stand hunting is often presented as the preferred method of control over driven hunts: more time for animal identification, a steadier target, better backstop. This isn't wrong, but it's incomplete. "More time" doesn't mean "no mistakes," and "steadier animal" doesn't mean "no animal suffering." What matters is what happens in practice and what the data shows.
Twilight, moonlight, fog: When "quiet" is not "safe"
Hunting from a fixed position is preferred when wild animals are active: at dusk, at night, and in the hours just before dawn. These very lighting conditions structurally increase the risk of poor shots. The STS report "Grazing Shots and Tracking in Swiss Hunting" explicitly cites shooting by moonlight, at dusk, or in fog as factors that increase the risk of grazing shots.
Add to that wind, cold, and fatigue after hours of waiting—all factors that affect shot quality. These are not exceptional conditions. They are the typical conditions of hunting from a blind. Anyone who sells a form of hunting as "humane" when it is structurally practiced under the worst possible visibility conditions is not describing reality—but rather the ideal.
Grazing shots, misfires, tracking: The reality behind the ideal
The STS report on stray shots and tracking is the most important available Swiss document on the issue of hunting-related animal suffering. Its central finding: The success rate of tracking wounded game varies from only 35 to 65 percent, depending on the canton. This means that around half of the shot wild animals are never found. They flee, collapse somewhere, and die slowly, invisible to statistics, the public, and authorities.
According to the Swiss Animal Protection Association (STS), identified risk factors for unsuccessful searches include insufficient practice, overconfidence, misplaced ambition, age-related limitations in vision and reaction time, and external factors such as poor lighting and crosswinds. A duty to track wounded game is not explicitly regulated by federal law. According to various experts, failure to do so constitutes animal cruelty as defined in Article 26, Paragraph 1, Letter a of the Animal Welfare Act (TSchG), but can only be prosecuted indirectly because there is no direct legal provision. The STS has therefore been calling for years for an explicit federal legal obligation to track wounded game, a reporting requirement, and public transparency regarding success rates – so far without success.
Hunting blinds as infrastructure: From planks to hunting stands
Hunting from a fixed position is practically unthinkable without elevated hunting stands. What is often overlooked, however, is that these stands are not simply small hunting accessories. They are structures and therefore subject to Swiss spatial planning law, cantonal forestry laws, and building regulations. The range extends from simple wooden planks to elaborate blinds with camouflage netting, sleeping platforms, mobile versions, and permanent foundations.
The legal situation varies from canton to canton, but is clearer than is often communicated:
- Canton of Bern: Hunting blinds in the forest – freestanding or attached to trees – are considered non-forestry structures and require a special permit according to Art. 24 RPG. Simple, mobile ladder seats that are removed after hunting do not require a permit.
- Canton Thurgau: The cantonal forest law requires in § 15 para. 1 the approval of the canton (forestry office) for the building application for hunting high seats.
- Canton of Glarus: A cantonal information sheet regulates which hunting blinds require a permit.
- Canton of Uri: Projects outside of building zones are strictly reviewed according to federal law; the responsible cantonal office decides on zoning compliance or exemption permit.
- The municipality of Flims has introduced its own regulations for hunting blinds and mountain huts, with clear guidelines on location, building permits and maximum duration of existence.
Illegal hunting blinds: When hunting practices circumvent construction and protection regulations
Hundreds of unauthorized hunting blinds stand in Swiss forests, as documented by the Beobachter magazine back in 2009. The situation has not fundamentally improved since then: municipalities, cantons, and the federal government rarely ensure compliance with building regulations and forestry codes. Anyone walking through Swiss forests will see countless blinds erected without regard to area, materials, or permits, as if public forests were the private property of a hunting interest group.
Crucially, the landowner's consent is insufficient. A municipal building permit without cantonal approval is equally inadequate. Without a proper exemption or zoning compliance permit, such structures are simply illegal. Furthermore, the statute of limitations for illegal construction in Switzerland does not automatically begin upon construction – as long as significant environmental and landscape interests are affected, illegal hunting blinds can be removed even decades later. Public forests are not private hunting grounds. The law clearly states this – yet enforcement has been largely neglected.
For organizations and political actors: Every hunting blind in the forest can be checked for its legality. However, no Swiss canton maintains a complete inventory of hunting blinds – including location, materials, year of construction, and permits. This is not an administrative oversight; it is a failure of oversight that could be addressed proactively.
Dangers to the public: rotten, unmarked, uncontrolled
Illegal and uncontrolled hunting blinds are not just a legal problem. They are also a safety problem. Old, dilapidated structures can collapse – posing a danger to people seeking recreation in the forest. Without clear markings indicating ownership, hunting area, and year of construction, neither liability nor removal can be enforced.
What is standard practice in every other area – permit requirements, safety inspections, liability, and dismantling when not in use – is lacking for hunting blinds in the majority of Swiss cantons. The public debate on hunting from a blind therefore cannot stop at animal welfare and shooting accuracy. It must also ask: Who decided that Swiss forests could be used as hunting blind installation sites without an inventory, without oversight, and without liability?
Thermal imaging, night vision, silencers: When technology lowers the inhibition threshold
Hunting from a fixed position is often where hunting technology has the greatest impact today. Thermal cameras for wildlife detection, night vision optics, silencers, and ballistic apps for wind correction and distance calculation are fundamentally changing the hunting landscape. The 2025 revision of the Hunting Regulations (JSV) legalized silencers and reduced minimum barrel lengths – both measures primarily aimed at increasing the efficiency of hunting from a fixed position.
What is often overlooked is that, according to experts in hunting technology, the use of thermal imaging clip-on devices for shooting is explicitly problematic. Point-of-impact deviations occur at different digital magnification levels, ricochets from even the smallest obstacles – a single blade of grass is enough – lead to uncontrollable fragmentation hits, and the terrain behind the target is often not visible as it transitions to the horizon. A German-speaking specialist retailer for hunting equipment writes unequivocally: "The explosive increase in hunting accidents during night hunting with thermal imaging technology speaks volumes." When technology increases efficiency but simultaneously introduces new structural sources of error, it is not progress for animal welfare. It is a shifting of the risk.
Ethics: Hunting from a hide as an ambush and the question of asymmetry
Hunting from a hide is based on a fundamental asymmetry: the hunter is elevated, camouflaged, and motionless. The wild animal is not supposed to notice the threat, because otherwise it won't come close enough. This is precisely why hunting from a hide is sometimes considered "less stressful"—the animal dies before it knows there is danger. Ideally, this is true. In less ideal circumstances, it doesn't die immediately, flees injured, and suffers for a long time.
The ethical problem lies deeper: The assessment of "humane treatment" refers to the moment of death, not to the system behind it. This system includes targeted luring through baiting, the presence of humans in wildlife habitats for hours on end, the use of night and twilight as cover, technological advancements including thermal imaging, and an infrastructure of hunting blinds that permanently alters the forest. Less stress at the moment of the shot does not mean less suffering within the system. It only means that the suffering arises at a different point – and is less visible.
Demands: What minimum standards would mean
If hunting from a fixed position is to take place at all, at least the following conditions must be met:
- Complete inventory of hunting blinds per canton: Every hunting blind in the forest is recorded, measured, and legally reviewed – including location, material, year of construction, permits, and owner. Illegal hunting blinds are removed or legalized within a defined timeframe.
- Permit requirement and dismantling obligation: Every new hunting blind requires a permit. Hunting blinds that are no longer actively used must be dismantled within two hunting seasons. The hunting license holder is liable.
- Federal law mandates tracking wounded game: The tracking of wounded game is regulated by federal law. Every tracking operation must be reported. The success rate for each canton is published annually.
- Prohibition of night hunting without a safety perimeter: Night hunting with thermal imaging optics and silencers only takes place with prior official authorization and a clearly defined, restricted perimeter.
- No feeding in sensitive habitats: Feeding in natural forest reserves, protected forests and recreational areas is prohibited.
- Priority for non-lethal alternatives: Before a hunting permit is granted, documented non-lethal alternatives must have been examined and rejected.
Argumentation
"Hunting from a blind is more humane than driven hunts – this has been scientifically proven." In direct comparison, hunting from a blind produces less stress from fleeing. That's true. But "less harmful than driven hunts" is not an animal welfare standard. When around half of the wounded animals are not found and die, when shots are structurally fired under poor visibility conditions, and when the infrastructure is illegal in many places, "less harmful" is an inadequate criterion for evaluation.
"Hunting blinds are harmless aids – nobody makes a problem out of them." However, research by the Beobachter magazine revealed as early as 2009 that hundreds of unauthorized hunting blinds stand in Swiss forests. Federal spatial planning law is clear: anyone building outside of designated building zones needs a special permit. Without this permit, hunting blinds are not merely in a legal gray area – they are illegal.
"Thermal imaging and night vision make hunting safer and more precise." Specialized hunting equipment retailers explicitly refute this statement: Using thermal imaging clip-on devices while shooting leads to point-of-impact deviations, unpredictable ricochets, and poor shooting conditions. The number of hunting accidents during night hunts using thermal imaging technology has increased. Efficiency and safety are not the same thing. Technology that lowers the inhibition threshold does not create more ethical hunting practices.
"Searches solve the problem of injured animals." The STS data tells a different story: a success rate of 35 to 65 percent means that up to 65 percent of the animals searched for are not found. Searches are not a safety net. They are a partially effective corrective measure in a system that structurally produces animal suffering.
Quick links
Posts on Wild beim Wild:
Hunting from a Stand: Waiting, Technique, and Risks (Original Article)
Illegal Hunting Stands: How Hobby Hunters Obstruct Forests and Bend the Law
Hobby Hunters on Prohibited Hunting Stands
Why Swiss Hunting Has a Aftercare Problem
Illegal Hunting Stands: Freeing Forests from Hunting Overgrowth (Model Motion)
Transparent Hunting Statistics: Disclosing Kills, Tracking, and Misfires (Model Motion)
Related dossiers:
Driven hunts in Switzerland: What happens, who suffers, what needs to change.
Hunting and animal welfare: What the practice does to wild animals.
Hunting accidents in Switzerland: The risk that is rarely discussed honestly.
Hunting and weapons: Why "hobby" and firearms are politically linked.
External sources:
Swiss Animal Protection STS: Report "Grazing Shots and Tracking in Swiss Hunting" (PDF)
STS Press Release: Wounded Wild Animals – A Dark Side of Hunting (2016)
Observer: Hunters on Forbidden Post – Unauthorized Hunting Blinds in Swiss Forests
Canton Thurgau: Guideline on Building Permit Requirements for Hunting Blinds/High Seats (PDF)
Canton Bern: Fact Sheet on Hunting Blinds in the Forest (PDF)
CML Hunting: Thermal Imaging Attachments – Safety Assessment and Risks
Southeastern Switzerland: Hunting High Seats – "There is no exclusive right" (2015)
Canton Solothurn: Safety and Accident Prevention in Hunting Operations (PDF)
Our claim
Hunting from a fixed position is marketed as the "controlled" form of hunting. In practice, this means: shooting at dusk, illegal hunting stands in the forest, tracking success rates between 35 and 65 percent, and a technological approach that increases efficiency without improving safety. IG Wild beim Wild demands that hunting from a fixed position be subject to the same transparency, permitting, and animal welfare standards as any other activity involving firearms in public spaces.
We document what lies behind the ideal so that the public can assess whether "calm" also means "responsible." This dossier is continuously updated as new data, court rulings, or political developments necessitate it.
Call to Action: Do you know of any illegal hunting blinds in your region, or have you documented any hunting incidents while hunting from a blind? Write to us with the date, location, and source: wildbeimwild.com/kontakt
More on the topic of hobby hunting: In our dossier on hunting, we compile fact checks, analyses and background reports.