Recreational hunter from Grisons poses with dead roe deer: over 500 comments and criticism from game wardens

A recreational hunter from Grisons published a photo on Facebook showing him lying in the grass next to a shot roe deer.

The rifle rests on the dead animal, the man gives a thumbs up, accompanied by a cheer and thanks to the hunting goddess Diana.

How As Nau.ch reports, the post has triggered over 500 comments, many of them outraged, some insulting.

Even the game wardens distance themselves

What stands out is who is speaking up. The Swiss Game Wardens Association told Nau.ch that posting such images is pointless and damaging to the image of recreational hunting. Their reasoning: “The human is always superior to the animal.” A victory over a roe deer is therefore no triumph.

However, the criticism is not aimed at the shooting itself, but at its visibility. From the association's point of view, the problem is not that a non-human animal was killed and put on display, but that the public saw it.

Frowned upon and rewarded at the same time

This contradiction is nothing new in Grisons. The cantonal licence hunting association has announced a hunting code that calls for restraint with hunting photos. At the same time, the fee-funded broadcaster RTR has its audience vote for the “most beautiful” trophy photo. What the game wardens consider pointless, the public broadcaster rewards with a competition.

RTR maintains to Blick that audience actions such as “La Preda” are not an endorsement of recreational hunting. Nevertheless, the 2025 winning photo shows a recreational hunter next to the red deer he shot.

Comment: The raised thumb

Insults in comment sections help no one, not even the roe deer. But the outrage itself is justified. Anyone criticising a photo of a thumbs-up pose over a dead roe deer has not become detached from death, as recreational hunting associations like to portray it. They are naming the pleasure taken in killing.

A police officer who posed with a shot person and gave a thumbs-up would be dishonourably discharged. A soldier who posed with his victims for a victory photo would be too. Only in recreational hunting is posing with the killed victim considered a tradition — at best, an image problem.

Trophy photos are not isolated slip-ups by individuals. They show how some recreational hunters publicly stage the act of killing: as pride, joy and triumph. The psychology behind recreational hunting is therefore not a marginal issue, but the core of the debate. When even the game wardens find the image embarrassing, the question should not be how to hide such photos, but why the moment of killing is cause for celebration at all.