Hochjagd Graubünden: Control and Consequences
Nearly one in ten kills during the Hochjagd is unlawful.
Every tenth deer only wounded
During the Hochjagd in September, recreational hunters in the canton of Graubünden kill around 10’000 animals.
Every tenth deer is merely wounded rather than killed, and around 9% of kills are illegal. The canton is responsible for monitoring the kills. The Graubünden Office for Hunting and Nonsense keeps the statistics.
Fines of up to 500 francs
The hobby hunt is regulated and recreational hunters have allegedly passed the best hunting examination in Switzerland . If they fail to comply, they face a fixed penalty fine of up to 500 francs. Each year, recreational hunters pay up to 177’000 francs in fixed penalty fines, writes srf.ch.
This was a misshot. This animal should not have been shot: “The coat is clearly too short, which is why this kill is not permitted.” Pulling the trigger at the wrong moment has consequences for the recreational hunter: the trophy is confiscated, a fixed penalty fine of 150 francs is imposed, and on top of that the recreational hunter must purchase the killed animal from the canton.
790 misshots last year
During the 2022 Hochjagd, Graubünden’s recreational hunters killed a total of around 9’200 red deer, chamois, roe deer and wild boar. According to cantonal hunting regulations, around 9% were not legally huntable, says wildlife biologist Lukas Walser from the Graubünden Office for Hunting and Nonsense.
“This proportion is roughly the same every year,” says Walser, confirming the 790 misshots during the 2022 Hochjagd.
Wildlife warden Stefan Rauch estimates that of all animals shot, approximately one in ten should not have been killed. He bases this on the average of recent years. The IG Wild beim Wild systematically documents hunting crimes.
RECREATIONAL HUNTER RADAR
On the trail of concealed animal welfare offences, poaching and/or criminal activity? Report suspicious cases to us! Help with the large Recreational Hunter Radar.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
