Recreational hunters are in free fall in Spain
Although they have long portrayed themselves as an indispensable part of rural Spain and attempts have been made to adapt regulations to their needs, the reality is that there are ever fewer of them. The number of recreational hunters in Spain is already in free fall.
Over the past two decades, the hunting scene in Spain has changed dramatically.
The number of hunting licences issued has fallen by almost 50%, from over one million twenty years ago to 568’000 in 2022.
This decline reflects a shift in attitudes towards hunting and demographic changes, as younger generations grow up in urban environments and show less interest in rural activities. The influence of environmental and animal welfare organisations also plays a role, as they raise awareness of wildlife protection.
Despite the decreasing number of active hunters, the number of animals killed has risen. In 2022, 20 million animals were killed in Spain, including 740’000 large game animals and 19.1 million small game animals.
The average figure indicates that 54’000 animals are killed every day in Spain by recreational hunters, bearing in mind that the hunting season does not cover every day of the calendar year.
Efficient techniques and modern hunting equipment have meant that the remaining recreational hunters operate more effectively. The increase in wild boar killed is particularly striking, as 60% of large game animals that year were wild boar.
At the same time, only a small proportion of hunting licences have been issued to women, and access to land used for hunting is widespread in Spain — 85% of Spain is designated hunting ground.
Although the figures show that there are far fewer recreational hunters than there were a few years ago, their voice and influence continue to find considerable resonance.
An example of the influence of recreational hunters was seen in 2022, when they succeeded — contrary to the criteria of the government's scientific committee — in reversing the classification of the quail as 'endangered'. This would have prevented it from being hunted. In the same year, more than 600’000 quails were killed. The Ministry of Agriculture, at the behest of the hunting lobby, submitted a counter-report, and it was ultimately decided to review the status of the species from scratch. In the meantime, quails can be shot without restrictions.
In this context, recreational hunters have observed the Ministry of Agriculture drawing up a plan to persuade the European Commission to lift the moratorium on hunting the European turtle dove, which was introduced to save the species from accelerating decline.
This is precisely how recreational hunters are destroying biodiversity everywhere.
RECREATIONAL HUNTER RADAR
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More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on the criticism of recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. 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.
