Hubert Aiwanger is dead: his hunting policy remains

Bavaria's Economics Minister and Deputy Minister-President Hubert Aiwanger (Freie Wähler) died in Berlin on 4 November 2026 at the age of 55. Aiwanger was a passionate recreational hunter and, since the end of 2023, as Economics Minister had also been the supreme authority over the Bavarian hunting administration. He openly combined his government office with his advocacy for recreational hunting.

What is known so far

Aiwanger was due to speak on Wednesday afternoon at the opening of the Freie Wähler's new Berlin office. He cancelled for health reasons and was represented by a stand-in. According to the “Tagesspiegel”, citing party and police sources, he had already felt unwell in the morning; initially, stomach and bowel problems were mentioned. In the early evening he was found lifeless in his hotel room in Berlin-Mitte. The Berlin police and the public prosecutor have opened an investigation into the death. This is standard in the case of an unexpected death and is intended to establish the cause of death and rule out third-party involvement. No information on the cause of death has been given so far.

Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU) spoke of an “absolute tragedy”. Aiwanger leaves behind his partner and two children.

A recreational hunter as hunting minister

After the 2023 state election, Aiwanger pushed through the transfer of responsibility for hunting from the Ministry of Agriculture to his Economics Ministry. Since then, the Economics Ministry has been Bavaria's supreme hunting authority, with its own unit, the “Supreme Hunting Authority”. In government announcements, Aiwanger was henceforth styled “Economics and Hunting Minister”.

Criticism came at the time from within the governing camp as well. The CSU's agricultural policy spokesman in the Bundestag, Artur Auernhammer, said, according to top agrar, hunting would be assigned to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, “only so that Hubert Aiwanger can now pursue his hobby as a hunter professionally as well”. That named the constellation: someone who himself goes out recreational hunting was overseeing the authorities that are supposed to control recreational hunting.

What he pushed through

His hunting policy aimed to give recreational hunters more room for manoeuvre. At the end of 2023, an ordinance came into force that permits follow-up searches across hunting ground boundaries even without the consent of the neighbouring ground. The mink was added to hunting law with a year-round hunting season, and electronic trap alerts have since replaced personal trap checks.

His biggest project was the amendment of the Bavarian Hunting Act. At the Landesjägertag he asked the association to push for everything, from monitoring livestock kills to the removal of wolves, to lie in the hands of recreational hunters. The state parliament passed the amendment on 19 March 2026, and it has been in force since 1 April. Wolf and golden jackal have since been listed in Bavarian hunting law, for the time being with a year-round closed season, that is, as a precautionary measure. A central element is the option of hunting roe deer under certain conditions without an official kill quota. The kill quota system was not abolished, but its binding force was loosened. Wild beim Wild has analysed the plans and their outcome.

In court, by contrast, Aiwanger lost repeatedly. The Bavarian Administrative Court provisionally suspended his regulation on killing otters in March 2026, and in August the Regensburg Administrative Court declared the general decree on otter shooting in the Upper Palatinate unlawful. The details can be found in the article on the stop to otter hunting.

The tone towards critics

Aiwanger regularly sought out the stage offered by recreational hunters. At the 2019 hunting fair in Grünau he equated shooting a roe deer with picking an apple and called on his listeners to confront critics together on the internet (Wild beim Wild reported). He called nature conservation organisations “ideologues”, while describing recreational hunters as the “true species protectors”. As recently as 2025, PETA criticised his appearance at the hunting fair in Neuburg as lobbying for a deadly hobby.

What remains

The Freie Wähler now need new leadership at state and federal level. Who will lead the Ministry of Economic Affairs in future, and whether hunting stays there or returns to the Ministry of Agriculture, remains open.

His policies will outlast him. The wolf is listed in the Bavarian hunting act and now also in the Federal Hunting Act. Its inclusion in hunting law creates the framework for later changes to hunting rules, but any authorisation to hunt remains bound by overarching species protection law. For his family and those close to him, Aiwanger's death is a heavy loss. His hunting-policy decisions remain part of his political legacy. For wild animals, what will matter is whether his successor continues his course or gives greater weight to the protection of the animals.