Canton of Aargau reduces lease fees for hobby hunters

The current lease period in the canton of Aargau runs until 31 December 2026, during which annual revenues stood at 1.2 million francs.

The cantonal government justifies the reduction of 100’000 francs by citing the increasing effort that hobby hunters must expend. The conditions for practising hunting have become more difficult.

Modern hobby hunters use highly sophisticated equipment such as sound amplification devices, night vision devices, drones, binoculars, thermal imaging cameras, scent eliminators, GPS trackers, etc., to compensate for their inadequacies. These technologies enable hobby hunters to observe wildlife more effectively and hunt more efficiently, since hardly any hobby hunter would be capable of making a kill like a true hunter from an indigenous people. Hobby hunting in the 21st century has become more unfair, with wildlife bearing the consequences.

In the disarray in which nature finds itself after decades of stewardship and management by such recreational hunters, the proportion of threatened species is, according to the United Nations, higher in Switzerland than in any other country in the world. Recreational hunters have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultivated landscape for decades, with sometimes dramatic consequences (protective forests, disease, agricultural damage, and much more).

The cantonal government rewards the great commitment of the hunting community and reduces the total annual lease fees to 1.1 million francs.

Zu viele Hobby-Jäger halten sich in den Aargauer Wäldern auf

Alongside the financial readjustment, the boundaries of the hunting territories were also revised. From spring 2026, the now totalling 174 hunting territories and 2 protected reserves (specifically: the waterfowl and migratory bird reserves at Klingnauer Stausee and Flachsee) will be publicly tendered for lease, the canton states in a press release.