Hunting safety regulation

Foreign hunters are obliged to comply with Polish Hunting Safety Regulations. The most important regulations are Chapter 2 and 3 and information about animals shoot under protection. If you have any questions about this article please contact us.

§ 3

1. To carry out hunt and culling of animals posing an extraordinary danger to human life, health or economy, only hunting firearms shall be used, from which, after the maximum loading, no more than six shots can be fired; the magazine of a self-loading gun may contain no more than two cartridges.
2. Big game hunting shall proceed, without prejudice to paragraph 3, only with the use of hunting firearms with riffled barrel and calibre at least 5.6 mm and hunting cartridges used for them with part-jacket projectiles, which at the distance of 100 m from the muzzle have the energy of at least:
   • 2,500 J in the case of hunting elk;
   • 2,000 J in the case of hunting red deer, fallow deer, mouflons and wild boars;
   • 1,000 J in the case of hunting roe deer and young wild boar;
   • 500 J in the case of hunting carnivores;
3. The game referred to in paragraph 2, except for elk and stags, may be hunted with moothbore barrel, with the use of hunting bullet cartridges.
4. To carry out small game hunting, without prejudice to paragraph 5, only hunting shotshells shall be used with pellet diameter of up to 4.5 mm.
5. Carnivores may be hunted with the use of hunting bullet cartridges specified in paragraphs 2 and 3, hunting shotshells specified in paragraph 4, or hunting cartridges with full-jacket projectiles.

§ 4

1. To carry out hunting only such optical instruments shall be used through which it is possible to see in natural light only.
2. It is allowed to trail wounded game with the use of artificial light.

§ 5

1. The following shall be taken into account during the hunt:
   1. hound hunting may be performed from 1 October to 15 January; this restriction shall not apply to hound hunting in relation to waterfowl, hound-and-battue hunting of foxes and trailing of wounded game with a hound on leash;
   2. trailing of big wounded game in the hunting district in which the hunter has no permit to hunt may be performed on condition that the leaseholder or manager of the hunting district is notified on this fact within 24 hours of the start of trailing; the person trailing the wounded game may be assisted by a beater or another hunter, and also with the use a hound on leash;
   3. a hunter should seek, trail and kill the wounded game as quickly as possible to save It unnecessary suffering;
   4. it shall be admissible to pick up small game that, after a shot, has fallen in other’s district in the field of vision from the boundary of this district;
   5. hunting fowls should be carried out on condition that a hound trained for that is used, while the proportion shall be at least one dog per three hunters;
   6. hunting big game may follow on condition that in seeking wounded game a hound trained for that is used.
2. If 1 October will be the day following holiday, the period of hound or battue hunting referred to paragraph 1 subparagraph 1 shall begin on the first day of the holiday immediately preceding the day of 1 October.
3. If 15 January will be the day immediately preceding holiday, the period of hound or battue hunting referred to in paragraph 1 subparagraph 1) shall end on the last day of the holiday immediately following the day of 15 January.
4. For the purpose of setting the beginning and the end of hound or battue hunting referred to in paragraph 1 subparagraph 1), holidays shall means Sundays and holidays laid down in specific legislation on holidays, and Saturdays.

§ 6

1. During the hunt the following must not be the target of shooting:
2. 1. leading females;
   2. game at feeding stations, salt-licks, ploughed-up land for wild boars and points of permanent feeding, except for hunting at bait stations for wild boars and carnivores;
   3. game from motor and horse-drawn vehicles and motorboats with working engine;
   4. game at fenced feeding grounds in the vegetation period of plants grown on them and during their being made available to game;
   5. fowls while not in flight, expect for hazel hens, geese and coot;
   6. hares in stillness in field area;
   7. unrecognized objects.

§ 7

1. Hunting at night-time may proceed in relation to:
   1. wild boars, muskrats and hunting carnivores – by a hunter equipped with hunting firearm with attached telescopic sight referred to in § 4(1), and with binoculars;
   2. geese and ducks – during their flights and passages.
2. A hunter hunting at night-time shall be obliged to keep exceptional caution, and in particular:
   1. know exactly the terrain in the hunting area;
   2. not to shoot in the direction of settlements or public roads;
   3. before the shot, in the case specified in paragraph 1 subparagraph 1, in identify personally, through binoculars, the target and terrain in the line of fire;
   4. in the case of firing a shot and non-picking-up of the game at night-time, check the result of the shot in the daylight.

§ 8

1. The hunter shall be responsible for the safe use of arms and ammunition and shall be obliged to abide by the following rules:
   1. use hunting firearms that is in good working order;
   2. adjust the arms at least once a year;
   3. check, each time before loading of arms, whether barrels are not clogged up;
   4. keep the arms always with barrels directed upwards or downwards: during the  loading and unloading of arms, moving about in the terrain, during breaks in hunting,  taking place in a vehicle or leaving it and in other similar circumstances – irrespective of whether or not the firearm is loaded.

§ 9

1. When crossing, driving through or staying in a district, in which the hunter has no permit to perform hunting, using public means of transport and when in the area of cities, towns and settlements, hunter’s firearms shall be unloaded and kept in the case.
2. When crossing or driving through developed land, or when driving with a vehicle in the district in which the hunter carries out the hunt, firearms must be unloaded.

§ 10

1. During group hunting firearms may be loaded not until a stand has been taken before the first beating.
2. During group hunting between beatings, the hunter must remove cartridges from the chambers before leaving the stand. Another loading of chambers may follow not until the stand in the next beating has been taken.
3. After the completion of the last beating, and before leaving the stand, the hunter must unload the firearms.
4. The field master should check at random during breaks in the hunt, whether the unter have removed cartridges from the chambers, and after the end thereof, hether the hunters have unloaded their arms.
5. Using telescopic sights at group hunting shall be admitted only with the consent of the field master, on condition that the magnification of the telescope is no more than three.

§ 11

1. When crossing terrain obstacles, and in particular ditches, footbridges, fences, ascending or descending the shooting tower and during break in hunting, when firearms are put aside, the hunter must remove cartridges from the chambers.
2. When moving in uneven, bushy, swampy, slippery terrain, in deep snow, when reprimanding a dog or retrieving, carrying of fowls, firearms must be secured against the possibility of firing a shot.
3. The firearms put aside during breaks in hunting must be unloaded, placed
   close to the hunter and in his or her field of vision, and be secured against falling.

§ 12

1. Game shall not be aimed at and shot where:
   1. there are hunters, other persons or farm animals, buildings or vehicles at the line of fire, and the distance from them does not satisfy the conditions of firing a safe shot;
   2. the game is on hilltops;
   3. the game is at a distance less than 200 metres from operating agricultural machines.

§ 13

1. Aiming at game and firing a shot shall be admissible not until a detailed, personal identification of the game has been made, and in conditions ensuring the effectiveness of shot and possibility of picking up of the downed game and safety for the surroundings.
2. A hunter may fire a shot to game which is at a distance of no more than:
   1. 40 m – in the case of shooting with shotshells or bullets from smooth-bore shotguns;
   2. 100 m – in the case of shooting bullets from rifles, with the use of open sight;
   3. 200 m – in the case of shooting bullet from rifles with telescopic sight

§ 14

1. The set trigger shall be used only during individual hunt, and its setting may follow not until thorough identification of game and taking to shooting is performed; where the shot has not occurred, the firearm shall be secured against the possibility of a shot, and the set trigger then released.

§ 15

1. A hunter must not perform hunting in a state after consumption of alcohol or other intoxicants.
2. During group hunting the field master shall not admit to hunting or shall
   exclude from the hunt persons breaching the rules referred to in paragraph 1.

§ 16

1. The hunter shall be obliged to maintain particular caution when using firearms:
   1. in areas of limited visibility or in conditions of reduced visibility;
   2. during intensification of agricultural work, maintenance and exploitation work in the forest and during the harvest of fruits of the forest.
2. Where a hunter is accompanied by a person who does not hold permit to
   perform shooting, he or she shall be obliged to instruct that person of the propriate behaviour during the hunt.

§ 17

1. During group hunting:
   1. shooting along the line of hunters shall be prohibited; shooting along the line of hunters shall be taken to mean a firing a shot so that the bullet or the outermost pellets of the bundle or, in the extension, would penetrate at a distance of less than 10 m of the neighbour’s stand;
   2. shooting from a stand in the line of hunters in the direction of stands on the flanks and from the stands on the flanks in the direction of the line of hunters shall be prohibited, if the distance between these stands and landform features does not ensure safety;
   3. no stands in ditches, pits or hollows in terrain shall be taken;
   4. after taking a stand, the hunter shall be obliged to assume upright or sitting position;
   5. firing a shot may follow only from the upright position; this restriction shall not apply to shots fired from shooting towers;
   6. a bullet shot fired to quarry situated outside the beat shall be admissible within the range of no more than 100 m;
   7. a bullet shot fired to quarry within the beat shall be admissible, taking particular care, where the distance is no more than 40 m;
   8. shooting towards deer within the beat may follow only with the consent of the field master, in conditions ensuring safety;
   9. shooting of quarry within the beat shall be prohibited where the battue is within a  range of 150 m from the hunter in an open area and 100 m or less in the woodland area;
   10. shooting fowl in flight in the direction of battue or other hunters shall be admissible where the shooting is aimed upwards with the angle of at least 60o, and no branches or other obstacles are situated in the line of fire;
   11. shooting between individual beatings shall be admissible, with the consent of the  field master, only to the wounded or ill game animals.

§ 18

1. During a boat hunting, only one hunter may shoot in a given moment to the game, firing a shot in the direction other than that of other persons in the boat.

§ 19

1. In the event of accident during group hunting the field master shall stop the hunt in order to forthwith organize aid to the injured, and then shall:
   1. give first aid to the injured;
   2. organize transport of the injured to a health-care establishment or call a physician;
   3. secure the place and tracks of the accident;
   4. as far as possible, reconstruct the circumstances, in which the accident happened, identify the witnesses and draw up a situational sketch;
   5. draw up the records.

§ 20

1. Where the accident at a group hunting happened in connection with the use of firearms, the field master, besides the duties specified in § 19, shall be obliged to:
   1. take away firearms from the perpetrator and the injured;
   2. forthwith notify of the accident the nearest Police station;
   3. identify the numbers of stands the hunters were occupying during the accident and secure the sheets with stand numbers.
2. The records referred to in § 19 subparagraph 5 shall be drawn up in three
   copies signed by the field master and witnesses to the accident.
3. The copies of the records shall be forwarded to the leaseholder or manager
   of the hunting district, and in the case referred to in paragraph 1, also the Police.

REGULATION OF THE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
of 21 June 2005 in the case of unlawfully obtained animals

Based on Article. 15 paragraph 4 of the Act of 13 October 1995 – Hunting Law (2002, No. 42, item 372, with later changes).

1. The ordinance specifies:
   1. the amount of the equivalent for unlawfully obtained game, hereinafter referred to as “Equivalent”;
   2. entities competent for:
      1. developing, on behalf of the Treasury, unlawfully acquired animals,
      2. collecting funds from the sale of carcasses,
      3. collecting the equivalent.
2. The equivalent shall be:
   1. PLN 14,000 per moose;
   2. PLN 5,800 per red deer;
   3. PLN 5,500 per sika deer;
   4. PLN 2,300 per fallow deer;
   5. PLN 2,300 per wild boars;
   6. PLN 2,000 per roe deer;
   7. PLN 1,800 per mouflon;
   8. PLN 1,000 per any other game not listed on 1-7.
3. In the case of male trophy animals, the equivalent amount increased by the value depending on the gross weight of the trophy.
4. The value referred to in par. 3 is:
   1. for elk/moose weighing a gross trophy:
      1. up to 6.0 kg – PLN 2,000,
      2. over 6.0 kg – PLN 7,000;
   2. in the case of red deer with a gross trophy weight:
      1. up to 5.5 kg – PLN 2,000,
      2. over 5.5 kg – PLN 7,000;
   3. in the case of sika deer with a gross trophy weight:
      1. up to 2.0 kg – PLN 1,000,
      2. over 2.0 kg – PLN 2,500;
   4. for fallow deer with a gross trophy weight:
      1. up to 2.6 kg – PLN 1,500,
      2. over 2.6 kg – PLN 3,000;
   5. in the case of roe deer gross weight:
      1. up to 0.43 kg – PLN 1,000,
      2. above 0.43 kg – PLN 5,000.
5. In the event of unlawful acquisition of animals other than from firearms
   the equivalent determined in accordance with para. 1-3 is further increased by 20%.
6. An entity competent to manage animals on behalf of the Treasury illegally obtained in the field hunting district and collecting funds from the sale of her carcass is the competent voivode.
7. The entity competent to manage animals on behalf of the Treasur illegally obtained in the forest hunting district and collecting funds from selling her carcass is the local competent forester.
8. The entity competent to manage animals on behalf of the Treasury unlawfully obtained in an area not included in hunting districts and collecting funds originating from the sale of its carcass is the competent voivode.
9. If it is not possible to determine the place of unlawful acquisition of animals, the competent entity for its development on behalf of the Treasury and collection of proceeds from the sale her carcass is the voivode competent for her place of detection.
10. The entities referred to in para. 1-4, they give the game trophy free of charge unlawfully obtained to the Polish Hunting Association for use in teaching purposes and exhibition space.
11. The entity competent to collect the equivalent for animals unlawfully obtained in the field hunting province is the competent voivode.
12. The entity competent to collect the equivalent for animals unlawfully obtained in the forest hunting district is the competent forest inspectorate.
13. The entity competent to collect the equivalent for animals illegally obtained on the area not included in the hunting districts is the competent voivode.
14. If it is not possible to determine the place of unlawful acquisition of animals, the competent entity to download the equivalent for her is the voivode competent for its place of detection.
15. The Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 2005.

Full version of SAFETY REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENT MINISTER you can download here.