2023-09-26 10:08:00
About a year and a half full of sometimes emotional discussions and negotiations between hunters, landowner representatives and the agriculture and forestry department of the state of Upper Austria have come to an end: following almost 60 years of validity, the Upper Austrian hunting law has now been revised. After the assessment, the hunting law is to be passed in the first state parliament session in 2024. “This means that the law will apply before the start of the new hunting year on April 1st,” says Agriculture and Hunting State Councilor Michaela Langer-Weninger (VP).
During the revisions, three main objectives were at the forefront of the more than 20 rounds of negotiations: to promote cooperation between the Chamber of Agriculture as a representative of the landowners and the hunters, deregulation and thus less administrative work, and strict and tough action once morest wildlife crime.
New regulations for the firing plan
Above all, the shooting plan regulation is to be revised in the new law in order to be able to react more quickly in the event of browsing damage: If a hunting area receives a worse rating than 1.3 in the annual assessment by authorities, hunters and landowners, the shooting rate for the coming hunting year will be increased . In addition, there will be more comparison areas in the districts in the future, which, as fenced areas, should clearly show the browsing on the so-called Weiser areas. The hunters and the Chamber of Agriculture agree that there must be clear regulations when shooting in order to reduce browsing rates in local forests.
Image: VOLKER WEIHBOLD
“You can’t insist on voluntariness, which is why we decided on an assessment of 1.3 as a guideline. In principle, around a quarter of the hunting areas in Upper Austria are affected by this,” says state hunter Herbert Sieghartsleitner. “We need a forest in which fir and typical hardwood can establish themselves without area protection. That must be the goal of the shooting plan regulation,” says Chamber of Agriculture President Franz Waldenberger, representing landowners.
Change in deer feeding
There is already a ban on feeding red deer in the current hunting law between May 16th and October 15th. This exact period should now also apply to roe deer populations. Feeding may therefore begin on October 16th at the earliest; hunters are obliged to feed during the emergency period. This means that the feeding takes into account the different habitats from the Dachstein to the Mühlviertel. “If there is no emergency time, landowners can refuse to set up a feeding area in the future,” says Waldenberger. According to state hunter Sieghartsleitner, the most important thing is to relieve the pressure on the forest as a habitat through feeding. If there are cross-territory populations – which is usually the case with red deer – feeding must be tailored to the respective territories.
Against wildlife crime
After increasing cases of wildlife crime have occurred in recent weeks and months, a comprehensive catalog of criminal provisions for the new hunting law is now being drawn up. The minimum penalty for violating the closed season of protected species is 2,000 euros; for serious offenses the penalty can be up to 20,000 euros. In addition, a minimum period of cancellation of the hunting license has been set at five years; the card must be handed in immediately following delivery of the cancellation notice.
If game has invaded a protected cultivated area and caused damage there, it is possible to shoot it regardless of the closed season in order to avoid further damage. Night vision devices when hunting wild boar were permitted by the state of Upper Austria on March 11, 2020 and should only be possible until December 31, 2023. Now this time limit will no longer apply in the new hunting law, and the use of night aiming aids will continue to be permitted.
Less effort for authorities
In order to strengthen land ownership, there should no longer be any obligation for hunting cooperatives (the entirety of landowners) to lease. If no agreement can be reached on the hunting lease, the community hunting board might appoint its own hunting manager. However, Chamber of Agriculture President Franz Waldenberger assumes “that this will remain an exceptional case in the future. However, this can significantly strengthen the negotiating position of the landowners.”
Image: OÖN/Christoph Kempter
In order to reduce the administrative effort on the part of the district administration authority, a model hunting lease agreement should be drawn up. The draft for this should be developed in collaboration with the state government, the Chamber of Agriculture and the state hunting association. A preliminary inspection by district administrative authorities would no longer be necessary, “unless you deviate from the model. But otherwise you can reduce the workload by around 95 percent,” says Langer-Weninger.
A ban on unaccompanied hunting under the age of 18 should also be anchored in the new hunting law. Previously, it was possible for those students who had already completed the hunting test as part of their school training to go hunting with exception.
Challenges posed by climate change
According to Langer-Weninger, a revision of the law was long overdue. “Regulations are outdated, procedures are unnecessarily lengthy, deregulation is necessary. A general overhaul in the sense of a new decree is therefore unavoidable.” Above all, the challenges caused by, among other things, climate change, damage caused by bark beetles or storm damage in the forests also contributed to this. “Today’s reforestation areas are much more sensitive than the ‘old’ tree population of the 2000s,” said the State Agricultural Councilor.
Image: VOLKER WEIHBOLD
A total of almost nine million euros have been invested in the construction and maintenance of the forest in the past two years, and 2.5 million young trees – including Douglas firs, beeches, oaks, larches, spruces and firs – have been planted in Upper Austria. “It’s not just game that needs to be regulated. There must be rules of conduct in the forest so that groups of tourists don’t wander through reforestation areas and trample down young trees,” says the state councilor, referring to the initiative “in our nature”.
Author
Karoline Ploberger
Editor Upper Austria
Karoline Ploberger
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