Big game in Norway

Norway is a large country with a small population and lots of uncultivated terrain. There are large populations of game, and hunting is cheap compared to other countries. Hunting in Norway is very different to hunting in the rest of Europe with respect to ownership of the game. When the first Norwegian laws where written early in the last millennium, the main principle was that the game had no owners and that every man could hunt on his own ground. In other countries, it is common that the crown and nobility owns all game. One of the reasons that Norway is different is probably that we practically had no nobility.

For the big game, the district authorities set annual quotas. They are based on a general rule of number of animals by size of property. The quotas also gives age and sex limitations. The ministry determines the hunting season.

There are four main species of big herbivores in Norway, each with more or less different habitats. Beside these, there are small populations of escaped fallow deer, and there is also a small population of musk ox, established early last century.

The roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, is the smallest of the deer species in Norway. Stags are only xxx cm over the withers and weigh up to xxx kg. Their main habitat is mixed agricultural/ forest areas in the south of the country. The roe deer is not very well adapted to cold winters and/ or winters with deep snow. Compared to the other big herbivores, they are not efficient in digging forage out of the snow. They are also easily hindered by deep snow, witch makes them easy targets for especially lynx.

Roe deer hunting can be done with or without the help of dogs. When dogs are used, they are led until they get the scent of an animal, they are then unleashed, and will chase the roe deer. When chased, the roe deer usually takes big circles, so when the dog is let loose, the hunters will wait where they think the deer will come back. The dogs used for roe deer are small, by law, they must be under xxx cm tall. This is to avoid a high speed of the chase and exhaustion of the deer. They are also selectively bred to be loud, so that the hunter easily can locate the dog and the prey. Hunting methods without dogs include stalking, posting and also imitations of rut calls. Roe deer is the only big herbivore that is allowed to hunt with a shotgun. The hunting season for roe deer in Norway is between 25 of August and 15 of November. Annually approximately 28.000 are shot in Norway.

The red deer is found mainly on the western coast, but it has been spreading massively over the last 10-15 years. Its main habitat is the steep hills and valleys around the fjords. The Norwegian red deer, (Cervus elaphus subsp. atlanticus), is similar to the deer found on the British Isles. Feeding...

Red deer is usually hunted without the aid of dogs, and the most common hunting method is stalking or posting at trekking routes. Imitations of rut calls can be very efficient (and exiting). Late in the hunting season, when food is scarce high in the hills, the deer move to lower land, and are often found on cultivated areas. This makes them easy to find and shoot. They usually only come out after dark, so moonshine is often a big help. The animals are calm when grazing, and this gives the hunter good time to judge sex and age of the animal, so that the shooting is in accord with the quota. The table below gives numbers of red deer shot between 1952 and 2002.

The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is the most robust of the big game, living at the high mountain plateaus in the south. In the north of Norway, the original habitat of the wild reindeer has been taken over by herds of tame reindeer. The reindeers hooves are big and spoon shaped. This makes digging in the snow easier, and it also distributes their weight over a larger surface, so they don't sink into deep snow so easily. The first habitants of Norway where hunters following the reindeer after the ice withdrew approximately 10.000 years ago. The reindeer is sensitive to stress, and their habitat is threatened by human construction. Roads, power lines and cabins will drive reindeer away from traditional mating, feeding or calving areas. The reindeers main feed is lichen.

Reindeer is hunted without dogs. The hunt is based on locating flocks of reindeer, and then sneak up on them or wait for them to move. This is demanding because of the lack of vegetation and often flat terrain witch makes it difficult to hide. As motorised vehicles are not allowed when hunting in Norway, locating and stalking animals must be done on foot, and the dead reindeer must be carried out of the hunting grounds. 6600 reindeer was shot in 2002.

The elk (US: moose) (Alces alces) is the largest big game in Norway. With bulls weighing up to xxx kg, it lives up to it's name "king of the forest". Large bulls can be up to xxx cm over the withers. Elk is usually hunted with dogs. The dogs are either kept on leash and just used to locate animals or let loose, similar to roe deer hunting. The difference between the two is that the elk will stay put and try to fight of the dog rather than to run away. Whilst the elk is distracted by the dog, the hunter sneaks up. The dogs are to small to attack the elk, and will only bark at them and annoy them. Last year, 38.000 elk was shot in Norway, 54% males and 46% females.

There are for big carnivores in Norway, wolverine (Gulo gulo), lynx (Lynx lynx), wolf (Canis lupus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos). They were all as good as extinct at the beginning of last century, but are now re-establishing. This has caused conflicts with farmers. In summer, there are 1 million sheep on high mountain pastures without shepherds, and there has been quite significant losses of animals. When a large carnivore learns how easy it is to kill sheep, it won't stop, and you get the "fox in poultry-yard-effect", where a whole herd of sheep are torn to pieces and just left more or less dead.

As a strategy of appeasement, the government has grants licences for taking out vermints, but still tries to maintain viable populations. This hunting has been the cause of much controversy, both at home and abroad. Particularly wolf hunting has been criticized. In addition to the licence hunting, lynx and wolverine are hunted with (small) set quotas each year.

By Eivind Reed - junior_gorg