Bow hunting is a cruel and violent form of entertainment for a small interest group. It is by no means a practice based on animal welfare or interests.
How to ban hunting on your property as a landowner?
According to the current Hunting Act, the right to hunt on immovable property, from sunrise to sunset, is up to 200 m from the building, if the immovable property is undefined or unmarked, even if the owner of the immovable property has not entered into an agreement to allow hunting. In other words, by default, it is allowed to hunt on immovable property without the knowledge of the owner of the immovable property.
To avoid such a situation, it is necessary to prohibit hunting on your property in writing. The current Hunting Act prescribes that a landowner has the right to set conditions for hunting on his or her land or to prohibit hunting (see Chapter 1, § 6. Rights of landowners in hunting).
In order to prohibit hunting on his or her immovable, the landowner must give notice of his or her declaration of intent in writing. To do this, send a free-form application to the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet) at info@keskkonnaamet.ee, indicating where you want to prohibit hunting. The Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet) will forward your ban on hunting to the users of the hunting area, who in turn must monitor and comply with the ban on hunting pursuant to law.
If you have prohibited hunting on your immovable property in writing and have also received a written response from the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet) confirming this, it is recommended that you also restrict your immovable property and mark it accordingly, if this has not already been done. Although the hunter must check whether hunting is prohibited on the property, sign posts could be placed on the boundaries of a property with unambiguous signs prohibiting hunting:
The required sign can be purchased, for example, from the sildid.eu web store.
Read more
- Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet). Hunting areas.
- Riigi Teataja. Hunting law.