Land management and

hunting in Hungary
Prof.Dr. Sándor CSÁNYI
Department of Wildlife Biology, Szent István University
H-2103 Gödöllõ, Hungary
www.vvt.gau.hu
 European context

™ No uniform EU legislation of hunting/game

management
™ Subsidiarity
™ Done in national legislation
™ Few regulations in nature conservation directives
™ Birds Directive
™ Flora Fauna Habitat Directives
™ Expectations
™ Wise use of game Æ Sustainable Hunting Initiative
™ Ecologically balanced regulation of populations
™ Monitoring = data-based
Factors influencing hunting law
™Ecology of species
™History and traditions
™What, where, when, and how
™Legal system
™Who and how
™Economics
™Recreation
™Incomes/costs
™International oblications
 European diversity
™Participation, traditions, hunting system
™German system (AT, BE, DE, NL, LU, SK, CZ, HU,
PL, SL
™Mediterrenean (IT, GR, FR, MT, ES, PT, CY)
™British (UK, IE)
™Scandinavian (SE, DK, FI, EE, LV, LT)
™General characteristics
™Game: res nullius
™Hunting: belongs to lan property
™Independent hunting law
 Hungarian legislation
™Act LV/1996 on game conservation,
management, and hunting
™Game – state property (res communis)
™Hunting – belongs to the landed property
™Very detailed regulation + ministerial
decree
™Accession:
™99.9% conformity,
™Few harmonization
 Game Act, XX/1883
™ Hunting rights connected to the ownership of land
™ Return to the status before WWII
™ Hunting ground based on own right:
™>120 ha continuous property, suitable for game management and
hunting
™Fenced property
™ Small landed properties
™Local authority lent on auction
™6-12 years of lease
™Debates on damages and fees
™ Game management as source of incomes
™Only on large estates
™Hunting tourism
™Hard currency incomes
 End of WWII – 1996
™Status of game and hunting
™Destroyed game populations
™Division of large estates – small properties
™Repartitions
™Consequences
™Game: state property to protect
™Hunting rights: state to control of hunting
™Hunting clubs: control of hunter numbers
™Purpose: restore game and hunting as a
resources management form
 End of WWII – 1996
™From the 1970s – “Golden age of hunting”
™1st Hunting World Expo (1971)
™Increasing game populations and harvest
™Increasing hard currency incomes
™Open Hungary – closed neighbors
™Success without competitors
™Bases
™Strong control
™Large management areas
™Work of club members
 1989/1990 Æ 1996
™Political changes 1989/1990
™Politically motivated ideas/beliefs
™Over emphasized: incomes and profits of hunting
™Under emphasized: knowledge, costs, damage
and labor
™Neglected: the effect of hunting area size
™Consensus:
™Hunting rights should return to the landed
property
™Natural resource management, form of land use
 Game Act, LV/1996
™ Hunting rights are the totality of rights and
obligations pertaining to
™ the protection of game and its habitat, and
™ game management, furthermore
™ the killing and catching of game living free in the hunting-
ground by the person entitled to it,
™ the collection of cast antlers, and of eggs of winged game
which can be hunted, and the appropriation of the carcass of
perished game in accordance with this Act.
™ The hunting rights - as rights representing assets -
are due, as an inseparable part of the land
proprietary rights, to the owner of the area qualifying
as a hunting-ground.
 Game Act, LV/1996
™Independent hunting rights
™is exclusively owned by a single person -
including also the State of Hungary - this
person shall be entitled to the hunting rights
independently (hereinafter: independent
hunting rights),
™Joint hunting rights
™is owned by several persons - including also
the State of Hungary - the owners of the
hunting ground shall be entitled to the hunting
rights jointly
Minimum size of hunting-ground
™An area of land or water surface
™if its size reaches 3,000 hectares, and
™the distance between its opposite boundaries is at
least three thousand metres, furthermore, where
the game
™finds its necessary feed,
™the conditions for its natural reproduction, and
™its natural needs for movement, lair and rest are
provided.
™The heart of the debates
™It is too large!!!
™Is it too large?
™Why 3000 ha?
 Why large or small?
™Large size is necessary to
™Manage populations
™Think in ecological terms and requirements of
game
™To accumulate incomes necessary to cover
costs of professional management and achieve
profit
™Small size is requested to conform to
™Small landed property size
™Make hunting available for more pesrons
™Satisfy activism
 Some facts

™ Total income of game management (2004):

™ 15 Billion HUF = 60 Million EUR

™ Area of Hungary: 93000 km2

™ = 1613 HUF/ha/year = 6.5 EUR/ha/year

™ The 2004 “profit” was: 146.6 Million HUF

™ = 16 HUF/ha/year = 0.06 EUR/ha/year

 When game management and
hunting need consideration?
™Size of hunting ground is large:
™Large estate Æ state forests or latifundia
™Joint hunting rights Æ medium sized landed
properties, known land-owners
™Long term safety of investment
™Own property
™8-10+ years lease of lands
™High quality game populations and conditions
™Red deer, wild boar, roe deer
™Well paid professionals
™High quality services
 Is there a solution?

™Large hunting grounds

™Joint hunting rights
™medium sized landed properties
™known land-owners
™Long term safety of investment
™10-year cycles
™Interested land-owners
™High quality game populations and conditions
™Small game and big game areas
™Quality management