Strict regulations on grouse hunting

Finnmarkseiendommen, the landowner which administrates 95 percent of the land and natural resources in Norway’s northernmost county, says the population is too low for free hunting.

Small game hunting starts on September 10th, but will not at all be like last year’s very good hunting season on the top of Norway.

Counting shows that there are far less grouse chickens this year. In average for Finnmark, there are six grouse per square kilometers compared with 18 last year. Despite large variations throughout Finnmark, restrictions on hunting are introduced for the entire county. 

Each hunter can only shot two willow grouse and two mountain grouse per day, according to the regulations. Exceptions are made for Kautokeino and Karasjok, the two largest municipalities in inner-Finnmark, where three of each are allowed per day.  In the Pasvik valley, close to the border to Russia, only one grouse can be shot per day.

Hunters are asked to shot the chickens, since they have a lower survival rate during the winter than adult birds.