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Hunting includes the chasing, capturing or killing of any bird or animal.
Not all hunting is illegal, but there are many laws and legal restrictions that help protect wildlife. Illegal hunting can include hunting outside of an open season, using traps or weapons that cause unnecessary suffering, or hunting without a special licence.
It's not just an offence to hunt illegally. You are also breaking the law if you:
Knowing when hunting is illegal can be challenging. Different animals and birds have different laws to protect them. If you're planning to go hunting, it's important you know what you can and can't do.
Hunting wild birds includes:
It is illegal to hunt a wild bird if:
Find out more about bird crime
Game birds include pheasants, partridges and grouse, as defined by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The hunting of game birds is covered by the Game Act 1831.
Game birds have their own open season.
It is illegal to:
Deer are a protected species, as covered by the Deer Act 1991.
It is illegal to:
Muntjac deer are not protected by an open season. This is because Muntjac deer breed all year round.
Fox hunting is illegal with some exemptions.
It's illegal to hunt foxes using:
‘Trail hunting’ and ‘drag hunting’, where dogs follow either an animal-based or artificial scent respectively, is legal. These are hunts designed to copy fox hunting without foxes being involved at all. However, these activities must still take place on locations where the people or animals involved are allowed to go and are not trespassing.
There are exemptions under the Hunting Act 2004 that allow for foxes to be ‘humanely’ shot and killed. In such cases, a dog or dogs, depending on the circumstances, can be legally used to ‘flush’ a fox from cover so it can be shot.
It's illegal to hunt hares and rabbits if:
You can shoot hares and rabbits on your own land in most cases, if you have the correct firearm licence. See ‘Hunting with firearms’ on the Types of illegal hunting page for more information.
Hunting with dogs as part of a hare coursing event, where dogs are assessed on their skills in hunting live hares, is illegal. Where dogs are involved, it's also illegal to:
Unless you have special exemptions, it is illegal to hunt, capture and kill any of the following: