The Finnish hunter 2008

Early in 2009 a survey was conducted among 7,000 hunters to gather opinions on the hobby in general and on current hunting practices, with the aim of building up a portrait of the typical Finnish hunter. The response rate was 60.5%.

In Finland, 70% of hunters hunt annually, devoting 1.9 million days to deer hunting and 3.7 million days to small game. Estimates of the bag tallies by target game group were within the confidence limits of the official statistics. Hunting mobilizes hunters: as people have become ever more urban the journey to the hunting grounds currently lies at between 45 and 150 km, with travel absorbing more than one quarter of the 200 million euros spent annually on hunting. Clothing and equipment take up nearly another quarter, while further expenditure on firearms and other equipment has resulted in hunters possessing 1.1 million hunting guns – mostly shotguns – and another 0.5 million traps and snares.

Two thirds of the hunters expressed an interest in hunting with a dog. Only one third, however, were dog owners. Having a dog was often one of the initial motives for unting. The most desirable form of hunting was given as hunting alone for willow grouse. Hunters were nevertheless concerned about the status of the grouse population, and indicated their willingness to contribute to its preservation by reducing hunting intensity. Based on hunting days, rabbit and hare were more common target species than grouse, with grouse more common than waterfowl.

As a hobby, hunting also involved other closely related activities, such as feeding of game, building of bird boxes, creating suitable game habitat, and undertaking other  nvironmental improvements. As many as 40% of the hunters took part in one or more of this type of activity. The hunters were also active in many hobbies that support hunting, such as fitness training or jogging. The hobby of shooting was favoured, while fishing in its various forms was one of the most popular recreational nature activities, involving 90% of the hunters interviewed. Valued information sources for hunting skills included fellow hunters, the Metsästäjä journal and hunting courses. The majority of hunters were satisfi ed with game management in general, at national, district and association levels.

Game animals, unprotected animals and game animals subject to licence are all defined by the Hunting Act. The hunters were asked if some species should be transferred from their present group to one of the other two alternatives. Most opinion centred on the swan and wolf. The swan was proposed as a game animal subject to licence, while the wolf was preferred as free game within the hunting season. Altogether 80 species were mentioned. The easing of hunting restrictions was generally espoused, although emphasis was placed on legal protection, particularly for grouse.