Sweden: all game is protected by default
The act states that game is protected and may be hunted only where the act, or a decision made under it, allows.
The Swedish hunting act (Jaktlag 1987:259) governs wildlife management, the right to hunt and the conduct of hunting within Swedish territory and Sweden's economic zone. It defines game as wild mammals and birds, and hunting as catching or killing game and searching for, tracking or pursuing it to that end; interfering with game nests and taking or destroying birds' eggs also count as hunting. Section 3 inverts the logic a central European hunter is used to: game is protected and may be hunted only where this follows from the act or from rules or decisions issued under it. Where game is protected, that protection extends to its eggs and nests. Section 4 sets the aims of management: to conserve the game species belonging to the country's stock and the bird species that occur here naturally on a temporary basis, and to promote a development of populations that is appropriate in the light of public and private interests.