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Fribourg

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Cantonal system

Permits

Licence, annual authorisation, and an exam every two years

Hunting in Fribourg takes three things: passing the exam, holding the licence, and obtaining the annual authorisation to hunt.

The service states the condition of access in one sentence: to hunt in the canton of Fribourg you must hold a hunting licence, an annual authorisation to hunt, and comply with the service's directives. The three go together; the licence alone is not enough. Upstream, anyone wishing to hunt must pass the hunting examination. The tests are organised by the service every two years — a cycle that matters to anyone planning their entry into hunting, since a missed session comes round only two years later. The canton also issues a certificate of aptitude for those wanting to hunt in other cantons or abroad, and a guest hunting authorisation on request.

Seasons

From 1 September 2026 to the end of February 2027

The Fribourg season runs six months, supplementary hunts aside; the species-by-species detail lives in the annual planning ordinance.

The service states the overall window: hunting in the canton of Fribourg is open from 1 September 2026 to the end of February 2027, supplementary hunts excluded. That parenthesis is not incidental — supplementary hunts fall outside the stated window and follow their own dates. The detail by species and by method is not in that sentence but in the planning ordinance the Directorate of Institutions, Agriculture and Forests adopts each year. That is the document to consult for a precise date. The canton also runs a dedicated page for hunting information and periods, updated as the season goes on.

Regulations

Fribourg: a 1996 act and a plan rewritten every year

The cantonal hunting act dates from 1996; two 2016 ordinances implement it, and a planning ordinance is reissued annually.

Fribourg is a licence-hunting canton. The cantonal base is the act of 14 November 1996 on hunting and the protection of wild mammals, birds and their habitats (LCha). Two ordinances from 2016 implement it: the ordinance of 6 June 2016 on hunting (OCha) and that of 21 June 2016 on wildlife protection (OProt). To these durable texts is added a planning ordinance adopted each year by the Directorate of Institutions, Agriculture and Forests — it carries the detail of a given season. All of it is available in the Fribourg legislative database. The authority is the forestry and nature service, wildlife, hunting and fishing section, at Givisiez. The service publishes the directives every hunter must follow, on top of holding a licence.

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