Training and exam compulsory, reciprocity with other cantons
No one hunts in Neuchâtel without prior training and a passed aptitude exam; the annual permit is requested from the service.
Anyone wishing to hunt in the canton of Neuchâtel must have completed prior training and passed the hunting aptitude exam. The service publishes the details of the training and of the exam separately. Hunting in Neuchâtel then requires an annual authorisation: the service documents the permit application, the conditions for obtaining it, reciprocity with other cantons, the fees, practice shooting and the relevant contacts. The guest permit is governed separately, with its own conditions, point of sale and price, the documents to be carried while hunting and a cap on the number of authorisations. A third strand concerns dogs. Applying federal law, the SFFN plans to make training compulsory for hunting with searching, pointing and retrieving dogs, and for earth hunting and wild boar hunting; the training will be run by the Neuchâtel hunters' federation under jointly drawn-up guidelines. Exceptions are provided for: a dog that has already completed training recognised as equivalent, a dog kept on a long lead for wild boar, or a boar dog used only during the roe deer season.