Schwyz: licence hunting with annual rules
Hunting is a cantonal regale exercised by licence; the department issues the season’s rules each year.
In the canton of Schwyz hunting is practised under the licence system and is a regale of the canton. The hunting administration is responsible for planning, organising and monitoring hunting operations, and prepares the hunting and wildlife-biology groundwork for sustainable management of the game population. The hunting and wildlife division implements federal and cantonal legislation on hunting and the protection of wild mammals and birds. Its remit covers all birds living wild in Switzerland, carnivores such as the marten, even-toed ungulates such as roe deer, lagomorphs, and also beaver, marmot and squirrel. The rhythm is annual: each year the environment department issues the rules for conducting the hunt. A recent partial revision of the cantonal hunting and wildlife protection ordinance (JWV) extended compensation, through the cantonal game-damage fund, to grazing, fouling and trampling damage caused to farm crops by greylag geese and mute swans, and set rules for involving local hunters in measures against large carnivores.