Leasehold or licence hunting: Switzerland's two systems
Switzerland's two cantonal hunting-access systems — individual licence and leased ground — and Geneva's special case.
The Federal Act of 20 June 1986 on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (Hunting Act, SR 922.0) sets the species-protection framework at national level, but leaves it to the cantons to organise how hunting is actually carried out on their territory. This organisational freedom has produced two main systems, alongside one special arrangement. In the so-called licence-based cantons, anyone who meets the required conditions — in particular passing the cantonal hunting aptitude examination — acquires an individual authorisation, generally valid for a set period and for species defined by cantonal regulation. The licensed hunter then exercises the right to hunt across the whole of the cantonal territory open to hunting, within the quotas, periods and zones set annually by the competent authority. In the so-called lease-based cantons (Revier system), a different logic applies: the cantonal territory is divided into hunting grounds, or districts, whose management is leased to hunting associations. Members of these associations then collectively exercise the right to hunt on the leased ground, subject to cull plans and applicable cantonal rules. Access to lease-based hunting therefore typically requires admission to an association holding a lease, in addition to passing the cantonal examination. Geneva is a third case: private hunting has been prohibited there since a popular vote, and wildlife regulation is carried out exclusively by state game wardens, with no individual hunting permits issued to private individuals. These three models coexist within the same federal framework: the Confederation, through the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), sets protected species, federal protection periods, which cantons may extend (Art. 5 para. 4 of the Hunting Act), and general principles of wildlife management, while each canton, within those limits, specifies how hunting is accessed, along with quotas, fees and practical arrangements on its territory. There is therefore no single system valid across the whole of Switzerland, and anyone wishing to hunt in a given canton should enquire directly with the relevant cantonal service to find out which system applies there — licence-based, lease-based or special arrangement — and the corresponding access conditions.