Finland

Summary

Finland has allowed the bow for small game since its 1993 hunting decree, added roe deer and beaver in 2001, and opened every hoofed species smaller than the moose in 2017: fallow, red, sika and white-tailed deer, forest reindeer, mouflon and wild boar. The rules are national and short: a bow of at least 180 N, a cutting head of 22 mm for the larger animals, and a practical shooting test for them. The crossbow is banned by the act itself.

For a visiting hunter Finland is built around recognition. A foreigner entitled to hunt at home gets the Finnish hunting card without the hunter exam, and the shooting test for deer-sized game can be replaced by a certificate of mutual recognition issued by the local game-management association on proof of the right to hunt game of equivalent size at home.

What the law says

• Hunting Act, § 33: among the generally prohibited hunting means, the crossbow or an equivalent bow weapon. § 34 lets the government decree regulate the hunting bow and arrows; § 35 treats the hunting bow like a hunting weapon in transport: unloaded and in a case where you have no hunting right or permit, and unloaded and in a case or covered space in an aircraft, in a motor vehicle on land, and in a boat with the engine running.
• Hunting Decree, § 20: the bow may be used only on the listed species, which are all the huntable mammals except moose, bear, wolf, lynx, otter and seals, plus game birds. Only a bow whose draw requires at least 180 newtons may be used to shoot game: about 40.5 lb. The head must kill instantly on a proper hit; for beaver, roe deer, the deer species, forest reindeer, mouflon and wild boar it must be a cutting head of at least 22 mm, and for beaver the arrow is tethered to the bow by a line. Nothing on fixed versus mechanical heads, arrow weight or lighted nocks.
• Hunting Act, § 21 and Decree § 20 (4): on roe deer, the deer species, forest reindeer, mouflon and wild boar only a hunter who has passed the shooting test may shoot. The bow test (regulation 517/2017, §§ 4–9) is three arrows with target points from 18 m at a 23 cm zone, in 180 seconds, from any position, all three touching the zone at least; up to five attempts a session, no theory and no course, valid three years.
• Hunting Act, § 6 and § 17: the hunting right belongs to the landowner, who can grant a hunting permission on their own terms; no guide requirement. Deer under a harvest licence have a hunt leader, who need not be present for stand hunting (Decree § 23). Bowhunters are exempt from the orange-clothing rule in deer hunts (Decree § 22).
• Fee Act, § 1 and § 3: whoever hunts pays the annual game-management fee, 43 €, and receives the hunting card; the fee funds the hunters’ group insurance, so no separate policy is required. The Firearms Act, § 2, defines a firearm by propellant pressure, which leaves the bow outside it; the customs treatment of a bow was not checked.

Foreign hunters

• Fee Act, § 2: the hunter exam before the first card does not apply to a foreigner entitled to hunt in their home country. The card is ordered for the season through the local association’s coordinator on a copy of the home licence. Someone who cannot show the right to hunt at home takes the Finnish hunter exam; the agency’s exam page says it can be answered in Finnish, Swedish, Sami or English.
• Hunting Act, § 21 a: for the species that need the shooting test, the shooter may also be someone with a valid foreign test certificate for equivalent game or who shows the association that they may hunt game of equivalent size at home. The association issues a certificate of mutual recognition, valid at most three years. The text does not ask that the home right be a bow right; the agency’s guidance says the same procedure applies to the hunting bow. Without either document, the Finnish bow test is taken; it is practical only.
• The hunting card, an identity document and the test or recognition certificate are carried in the field (§ 22). Access is by permission of the hunting-right holder: a landowner, a local club that leases land, or the state forest agency.

Seasons

The decree lists closed periods; the open seasons above are their complement and apply nationally, with regional variants for some birds and annual ministry restrictions. Deer species open on the last Saturday of September, with stand hunting from 1 September outside Lapland; roe deer bucks have a second window in May and June; wild boar has no closed season. The agency publishes the season table for each year.

Before you go

This page describes the Finnish texts as they stood on the date below. The recognition of your home documents is decided by the local game-management association, so have your host ask its coordinator early, with your licence and, if you hold one, a shooting-test certificate. No text we read says how a foreigner without a Finnish personal identity code registers for the hunter exam or the bow test; ask the coordinator. Confirm the season and the licence situation for the species with your host, and ask for the paragraph. The final check is yours.