France

Summary

France opened hunting to the bow on 1 June 1995 and has kept the rules in one national ministerial order, rewritten in 2008 and last amended in 2012. The order asks for one thing of every bowhunter: attendance at a bow training day run by the departmental hunters’ federation. It asks nothing of the bow itself beyond being drawn and held by the archer alone, and it sets a single broadhead threshold for big game.

For a visiting hunter the order has an exception written for the case: a non-resident who validates a home hunting licence for three or nine days may hunt with the bow without the training day (art. 3). Every big-game species is open to the bow nationwide; when, and where, is the prefect’s decision in each département.

What the law says

• Arrêté of 18 August 2008, art. 2: anyone who hunts with the bow must show they attended a special bow-hunting training session, organised by the departmental federations. It is attendance, not an exam; the federation’s president issues the attestation (art. 6), which is shown at any check.
• Art. 8: only bows whose drawing and holding at full draw are due to the archer’s strength alone. No draw-weight figure; the crossbow and any string-holding device are excluded.
• Art. 9: only blunt heads and cutting heads are allowed, and cutting heads only for shots that end in the ground. Arrows shot into the air need wide fletching that will not fit undeformed in a 6 cm circle. For big game, only cutting heads with at least two blades and either a cutting diameter of at least 25 mm or a cutting length of at least 40 mm per blade. The 2012 rewrite dropped the earlier 30 g minimum arrow weight and the ban on articulated blades; nothing now addresses mechanical broadheads.
• Art. 10–12: target points and toxic or explosive heads are banned; the arrow is nocked only in the act of hunting; every arrow carried is marked indelibly with the hunting-licence number, or, for a foreign licence, with the validation number.
• Arrêté of 1 August 1986, art. 4: red deer, fallow deer, mouflon, chamois and isard, roe deer and wild boar may be shot only with a bullet or with a hunting bow. Big game is open to the bow nationally.
• Code de l’environnement: the hunting licence is not issued under 16 (L. 423-11); liability insurance with unlimited cover is compulsory (L. 423-16). The order’s accompanied-hunting clause (art. 3) lets a learner hunt with the bow if the accompanying hunter holds the attestation.

Foreign hunters

• L. 423-21: a non-resident with a hunting licence issued abroad hunts in France after validating it under the conditions that apply to licences issued in France. L. 423-20: validation for nine consecutive days, once per season, or for three consecutive days, up to three times; the two are not combined. Validation is done through the departmental federation’s guichet unique, with the foreign licence and an insurance policy covering hunting in France; the national fee is 44.50 € a year, 31 € for nine days, 22 € for three days, plus the federation’s contribution.
• Arrêté 2008, art. 3: non-residents having validated those documents for three or nine consecutive days, may hunt with the bow without proof of attending a training session. On an annual validation the training day applies. The national federation’s FAQ says the same.
• Arrows are marked with the validation number (art. 12). Nothing in these texts asks for a bow qualification from home: L. 423-21 and R. 423-12, which lists the papers for the validation, do not mention the bow. The EBF page on France ties the exemption to “a valid bowhunting license from their country”; art. 3 of the arrêté ties it to the three- or nine-day validation of the hunting licence and does not mention the bow.
• Without a home licence: L. 423-21 also accepts “any other administrative document standing in for” a licence, and the code does not define it. The other route is the French licence by exam (L. 423-5): a medical certificate, the age of 15, and a theory and a practical preparation session at a federation. The OFB’s exam page says there is no condition of nationality; the articles we read set no condition of residence, and none says that non-residents are admitted. A holder of the French licence takes the bow training day like everyone else.

Seasons

The prefect sets each département’s dates within R. 424-8: roe deer, fallow deer and wild boar from 1 June at the earliest, red deer, mouflon and chamois from 1 September, all closing by the last day of February; before the general opening, which R. 424-7 places no earlier than the first, second or third Sunday of September, depending on the region, big game is hunted only by stalking or from a hide, with a prefectoral authorisation given to the holder of the hunting right. Wild boar can run to 31 May under conditions. Small game and birds follow the general opening and closure of the département. Alsace and the Moselle are not in the R. 424-7 table; their regime is separate and we have not read it.

Before you go

This page describes the national texts as they stood on the date below. The dates that matter are in your département’s prefectoral order, and the validation is issued by that département’s federation; ask them whether the temporary validation is available on your licence, what insurance paper they accept, and confirm with your host that the territory has a plan de chasse for the species you want. Ask for the article. The final check is yours.