Poland

Summary

Poland does not allow hunting with a bow. The Hunting Law defines hunting through the hunting firearm, and the hunting regulation made under it admits only hunting firearms. Neither text names the bow. Taking game in a way that is not hunting is poaching under the act, and the act’s criminal provisions cover game taken with prohibited means.

The legal mechanism

• Hunting Law, art. 4 (2): hunting means tracking, shooting with a hunting firearm, and catching by permitted methods, aimed at taking possession of game; catching game with trained birds of prey needs the minister’s consent. The act of 1995 had the same definition.
• Hunting regulation, § 3 (1), in the wording of the amendment of 2011: for hunting, and for shooting animals that are an extraordinary threat to human life, health or the economy, only long centre-fire hunting firearms are admitted. The original text of 2005 already admitted only hunting firearms.
• Hunting Law, art. 4 (3): poaching means any action aimed at taking possession of game in a way that is not hunting, or in breach of the conditions under which hunting is allowed.
• Hunting Law, art. 42aa, point 12, and art. 53, point 5: taking possession of game with weapons and ammunition other than hunting ones, with explosives, poisons, snares, pits or other prohibited means is forbidden, and is punished by up to five years in prison. Hunting without a hunting qualification carries the same penalty (art. 53, point 4). Neither provision names the bow, and we have not read case law applying them to one.
• The crossbow: the Weapons and Ammunition Act counts crossbows as weapons (art. 4 (1), point 4 b); the bow is not in its definition. No hunting text names the crossbow.
• Research permits: the minister may authorise shooting or catching game for research, education or restocking, and the permit names the means allowed (Hunting Law, art. 44 (3) and (3b)). We have not found an official document showing that such a permit has ever named a bow.

Pending bills

Two bills to amend the Hunting Law are before the Sejm. According to the Sejm’s records, print 828 of 2024 concerns the minister’s supervision and the organisation of the Polish Hunting Association; print 2144 of 2025 would let minors attend hunts as observers with their parents’ consent, and its text does not mention the bow. Neither has passed.

Open questions

• The list of prohibited means in art. 42aa, point 12, includes the “samostrzał”, which the act does not define. No text we read says whether it covers the crossbow.
• Whether a research permit under art. 44 (3) has ever named the bow.

Before you go

This page describes the Polish texts as they stood on the date below. If you hear that bowhunting has been allowed in Poland, ask for the amendment of the Hunting Law or of § 3 of the hunting regulation and its number in the Dziennik Ustaw. Until then, taking game with a bow in Poland falls outside lawful hunting. The final check is yours.