Portugal

Summary

Portugal counts the bow and the crossbow among its hunting weapons, next to the shotgun and the rifle, in one national regulation and with one set of rules for both. The rules are few: no poison, no explosive or barbed heads, and for big game a cutting head with at least two blades and 25 mm of cut. There is no draw-weight figure, no bow exam and, since 2016, no separate bow qualification.

For a visiting hunter the country is straightforward: a foreigner entitled to hunt at home is exempt from the Portuguese hunter card and hunts on a non-resident licence, for thirty days or a season, on the home licence, an identity document, proof of residence abroad and a liability policy valid in Portugal.

What the law says

• Lei 173/99, art. 21 (3): a medical bar to hunting may be limited to hunting with the use of firearms, bow or crossbow; the framework act names the bow and the crossbow as hunting means. Art. 20: hunting from sixteen, minors with written authorisation. Art. 25: compulsory liability insurance.
• DL 202/2004, art. 2 f): hunting weapons are the firearms legally classified as such, the bow, the crossbow and the lance. Art. 63 (2): the weapons licence is a condition only for hunting with a firearm; the bow and the crossbow need none. Art. 80, the whole technical regime: forbidden are arrows and bolts that are poisoned, with explosive, barbed or hooked heads, and, for big game, with fewer than two blades on the head and a cutting width under 25 mm. Outside hunting the bow or crossbow travels in a case, except between stands less than 100 m apart. Nothing on draw weight, arrow weight, mechanical heads or lighted nocks; illuminating the game is banned for everyone (art. 78 (3)).
• Art. 66 and 67, as amended from 1 January 2016: the hunter card entitles its holder to hunt with any of the permitted hunting means, and is obtained by a theory exam only; the former arqueiro-caçador speciality and its practical test are gone.
• Art. 88 and 89: hunting runs from sunrise to sunset, except big game by stalking, and by stand hunting on full-moon nights, and wild boar by stalking or stand hunting on any night since October 2024. On unmanaged land the bow and the crossbow hunt on Wednesdays and Saturdays; in the hunting zones the days follow each zone’s plan.
• Art. 105 and 106: wild boar, fallow deer, red deer, roe deer and mouflon are hunted by stand, stalk, drive or with the lance; stand and stalk are allowed all season in the hunting zones, drives from October to February; calls are allowed for red and roe deer.
• Lei 5/2006, art. 2: the bow is the cold weapon meant to launch arrows by muscular force, the crossbow the one with a trigger for bolts; neither falls in a licence class, and both are lawful while linked to hunting or sport and their possession can be justified.

Foreign hunters

• Lei 173/99, art. 22: exempt from the hunter card are foreigners not resident in Portugal provided they are entitled to hunt in the country of their nationality or residence, under reciprocity; they hunt on a special licence. The exemption does not apply to a person convicted of a hunting offence (no. 4). DL 202/2004, art. 75: the non-resident licence is issued by ICNF, or by an accredited hunting organisation, on an identity document or passport, proof of liability insurance valid in Portugal for the licence period, proof of residence abroad, and a document equivalent to the hunter card or a licence proving entitlement to hunt, in the home country. Nothing specific to the bow is asked.
• Portaria 140-A/2016, art. 1 and 3: the non-resident licence covers all game species and is valid for a season or for thirty days; ICNF lists the fees for each season. DL 202/2004, art. 76: the policy covers at least 100,000 €.
• A visitor therefore takes no exam in Portugal, and art. 22 and art. 75 ask for nothing about the bow. How ICNF applies the reciprocity condition to a given country is not written in the texts we read.
• Without a home licence: the non-resident licence can be issued only to people in the situations of art. 22 (DL 202/2004, art. 75 (1)). The other route is the Portuguese hunter card, by exam: art. 66 asks for the age of 16, no condition that makes hunting dangerous, no hunting ban and a passed exam, with no condition of citizenship or residence; no text we read says, though, that a non-resident can enrol. The card entitles its holder to hunt with any of the permitted means (art. 66 (3)), the bow included. The recognition of a foreign card (art. 70) is for residents only.

Seasons

The calendar for 2024 to 2027 sets the species and the periods above, with different windows and daily limits for the hunting zones and for unmanaged land, where big game is hunted only with ministerial authorisation. Big game in the hunting zones is open from 1 June to 31 May by stand and stalk, the methods a bowhunter uses, with drives from October to February; the zone’s management plan fixes the days and the quota.

Before you go

This page describes the Portuguese texts as they stood on the date below. The days and quotas that matter are in the plan of the hunting zone you visit, and the non-resident licence is issued on the file described above; ask ICNF or the zone which documents they accept as proof of your right to hunt at home, and whether a mechanical head counts as barbed under article 80. Ask for the article. The final check is yours.