Romania

Summary

Romania does not allow hunting with a bow. This is our home country, and the reason this guide exists: the countries around us regulate bowhunting in very different ways, and we wanted the evidence in one place.

Unlike many prohibitions in Europe, this one is explicit. The hunting act names the bow in its list of poaching offences.

Why it is prohibited

Two provisions of Law 407/2006, the hunting and game protection act, in the consolidated text of November 2025.

Article 33 (1) lists the means with which hunting is practiced: hunting firearms and authorized traps. Since the 2015 amendment that is the whole list; dogs of admitted breeds may accompany them (paragraph 3). A bow is not a lawful hunting means.

Article 42 (1) q) makes it a poaching offence to enter a hunting ground, or to hunt, with unauthorized traps, birds of prey and bows. Letter r) does the same for crossbows and for any weapon not authorized for hunting in Romania. The penalty is six months to three years’ imprisonment or a fine. Both provisions took their current form with Law 149/2015.

Read literally, letter q) covers entering a hunting ground with a bow, whatever the intent, and hunting grounds cover most land outside built-up areas. Three texts bear on that reading without removing it. The act’s own definition of poaching (article 1 d) speaks of an action for the purpose of taking game. The weapons act, Law 295/2004, classes bows as recreational devices of category E, free to own, carry and use without registration. And since Law 242/2016, article 39 (2) provides that sports competitions endorsed by the national federation and the landowners, with the ground manager’s consent given at least 30 days ahead, are not obstruction of hunting. Training outside a sanctioned competition has no such provision. We know of no court decision applying letter q) to a sport archer, and no Romanian text regulates arrow types or tips. Treat this as a warning, not a legal opinion.

Article 23 (1) ț) is the one other place where the act names the bow. Among the practices it forbids for the sustainable management of game is producing or breeding, procuring, possessing, selling and using, as the case may be, traps, hunting bows, birds of prey or hunting dogs without complying with the administrator’s regulations. A breach is a minor offence, fined 250 to 750 lei (article 48 (1) a)). The letter has had this wording since Law 149/2015; in the 2006 text it covered only traps of any kind. The act does not define a hunting bow or say which regulations it means, and none of the sources on this page sets such rules.

Article 39, the list of prohibited practices, does not mention bows. The prohibition itself lives in articles 33 and 42; article 23 adds a minor offence for dealing in or using hunting bows outside the administrator’s regulations.

What would have to change

Legalizing bowhunting in Romania takes two amendments to the act: adding the bow to the list in article 33 (1) and removing it from article 42 (1) q). Technical rules on equipment (draw weight, broadhead size) would follow by ministerial order, most likely with a dedicated exam. Hungary’s model is the obvious reference: a separate bowhunting exam on top of the standard hunting qualification, with equipment thresholds set by regulation.

As of September 2026 we found no bill in Parliament that proposes any of this. The legislative initiatives on Law 407/2006 filed in 2025 concern bear management and safety distances. Falconry sits in the same list as the bow; a 2020 bill to legalize it never entered into force, and the consolidated text of November 2025 still lists birds of prey under letter q).

Where Romanian bowhunters go instead

• Hungary is the closest fully legal destination. See the Hungary page, including the note on who may sit the bowhunting exam.
• Bulgaria is listed as a bowhunting country by the European Bowhunting Federation, but its hunting act allows firearms only. See the Bulgaria page before you believe an offer.
• Serbia and Croatia are still being researched.

Before you go

This page describes the Romanian legal texts as they stood on the date below. In Romania there is no local practice to ask about: taking a bow onto a hunting ground is a criminal matter. If anyone tells you the situation has changed, ask for the number and date of the amending law and check it on the legislative portal.