Serbia

Summary

Serbia’s hunting act names the bow, and bans it almost everywhere. Hunting with bow and arrow and crossbow, is prohibited in open hunting grounds, and in enclosed grounds unless the ground’s management plan provides for that method for large game. The bow and the crossbow share the rule. Where the three conditions meet, an enclosed ground of at least 300 hectares, large game, and a plan that says so, bowhunting is lawful; nowhere else, and never for small game.

Outfitters advertise Serbia as a wild-boar bow destination; the text is broader in species and narrower in place than that. For a visiting hunter everything runs through the ground’s user and a licensed tourist agency, which must obtain the hunting card and the permit, and an escort is mandatory for every large-game hunt.

What the law says

• Hunting Act, art. 76 (1) 6): it is prohibited to hunt protected game with bow and arrow and crossbow in open grounds, and in enclosed grounds where such a way of hunting large game is not provided for in the management plan. Art. 32: an enclosed ground is at least 300 ha and may be fenced only with the ministry’s consent; art. 47: the plan is drawn up for ten years.
• Weapons Act, art. 3: the bow is a stringed weapon, and counts among hunting weapons with which hunting is allowed; art. 4: over 450 N it is category C, reported to the police within eight days, at or under 450 N category D, free. No draw-weight minimum, broadhead rule, or anything on mechanical heads or lighted nocks exists in any text read.
• Sanction: hunting contrary to art. 76 is an economic offence of the ground’s user, fined 1.5 to 3 million dinars (art. 102); the individual hunter’s liability runs through the Criminal Code, which we did not read.
• Seasons by-law, art. 3 (2): fallow deer, white-tailed deer and mouflon are managed and hunted exclusively in enclosed grounds; the other large game may be in either, but the bow only in the enclosed ones.

Foreign hunters

• Art. 60 (2): the right to a hunting card belongs to whoever has passed the hunter exam, holds a relevant diploma, or is a foreign hunter under this act; no local exam, and no bow exam exists at all. Art. 61: the card is monthly or annual, requested from the ground’s user and issued by the ministry; the user’s authorised person issues a nominal permit for large game.
• Art. 75: a tourist agency with a contract with the ground’s user must obtain the hunting card, the permit and the weapon documents for the foreign hunter. What document a foreigner presents for the card is not written in the act.
• By-law 44/2010, art. 5: the ground’s user must provide, for every hunter of large game, an escort by a licensed professional or game warden. Since the bow is allowed for large game only, the escort is always required.
• Weapons: under the current act a weapon brought in temporarily for hunting needs an entry approval from the border police (art. 34); the new act of 2026, applying from 18 April 2027, lets category D bows cross without notification or approval, with a declaration to the border police, and arrows freely. Minimum age for a category D bow is 16 now and 18 under the new act. Insurance is not mentioned in any text read.

Seasons

The seasons by-law sets national periods for the seven large-game species; in the enclosed grounds where the bow is allowed they apply as above, with the ground’s annual plan fixing the quota. An amendment of January 2026 was not read.

Before you go

This page describes the Serbian texts as they stood on the date below. Whether a given ground may offer the bow depends on its own management plan, approved by the ministry; ask the ground, or the agency, to show the page of the plan that provides for hunting with the bow, and which species it covers. Ask what document they file for your hunting card. The final check is yours.