Switzerland

Summary

In Switzerland the ban is federal and names the bow. The Federal Hunting Act leaves it to the Federal Council to decide which means are forbidden for hunting, and the Federal Hunting Ordinance puts bows and crossbows on that list. The cantons organise hunting and issue hunting licences, and they may add further bans to the federal list. Using a forbidden means on purpose is a criminal offence.

The Association of Swiss Bowhunters writes on its site that its goal is bowhunting in Switzerland, and that for now it seeks a limited use, in time and place, that is documented and evaluated, not a general introduction.

The legal mechanism

• Federal Hunting Act, art. 3 (4): the Federal Council determines the means that are forbidden for hunting. The cantons regulate and plan hunting and set the conditions for the hunting licence (art. 3 (1) and (2)).
• Federal Hunting Ordinance, art. 2 (1) g: crossbows, bows, slingshots, spears, lances, knives, air rifles and air pistols may not be used for hunting.
• The cantons: they may forbid further means (art. 2 (3) of the ordinance).
• Since when: the bow and the crossbow were already on the list in the consolidated text of 2000, under letter f, and that text carries no note that the article had been amended since the ordinance came into force on 1 April 1988. The amendment of 27 June 2012, in force since 15 July 2012, rewrote the list and moved them to letter g, where they have stayed.
• Penalties: using a forbidden hunting means intentionally and without authorisation is punished by a custodial sentence of up to one year or a monetary penalty; if done through negligence, by a fine (Federal Hunting Act, art. 17 (1) i and (2)). A court may also withdraw the hunting licence for one to ten years, valid for the whole of Switzerland, where there is a risk of repeat offences (art. 20).

Exceptions in the texts

The Federal Hunting Act says that anyone who wants to use a forbidden hunting means as an exception needs a federal authorisation, and leaves the competence and the procedure to the Federal Council (art. 9 (1) d and (2)). The Federal Hunting Ordinance lets the cantons allow specially trained members of the hunting police, or hunters, to use forbidden means where this is needed to preserve certain species or habitats, to prevent game damage, to fight animal diseases, or to track injured animals and kill them if necessary; the cantons keep a list of the people authorised (art. 3 (1) and (2)). The Federal Office for the Environment may allow forbidden means for scientific research and for marking campaigns (art. 3 (3)). None of these texts mentions the bow, and we found no authorisation granted for one.

The crossbow

The crossbow is named in the same letter as the bow and is forbidden for hunting in the same way.

Open questions

• Whether any canton, or the Federal Office for the Environment, has ever authorised a bow under these exceptions.
• The ordinance as first published in 1988 (AS 1988 517): we could not open the scan in the Federal Archives, so the date rests on the consolidated text of 2000.
• What the federal hunting law in force before 1988 said about the bow. We did not read it.

Before you go

This page describes the Swiss federal texts as they stood on the date below. The list of forbidden hunting means is set by the Federal Council, not by the cantons (Federal Hunting Act, art. 3 (4)). If you hear that bowhunting has been allowed in Switzerland, ask for the amendment of art. 2 of the Federal Hunting Ordinance and its number in the official compilation (AS), or for the written authorisation and the purpose and place it covers. Until then, hunting with a bow in Switzerland is a criminal offence. The final check is yours.