Moose hunting

Updated: 22 March 2024

Next update: Not yet determined

The number of moose shot in the hunting year
The number of moose shot in the hunting year
2023-2024
26 007
Moose felled. Preliminary figures
Moose felled. Preliminary figures
NumberShareChange in per cent
2023-20242023-20242022-2023 - 2023-20242019-2020 - 2023-2024
Total26 007100.0-5.4-14.2
Males
Calf4 95819.11.1-6.8
Yearlings3 99215.3-6.0-14.5
Older5 70421.9-10.1-20.7
Females
Calf4 81218.51.1-3.8
Yearlings2 64810.2-6.2-20.2
Older3 89315.0-11.7-19.1
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Moose hunting, by county. Preliminary figures
    Moose hunting, by county. Preliminary figures
    2023-2024
    Felling licences, mooseFelled mooseMalesFemalesHarvest percentage
    The whole country39 26226 00714 65411 35366
    Viken (2020-2023)4 7872 8861 6591 22760
    Oslo13466333349
    Innlandet10 2007 4274 1863 24173
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)3 4111 66990276749
    Agder2 3861 35675560157
    Rogaland17734211319
    Vestland24359322724
    Møre og Romsdal351135835238
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage8 8385 6273 1662 46164
    Nordland - Nordlánnda5 4474 1922 3071 88577
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)3 2882 5561 5101 04678
    Explanation of symbols
  • Moose felled, by county, age and sex. Preliminary figures
    Moose felled, by county, age and sex. Preliminary figures
    2023-2024
    TotalCalfYearlingsOlder
    MalesFemalesMalesFemalesMalesFemales
    The whole country26 0074 9584 8123 9922 6485 7043 893
    Viken (2020-2023)2 886579522496293584412
    Oslo661116311916
    Innlandet7 4271 4361 4251 0666941 6841 122
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)1 669275295196143431329
    Agder1 356183184227166345251
    Rogaland34954682
    Vestland59713116148
    Møre og Romsdal13528171574028
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage5 6271 3081 2588565331 002670
    Nordland - Nordlánnda4 192685667686510936708
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)2 556437410432289641347
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The statistics give an overview of Norwegian moose hunting. The figures show the number of moose shot and the number of permissions given, by age and sex. The statistics also comprise figures on estimated carcass weight.

Hunting ground

The basic territorial unit sanctioned for hunting cervids and allotted felling licences.

Qualifying area

The area forming the basis for hunting licences allotted by the municipalities. For moose and red deer, the area includes mainly woodland and bogs.

Cervids

Cervids includes moose (Alces alces), red deer (Cervus elaphus), wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus).

Issued licences

The number of licences allotted to a hunting ground by a municipalitiy.

Cervids felled

The number of cervids felled in regular hunting.

Selective shooting

Licences issued with an obligation for a certain distribution of animals felled, by calf, 1½ year-old animals, adult males and adult females.

Per cent felled

Shot animals as a percentage of licences issued.

The hunting year

One hunting year lasts as from 1 April to 31 March the following year.

Hunting period valid until 31 March 2028

The regular hunting period for moose hunting is 25 September to 23 December.

Name: Moose hunting
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

Not yet determined

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

County and municipality. For the hunting years 2007/08 and 2008/09 figures on municipality level are based on the hunting area where the municipality is responsible for the administration. This area may include area in adjacent municipalities. Previous years, figures on municipality level were based on hunting taking place within the municipality borders. Since the municipality figures for these two years are not comparable from one year to another, the statistics from the hunting year 2008/09 was published on county level. As from the hunting year 2009/10, the data are collected and published by municipality.

The statistics are published annually. Preliminary figures are published in March of the year after the hunt has ended. Final figures are published 10 weeks later.

Not relevant

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The purpose of the statistics is to show the extent of moose hunting in Norway. Statistics on felled animals date back to 1889. Until 1951, the reports were collected from the police and covered all moose killed, both those that were shot through legal hunting and those that died in other ways, to the extent this was reported. After 1952, the statistics only cover moose legally killed through ordinary hunting.

The most important users of these statistics are The Norwegian Environment Agency, the County Departments of Environmental Affairs, professional bodies, the media, research and educational institutions and the local wildlife authorities.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

Statistics are also published on red deer hunting and wild reindeer hunting, as well as Non-harvest mortality of cervids.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Not relevant

The statistics include all legal hunting of moose in Norway.

The responsible person for each hunting ground report the results of the hunt to the municipality. The municipality is responsibel for reporting aggregated data for the municipality.

Total census.

The municipal authorities send forms for reporting to the responsible persons in each hunting ground together with the licence. These responsible persons have a duty to report back to the municipality within 10 days after the end of the hunting period. The municipality then has a duty to send reports to Statistics Norway within 3 weeks.

Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data. Sum checks and checks of the number of animals felled compared with licences issued are undertaken. Where necessary, the municipal authorities are contacted to clarify cases of doubt.

The number of felled animals and number of hunting licences are summarised and distributed by country, county and municipality.

Not relevant

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

The statistics are comparable back to 1952.

For the hunting years 2007/08 and 2008/09 figures on municipality level were based on the hunting area where the municipality was responsible for the administration. This area may include hunting area in adjacent municipalities. Previous years, figures on municipality level were based on the hunting area within the municipality border. This results in a break in time series for the statistics for these two years. Municipalities not managing any hunting area themselves will lack in the statistics. This change is due to more cooperation between municipalities because of expanding hunting grounds. In the hunting year 2007/08 more than 60 municipalities are affected by this change. As from the hunting year 2009/10, data will be collected and published at municipality level.

The report work is closely connected to the municipality's management of the stock of moose and the data quality is regarded as very good. Some big hunting grounds cross municipal borders. In some cases this makes it difficult to tell in which municipality some of the animals were felled. The distribution of these animals is determined by the local wildlife authorities. This does not affect the total number of moose shot.

The level of non-response is negligible. Reporting to Statistics Norway is compulsory for all municipalities. Statistics Norway and the county management remind municipalities that have not forwarded the reports within three weeks from the end of the hunting season. In that way all municipalities are covered.

Not relevant

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