Moose hunting

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.

Classification of cervids after age and sex

Name: Moose hunting

Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

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.

Annual.

Not relevant

Data sets are stored at 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 the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given inthe Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

The difference between preliminary and final numbers is minimal.

The Statistics Act §§ 2-2

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.

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

Not relevant

The statistics are comparable back to 1952 (see chapter 2.1.).

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