Statistikk innhold
Statistics on
Red deer hunting
The statistics give an overview of Norwegian red deer hunting. The figures show the number of red deer shot and the number of permissions given, by age and sex. The statistics also comprise figures on estimated carcass weight.
Selected figures from these statistics
- Red deer felled. Preliminary figuresDownload table as ...Red deer felled. Preliminary figures
Number Share Change in per cent 2025-2026 2025-2026 2024-2025 - 2025-2026 2021-2022 - 2025-2026 Total 50 148 100.0 -7.5 -5.1 Males Calf 8 428 16.8 -9.9 2.3 Yearlings 8 199 16.3 -4.0 -4.6 Older 8 054 16.1 -6.2 -11.1 Females Calf 7 836 15.6 -9.7 0.9 Yearlings 7 645 15.2 -5.7 -7.2 Older 9 986 19.9 -8.8 -8.8 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Red deer hunting, by county. Preliminary figuresDownload table as ...Red deer hunting, by county. Preliminary figures
2025-2026 Felling licences, red deer Felled red deer Males Females Harvest percentage The whole country 78 576 50 148 24 681 25 467 64 Østfold 196 88 49 39 45 Akershus 259 65 38 27 25 Oslo - Oslove 0 0 0 0 . Buskerud 1 581 594 325 269 38 Innlandet 3 255 1 875 1 046 829 58 Vestfold 408 221 117 104 54 Telemark 2 996 1 104 567 537 37 Agder 3 554 1 898 923 975 53 Rogaland 5 915 3 827 1 841 1 986 65 Vestland 36 001 24 468 11 732 12 736 68 Møre og Romsdal 16 545 11 281 5 615 5 666 68 Trøndelag - Trööndelage 7 492 4 684 2 405 2 279 63 Nordland - Nordlánnda 374 43 23 20 11 Troms - Romsa - Tromssa 0 0 0 0 . Finnmark - Finnmárku - Finmarkku 0 0 0 0 . Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Red deer hunting. Animals felled by county,age and sex. Preliminary figuresDownload table as ...Red deer hunting. Animals felled by county,age and sex. Preliminary figures
2025-2026 Felled red deer Calf Yearlings Older Total Males Females Males Females Males Females The whole country 50 148 8 428 7 836 8 199 7 645 8 054 9 986 Østfold 88 18 13 17 14 14 12 Akershus 65 13 7 12 4 13 16 Oslo - Oslove 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Buskerud 594 66 86 90 82 169 101 Innlandet 1 875 225 255 365 220 456 354 Vestfold 221 31 34 31 25 55 45 Telemark 1 104 174 167 145 120 248 250 Agder 1 898 281 337 283 260 359 378 Rogaland 3 827 745 703 579 593 517 690 Vestland 24 468 4 125 3 749 4 090 3 993 3 517 4 994 Møre og Romsdal 11 281 1 928 1 741 1 863 1 726 1 824 2 199 Trøndelag - Trööndelage 4 684 814 737 720 602 871 940 Nordland - Nordlánnda 43 8 7 4 6 11 7 Troms - Romsa - Tromssa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Finnmark - Finnmárku - Finmarkku 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 17 March 2026.
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 as to 31 March the following year.
Hunting period valid until 31 March 2028
The regular hunting period for red deer hunting is 1 September to 23 December.
Name: Red deer 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 were based on the hunting area where the municipality was responsible for the administration. This area may include area in several municipalities. Previous years, figures on municipality level were based on hunting taking place within the municipality borders. See also 6.1. 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 at county level. As from the hunting year 2009/10, the data will be collected and published at municipality level.
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.
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 these statistics is to show the extent of red deer hunting in Norway. Statistics on felled animals date back to 1892. Until 1951, the reports were collected from the police and covered all red deer 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 red deer 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 moose 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).
The statistics include all legal hunting of red deer 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 level.
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 several municipalities. Previous years, figures on municipality level were based on the hunting area within the municipality. This results in a break in time series for the statistics. Municipalities not managing any hunting area themselves will lack in the statistics for these two years. This change was due to more cooperation between municipalities because of expanding hunting grounds. In the hunting year 2007/08 more than thirty municipalities were affected by this change, and in 2008/09 the municipal figures were not published. As from the hunting year 2009/10, the figures are collected and published at municipality level.
The report work is closely connected to the municipality's management of the stock of red deer 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 red deer 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 after the end of the hunting season. In that way all municipalities are covered.