Wild reindeer hunting

Hunting ground

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

Qualifying area

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

Licences issued

The number of animals that the municipality has given each hunting ground permission to shoot.

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.

The hunting period valid until March 31, 2028

The regular hunting period for wild reindeer is August 20 to September 30.

Classification of wild reindeer areas

Name: Wild reindeer hunting
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

Wild reindeer area.

The statistics are published annually, 10 weeks after the end of hunting.

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 wild reindeer hunting in Norway. Until 1951, the statistics covered all registered felling of wild reindeer, both those that were shot through legal hunting and those that were shot or died in other ways. After 1952, the statistics only cover wild reindeer 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 on the number of felled moose and red deer, as well as registered non-harvest morality of cervids are published.

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 wild reindeer in Norway.

The Wild Reindeer Councils

Total census

Statistics Norway obtains data on felling quotas and the hunting data from the individual Wild Reindeer Councils.

Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data. Sum checks and checks of the number of animals felled against the number of licences issued are performed. In the event of a lack of clarity in the submitted data, the Wild Reindeer Council is contacted for additional information.

Number of animals felled and number of hunting licenses issued are summarised and distributed on wild reindeer council.

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. Until 1951, the statistics covered all registered felling of wild reindeer, both those that were shot through legal hunting and those that were shot or died in other ways. After 1952, the statistics only cover wild reindeer legally killed through ordinary hunting.

The data capture is closely connected to the local wildlife management, and the data quality is regarded as very good. Some hunting grounds cross municipal borders. In some cases this makes it difficult to decide in which municipality some of the animals were felled. The distribution of these animals is determined by the Wild Reindeer Council and does not affect the total number of wild reindeer felled.

The level of non-response is negligible. Reporting to Statistics Norway is compulsory for all Wild Reindeer Councils. Statistics Norway reminds the councils that have not forwarded their reports within three weeks from the end of the hunting season. In that way, all councils are covered.