Can a hunter just hunt anywhere?

Owning hunting rights

A hunter needs hunting rights to be allowed to hunt somewhere. Hunting rights are linked to a piece of land. The owner of a piece of land automatically has the corresponding hunting rights. Owners may exercise these rights themselves, but they can also transfer the hunting rights to a hunter, a hunting group, or a wildlife management unit.

Someone who holds hunting rights is called a hunting rights holder.

If someone chooses to transfer the hunting rights (temporarily), this is called a hunting lease.

The transfer of hunting rights must be done through a hunting lease agreement. Since 2014, this agreement must be in writing and contain at least the following information:

1. The name of the owner or hunting rights holder transferring the hunting rights to the plot in question
2. The name of the person acquiring the hunting rights to the plot in question
3. The start date of the agreement transferring the hunting rights to the plot in question
4. The end date of the agreement transferring the hunting rights to the plot in question
5. If applicable, the game species to which the agreement applies
6. The cadastral parcel number of the plot in question.

The hunting grounds

Once a hunter has hunting rights to a piece of land, they are permitted to hunt on that land. It is possible for a hunter to hold multiple hunting rights and therefore hunt on different plots. The contiguous area
of land on which a hunter has hunting rights is called the hunting area.

• Do you want to hunt with a firearm as a hunter? Then your hunting area must be at least 40 hectares in size.
• Do you want to hunt waterfowl with a firearm? Then an area of ​​at least 3 hectares
  of water is sufficient.

A hunter can, of course, hunt in ways other than firearms, for example, with
birds of prey. In that case, there is no minimum size requirement for the hunting area.

In addition, some additional rules apply to hunting areas:

• There may be no highway, navigable waterway, or railway within the hunting area.
• Hunting is not permitted on other people's land without the express permission of the
  owner or the hunting rights holder.
• Hunters are not permitted to allow dogs to hunt or roam on land where the hunting rights belong to
  another person.

Submitting a hunting plan

Every hunter must submit an annual hunting plan for their hunting grounds. This plan shows the plots of land where the hunter has hunting rights.

Hunters must submit a hunting plan proposal to the district commissioner of the province in which the hunting grounds are located before April 1st. Since 2018, this has been done via a digital platform of the Flemish Government.

• If your hunting plan remains unchanged, simply submit a declaration of unaltered preservation of a hunting plan.
• If there are changes to the hunting plan, you will need to submit an application to amend the hunting plan.

Once the hunting plans have been approved, hunters are permitted to hunt on their hunting grounds.
Approved hunting plans are publicly visible on Geopunt.