Hunting, as a form of Istrian tourist offer, is very well developed. Row deer, common deer and fallow-deer, wild boars, rabbits, pheasants, Polish wheatears and rock partridges are grown on more than 240.000 hectares of hunting grounds.
In Istria there are 46 hunting grounds and 38 hunting societies, the members of which take care about a total of 42 hunting grounds and 13 hunting refuges. The four remaining hunting grounds are in private or public lease.
Snipe hunt is allowed in all hunting grounds in Istria in the period from October until the end of January.
Required Documentation
If you come to Croatia for game hunting, you must have a passport. You need a valid international document for temporary export of hunting weapons, weapons certificate, a written invitation of an authorized person whose hunting grounds you will hunt on, and the Croatian hunting identity card for foreign hunters.
Your hunting dogs must have an international passport issued by an authorized veterinarian, which certify that the dogs have received a rabies vaccine. The passport must not be older than 6 months and dogs must be clearly marked by a visible tattoo or an electronic identification system, a so called microchip.
If you have more than five dogs, you have to obtain a decision on the temporary importation of dogs from the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture and Foresty.
Weapons
Each hunter can bring into Croatia up to two different caliber guns, with the appropriate weapon certificate and the document on temporary export. When entering and leaving Croatia, you must report the weapon to the border police. The use of semi-automatic rifle is allowed only for those with a maximum of two charges, while the hunting weapons can only be used at distances greater than 300 meters from the nearest family house.
Ammunition
Each hunter may have up to 150 rounds of ammunition for the two pipe, or 25 pieces for the carbine rifle. The person responsible for the hunt is checking the size of the hunting lead before arriving on the hunting grounds. For hunting buck and wild boar it is compulsory to have grooved tubes and the ammunition compatible with the lowest grain weight of 3.24 grams (1000 joule) for buck, and 8, 20 and 2500 joule for wild boars. Exceptionally, for the wild boar hunt it is allowed to use the balls from hunting rifles with smooth tubes at a maximum distance of 40 meters. Environmentally friendly ammunition is recommended for the hunt.
Dogs
Hunting small game cannot be realized without hunting dogs which must be registered and have passed exams according to the laws of the countries they come from. Hunting small game cannot start or take place without the participation of at least one hunting dog per six hunters.
Export of wildlife and trophies
Export of wildlife is possible only if the game is examined and certified according to the regulations of the destination country.
