According to the latest figures, the game animals most often killed were Roe Deer, more than 34,000 meeting their demise. Second place went to beavers (more than 30,000) and then Red Deer (more than 20,000).
Most figures were comparable to the numbers taken during the 2018/2019 season, though there was a notable decline in the number of Lynx killed (71 as against 145 the previous year).
The total kill count did increase to 131,361 game animals killed during the most recent hunting season, up from 119,458 the previous season.
Obviously the figures only incude those numbers declared by honest hunters and not animals that were illegally poached.
Data on the number of game animals and animals bagged during the hunting season are used to estimate the number of game animals within the territory of Latvia and are acquired from the information compiled by the State Forest Service. Consequently it was estimated that in nearly all cases the number of wild game animals in the country increased on the year, with lynx again the notable exception.
As recently reported by LSM, there is an ongoing debate about what constitutes a sustainable level of hunting in Latvia's forests.
