In order to tell the story of hunting in Warmia and Mazury, one has to go back to the post-war period, when legal regulations in this field were just being shaped. In 1946, despite the fact that hunters’ membership in the Polish Hunting Association was not yet required, 475 people expressed their willingness to join its ranks. How was the hunting and hunting activity of the region shaped? What influences its current functioning?
Problems with regulations
After the end of the war, legal regulations resulting from German law, which shaped the hunting life of the region, ceased to apply. The application of the rules from 1927 was also not justified in relation to local conditions. Therefore, Polish hunters faced the task of developing a new system that would regulate the organization of hunting and hunting activities in Warmia and Mazury. How did the work on the new legal regulations start? The Provisional Board of PZŁ was active in Lublin. In 1945, he authorized the engineer Knothe to convene a meeting of hunters who lived in the Masurian District. They declared themselves the PZŁ Branch for the Masurian District, thus establishing the Temporary Hunting Council. The next step was to appoint county hunting officers and start creating hunting districts. However, this did not in any way prohibit hunting for other inhabitants of the region. Membership of hunters in PZŁ was still not obligatory, and the Polish Hunting Association itself did not have administrative competence at that time.
Establishment of the first hunting clubs in Warmia and Mazury
In addition to the districts, Hunting Associations also began to form. Thanks to the organization of hunters at the local level, in 1945 the “Rogacz” Hunting Association was established in Giżycko. In those years, legal hunting could only take place in the State Forests. However, such expeditions were not easy to organize. One of the main problems was the much more difficult access to weapons. Not only was it important that hunters lost their weapons very often during the war, but also that it was extremely difficult to obtain a possession permit – it is estimated that in the initial period, no more than 20% of hunters associated in PPL. (source)
Hunting in Warmia and Mazury in the present times
The Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship can boast of 370 hunting districts, of which 108 are forest districts. They occupy 743,465 ha. Although these are quite impressive statistics, the role of hunters is not currently seen as a way to protect game animals. And yet Warmia and Mazury was characterized by the fact that both hunting and hunting were a key element of the local forest economy. Hence the idea to restore the old hunting traditions of the region and to facilitate the organization of activities of hunting clubs. One of the elements of this idea is a project assuming the creation of modern, energy-saving and mobile hunting quarters. These will be low-energy bases that will ensure the organization of hunting, acting as housing and living facilities. According to the assumptions of the project, they will significantly contribute not only to facilitating the performance of duties resulting from the position of a hunter, but will also support the development of thematic tourism in the region and the country.
Many years of hunting traditions have come a long way and had a huge impact on the development of the region’s culture. Returning to the roots and work related to providing appropriate conditions for hunters can contribute to sustainable forest management – both now and in the future.
