From Finnish Wildlife Agency's page, this document clarifies the basic requirement:

https://riista.fi/wp-content/u.....ndd_-1.pdf

It is stated in it that you have basically two possibilities to get started:

"In order to obtain a Finnish hunting card, foreign
hunters must present a hunting card or other reliable
clarification valid in their homeland which indicates
that they have the right to hunt there. These
documents should be presented to the director of the
game management association. If a foreign person is
unable to provide a reliable explanation of his/her
right to hunt, s/he must complete a Finnish hunting
exam."

I guess the easiest way would probably to get a certificate from NZ which tells that you have a right to hunt there?

I am not that active here on the board and even less so in the field, unfortunately, but I thought I could try to help out with some of your questions. In short, I think you'll have best success by teaming up with a hunting club in Finland, through them you could get access to a hunting area and permits for whitetail. If you know already which area of Finland you'll visit, you could probably contact a club in that area.

Here are some pages or sites that should give a better idea of what you need in general. The first one is in Finnish, but it has a link to a PDF document in English that has a good overview of things for a foreign hunter in Finland.

https://metsastajaliitto.fi/node/124

https://riista.fi/en/

https://mmm.fi/en/wildlife-and-game

My name is Mat and I am a Kiwi (New Zealander) living in Sweden.

I have hunted for years in New Zealand, but only with a rifle! I have recently picked up the love for Archery and my goal is to shoot a Whitetail Deer next hunting season in Finland.

I have a couple of questions:

1, I do not have any sort of European hunting license, I had a firearms license in New Zealand, but it has expired and then my wallet got stolen and I no longer have it. Can I come and take the Finnish course? Or is there some other way around it?

2, How do I get access to land that has Whitetails?

3, Do you mainly hunt from treestands? Or do you stalk them?

4, Would anybody want to show me how it's done next season?

Sorry for all the questions, I just have a lot to prep for next year and want to know what I am getting myself into 🙂

Kind Regards,

Mat Miller

Do any of you guys have experience hunting beaver and small game around Kuhmo? I was thinking about buying licenses for the block called Länsi-Kuhmo nr. 5617...

In general, Canadian beaver is quite common in Kuhmo. Of course it would still be helpful for you to get a hint of an active beaver area.

I was also wondering if people were allowed to drive on the forest roads that's within the borders of the public hunting grounds?

In general it is allowed but you should be careful during spring time and use common sense depending on conditions. The forest roads are often so wet that they will get ruined when driven at. Sometimes access to roads is forbidden spring time by placing barriers to prevent driving to them. So you cannot be sure when making plans unless you have local contacts who know the place.

I see, thanks for letting med know 🙂

Do any of you guys have experience hunting beaver and small game around Kuhmo? I was thinking about buying licenses for the block called Länsi-Kuhmo nr. 5617...

I have no experience at this.

I was also wondering if people were allowed to drive on the forest roads that's within the borders of the public hunting grounds? I'm just curious weather or not I can improve my chances of succes by heading further into the hunting areas...

Best regards Johannes From

Yes, you can drive the forest roads, but you can't have hunting weapons in motorised vehicle while driving off-road. (Offroad might be prohibited by land owners!) Also, you can't hunt from the vehicle, and after you park you can't hunt right away, you have to walk atleast 100 metres from vehicle before you can hunt.

Do any of you guys have experience hunting beaver and small game around Kuhmo? I was thinking about buying licenses for the block called Länsi-Kuhmo nr. 5617...

I was also wondering if people were allowed to drive on the forest roads that's within the borders of the public hunting grounds? I'm just curious weather or not I can improve my chances of succes by heading further into the hunting areas...

Best regards Johannes From

I found this map (http://www.retkikartta.fi/inde.....hp?lang=en) where you can add the map layer called "hunting" does this layer show areas of public land?

Yes. If you check only the hunting and type for example kemijärvi, it will give you options and the numbers of the areas that are also used when you try to buy the license. Also it will highlight the legal hunting area.
I personally use that service when I'm printing maps for my hunting trips on goverment land.

Thanks a lot for your responses, it's really a huge help! I just have a few more questions... I hope you can help me out 🙂 I've decided that I will try to go for a canadian beaver. I have a danish hunting license and i want to bring my longbow with me if that's legal in Finland? In Denmark we can use all 3 types, but we have to pass a test... I've figured how to get the main hunting license, but after that I will have to buy a "small game license" to hunt beaver right? I would like to hunt public land but I can't find anything on where the beavers are... Are they living all over Finland or? I found this map (http://www.retkikartta.fi/inde.....hp?lang=en) where you can add the map layer called "hunting" does this layer show areas of public land?

For state-owned land we buy the license from web, but don't know if foreigner can get license for such land. You need to ask that from metsähallitus: http://www.eraluvat.fi/en/cont.....ct-us.html

I and my friends do camp in the woods sometimes when we are hunting, but please check this out: http://www.ym.fi/fi-fi/ajankoh.....udet_esite
There are everyman's rights in finland, that are used in woods, in private and state-owned land.

Also pay attention to hunting season for each game, these are not so easy to remember: http://riista.fi/en/hunting/op.....n-seasons/

So lots of to take care, maybe a local guide would be useful.

I hope this helps you even a bit further in this..

I need some help! I have been doing a lot of research on hunting in Finland but I have some difficulties understanding the Finnish language 😉

I finish school this summer and i would like to do some hunting in Finland. I feel really drawn by your huge wild areas which is something that we don't have in Denmark... If it's possible I would like to stay for a month or so and combine big and small game hunting. Do people camp in the wild for longer periods of time? And how is it with the licenses for public land? I do know that game bigger than roe deer can't be killed with the bow...

I hope that you can help me 🙂

Best regards Johannes From