The hare in Austria: a lowland game species managed Land by Land

The brown hare (Lepus europaeus) lives on arable land, grassland and vineyards, particularly in the east of the country: Lower Austria, Burgenland, Upper Austria. It is the species described in our Brown hare profile.

Higher up, in the Alpine arc covering the west and south of the country, lives the mountain hare (Lepus timidus), which turns white in winter. It is a cold-climate species: a study by the Swiss WSL institute, the University of Bern and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) projects that, in the Swiss Alps, about a third of its suitable habitat will be lost by 2100, with more fragmented populations^[4]. This work concerns Switzerland, but it illustrates the pressure that warming puts on this mountain hare throughout the Alpine region.

Statistik Austria publishes hunting statistics every year, based on data supplied by the Länder authorities. For the 2024/25 season, the office records 104,800 hares shot, an increase of 0.5% on the previous season^[1]. The same press release, corrected after its first publication, counts 25,200 hares among game found dead (Fallwild); across all species, road traffic accounts for 56.3% of these losses^[1].

These national figures hide local trends. In 2018, the Upper Austrian hunting association reported that around 30,300 hares had been shot in that Land in 2016/17, roughly half the number of fifteen years earlier; it pointed to habitat loss and increased predator pressure^[2]. A game bag measures harvest, not directly the size of a population.

In Austria, hunting falls under the legislation of the nine Länder. Each Land defines the hunting year — which does not start on the same date everywhere — as well as the open seasons and close seasons^[1]. Statutory shooting plans apply to ungulates; for other species, including the hare, a harvest plan is drawn up without being governed by law in the same way^[1].

In practice, to find out the hare season in a given district, you need to refer to the hunting act and hunting regulations of the Land concerned, or ask the Landesjagdverband (the Land hunting association) and the Bezirkshauptmannschaft (district administration).

The rules on Aussetzen von Wild (releasing game into the wild) are also set out in the Länder hunting acts. In Lower Austria, for example, only the holder of the hunting right may do so, with the lessor's consent where the shoot is leased, and the operation must be notified in writing to the district authority beforehand, stating in particular the number of animals per species and their origin^[3]. The other Länder have their own provisions.

Before any project, check with the competent Bezirkshauptmannschaft and the Landesjagdverband of your Land. Our guide to returning hares to the wild describes the steps for preparing a shoot from a French perspective.

GIBIS, a game breeder based in Chatte, in the Isère department of France, raises young hares there and also offers wild-caught hares from Central Europe: see our hares. The photos on this page show the species in its habitat and do not depict our animals.