The hare in Slovenia: from the Mura plain to the Triglav pastures

The government regulation defining game species and their hunting seasons lists the brown hare as game.^[2] It is found in very different landscapes: in the Pomurje area, in the north-east, it occurs everywhere and is more common in the lowland part;^[3] in the Triglav area, in the north-west, it occupies all hunting grounds, from high mountain pastures down to the valleys of the major rivers.^[4] For its biology, see our Brown hare profile.

A thesis from the University of Ljubljana notes a marked decline of the brown hare in Europe and in Slovenia over the previous ten years, and attributes it to agricultural intensification, weather during the leveret-rearing season, predators, land abandonment and scrub encroachment, urbanisation, roads, as well as diseases and parasites.^[5]

The Forest Service's 2025-2026 plans point the same way. In Pomurje, the population "is not high, but stable", with large fluctuations from year to year; hunting grounds that hunt foxes intensively in winter have more hares.^[3] In the Triglav area, numbers are considered stable with a slight decline, well below what they were thirty or more years ago.^[4]

In Pomurje, the six-year average harvest (2019-2024) is 149 hares, and the plans were fulfilled at only 57% on average; the plan also stresses that losses (predation, traffic) are probably several times greater than the game bag.^[3] In the Triglav area, the average is 54 hares a year, down to 28 over the last two years, a drop the plan attributes mainly to a lack of interest in this type of hunting and a lack of well-trained dogs.^[4] In both cases, the plan states that the planned harvest does not have to be reached.^[3][4]

Hunting is governed by the Game and Hunting Act (ZDLov-1). The country is divided into hunting management areas (lovsko upravljavska območja), and the Slovenia Forest Service is responsible for game planning and monitoring.^[1] Hunting grounds are managed by hunting clubs (lovske družine), while the Hunters Association of Slovenia (Lovska zveza Slovenije) organises, among other things, the hunting exam.^[1]

Hunting seasons are set nationally by a government regulation (Uredba o določitvi divjadi in lovnih dob).^[2] For the dates in force, consult the consolidated version of this text. The plans also recommend that managers count hares in spring and summer and control predators.^[3]

The ZDLov-1 Act lists the reintroduction of extinct species and the reinforcement of rare or threatened native species among the tasks of special-purpose hunting grounds, managed under conditions set by the government.^[1] For any project to import hares or return them to the wild, check with the ministry responsible for hunting and the Slovenia Forest Service. Our page on returning hares to the wild sets out general good practice.