Restocking guide — hare
Restocking brown hares: the step-by-step guide
Management plan, choice of supply, acclimatisation pen, timing, health precautions and follow-up: what we check with our customers before every hare delivery.
Step 1
Before ordering: federation, DDT(M) and management plan
Planning to return hares to the wild on your ground? Start with the rules, not with the order. In France the European hare is one of the most tightly regulated small-game species locally: many départements are divided into management units, each with a hare management plan approved by prefectoral order, a maximum authorised bag (PMA) and, in some cases, limits on or a ban of returning hares to the wild. Departmental rules are set in the departmental hunting management scheme (SDGC), and introducing game into the wild may require an application to the DDT(M), examined after consulting the departmental hunters' federation (FDC). Three public examples show how much situations differ: the 2020-2026 hare management plan of the Nord federation, the hare annex to the Drôme hunting management plan for 2026-2027 and the Allier hare management plan (all in French). They are examples only: the SDGC and the management plan of your own département are what count. The framework is set out in full on our small game regulations page.
Your management unit
Ask your federation which management unit the ground belongs to and what its hare management plan says about returning hares to the wild.
The SDGC prevails
Species, periods, areas and conditions: the departmental scheme binds every holder of hunting rights in the département.
Proof of origin
GIBIS, holding no. 38001, supplies the health certificate and an invoice stating the animals' origin with every delivery.
Step 2
Choosing your supply: French leveret or wild-caught hare
We offer two supply lines of the same species, the European hare (Lepus europaeus), and they meet different needs. The French leveret comes from French breeding: it is delivered at 3 to 4 months, weighing 2.5 to 3 kg, and sold for €95.00 each in 2025-2026, for reference. The wild-caught hare is an adult taken during capture campaigns in Central Europe from high-density wild populations; it is delivered after quarantine and with a health certificate, as a pair, a trio or a single buck; 2026-2027 pre-reservations from 15 November 2026. Both supply lines are presented on our page live hares for restocking, and the 2025-2026 prices, given for reference only, are in the hare catalogue.
French leveret
From French breeding, delivered at 3 or 4 months: the choice for small restocking nuclei.
Wild-caught hare
Wild adult from Central Europe, offered as a pair, a trio or a single buck: the choice for volume.
Two calendars
For French leverets and wild-caught hares alike, delivery schedule: please contact us. The date of your project often decides the supply line.
Step 3
The acclimatisation pen: fenced, with the mesh buried
Hares do not dig burrows: they spend the day in a form, a simple hollow on the ground. Returned to the wild straight onto unfamiliar ground, they scatter quickly and are exposed to predators in the first days. Hence the commonly recommended practice: move the animals through an acclimatisation pen, then a large pen, before they are fully set free. For hares as for rabbits, the pen is fenced with wire mesh and the mesh is buried. Put it where ground cover already exists — grass margins, set-aside, low hedges — rather than on a bare plot. Agree the acclimatisation period with your federation's technician. For transport, get the pen ready before the delivery, not after: the hares must be able to go into it as soon as they arrive.
Buried mesh
Buried mesh stops digging predators such as foxes and badgers from getting in underneath.
Ground cover
Grass margins, set-aside and low hedges matter more than any structure: that is where a hare finds its form and some peace.
On arrival
Pen ready before the van arrives: the hares go into the pen as soon as they are delivered.
Step 4
How many hares, over what area?
Think in terms of density over a uniform area, not the number of animals bought. One published health benchmark exists: below 8 to 15 hares per 100 hectares, a population has little immunity to European Brown Hare Syndrome (EBHS) and suffers heavy autumn losses, whereas above that level mortality becomes low (epidemiological model by Lavazza et al., 1997). A return to the wild spread too thinly over too large an area is therefore unlikely to succeed. Beyond that, we give no one-size-fits-all figure: the right number for your ground is set with your federation's technician, from spring counts and kilometric abundance indices (IKA), within the limits of the unit's management plan.
Start from the counts
Spring counts and IKA show the population already there: the basis of any calculation.
A health threshold
Below 8 to 15 hares per 100 hectares, EBHS hits harder (Lavazza et al., 1997): concentrate rather than scatter.
With the federation technician
The final number is decided with the federation, within the unit's management plan.
Step 5
When should hares be returned to the wild?
There is no national date: the period depends on the SDGC and on your unit's hare management plan. The delivery calendar sets the other limit: for French leverets and wild-caught hares alike, delivery schedule: please contact us. The widely shared principle is to act early enough before the season opens for the animals to find their bearings, then to suspend or reduce shooting until the population has settled. Pre-reservations of wild-caught hares for the 2026-2027 season open on 15 November 2026: call us on +33 4 76 38 31 01 to prepare your project.
No national date
The SDGC and the unit's management plan set the period: check both before choosing your date.
Moderate shooting
Suspending or reducing hare shooting while the animals settle is part of the project.
Book early
Wild-caught batches are limited: tell us about your project in the autumn.
Step 6
Health precautions: EBHS and tularaemia
Two hare diseases are worth knowing. European Brown Hare Syndrome (EBHS) is caused by a highly contagious calicivirus and is fatal in 7 to 100 % of cases; the virus survives three to four months in the fields, and the disease, present all year round, is most frequent from September to December; prevention includes destroying carcasses by incineration (EBHS fact sheet from the French national hunters' federation, published by FDC 04, in French). Tularaemia is a zoonosis, transmissible to humans; among the preventive measures, the French Ministry of Health fact sheet lists health checks on import (health certificate, quarantine) and isolating animals before they join a batch of game (Ministry of Health « Tularémie » fact sheet, in French). At GIBIS every batch leaves with its health certificate; wild-caught hares go through quarantine under veterinary supervision, with serological and parasitological testing and a European TRACES health certificate. The tests required vary from one département to another: ask your federation what it requires.
EBHS
Hare calicivirus, not transmissible to humans, most frequent from September to December: carcasses destroyed by incineration.
Tularaemia
Zoonosis: health certificate, quarantine and isolation before mixing are among the preventive measures.
A certificate for every batch
Health certificate with every delivery; TRACES certificate and quarantine for wild-caught hares.
Step 7
After the return to the wild: monitor and manage
A restocking project is judged the following year, not on delivery day. A survey of the federations by the former French wildlife agency (ONCFS) found that two restocking operations out of three had failed between 1984 and 1994 (survey on pheasants — Mayot, Faune Sauvage no. 274, 2006): follow-up makes the difference. Leave the cover in place, keep up predator control within the law, shoot lightly and repeat the spring counts with your federation to measure how well the population has settled. Where a management plan applies, the bag book and the PMA govern hare shooting. The general restocking protocol is described on our restocking game page and in our guide to successfully restocking your ground.
Spring counts
Count again the following year with the federation: the only reliable measure of the result.
Cover and quiet
Keep grass margins and set-aside: without ground cover, hares do not stay.
Regulated shooting
PMA and bag book where a management plan applies; restraint everywhere else.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need permission to return hares to the wild?
When should hares be returned to the wild?
How many hares per hectare?
French leveret or wild-caught hare: which to choose?
What acclimatisation pen do hares need?
See also
Let's plan your hare restocking project together
Area, cover, your unit's management plan, timing: let's talk before you order. We deliver to holders of hunting rights throughout France, with a health certificate and an invoice of origin. Call us on +33 4 76 38 31 01 or email gibis@gibis.fr.