Hunting: Coronavirus

(asked on 25th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs, whether hunting is considered as exercise under the covid-19 lockdown restrictions announced in January 2021.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 29th January 2021

There are no exemptions to the lockdown restrictions in place for organised hunting or shooting. You must only leave the home where you have a reasonable excuse. A reasonable excuse includes where reasonably necessary for exercise. As a private individual, you may leave your home to shoot where you are confident this counts towards your daily exercise and is compliant with social contact rules (see further detail on exercise here on gov.uk).

You can exercise in a public outdoor place:

  • by yourself
  • with the people you live with
  • with your support bubble (if you are legally permitted to form one)
  • or, when on your own, with 1 person from another household, but should maintain social distancing under current Covid-19 guidelines and not share any equipment

When deciding how to exercise, you should consider if your chosen activity and location will enable you to minimise your time away from home and risk of interacting with others.

You must also ensure that relevant regulatory and licensing requirements are met, and permission has been given by the landowner or manager. Organised shooting or hunting is not permitted during the National Lockdown.

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