Strict rules hamper crop-protection hunt in North Karelia

A new hunt targeting protected barnacle geese is proving difficult in North Karelia, where strict rules and scattered permitted fields complicate efforts to prevent crop damage, Yle reported.

The geese are migrating through eastern Finland on their way to wintering grounds. Nearly 1.5 million birds use the route, and flocks of tens of thousands can feed in fields, damaging crops. North Karelia has the country’s biggest goose-related losses. In 2025, the state paid farmers in the region 2.1 million euros in compensation, compared with about 1.9 million euros across the rest of Finland.

The so-called protective hunt began in September for the first time. Geese may be shot only in fields where food crops have not yet been harvested. Hunting is prohibited in designated goose fields, Natura conservation areas and game fields. Permitted and prohibited fields can lie next to one another, making it harder for hunters to know where they can shoot.

In the fields around Viinijärvi, west of Joensuu, flocks feed throughout daylight hours. Jarkko Hyvärinen, chair of the Taipaleen Erä hunting club, said hunters would need to be present constantly to protect the fields effectively. The club has worked with farmers to map the plots where hunting is allowed, but Hyvärinen said the boundaries still create uncertainty.

Hyvärinen said it was too early to assess the effect of the hunt. He has noticed that flocks learn to avoid fields where shots are fired.

Mika Piiroinen of the Värtsilä Riistamiehet hunting club described the start of the hunt as confusing. He said it could work in areas with large expanses of fields and farmers keen to protect their crops. But around Kitee and neighbouring Tohmajärvi, he expects the impact to be limited because many fields are protected from hunting.

Piiroinen said he would not expect results until next spring, when it may become clearer how the geese behave during their next migration and whether crop damage shifts elsewhere. He doubts hunting will reduce the growing barnacle goose population and would like the species to be classified as game in autumn. He also said protective hunting should be allowed across a wider area in spring, when crop damage is greatest.

At Hannu Hämäläinen’s dairy farm in Viinijärvi, grass is grown across about 200 hectares at a time to feed a herd of more than 300 dairy cows. Hämäläinen said geese often eat grass from 50 to 100 hectares in spring. The problem has worsened over the past decade, and last spring geese ate grass intended for the cows across about 100 hectares.

Hämäläinen is too busy to hunt himself, but has given the local hunting club permission to use his fields. He said he incurs at least tens of thousands of euros in additional costs each year to buy feed to replace what the geese eat.