Number of hunting licenses validated annually in France 1970-2020

Since the 1970s, the number of validated hunting licenses has been steadily declining, going from almost two millions in 1970-1971, to slightly more than one million in 2019-2020.

Since 1975, the hunting license is a permanent document. It is subject to validation for the entire year (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 for example) or for a shorter period (9 days, which can be applied for once a year, or 3 days, which can be applied for twice a year). To obtain this validation, a hunter must hold a hunting license and insurance. Additionally, the hunter must also be a member of the federation of the department where they wish to hunt, have paid a hunting fee and a stamp duty.
It should also be noted that a hunter can register in several departments and have, for example, one annual departmental validation and another for three days in a different federation. The central hunters' file does not make this distinction.