Feeding bison in Grodno District: ‘Even 4-5 tonnes isn’t enough for a large herd’
Revenues of the Ministry of Forestry from hunting management amounted to over 9 million Belarusian rubles in 2025. This was announced by the Minister of Forestry, Alexander Kulik, at the final board meeting of the department, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
The Ministry of Forestry system includes 76 forest hunting enterprises that lease 3.1 million hectares of hunting grounds, or 18% of the total area of hunting grounds in the country.
Last year, the country observed a steady increase in the populations of key game species: elk, red deer, and roe deer. In the past hunting season, nearly 2.5 thousand elk were harvested, or 118% compared to the previous season; over 2.5 thousand red deer (or 119%); and 8 thousand roe deer, or 113% compared to the previous hunting season. "If previously the increase in harvest did not exceed 2-3%, then in the past season it reached up to 19%, which is a kind of record," the minister emphasized.
The growth in the populations of key game species also allowed for a significant increase in revenues. In 2025, revenues from hunting management (excluding hunting complexes) in the organizations of the Ministry of Forestry amounted to over 9 million Belarusian rubles, or 122% compared to the 2024 level. "Of the total revenues from hunting management in 2025, revenues from foreign hunting tourism amounted to 3.3 million Belarusian rubles, or over $1 million in equivalent. Again, such a figure has been achieved for the first time in the last 5 years," noted Alexander Kulik.