Is bear hunting legal in Romania?

The short answer

Bear hunting in Romania is legal only under an annual quota issued by the Ministry of Environment as a derogation from the strict protection the species enjoys under Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive. There is no open season a hunter can simply book into. A permit is tied to a hunting ground, a number of animals and a purpose – population management or documented damage – and the outfitter holding an allocation can offer it to a client. That is why every serious bear offer in Romania is provisional until the year’s order is published.

How we got here: 2016 to 2025

• Until 2016 – Romania issued annual harvest quotas for large carnivores (several hundred bears a year) under the derogation mechanism, and Carpathian bear hunting was the most famous in Europe, with trophy fees that reflected pelts scoring far above 400 CIC points.
• October 2016 – the environment minister declined to sign the year’s quota order, ending trophy hunting overnight. Only “intervention” permits for problem animals remained.
• 2017–2022 – a series of emergency ordinances allowed limited removals of damage-causing bears, mostly by the hunting-ground managers themselves; the population, already the EU’s largest, grew, and human-bear conflict became a national political issue.
• June 2023 – the environment minister signed the season’s cull quotas by order: 426 bears for prevention and 55 for intervention, the first large quota since 2016.
• July 2024 – after a hiker was killed in the Bucegi mountains, Parliament completed a law the Senate had begun in November 2023. It fixes an annual ceiling of 481 bears (426 prevention plus 55 intervention), lifts the trophy threshold from 350 to 400 CIC points and bars females with cubs under two.
• 2025 – the EU downgraded the wolf to Annex V; the bear stayed in Annex IV. Romanian bear removals continue under annual quota and derogation, which is the framework a foreign hunter books into today.

Numbers, dates and the exact wording of each order are public but change year to year; we confirm the current order before we accept any bear booking, and you should ask any outfitter to show you theirs.

What a permit means for you in practice

Three consequences. First, timing: the Ministry decides the year’s numbers in spring, so a spring hunt (15 March – 15 May) is booked on the previous year’s pattern and confirmed late, while the autumn window (1 September – 31 December) is usually the safer one to plan around. Second, method: hunting at bait or at the den is forbidden; we hunt from high seats over natural forage, one hunter to one guide, and a female with cubs under two is never taken. Third, paperwork: every bear trophy leaves Romania with a CITES export licence (Annex B) that we file, plus the sanitary-veterinary certificate; your own import licence is your responsibility, and for EU clients the export licence is usually sufficient.

What it costs and why the deposit waits

The 3-day hunt is 2,300 EUR with four nights, the 4-day 2,900 EUR – the longer one is the right call in a warm spring or a snowy late autumn. The trophy fee follows the pelt score: 6,000 EUR under 350 points, 7,000 EUR to 400 and 60 EUR per point above, plus 200 EUR for CITES and 200 EUR initial preparation. Because the permit, not the calendar, decides whether the hunt happens, we take no deposit while a booking is provisional; if the quota does not materialise, the booking rolls to the next season or is cancelled without charge.

Wolf and lynx: the same mechanism, currently closed

Both are handled by derogation too. Despite the wolf’s move to Annex V at EU level in 2025, Romanian law still prohibits wolf hunting except under a derogation, and none has been issued for the current season; lynx, still in Annex IV, is in the same position. We list both hunts so you can register interest, and we write the moment a permit changes the picture. Anyone selling you a wolf or lynx hunt in Romania today without naming the derogation they hold is selling something they do not have.