HUNTING REGION
Hunting in Dobrogea & the Delta
Reed seas, steppe plateau, and the Black Sea coast — where two of Europe's great flyways meet over the Danube Delta.
WHERE IT IS
Dobrogea on the map
- Dobrogea & the Danube Delta
THE REGION
Where the river meets the sea
Dobrogea is unlike anywhere else in Romania — a dry steppe plateau between the Danube and the Black Sea, ending in the vast reed labyrinth of the Delta. Two of Europe's great bird flyways converge here, which is why the autumn skies over the lakes fill with duck and geese in numbers the rest of the continent has forgotten.
The Delta's core is a strictly protected UNESCO biosphere reserve — no hunting there, and we would not want it otherwise. The sport runs on the lake systems, fishponds, and agricultural plains around it, where wintering flocks feed and trade between roosts.
Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsHERITAGE
A short hunting history
Dobrogea is Romania's oldest settled land. The Greeks founded Histria on its lagoon shore twenty-six centuries ago; Ovid wrote his exile poems at Tomis, today's Constanța. Every people that followed — Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, Lipovan fishermen — lived off the same thing: the extraordinary abundance of fish and fowl where the Danube meets the sea.
Sport shooting on the lower Danube lakes drew European sportsmen from the nineteenth century onward, and the tradition survived the Delta's 1991 designation as a biosphere reserve in the buffer landscapes around it — regulated, quota-managed, and sustained by some of the largest wintering waterfowl concentrations in Europe.
Hunting today runs under the national framework (Legea 407/2006), with seasons and quotas set annually.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBEYOND THE HUNT
Must-sees in Dobrogea
Four stops worth adding around your hunting days.
- Photo: Ben Skála · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Danube Delta
Europe's greatest wetland — a day by boat among pelicans and reed islands is unforgettable.
Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLetea Forest
Sub-tropical-looking dune forest deep in the Delta, roamed by feral horses.
Photo: Alexandru Panoiu · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsHistria
The oldest town on Romanian soil — Greek and Roman ruins on the Sinoe lagoon.
Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsConstanța Casino
The Art Nouveau landmark on the Black Sea promenade — Romania's most photographed ruin, newly restored.
GAME
What you can hunt here
The species our Dobrogea programmes run for — on the lakes and plains around the protected Delta core.
Hunt in Dobrogea
Browse the waterfowl packages and send us your dates — we reply as soon as possible.