Hunting licence conditions

There is a set of legislated conditions attached to every NSW game hunting licence. These conditions set out legal and ethical obligations that you must comply with to legally carry out any hunting activity.

It is your responsibility to know, understand and comply with all conditions that apply to your licence.

Please read and become familiar with these conditions as they will be assessed in the final exam.

Part 1 — General hunting conditions

1. Definitions in the schedule
2. You must carry your licence at all times while hunting and produce it on request by a Hunting Inspector, Police Officer or landowner/occupier.
3. Hunters under the age of 18 must hunt under the close personal supervision of an adult hunter (at least 18 years of age) who holds the same type of licence (general or restricted); in the case of restricted licences, both minor and adult must have the same hunting method listed as a category on their licence.
   • Minor hunters must hold a Minor’s firearms permit (issued by the NSW Police Force) before using firearms to hunt.
4. You must not hunt game animals fleeing fire or smoke.

Part 2 Hunting on declared public hunting land

1. You must have written permission to hunt before entering public land for hunting, produce your written permission on request by a Hunting Inspector, Police Officer or landowner/occupier and comply with all conditions of that permission as well as any reasonable direction given by the landowner/occupier.
   When supervising a minor under the age of 18, both the minor and the supervisor must hold a valid written permission.
   You must submit a harvest return within 30 days after the expiry of your written permission on any form approved by NSW DPI.
2. You must not lay any type of bait, grain, fruit, meat, mineral block, animal carcass or other types of attractant to assist in the hunting of animals on declared public land.
3. You must not hunt or cause, permit or assist the hunting of animals from a motor vehicle; this does not include using a dog to search for animals if the dog is tied up, caged or restrained, or motorised wheelchairs that may be used by individuals with a disability that prevents them from hunting on foot.
4. When hunting using dogs on public land, each dog must:
   • be identified in the way required by the Companion Animals Act 1989 (i.e. microchipped), and
   • be wearing:
     • a collar with a metal tag or label with the owner’s name, address and phone number
     • a radio tracking collar (that is switched on and show the position of the dog) or be on a lead.
   • not be left or abandoned.

If the dog is being used to:

hunt deer:

• dogs must only be used to locate, point or flush
• you must not use more than 1 dog when hunting alone
• you must not use more than 2 dogs when hunting as part of a group

hunt game birds

• dogs must on be used to locate, flush, point or retrieve.

hunt pigs

Part 3 Special provisions relating to game birds

(Note: To hunt native game birds, your licence must be endorsed for game bird hunting.)

1. Definitions in this schedule
2. You must not hunt, or cause, permit or assist hunting of non-indigenous or native game birds from an aircraft, watercraft or motor vehicle; except if you are a commercial hunter.
3. You must not hunt, or cause, permit or assist hunting or attracting non-indigenous or native game birds using any bait, lure, decoy or live animal, except game bird decoys or callers (a planted crop is not considered a bait or lure).
4. Native game bird hunters must have permission to hunt native game birds from the landholder (who holds a valid native game bird management licence), only hunt native game birds as per the available property allocation, comply with all reasonable directions given by the landholder and be able to produce your written permission from the landholder for inspection, if requested by an Inspector or police officer.
5. If hunting native game birds at night, from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise, you must use use a light of sufficient brightness to clearly see and identify the species, and
   be in the immediate vicinity of, or likely to adversely impact, a planted crop.
6. A hunter must not use a dog, or permit a dog to be used, to hunt game birds unless the dog is only used to locate, flush, point or retrieve the birds.