Wild boar hunting in Croatia is mainly driven hunting. Beaters and dogs push boar out of thick forest and farmland cover towards a line of standing guns, and the day ends with the bag laid out on pine branches. Croatian law sets no closed season for wild boar, apart from a sow that is heavily pregnant or still has young with her, but the organised driven days that visiting hunters book run through the late autumn and winter. The driven day pictured on our Croatia page took place on 17 November 2024.
To hunt as a UK visitor you need a Croatian hunting licence for foreign hunters, a written invitation from the holder of the hunting ground, and border police authorisation for your rifle. In 2026 there is one more thing to check before you book, which is whether the ground sits inside an African swine fever zone. At Field and Forest Hunting we arrange driven boar hunts in Croatia, and this guide covers how the hunting works, where the boar are, the paperwork, and what the disease situation means for a trip this season.
How many wild boar are shot in Croatia
Wild boar are the most hunted big game animal in Croatia. According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 45,397 wild boar were shot in the 2024 hunting year, which ran from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. That was down 9.3% on the 50,030 shot the year before. For comparison, the same release counts 6,896 red deer and 17,202 roe deer over the same period, so boar outnumber every other big game animal in the bag by a wide margin.
Every Croatian hunting ground has a holder, either the state forestry company Hrvatske šume or a hunting association, and a visiting hunter always hunts as that holder's guest. That is why the invitation from the ground holder matters so much, and why an organiser who knows the individual grounds is worth having.
How a driven boar hunt in Croatia works
The format follows the Central European tradition. The party gathers in the morning for a briefing on safety, shooting arcs and what may be taken, guns are placed at numbered stands, and the beaters and dogs work the cover towards the line. Two or three drives across the day is usual, with a hot lunch between them and the formal laying out of the game at the end. We have written a full account of what a driven wild boar day is like, and a broader guide to what a driven hunt is, so this post concentrates on what is particular to Croatia.
Shots on a driven day are taken at moving boar, often at close range through trees and across rides, so a rifle set up for quick shooting with a low magnification scope is the right tool. The Croatian rules for visiting hunters, as published by the Istria tourist board, require a rifled barrel for boar. Slugs from a smoothbore shotgun are only permitted for boar out to 40 metres.
Driven hunting is the part of the sport our founder Paul knows best. He takes part in between 40 and 50 driven hunts every year and is one of only a handful of English hunters to have sat and passed the German Jagdschein exam, so he holds a full German hunting licence. The briefings, the etiquette at the stand and the discipline of a moving shot are the same whether the hunt is in Croatia, Hungary or Germany.
Where the wild boar are in Croatia
Croatia's boar live in two broad kinds of country. Inland there are the lowland oak forests, floodplains and farmland along the Sava and Drava rivers, and to the south and west rise the forested mountains of the Dinaric range. A genetic study of 264 Croatian wild boar, Šprem and colleagues in the European Journal of Wildlife Research, found that the mountains are only a weak boundary between the continental and Mediterranean boar, and that the population on the mainland behaves largely as one.
For a hunter the two feel very different. Lowland drives push boar out of forest blocks and field cover on level ground, the kind of flat, misty country you can see in the photographs on our Croatia page. Dinaric hunting means steep forest that the boar share with bears and wolves, which we describe in our guide to hunting in Croatia. Where you hunt this season also depends on the disease situation, which is concentrated in the east.
When to go
Under the current closed season rulebook, published in Narodne novine 94/2019, wild boar have no closed season in Croatia except for a female that is heavily pregnant or leading young. In practice the organised driven days that suit a visiting team are held in the late autumn and winter. If you want to combine boar with other game, the red deer rut and the mountain chamois season fall earlier in the autumn, and our guide on what to expect on a chamois hunt covers the mountain side of a Croatian trip.
Licences, invitations and taking your rifle
The paperwork is straightforward once the hunt is booked, but every piece has to be in place before you reach the border.
- A Croatian hunting licence for foreign hunters, which costs 70 euros for one month or 300 euros for a year, according to the Istria tourist board's guidance for visiting hunters.
- A written invitation from the holder of the hunting ground you will hunt on.
- Your passport and your UK firearm certificate.
- Authorisation from the Croatian border police to bring your rifle in. Visitors may bring up to three hunting weapons, with up to 100 rounds for a rifle and 500 cartridges for a shotgun, and must declare the guns and ammunition on entry and exit.
- For a dog, a pet passport from a vet confirming rabies vaccination, and a microchip or visible tattoo.
UK residents have not been able to use the European Firearms Pass since 1 January 2021, and the UK government's advice is to check the rules of each EU country you travel to or through. If you fly via another EU airport, that country's transit rules apply as well, and your airline must agree to carry the rifle and ammunition in the hold. We cover the costs that sit around a hunt in our guide to how much a hunting trip costs.
African swine fever in Croatia in 2026
African swine fever is a viral disease of pigs and wild boar. The European Commission is clear that it does not affect people, but it has a large effect on where and how boar can be hunted. Croatia has been dealing with it in the east of the country, and by 22 July 2026 the national broadcaster HRT reported 99 cases for the year, with new cases in Osijek-Baranja and Virovitica-Podravina counties.
Hunting grounds inside the restricted zones work under special veterinary rules set by the Ministry of Agriculture, and both the zones and the rules can change at short notice as new cases are found. Before you commit to a hunt, ask which county the ground is in and whether it lies inside a restricted zone. Ground well away from the affected counties is the straightforward choice this season.
The disease also shapes what you bring home. The UK government's guidance on African swine fever tells hunters returning from affected areas not to bring back trophies or any carcass parts, and to clean and disinfect clothing, footwear and equipment before returning. Separately, travellers cannot bring pork or venison into Great Britain from EU countries for personal use, so boar meat stays in Croatia. If a set of tusks matters to you, raise it before you book, because the rules for bringing a trophy home depend on where the boar was shot.
Croatia, Hungary or elsewhere for driven boar
Croatia suits a hunter who wants driven boar in wild, uncrowded country, and it combines well with other species. Our special offers include a three day mouflon hunt in Croatia, and chamois and deer are hunted there too. Hungary is the neighbour to consider if the size of the bag is the priority, with 150,600 boar shot there in 2025 according to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, while Romania offers boar in the Carpathians alongside red stag and bear. If you are still choosing a country, our round-up of the best hunting trips in Europe sets them side by side.
Plan your wild boar hunt in Croatia
A good Croatian boar hunt comes down to the right ground, the right timing and the paperwork sorted before you travel. This season that also means choosing ground clear of the swine fever zones and knowing the trophy rules before the first drive. Tell us how many guns are in your party, when you can travel and whether you want to add another species, and we will plan the hunt around it.
To start planning, contact Field and Forest Hunting and speak to us directly.
