REPORTING. For hunters, checks for “obvious intoxication” but no blood alcohol test

Since last September, hunters found to be in a “clear state of intoxication” can receive a fine, according to a government decree. Despite everything, the law does not set any blood alcohol threshold.

During a big game hunt, and in particular wild boars, near Bar-sur-Aube, in Aube, an agent from the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) and a gendarme carry out “checks”: “We’ll look at your hunting license, please, sir. Have you consumed any alcohol this morning?”

At the beginning of the year, to reduce the number of hunting accidents, the government presented a plan. If he gave up banning hunting on Sundays, one of the measures taken concerned blood alcohol levels. A decree was published on September 17 stipulating that hunters caught in a “clear state of intoxication” were liable to a 5th class fine.

The hunter checked near Bar-sur-Aube claims not to have drunk alcohol. “In the hunts that I do, it’s rather respected. People drink a lot less. The old people always had the habit of drinking a little drop in the morning but that’s no longer seen.”he explains.

There is no blood alcohol control because no threshold has been included in the law. Constable Corentin must therefore simply note whether or not the hunter is in a “clear state of intoxication”: “For example, breath that smells strongly of alcohol, a person who staggers, the behavior of a person who has abused an alcoholic drink. This is a 5th class infraction punishable by a fine of €1,500.”.

Since the decree was published, no one can indicate whether a single hunter has already been fined. This measure is rather well received by those first concerned, even if “We take hunters for alcoholics”estimates Dany Gracia, president of the Ailleville / Arrentières hunting company. “We must no longer drink, he continues. We have a little drink and that’s it.”.

“If there is an accident, we injure our colleague or a walker, and we have two or three degrees in our blood, it’s not good. So we respect.”

Dany Gracia, president of the Ailleville / Arrentières hunting company

at franceinfo

The goal is therefore not necessarily to verbalize but rather to convey this message: no alcohol during hunting to limit accidents. “Hunters have evolved a lot in terms of safety, which is a good thing and it shows when you look at the number of hunting accidents. In the 2000s, there were 200 incidents and accidents recorded per year. last year, there were 80 incidents and accidents, including six fatalities. Which is about a 60% drop compared to the 2000s.”indicates Patrick Plouvier, OFB agent, environmental inspector.

Of the 80 accidents recorded last year, 9% of hunters were under the influence of alcohol.