A range of popular, licensed hunting activities are available in Victoria.

In 2019 recreational hunting was worth an estimated $356 million to the Victorian economy.

The department plays a coordination and policy role for game hunting, working closely with the Game Management Authority (GMA), the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), and Parks Victoria.

The GMA regulates game hunting in Victoria. Visit the Game Management Authority website for all information regarding how, where and when to hunt game legally in Victoria.

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Game Hunting Regulations

New recreational game hunting regulations will come into place in Victoria on 7 September 2024 with the Wildlife (Game) Regulations 2024. These regulations will replace the Wildlife (Game) Interim Regulations 2023.

The new regulations make important changes to:

• improve safety and responsibility
• support sustainable game populations
• improve environment and wildlife protections.

A summary of the changes made in the new regulations is available on the Game Hunting Regulations page.

The Wildlife (Game) Regulations 2024, made under the Wildlife Act 1975, set out a range of conditions for recreational game hunting, including deer, duck and Stubble Quail hunting in Victoria. They include licensing, bag and season limits, restrictions and offences.

If you have questions regarding the new regulations, please contact the DJSIR Customer Contact Centre on 1800 878 969, between 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday or email customer.contact@ecodev.vic.gov.au to ensure your question is directed to the right team for a response.

Victoria's recreational duck and stubble quail hunting arrangements

On 29 January 2024, the Victorian Government announced its response to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Victoria's Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements.

Recreational duck and quail hunting will continue in Victoria – with important changes to ensure it remains safe, sustainable and responsible.

Information on this announcement is available at the duck and stubble quail page on this website.

Sustainable Hunting Grants

Funded through the Sustainable Hunting Action Plan 2021-2024, these grants are helping promote responsible, safe and sustainable game hunting practices.

A full list of grant recipients is available at the Sustainable Hunting Grants page.

Sustainable Hunting Action Plan 2021-2024

The Sustainable Hunting Action Plan 2021-2024 will deliver new programs to support safe, responsible and sustainable hunting across the state.

Adaptive Harvest Management of Game Ducks

An expert panel was commissioned to review Victoria’s proposed approach to adaptive harvest management for duck hunting, and its report is now available - Waterfowl Adaptive Harvest Model: Expert Panel Review. The expert panel’s report supports Victoria’s proposed approach to adaptive harvest management.

• Waterfowl Adaptive Harvest Model: Expert Panel Report Waterfowl Adaptive Harvest Model: Expert Panel Report - Final (PDF 255.35 KB)
  The Victorian Government has released a response to the report, and will develop an adaptive game duck harvest management framework and strategy.
• Response to the Waterfowl Adaptive Harvest Model Expert Panel Report Response to the Waterfowl Adaptive Harvest Model Expert Panel Report (PDF 200.4 KB)
• Response to the Waterfowl Adaptive Harvest Model Expert Panel Report Response to the Waterfowl Adaptive Harvest Model Expert Panel Report (DOCX 385.86 KB)

In line with a recommendation of the expert panel to develop a simple harvest management framework, an interim harvest model has been developed as a key tool to inform decisions around duck seasons.

For further information, refer to Adaptive Harvest Management.

Game Duck Population Modelling

The department commissioned a research report to inform the settings of sustainable game duck harvests, as a commitment under the Sustainable Hunting Action Plan 2021-2024. The report makes recommendations on annual game duck harvest quotas to ensure that populations are maintained above a minimum population threshold to not compromise the viability of game duck species.

The research, undertaken by Dr Thomas Prowse, recommends a precautionary annual proportional harvest quota of 10 to 20% of the Victorian game duck population sizes estimated from surveys of each species in spring. Modelling suggests that this harvest level should be low enough to ensure populations of the studied species do not drop below 20% of their carrying capacity in any year, even when environmental conditions are unfavourable.

• Conservation and Sustainable Harvest Models for Game Duck Species Conservation and Sustainable Harvest Models for Game Duck Species (PDF 2107.37 KB)
• Conservation and Sustainable Harvest Models for Game Duck Species - accessible version Conservation and Sustainable Harvest Models for Game Duck Species - Accessible Version (DOCX 8722.32 KB)

Traditional Owner Game Management Strategy

The development of the Traditional Owner Game Management Strategy Traditional Owner Game Management Strategy.pdf (PDF 1884.82 KB) was led by the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations in collaboration with Traditional Owners and Victorian Government agencies.

Economic contribution of recreational hunting in Victoria

Research estimates recreational hunting was worth $356 million to the Victorian economy in 2019.

• Economic contribution of recreational hunting in Victoria Economic contribution of recreational hunting in Victoria (PDF 5565.58 KB)
• Economic contribution of recreational hunting in Victoria Economic contribution of recreational hunting in Victoria (DOCX 9755.45 KB)

A previous version of the report posted by DJPR contained an error on Table 6.4 which listed Mansfield twice, the duplicate reference to Mansfield should have read ‘Other’ [1] All other LGAs in Victoria (excluding Greater Melbourne) and interregional trade (including Greater Melbourne) and listed the combined figure for all the other LGAs excluding Greater Melbourne and interregional trade. The corrected version of the report is now posted and has no impact on the overall numbers of the original report.