Agriculture: game damage

Compensable game damage is damage caused by certain game species (red deer, fallow deer, sika deer, mouflon, wild boar, roe deer, wild rabbits and pheasants) to land and plants, even if these have been separated from the ground but not yet harvested.
If a property belonging to a communal hunting district is damaged, the hunting association must compensate the injured party for the damage. If the tenant hunter has assumed the compensation of the game damage in whole or in part, the obligation to pay compensation shall be borne by the tenant hunter in whole or in part. The provisions shall apply accordingly in the case of private hunting districts.
If land products whose full value can only be assessed at the time of harvest are damaged by game before this time, the damage caused by game shall be compensated to the extent that it occurs at the time of harvest. When determining the amount of damage, however, it must be taken into account whether the damage can be compensated for by replanting in the same marketing year in accordance with the principles of proper farming.

Game damage to properties on which hunting is suspended or is not permitted, e.g. inhabited areas, cemeteries, parks, is not reimbursed.
Damage caused by game to vineyards, gardens, orchards, tree nurseries, avenues, single trees, forestry crops with species other than the main species of wood found in the hunting district or open-air plantings of horticultural or high-value commercial plants shall not be compensated if the usual protective devices that would normally suffice to avert the damage have not been erected.
Customary protective devices to prevent damage caused by game are deemed to be game fences that are used to keep out

• Red deer and fallow deer a minimum height of 1.80 metres,
• roe deer and wild boar a minimum height of 1.50 metres (wild boar fences must also be secured to the ground to prevent them from being lifted by wild boar),
• mouflon a minimum height of 2.50 metres and
• of wild rabbits have a minimum height of 1.30 metres above the ground surface and in this case are made of wire mesh with a maximum mesh width of 25 mm and are embedded at least 0.20 metres deep in the ground,
• or fences that have the same protective effect.
   

Hunting damage is damage caused to property in connection with the practice of hunting.

The vast majority of all game and hunting damage is settled directly between the injured party and the hunting tenant by mutual agreement.