I want to hunt a Sika---in Japan. New to my bucket list

teyhan1

Well-Known Member
I am seriously thinking of going to Japan for a week to hunt for a Sika. Seemingly they have a very big problem over there. I think I could swing some time off.
 
I have a mate that lives there now, I will ask him what the score is.

Oh yes.yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.
 
I also would like to do this hunt, but the last time i looked into it you were not allowed to shoot the beast yourself. You can do the stalk and everything, but when it comes time to take the shot, you raise a dummy rifle and the hunting guide takes the shot. Very Japanese indeed! perhaps things have changed.
 
I also would like to do this hunt, but the last time i looked into it you were not allowed to shoot the beast yourself. You can do the stalk and everything, but when it comes time to take the shot, you raise a dummy rifle and the hunting guide takes the shot. Very Japanese indeed! perhaps things have changed.
Do you get to shout bang as well?
 
Just watched that video,cool! Thought that first stag was going to get up and run whilst he was chatting!
 
Firearms very restricted in Japan, no foreigner can carry firearms except US military stationed there. Unbelievably of about 90,000 deer culled there annually, I believe about 70,000 go to landfill! More than no tradition of eating venison there, it is actually considered a thing that only the lowliest of peasants would eat.
 
I am seriously thinking of going to Japan for a week to hunt for a Sika. Seemingly they have a very big problem over there. I think I could swing some time off.



Amazing. Pretty impressive sizes. What calibers are legal in Japan and what is the reasoning behind the legislation referred to that meant half the rifling had to be removed from his shotgun?
 
i have a magizine from australia about deer stalking and there,s an article about sika stalking on the most northerly island in japan the pictures of the sika stags are amazing
 
From what I can gather so far you have to sit extensive tests. Your first license is restricted to a shotgun and you only get permission to own a rifle after 10 years!!
This is from one source

Guns and hunting in Japan? Most westerners think that guns are outlawed in Japan. The truth is that local Japanese cannot own handguns, but are free to purchase shotguns and rifles. I’m presently stationed with the Air Force at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. It is a combined U.S. fighter wing as well as Japanese Self Defense Force Base. This area of Japan is considered "country" and consists of farms and mountainous terrain. Presently, there are only two Americans who hunt this area. The cost of hunting is fairly expensive (approx. $800.00) which probably limits the number of people hunting. The process to receive ones license is fairly detailed. First a written test on game laws is required. Then another game identification test is taken. This is followed by demonstration of firearms safety as well as distance estimation. Finally off to the the skeet range for shotgun qualification. This process was completed in 2 days.
Any competent person can own a shotgun or rifle. All firearms have to be registered with the local police department and when registered, a "blue book" containing information on the firearm is received. The blue book must be in possession whenever transporting or hunting with the firearm. After being a registered hunter for more than 10 years, one may use a rifle for hunting (axis deer, bear). New firearms are very expensive. For example a new model Remington shotgun may cost the local hunter over $3000.00. For many Americans, the used gun market here offers many bargains. Fully functional shotguns can be purchased from $30.00 on up. Since stationed in Japan, I’ve purchased a few Belgium A-5’s as well as SKB over/under, side by side as well as a few rifles well under the blue book prices. Bird hunting is our main focus here, Misawa being a duck hunters paradise. Redheads, spotbills and pintails abound. Three different variety of pheasants can be hunted also. Due to the high cost of hunting, crow hunting became our method of recouping some of our expenses.
In Japan, crows are thought as evil birds. Farmers especially despise them due to the damage to the rice and vegetable crops. Because of this, the govt offers a bounty on crows. During four special seasons, the govt of Japan offers a bounty of 500 yen or about $4.75 on each crow. What we do is set our hunting area close to the local dump. Crows frequent this area and it is not uncommon to see flocks of more than 100 birds flying at a time. We hide our vehicles under a tree and play the "fighting crows" tape. What happens next is fast and furious action. Last week, I had 50 crows circling 20 ft above my head. I couldn’t reload fast enough. We save the feet as proof of kill. I use a Belgium Browning A-5 with a modified choke and my partner a Remington 870 also with a modified choke. Besides providing more enjoyable practice than going the the skeet range, crow bounty will allow us to recoup most of our cost.


 
More info. Look at the red, not a bad idea. Current population in Japan 127,000,000 twice the size of UK and 27,000 rifles!!!

The only type of firearm which a Japanese citizen may even contemplate acquiring is a shotgun.[5] Sportsmen are permitted to possess shotguns for hunting and for skeet and trap (p.27)shooting, but only after submitting to a lengthy licensing procedure.[6] Without a license, a person may not even hold a gun in his or her hands.
The licensing procedure is rigorous. A prospective gun owner must first attend classes and pass a written test.[7] Shooting range classes and a shooting test follow; 95 per cent pass.[8] After the safety exam, the applicant takes a simple 'mental test' at a local hospital, to ensure that the applicant is not suffering from a readily detectable mental illness. The applicant then produces for the police a medical certificate attesting that he or she is mentally healthy and not addicted to drugs.[9]
The police investigate the applicant's background and relatives, ensuring that both are crime free. Membership in 'aggressive' political or activist groups disqualifies an applicant.[10] The police have unlimited discretion to deny licenses to any person for whom 'there is reasonable cause to suspect may be dangerous to other persons' lives or properties or to the public peace'.[11]
Gun owners are required to store their weapons in a locker, and give the police a map of the apartment showing the location of the locker. Ammunition must be kept in a separate locked safe. The licenses also allow the holder to buy a few thousand rounds of ammunition, with each transaction being registered.[12]
Civilians may also apply for licenses to possess air rifles--low-power guns that are powered by carbon dioxide rather than by gunpowder.
Civilians can never own handguns. Small calibre rifles were once legal, but in 1971, the Government forbade all transfers of rifles. Current rifle license holders may continue to own them, but their heirs must turn them into the police when the license-holder dies.[13] Total remaining rifle licenses are 27,000.[14] Even shotguns and air rifles, the two legal types of firearm, are becoming rarer and rarer, as few people find it worthwhile to pass through a burdensome gun licensing process. The number of licensed shotguns and air rifles declined from 652,000 in 1981 to 493,373 in 1989.
 
I believe that the main form of hunting in Japan is trapping. That said, a lot of Japanese are Buddhists and don't eat meat (although fish are a different matter!) so the appeal of hunting has always been pretty limited.
 
Here is a little info from my friend in Japan.

hello again, no problem, pleasure!


well, that's another issue : any foreigner has got right to apply to the permission of gun and hunting in Japan, but one needs to be registered in Japan. For short trip, it's not possible. Even it takes time ; at shortest 4 month to have gun, and hunting permission (license) you can apply only once around June (once got it, then no need to pass every year), and hunting period is between 15 November - 14 February (in Hokkaido, earlier). For all the examination and application, one needs really good skill of Japanese language.


Any other season is strictly prohibited all kind of public hunting. Only one exception is ; Ryoyukai (all japan hunter association). Here I belong too. We have right to hunt animals according to the order or offer of city hall, local agriculture association or police for control hunting, extermination of harmful animals, and accident when bears or other animals came down to the city.


But most of japanese hunters prefer to do without to being member of it. So it is really limited if one comes here, and try to start himself. Where we can start hunting, is almost frontiers. And they are all small villages and closed society, so there is always troubles between modern city hunters and local traditional hunters. And hunting in mountains is almost a kind of national culture (because it is really living ancient tradition, not only hunting way, but also philosophy and their way to living).


It is really beautiful and interesting. However, now only alive last generations of them, and after them, this culture will be disappear.
 
If you look on Accuratereloading there is someone advertising hunts in Japan (Under Hunts Offered and Asian Hunt forums)
 
A little more.

Paul even for japanese, it is really complicated and mostly the law and informations are hidden, and very hard to find correct answer. One needs always somebody to show right way to get in it.


Japanese hunting outfits is probably only the Ryo-yu-kai (which I told you the mail before, all japan hunter's association). And they are only the one who controls and organize about hunting according to the relationship and effects of nature/biology/zoology/public safe and so on. They seem like eager to taking care all, but mostly the members are over 60yo, so lack of the members who younger generation is serious future problem. Sometimes they organize open hunting for press or NPO or government, to let the folks know what is hunting, and reality of nature, and serious damage of harmful animals to agriculture and ecology. For academic purpose, they help too.


If you wish to report japanese hunting or experience it, it can be possible that let them organize something. But without gun and any hunting action, unfortunately.


By the way, how is the law in UK to have gun and hunt?
I am really interested in, because even the police officers
don't carry any hand-gun...... Beautiful guns, true art work and tradition I often see from UK. Great tradition of hunting. And beautiful landscape. I also really wish to visit there and go into forrest and fields!


NOBU
 
the chap in the video is offering the hunts mentioned on accureate reloading, bow hunt only from what I can gather.
 
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