First time Spanish hunting licence

Boomerang

Well-Known Member
Apologies if this is spam to most.

I have been invited boar hunting in Spain in February (v. lucky me). I will be in the region of Castilla y Leon. Has anyone applied to the Junta de Castilla y Leon (regional government) for a hunting licence? Where you able by showing UK qualifications ( e.g. FAC, EFP & say a DSC1 certificate ) obtain a waiver for sitting the first time hunting test?

This is a private estate hunt with no sporting agent involved and trying to reduce the burden on my hosts to sort this out myself.
I have found the Junta de Castilla y Leon's Hunting and Fishing web page but does not go into specifics. Trying to well prepared before I speak with them.

Any guidance gratefully accepted....
 
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Going cross-border/to Spain with firearms

Since posting the above I have applied, paid for and received my "licencia de caza" for the Castilla y Leon region. Summarised below is what I found out which hopefully may be useful for others:

Hunting Licence
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In Spain, hunting and the application for hunting and firearms licences are administered by regional governments. So you need to apply to the correct regional government. There is also now a multi-regional hunting licence which allows for hunting across 7 regions at a higher cost (about double ~€70). Hunting licences are typically issued annually and available to residents, foreign residents and foreigners.

I wrote an inquiry (in English) via an online form to the Junta di Castilla y Leon (licencias.cazaypesca@jcyl.es) and received the following reply (in English):
===
Dear Sir,

First of all, you should know that Spain is divided in several regions for administrative porpoises. All of them have their own different hunting license, so you would better check where your hunting day will take place before acquiring it.

Unfortunately, hunter exam is required now in most of the regions in Spain in order to acquire your valid Hunting License (Licencia de Caza), and so it is in Castilla y León.

Here in Castilla y León, we accept hunter exam certifications from other countries or regions with similar requirements or any hunting license/document who allows you hunting in the period between 19/03/2010 and 19/03/2015 to obtain our hunting license.

I guess you don’t have any similar examination system in the UK, so if you could provide us any other hunting permit/document valid for that period, plus your passport/national ID or similar, that would be fine.

In that case send us a scanned copy. We could issue you an access so you can pay your “Licencia de Caza” using our website with your Visa credit card (we would send you instructions to do so, as our website is only available in Spanish language).

Yours sincerely,
===

Hunters in Spain are require to have a authorisation to use firearms (Class A for hunting rifles - so until Brexit a European Firearms Pass (EFP) is sufficient), hunting licence, liability insurance, proof of identity and authorisation (if required) to shoot on the hunting ground. These documents must be carried with the hunter.

So I sent them copies of my passport, FAC, EFP and my DSC1 certificate via email. I received a copy of the form of "licencia di caza" the next day via email with instructions of how to pay the licence fee. It was not franked showing that the licence fee had been paid. The covering email stated that I had, in effect, until after my trip to pay the fee. You can pay over the counter in selected banks (most of the high street Spanish banks) or by credit/debit card. I paid by card which was a little tricky as everything is in Spanish (and I am illiterate in Spanish but with the help of Google Translate - I did it). I was then able to print out my franked licencia di caza.

Liability Insurance
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You also need liability insurance with cover of at least €90,114. I searched and found Spanish websites that will sell you the require insurance for about €20 for an annual policy. All websites in Spanish and the online form requires a Spanish address - not helpful. In discussing with a friend, he reminded me that BASC Full Members have liability insurance cover as part of the membership package. Checked their website and that is correct at time of posting and it covers Worldwide (excluding North America). Liability cover of £10m - so well in excess of Spanish min. legal requirement. I have contacted BASC as I am a Full Member and they are producing a letter in Spanish to confirm that I have liability insurance cover including Spain (now received on letterhead). Does not provide travel insurance - see below.

Travel Insurance
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I checked my personal travel insurance and hunting is an excluded activity. BASC has a link (see below) to a policy offered by AIM Risk Solutions which covers hunting.

https://basc.org.uk/membersoffers/bespoke-insurance-policies/travel-insurance/

Policy can be a single time-limited trip or annual policies. Versus what my other travel insurance company wanted (only annual policy pack available despite having only 2.5 months left on the current policy) they were half the price. Their baggage/personal belongings limits are not that high (£2000 limit with £400 per item vs. cost of a gun, scope, binos, travel case etc.) but my household insurance covers items on an all-risks basis so for me that is covered. This policy does not cover liability from activities with firearms - see above.

Flying
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I am planning to fly with BA, and their current firearms carrying policy can be found here:

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/liquids-and-restrictions#firearms

Key points to me were:
- Need to notify them at least 72 hours before departure. This should allow your reservation to be marked as carrying firearms.
- Each firearms or ammunition case (even if the later is within your personal luggage) requires a £50 per bag per trip extra fee. If outside of your ticket's luggage allowance, then additional general luggage fees are payable (e.g. number of bags or weight of bag).
- You must notify them at check-in and allow extra time for check-in - as you need to take the bags to a secure area and show docs etc.
- Further instructions (destination dependent) on packing requirements and weight limits (up to 5kg of ammo!)
- Based on conversation with BASC legal you will need to show your European Firearms Pass on the way out and your FAC on the way in.

Have not looked into what other airlines/ferries/trains allow, if at all.
 
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Very interesting and useful. Don't think I'll be lucky enough to go to Spain anytime soon but you never know!
 
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