Hunting in Romania

Romania has a long history of hunting and remains a remarkable hunting destination, drawing many hunters because of its large numbers of brown bears, wolves, wild boars, red deer, and chamois. The concentration of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the Carpathian Mountains of central Romania is largest in the world and contains half of all Europe's population, except Russia.

Remnants of hunting implements and wild game bones in Stone Age dwellings and burial sites or animal cave paintings like ones in Cuciulat, Peștera cu Oase or Peştera Muierilor indicate the humans have been hunting in Romania for thousands of years. In the Mesolithic age, antlers and animal skulls were used for jewelry and burial sites, and the bow began common and hunt for all game types begun.

The Dacians, ancient inhabitants of present-day Romania, adopted the wolf (Canis lupus) as a symbol and carried wolf heads and skins on poles as totemic battle flags. Ancient Greek and Roman chronicles also mention hunting as an occupation.

The medieval chronicle Descriptio Moldaviae recorded that Moldavia, one of the three historic provinces of Romania, was founded by Prince Dragos in 1351 while hunting. He was chasing an aurochs or a wisent (European bison), who gored and trampled his favorite dog, a bitch named Molda, across his lands of Maramureş. After killing the aurochs, impressed with the riches and beauty of the land, he named it after his dog, brought his people and settled the lands. The aurochs' head remains until today the heraldic symbol of Moldovans.

Beginning in the Middle Ages as a passion or test of manhood, bears, wild boars and sometime stags were killed from close quarters with boar spears after being chased and bayed with dogs. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Moldova and Wallachia paid part of their tribute to the Ottoman Empire in hunting falcons and wild animal furs, such as ermine and marten. Transylvanian rulers, like George I Rákóczi (1591–1648), were ardent hunters, along with most members of the nobility.

Since the 15th century, hunting reserves were established, where game was managed, monitored and sometimes introduced, such was the case of fallow deer in Romania.

While nobility hunted all range of game and used horses, hounds, weapons and falcons for hunting, the common folk and peasants often hunted only the hare, on foot, relying on spears, slings, maces, pitchforks, throwing axes and snares. The few peasants that lived off hare hunting were known as rabbiteers (iepurari). But poachers (braconieri) illegally hunted all species. Punishments for hunting in royal forest were severe; poachers could be sentenced to death.

Aurochs became extinct after disappearing from Romania in 16th or 17th century. The last wisent hunt took place in 1762 in Moldavia and 1790 in Transylvania, and wisent are now confined to total protection in three of Romania's national parks or reserves after its reintroduction from Poland. Around the same time moose and beavers started to disappear from northern Romania.