The Lepel Inter-district Inspectorate for the Protection of Fauna and Flora reminds about the necessity of observing hunting safety rules.

Hunting weapons and ammunition must be stored in compliance with the requirements established by legislation regulating the circulation of weapons and ammunition.

The Lepel Inter-district Inspectorate for the Protection of Fauna and Flora reminds of the need to comply with hunting safety rules:

Hunting weapons and ammunition must be stored in compliance with the requirements established by legislation regulating the circulation of weapons and ammunition.

A hunter is obliged to know the design of their hunting weapon, the purpose and interaction of parts when using this weapon, as well as the technical and ballistic characteristics of the ammunition used.

It is prohibited to:

– use hunting weapons that have technical malfunctions;
– use cartridges that do not match the specific hunting weapon;
– board or disembark from a vehicle with a loaded hunting weapon;
– remove an assembled hunting weapon by the barrel(s) from a boat, cart, sledge, or other vehicle;
– shoot at noise, rustling, at an unclearly visible target, in fog, heavy snowfall, twilight, against the sun, and under other conditions of poor visibility, as well as at a bird taking off at an altitude below 2.5 meters in conditions of limited visibility;
– shoot and be with a loaded hunting weapon at a distance of less than 200 meters from the nearest building of a populated area;
– shoot in the direction of people, populated areas, farm animals, vehicles from smoothbore firearms for hunting at a distance of less than 500 meters from them, and from rifled firearms for hunting – less than 2 kilometers;
– aim a hunting weapon, including an unloaded one, at a person, domestic animals, or their accommodation;
– fire unnecessarily, cock an external hammer weapon, or disengage the safety of an internal hammer weapon;
– shoot from a boat across rowers or other hunters in the boat;
– finish off a wounded game animal with the butt of the weapon.

Before hunting, hunting firearms must be thoroughly inspected and checked, excess oil removed from the barrel(s), possible defects eliminated, and the reliability of the safety catch verified. All cartridges must be checked, and if necessary, calibrated. It is not recommended to use cartridges with expired shelf life and cartridges showing signs of rust on their metal parts or primer.

When moving to hunt by any type of transport, hunting firearms must be in a case, except in cases established by the Rules. When travelling within hunting grounds off public roads, as well as when moving by boat on a water body en route to blinds, ambushes, and other hiding places, it is permissible to carry assembled firearms, but they must be unloaded and the barrel(s) pointed upwards or away from nearby persons.

When hunting from a small vessel by approaching, hunting firearms of hunters located ahead or to the sides of the small vessel's course may be loaded.