The battue hunting season in East Belgium starts on September 26th. This means that hikers and bikers will not be allowed to access specific areas and routes at certain times because of hunting. In order to support the recreational activities in route planning and to avoid conflict situations, the East Belgium Tourism Agency has equipped the hiking route planner at https://www.ostbelgien.eu/en/cycling/cycle-tour-planer and the cycle route planner https://www.ostbelgien.eu/en/cycling/cycle-tour-planer with up-to-date warnings.
It is very easy to use: With a click on the red button "Closures & occurencies" you can check which closures and conditions are reported on a certain day. The route management system then shows on the map whether and where a special event such as a hunt, another type of closure or a natural event is taking place.
On the map, these events are highlighted in colour and by clicking on the marked zone, you can find out whether, and if so, which event is taking place on that precise spot. Thus, hike or bicycle tours can be prepared accurately and the closed areas can be avoided to a large extent.
Caution: All available hunting areas and hunting seasons have been registered and encoded by the Tourism Agency East Belgium in cooperation with the responsible forestry offices. At the moment, some hunting areas are not yet digitally recorded. Therefore, the corresponding information on the hunts must be requested from the respective forestry offices as usual. In any case, the respective warnings (signposted) must always be followed on site.
Contact addresses of the forestry offices in East Belgium:
- Directorate Malmedy - Tel.: 080/ 79 90 41 or -42 44 45
- Büllingen forest office - Tel.: 080/ 29 25 30
- Elsenborn forest office - Tel.: 080/ 41 01 71
- Malmedy forest office - Tel.: 080/ 79 90 40 Emergency service (weekend) - GSM: 0477/ 823 001
- St. Vith forest office - Tel.: 080/ 28 08 51
- Eupen forest office - Tel.: 087/ 85 90 20
> Further information about the hunting season in East Belgium
