With autumn comes the hunt time, which also brings intensified checks of police officers who check hunters' weapons and necessary documents.
"Prevention is never enough, and so the police check whether hunters have consumed alcohol and whether they have a gun, firearms license, gun license, hunting license, and insurance," said the police spokeswoman Hana Millerová from Jindřichuv Hradec.
In recent days, police officers from the Department of Arms and Security Material went for example to hunters from the association Vrska of Nová Včelnice, which organized a hunt for wild ducks. They checked a total of forty hunters at the yard in the local part of Brabec, from where they set off to shoot at the Kalabis and Hrazák ponds.
Jan Hrůza, the manager of the local association, has no problem with the checks. "There's nothing we can do, we're handling weapons, so everyone needs to be all right. Safety first," he said.
The police spokesman also pointed out other rules that must be followed. "During the hunt, the correct handling of the weapon is very important; After the end of the hunt, it is then necessary to ensure the correct storage of the weapon. Every hunter should have it properly secured at home, preferably in a safe," Hana Millerová mentioned. Children under 15 years of age must not be present during the hounds and reflective fabrics on the clothes of the hounds is obligatory for safety reasons.
Overall, the number of hunts decreases, which is mainly due to the lower game status. "If we had reported hundreds of hunts a year to the Hradec Králové fellowship years ago, it is now about a third," said police officer Josef Tunka from the aforementioned specialized arms department.
In the Jindrichuv Hradec area, the police visited a total of 16 hunts in 2016. In one case there was a violation of the law when the hunter inhaled the residual alcohol before the hunt began. They sacked the sinner on the spot and imposed a block fine on him. They have already checked six hunts this year and in one case also found residual alcohol in the hunter.
Random checks will continue. In addition to police officers from the specialized department, police officers from individual district departments also participate.