Initial game inspection after a driven hunt: traceability and sharing

The initial game inspection after a driven hunt is the examination of the offal and carcass by a trained hunter. It is mandatory before a hunt meal, a transfer to a local retail business or delivery to a processing plant¹. Between family and friends, it remains advisable. For wild boar, a trichinella test is also required in these same situations².

Sunday, 5 pm, outside the hunting lodge. Four wild boar and two roe deer are hanging, the driven hunt went well, and the questions start coming. Who checks the offal? Can the neighbouring farmer leave with a haunch? Can the village restaurant have one? What do we need for the society’s meal? Everyone has their own version of the rules, and nobody has the form.

This guide follows the venison from the ground of the driven hunt to the plate. It separates consumption within the family, transfer to a private individual and transfer to a hunt meal, a shop or a restaurant. It is based on the Order of 18 December 2009 as reproduced by public sources, on pages from the Ministry of Agriculture and ANSES, and on those of the Fédération nationale des chasseurs (FNC) and two departmental federations. The rules vary from one department to another: the prefectoral order and your federation remain the reference.

Who must carry out the initial inspection of game killed in a driven hunt?

A hunter trained by their departmental federation. The initial game inspection after a driven hunt consists of examining the white offal (essentially the digestive tract) and the red offal (heart, liver, lungs) to spot any abnormal appearance¹. The official form also asks for any anomalies of the head, carcass, spleen, stomach, intestines and kidneys to be noted³.

The training lasts three hours and ends with a certificate bearing a registration number issued by the federation³. It does not teach you to make a diagnosis: the hunter sorts between “normal” and “doubtful”, and knows whom to contact if there is a problem³. Each federation keeps a list of trained people and sends it to the departmental authority in charge of consumer protection³. The FNC counts more than 50,000 trained and registered hunters⁴. One trained person per team is enough, according to the Correze federation¹.

The hunter who transfers a carcass remains responsible for it: since the European “hygiene package”, they are liable for its food safety, the Gers federation reminds us⁵.

When is the initial inspection mandatory?

It depends on the destination of the venison, not the species. The following table is based on the summary from the Correze federation¹, the overview published by the journal Viandes & Produits Carnes⁶ and the page from the Ministry of Agriculture².

The table boils down to one idea: game that enters a collective, commercial or club circuit must be inspected by a trained hunter and have a form. A gift makes no difference: the Gers federation refers to transfer “free of charge or for a fee”⁵. Offering a roe deer to the village shopkeeper therefore counts as a transfer.

How to become a trained hunter and complete the accompanying document

You register with your departmental federation, which organises the training and issues the certificate¹. Once trained, you complete the game accompanying document after each inspection. The trained hunter hands it to the first holder of the carcass, and it follows the game to its final destination to ensure traceability⁴. The text specifies that it must accompany the carcasses in fur or feather at all times³.

The steps, in field order:

1. Identify each animal with the number of the hunting department followed by a serial number, or with the tag number for a species covered by the harvest plan, if it is unique within the department³.
2. Note the species, place, date and time of killing, then the place and time of evisceration (on site, at a collection centre or at the hunting lodge)³.
3. Examine the head, carcass and viscera, then describe each anomaly, naming the organ concerned³.
4. Indicate the destination: final consumer, hunt meal or club meal, local retail business or processing plant³.
5. Sign the form, and have it signed by the first holder of the game³.
6. Attach it to the carcass and keep a photo.

When the inspection is unfavourable, the carcass must not be placed on the market. The decision tree given to the trained hunter indicates what to do³.

The first holder is the hunter who killed the animal. As an exception, the text accepts the holder of the hunting rights whom the internal regulations name as the owner of the game killed³. In a society that shares game, this point is settled in writing before the season.

Your federation provides the form template in force. The Gers federation made new forms mandatory from 1 July 2021⁵: an old form should not be reused without checking.

Checks do exist. A missing form when one is required, false information, lack of identification, a visible anomaly not mentioned or placing on the market despite an unfavourable inspection leads to a report being sent to the federation. It can remove the trained hunter from the list in case of serious or repeated irregularities, without prejudice to criminal and administrative proceedings³.

What can you do with the venison: eat it, give it away, transfer it?

You can eat it with your family, share it among friends, give it to a private individual, or transfer it to a hunt meal, a shop or a processing plant, each route having its own rules.

With family and friends

Convivial sharing is outside the scope of the Order, but the hunter’s civil liability remains in full¹. The Ministry of Agriculture confirms it: the hunter’s personal liability could be engaged in case of contamination of the consumer, even for a free transfer².

To a private individual

A private individual who is not a close relation, for example someone who turns up at the end of a hunting day, can receive game without a mandatory initial inspection or form¹. National regulations allow direct transfer of small quantities, as a whole carcass eviscerated but not skinned². For wild boar, only one obligation remains: informing the consumer of the risk of trichinellosis and the importance of cooking through. The Ministry recommends that the consumer ask for a trichinella test certificate².

To a hunt meal or club meal

For the society’s banquet, the initial inspection, the accompanying document and, for wild boar, the search for trichinella larvae are mandatory⁶. You must wait for the test result before eating the meat¹.

To a local retail business

Transfer to a retail business follows a precise rule. Big game is delivered as whole carcasses, with the skin on and after evisceration. The business must be within 80 km of the hunting location, and the quantity remains small: the game killed during one hunting day⁶. The initial inspection, the form and, for wild boar, the trichinella test are mandatory⁶. Skinning, plucking and butchering are prohibited before transfer¹.

For a restaurant or caterer, the sources consulted do not settle the case of a whole carcass, but the Ministry lists restaurants among the destinations that require a trichinella sample for wild boar². Ask your federation or the departmental authority in charge of consumer protection which procedure applies.

A national trial, launched after the Order of 26 June 2024, changes the rule for a few areas: authorised hunters can skin a carcass and cut it into six pieces for a butcher, restaurant, caterer or local shop within 80 km⁷. The first phase covered fifteen hunting grounds⁶. Unless your society is one of them, it does not apply to you.

To a processing plant

This is the long circuit. The initial inspection and form are mandatory, and the veterinary services carry out the trichinella sampling at the plant³. The December 2024 article lists 33 approved processing plants in 22 departments, and 1,451 collection centres with a cold room⁶.

What about channels that do not fit any category?

According to a survey by the national veterinary and phytosanitary investigations brigade, cited in the same article, 30% of hunted game is consumed by the hunter, 9% goes through short circuits and 6% through long circuits. The remaining 55% would circulate outside official channels, for example as terrines sold to private individuals. The author calls them grey, illegal, unofficial circuits⁶. Before transferring processed products, ask your federation in what framework it is possible.

Wild boar: is the trichinella test mandatory, and how do you do it?

It is mandatory for a wild boar destined for a hunt meal, a retail business or a processing plant, and strongly recommended for private consumption²⁸. The initial inspection does not replace it: most of the time, infested carcasses show no visible lesions, and only analysis of a muscle sample reveals the parasite⁸.

The risk is rare but serious. ANSES records an average of two human cases per year in France, and since 1998 all cases contracted on French soil have been linked to wild boar not checked by veterinary services and insufficiently cooked, with one exception in 2015⁸. In February 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture reported two cases following consumption of undercooked, unchecked wild boar killed on a hunt on 8 December 2020 in the Pyrenees-Orientales. The disease can leave irreversible after-effects².

For meat that has not been tested, the Ministry indicates cooking through, to 71°C, grey meat, as the only prevention method². Domestic freezing, curing and smoking are not reliable techniques⁸².

How to get a wild boar analysed

Tests are carried out in an approved laboratory³. Each federation organises collection in its own way. Here is the Correze procedure, to be compared with that of your department:

1. Remove the whole tongue from the wild boar and place it in a freezer-type bag.
2. Keep the carcass, or its parts, waiting in a cold room or freezer.
3. Identify each carcass and the corresponding tongue with the set of labels provided by the federation.
4. Bring the tongues to the federation on Monday, in a cool box.
5. Attach the copy of the initial inspection form intended for the laboratory, with the label number.

The federation sends the tongues to the departmental veterinary laboratory, and results arrive at the end of the week. The federation page indicates €12.60 including VAT per wild boar when samples are grouped at the federation¹.

This timetable affects your society meal. In Correze, a Sunday driven hunt gives results at the end of the week: a meal the following Saturday is possible, a driven hunt the day before the meal is not. Set the meal date after asking your federation for its drop-off day.

How to organise the sharing of venison in a hunting society

Organise it before the season, in writing, in six points that the committee can vote on in one meeting. Safety comes before sharing: reread our safety instructions for driven hunts.

1. Designate the first holder in the internal regulations. Write down who is considered the owner of the game killed: the shooter or the society holding the hunting rights³.
2. Train at least one person per driven-hunt team¹, and check with the federation that they appear on the list of trained hunters³.
3. Plan for cold storage. A collection centre keeps big game at 7°C or below; freezing, skinning, plucking and butchering are prohibited there³. Without a cold room, ask the federation for the list of nearby collection centres.
4. Decide on the destination of each animal before completing the form: family, sharing, hunt meal, shop or processing plant. It appears on the form³.
5. Schedule the trichinella test: labels ready, drop-off day known, meal set after the results.
6. Keep a transfer register: animal number, species, date, recipient, form handed over. It protects you the day someone asks where a wild boar haunch came from.

This register is in addition to the logbook required by your federation, detailed in our overview of driven hunt logbooks.

Mes Chasses is an information tool: it does not replace the initial inspection or your federation’s form, and the decision to eat or transfer a carcass remains that of the trained hunter and the first holder. The app keeps the day’s harvest tally, the participants and the stands. The free driven hunt sheet prepares a harvest tally by species, and the digital hunt logbook is generated from your events.

Drop-off day, cost, form template and collection centres vary. Check them with your departmental federation and in the prefectoral order before finalising your internal regulations.

Conclusion

After the driven hunt, the path of the venison depends on its destination. With family, sharing remains free but engages your liability. For a hunt meal, a shop or a processing plant, you need a trained hunter, an accompanying document and, for wild boar, a trichinella test that takes time.

This week, call your departmental federation and ask four questions. Who is on the list of trained hunters in your society? Which form template should you use? Where do you drop off wild boar tongues, on which day, at what cost? Which collection centre is nearest? Write the answers in the internal regulations, then name the first holder.

Before the next driven hunt, print the driven hunt sheet or create a free account on Mes Chasses to prepare the day’s harvest tally. That evening, “who inspects, who signs, where the game goes” will have an answer.

References