The Executive of Castilla-La Mancha reiterated this Tuesday afternoon in Madrid its support for the hunting sector, "with which we work hand in hand in Castilla-La Mancha with a very clear objective: to consolidate hunting as an activity that is fundamental not only as an element of management but also for the development of our towns and our rural environment, since it creates wealth and retains population".
This was expressed by the Minister of Sustainable Development, Mercedes Gómez, during her speech at the Artemisan Annual Gala held in the capital, where she recalled that, in the region, "hunting mobilizes 963.3 million euros per year, creates 21,800 jobs, and represents 2.1% of the regional GDP", as disseminated by the Junta in a press release.
In her speech, Gómez highlighted the collaboration between the regional government and the Artemisan Foundation in "different benchmark projects, such as the recovery of the red partridge, the management of the adaptation of the European turtle dove to the territory, or the censuses of the quail, to cite a few examples". She also recalled that next Tuesday, June 23, both entities will hold a technical conference in Toledo titled "Vultures and Hunting: Science, Management, and Challenges for Conservation".
During the Gala, the minister, accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Environment, José Almodóvar, presented one of the awards of the V Artemisan Rural World Journalism Awards to journalist Virginia Martínez and photographer Claudio Álvarez, for their report for El País "Sanabria under the ash: 'We are the emptied and burned Spain'", focused on the fire that devastated Zamora in August 2025.
Compliance with the Hunting Pact
The head of Sustainable Development also highlighted the high level of execution of the "Castilla-La Mancha Hunting Pact", the commitment "that President García-Page made to the sector to promote hunting activity".
In this regard, she cited pioneering measures in training, such as the launch of courses for new hunters, game reserve wardens, and predator control specialists; the free license for hunters from Castilla-La Mancha; the expansion to nine of the social game reserves; the FSC certification of game meat; or the recent incorporation of the community into the inter-regional license "to be able to hunt with a single permit in 10 communities".
To these actions will be added the new Hunting Regulations of Castilla-La Mancha, which will be ready for the start of the 2026/2027 season and will be published in September, "and which, after working on it with the sector, will incorporate the modifications of the Hunting Law, and of Law 9/99 on Nature Conservation," pointed out the minister.
New hunting seasons order 2026-2027
Gómez also reported that last Friday the hunting seasons order was released, which establishes the open hunting periods and prohibitions for the 2026-2027 hunting season in Castilla-La Mancha, "an order that maintains the measures to alleviate the overabundance of ungulates by increasing by 30 percent the quotas for male deer, roe deer, and fallow deer, and by 100 percent for female deer, roe deer, fallow deer, and Iberian ibex, while wild boar can be hunted all year round."
In addition, for the second consecutive year and "thanks to the involvement of the sector and the approval of the European Union, the hunting of the European turtle dove will be permitted on August 22 and 23 under certain conditions."
The minister emphasized that the Hunting Seasons Order 26/27 "allows the Autonomous Community to promote hunting activity and to provide the hunters of the region with regulations that are respectful of the territory's biodiversity and reinforce the role of hunting as a social, economic, and sustainable value."
The general hunting season will start on October 8, ending on February 8 for small game species and on February 21 for large game species.