Hunting diploma exam

[AdamCalvin]

Hi,

I am trying to take my hunting diploma exam so that I can apply for a hunting permit. The test is in Finnish but you are allowed a translator apparently, but unfortunately the books and study material is all in Finnish too and not available in English. Does anyone know of an English book or where I could find the information so I can revise before taking it. Is the test fairly straight forward?

Cheers

Adam

[Rosamunda]

All my children passed the exam but if I remember correctly one of them took it a second time (with a translator) because the Finnish is quite convoluted (double-negative questions etc). I remember they practised using a board game which involved identifying wild animals and stuff like that and they also took a short prep course which was really helpful. I would say it is quite straightforward but there is quite a lot in terms of content: knowing what can be hunted and when; identifying different bird and mammal species. I am not aware of any specific materials in English but you could try looking for some Swedish books in the local library - they are usually easier to decipher than the Finnish ones!

[Hämeen Hitain]

The Finnish Wildlife Agency's website is http://riista.fi/. Most ofthe material is in Finnish or Swedish, something also in English. The book for the exam is available in Finnish and Swedish (Metsästäjän opas / Handbok för jägare), and the exam can be done in either language. They also have preparation courses for the exam.

[Alex.Sm]

Hei,

I took the exam last year, failed twice, passed third time ... right after I got the hunting license (you have to pay a fee for that) and also got rifle permit, and purchased a rifle.

I bought the books, and to be honest I learned the animals and birds in finnish as english is not my native language therefore it will have not make any sens to me to learn them in english. Here the books come handy because you have the animals/birds there.

I also took the course that is supposed to prepare you for the exam, quite good I will say if your finnish level is acceptable.

Otherwise the book and the course is pretty much based on the actual hunting law, and a bit on the firearms act. What I actually did, I read the english version of hunting and firearm laws from finlex.fi Also check that there have been some changes to the law, read them all.

Once you read them and you know the animals/birds you are good to go.

You can bring your own interpreter to the exam, I think it has to be official interpreter not a friend ... so I guess that will cost a bit.

The test is not straight forward, there are quite easy and logic questions but there are also tricky ones. 10 questions are about animals and birds, the rest are basically hunting related (seasons, periods, hunting with dogs), safety, organizations, calibers, hunting rights and hunting permissions and so forth ... I can say the exam covers quite many topics and if I will have been a finn or speaking finnish 100% I will have pass the exam at first but I have an excuse (i'm foreigner). My first exam I had 11 mistakes, second I had 9 and third time when I passed I had 0. Well there were also finns who failed so no worries

And pretty much that's it ... after if you pass the hunting exam you are allowed to hunt, but before you hunt you need a rifle and before you can buy a rifle you need a purchase permit from police and in order to get that one you have to pass a "schizzo test" (I call it that way). If you pass the schizzo test, then you will receive the permit to buy a rifle, but before you apply for the purchase permit you must to know what rifle you want to buy (type and caliber) they will not ask you the brand but the type and caliber because the purchase permit is for a specific caliber and type rifle ... if you apply for a bolt action rifle and get a purchase permit for it, you can't buy from the store a shotgun or 9mm pistol. You will be able to buy a bolt action rifle. After you get the purchase permit for the type you wanted and if it's approved you have 6 months to purchase it. Once you purchase it from that day you have 30 days to go to police and register it. After that you will get a card (driving license size) that will have your name, birth date, rifle brand and type and it's serial number.

If you are a member of a hunting group the leader can write to police a letter where he will say that you: name, social security number, address, blah blah will come to hunt with the group X at location Y. This letter you can take with you to police when you go and apply for purchase permit.

One more thing: the "shizzo test" at the police is also in finnish or swedish and after that you will have an interview with a police man asking you all kind of questions ... so you have to pass all phases to get a purchase permit ...

And the last: you need money because all hunting related equipments cost a bag of money: licenses, rifle, ammunition, scope, clothes, boots, radio ... etc talking about thousands of euro!

[Rosamunda]

The interpreter that my kids used for the hunting test was not an official translator. I'm not sure what the rules are, they might have changed as that was about 4-5 years ago.

Reading the English translations of the laws on Finlex is a good idea If you have the Finnish and the English versions side by side you will get a lot of the vocabulary you need.

My youngest son has his "Schizzo" interview on Friday, I didn't realise it was only offered in Finnish/Swedish (but he should be OK, his Finnish is pretty good). How can they assess someone with very limited language skills?

[onkko]

My youngest son has his "Schizzo" interview on Friday, I didn't realise it was only offered in Finnish/Swedish (but he should be OK, his Finnish is pretty good). How can they assess someone with very limited language skills?

That could be a problem but i have gone thru military "schizzo" test and questions were simple, i assume gun one is similar, a lot of simple questions asked in many ways with lot of repetition.

[onkko]

My youngest son has his "Schizzo" interview on Friday, I didn't realise it was only offered in Finnish/Swedish (but he should be OK, his Finnish is pretty good). How can they assess someone with very limited language skills?

That could be a problem but i have gone thru military "schizzo" test and questions were simple, i assume gun one is similar, a lot of simple questions asked in many ways with lot of repetition.

Offtopic but by assume i mean i hope because my "schizzo" test told im mentally capable to run BUK M1 (SA-11 Gadfly) what you know from current Ukraine crisis... what is bit more than rifle or shotgun and if that was less than test for rifle....

[Alex.Sm]

My youngest son has his "Schizzo" interview on Friday, I didn't realise it was only offered in Finnish/Swedish (but he should be OK, his Finnish is pretty good). How can they assess someone with very limited language skills?

That could be a problem but i have gone thru military "schizzo" test and questions were simple, i assume gun one is similar, a lot of simple questions asked in many ways with lot of repetition.

Offtopic but by assume i mean i hope because my "schizzo" test told im mentally capable to run BUK M1 (SA-11 Gadfly) what you know from current Ukraine crisis... what is bit more than rifle or shotgun and if that was less than test for rifle....

And yes I think there is something related to military service when you apply for weapon permit ... I have done my military service in my former home country and when I applied for rifle permit I just had the exempt paper I received from Aluetoimisto. Now I don't know what's the case if you haven't done it ... do they give permit or not?

[Upphew]

Now I don't know what's the case if you haven't done it ... do they give permit or not?

Surely they give the permit. Otherwise most of the ladies wouldn't get one

[Alex.Sm]

Now I don't know what's the case if you haven't done it ... do they give permit or not?

Surely they give the permit. Otherwise most of the ladies wouldn't get one

That's true, I guess doesn't matter the military service if it's done or not. Good point.

[Rosamunda]

I think my kids got theirs before they did their military service.

You need to be 20 to get a pistol licence but only 16 for a rifle licence if you already have a hunting licence. There doesn't seem to be a minimum age for getting a hunting licence.

[onkko]

Offtopic but by assume i mean i hope because my "schizzo" test told im mentally capable to run BUK M1 (SA-11 Gadfly) what you know from current Ukraine crisis... what is bit more than rifle or shotgun and if that was less than test for rifle....

And yes I think there is something related to military service when you apply for weapon permit ... I have done my military service in my former home country and when I applied for rifle permit I just had the exempt paper I received from Aluetoimisto. Now I don't know what's the case if you haven't done it ... do they give permit or not?

That test was 10+ years after my military service and iirc they didnt even, officially, asked about it but "basic security check" would tell them anyway, i talked with colonel who drove me to look at nice stuff 50km away so i would choose his brand and of course i told i were mere bazooka man in jaeger company Only question i can think what one can ask, if its not strictly military position, is that if you have done your "national responsibility" but they cant ask how, be it civil service or C man its not their business.
It was test irrelevant of service i did and was to check if im are sane enough, only thing i didnt like of it didnt tell if im able to be leader because my position wasnt leader position (not tested, i would like to know!)
Of course if i had @#$% up in military tests those would show up in "basic security check".