The Environment Board says there may be scope for applying for exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

At the end of last week, a temporary flight restriction area was established in the airspace in eastern Estonia following the incursion into Poland of nearly 20 Russian drones earlier in the week.

The flight restriction bars the flying of drones in the area, but hunters say they rely on drones for locating wild boar, particularly in corn and grain fields.

The flight restriction is up to 6000 meters altitude, between the hours of eight in the evening until seven the following morning. This coincides with the time-frame in which hunters prefer to utilize drones in locating boar, a largely nocturnal animal.

Wild boar are subject to a major cull of 18,000 animals in efforts to curb the African swine fever (ASF) epidemic which began in Estonia in June, and the cull quota was originally accompanied by permission to use drones. Tartu County is a cull hotspot, but mostly falls in the new no-fly zone.

Lt Col. Rauno Leskov of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), which proposed the eastern flight restriction zone, said exemptions for hunters are unlikely.

"We do not foresee exceptions for hunters to fly their drones. All exceptions that apply, do so to commercial flights in the direction of Tartu. The same is for special flights of police and border guard and medical flights, which must start in Tartu as required. These are the only exceptions we currently foresee," Leskov said.

Tartu hunting club executive director Tõnu Peterson said: "At present, the position is a bit wait-and-see, as to what will happen. Wild boar are, as is known, nocturnal, when they go into the forest, then they are not really found. Almost all of Tartu County is inside the no-fly zone, we will see what happens next. Right now, hunters have applied with their flight drones for permission, but they did not get it."

Hunters can also submit an order to the Environmental Board and to the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) for a relevant official to carry out a thermal drone flight on their behalf, during the hunt.

"When there is a flight restriction area, then it is necessary to apply for permission from the EDF to fly there, and as I understand, the EDF has stated that they cannot generally allow flights there, though certainly they will consider all applications on a case-by-case basis," said head of the hunting and aquatic life bureau of the Environmental Board, Tanel Türna.

Leskov said that even with cooperation with the civilian PPA, an exemption would still be unlikely.

"If the PPA submits an application to us, then probably there would need to be a danger to life and well-being, and this primarily concerning people. If we are talking about an indirect danger, which hunting probably in some perspective could be, then I do not foresee that such exceptions would start to be granted," he said.

Peterson, meanwhile, conceded that: "Certainly defense is more important at the moment than searching for wild boar, we will take it day by day, how this thing goes and resolves."

The Estonian Air Force (Õhuvägi) has said the flight restriction in eastern Estonia will last until October 5 as things stand.

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