Thinking Medieval with a Twist: Hunting Laws in Scarterra are a bit more lax

Oversimplified Take on Hunting Laws in Medieval History

  One aspect of medieval Europe that has permeated into a lot of books and movies is that nobles restricted hunting on their lands and this sort of poaching was often a capital crime. Sometimes it was a blanket ban on all hunting, and other times it was only for larger game.     Even ancient Earth humans knew that it was possible to deplete an area's hunting stock, but hunting wasn't restricted for enviromental reasons, it was so the king or the duke or whoever was the lord could go hunting whenever they wanted.   Waste is taboo in medieval societies, so they did eat what they hunted but the priority was for recreation not food. But this wasn't entirely for recreation, since one of a medieval lord's primary duties was defense of the realm and hunting was viewed as good means to keep martial skills sharp during peacetime. And it lets a lord familarize himself with the subtle ins and outs of his own land which will come in handy later if he has to defend his own land against invaders.   Through the lens of historical relativism, this looks like a backwards or oppressive custom by people today but it is worth noting that during times of famine, medieval Earth lords usually stopped recreational hunting and opened up their lands to public hunting, at least to an extant.   This certainly applies to most Scarterran lords. Most Scarterran lords enjoy hunting for sport and it is viewed as a means to keep martial skills sharp during peace time. So by extension, most Scarterran feudal lands limited hunting rights for non-nobles.  

What is Different in Scarterra

  -The presence of supernatural beasts, rogue spirits, marauding goblins and other so called "monstrous" humanoids, and various fae creatures sneaking into the material plane, and feral elementals means that local lords have things that threaten their land periodically even in so-called "peacetime" so hunting expeditions are not strictly necessary to keep martial skills sharp.   -For various reasons, Scarterra has more woodlands and wild places than Medieval Earth did. This doesn't make it impossible to over hunt available game, far from it. It does make the need for regulating Scarterran less urgent.   -The number one reason why forests are valuable in Scarterra is not hunting rights or timber, but the reagents. A local lord is going to be far more upset at reagent poaching than deer or rabbit poaching.   -Thanks to the nature god Korus and his followers, Scarterrans have something loosely akin to modern environmental ethics.  

So how do these differences affect Scarterran hunting laws?

  Punishment for poaching is usually equally severe to medieval punishments for poaching, but there are it is easier for commoners to legally gain permission to go hunting.   Hunting restrictions are lowered in most of Scarterra, but they aren't absent. Very few Scarterran nations allow the lower classes unlimited access to hunting in the lord's woods but they do have more access than their medieval Earth counterparts.