Denmark: as much as fits in a bag

Denmark gives no limit in kilograms. It gives a customary measure, and the state forest agency explains it in terms it would be hard to improve on: collecting is allowed to a limited extent, so that there is also something left for the next person who comes by.

The measure has a medieval pedigree. It descends from the Scanian Law, written down around 1210, where the entitlement was defined as whatever would fit in a hat — at the time, a helmet. The modern reading swaps the helmet for an ordinary carrier bag.

What is decisive is purpose, not weight. Collecting is permitted for one's own use only, meaning not for resale. Commercial harvesting of mushrooms is prohibited. Beyond fungi the guidance also covers wood, branches, flowers, mosses, seaweed, cones and shed antlers, with cones to be taken only from the ground.

The crucial difference concerns land ownership. The rules described apply on state-managed areas, marked by red posts carrying the Naturstyrelsen logo. Private forests operate under different access rules: a visitor must stay on paths and tracks, and may therefore collect only what can be reached from them. The legal basis is section 28, point 5 of the regulation on public access to nature.

The Danish model is interesting because it deliberately declines to name a number. A weight limit is easier to enforce, but says nothing about what remains in the forest. The measure "enough for the next person" describes exactly that.

The bag is a customary measure for state land

Naturstyrelsen explains that on state nature areas it manages, natural products may be taken only for personal use, in a limited amount and not for resale. The historical measure—what could fit in a hat under the Skånske Lov of about 1210—is now interpreted as an ordinary carrier bag. It is not a mechanical quota for every Danish woodland. State areas can be recognised by red posts bearing the agency logo, and publicly owned forests generally allow gathering throughout. In a private forest, visitors may take only what they can reach from a road or path. “One bag” describes moderate personal collecting on state-managed land; the first check is ownership and local signs, not container capacity.