Wild Boar Hunters Profile in Shimane Prefecture, Western Japan

Abstract

Wild boars have been expanding their range and seriously damage agricultural crops all over Japan. Such situation is obvious in Shimane Prefecture, western end of Honshu Island, where most of its territory is mountainous. Population control is strongly expected by farmers and administration. However, the number of hunters has been drastically decreasing since the 1970's. To maintain and increase hunters, we must investigate their activities and attitudes to clarify the problems. Questionnaires were conducted in 2001 on 310 hunters who renewed their hunting license at local office. The response rate was 80.0%. Wild boar hunters accounted for 61.6%, and the others were mostly bird hunters (32.5%). The objective of wild boar hunting was predominantly nuisance control, and very few hunted for money despite of its high commercial value. Most of them were farmers (35.8%) and/or farm village dwellers (53.6%), and used the leg snare (61.4%). Despite the stable number of hunters, the number of hunters using guns is decreasing. Hunters do not to appear to be interested in maintaining the local hunting society. Leisure is the most pursued objective rather nuisance control. Therefore, actions should be taken to stimulate hunting as a leisure activity thus maintaining an important tool for wild boar management.