Game Bag Research Articles

The impact of COVID-19 on sport hunting in Spain

ABSTRACT Sport hunting is considered a multifunctional and key activity in rural Europe, and after the first COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020, it was restrained in many countries, such as Spain. This study found that during the first year of pandemics the number of hunting licences was reduced by 9%, and hunting was overall decreased but varied among types of hunting, game species and commercial and non-commercial hunting (from 17 to 95%). COVID-19 negatively impacted hunting providers and the game meat industry, and the game bag was reduced for 80% of the species from 2019 to 2020. Mobility restrictions affected mainly hunting requiring several people and ‘non-local’ hunters. In 2021 the game bag returned partially to pre-COVID-19 levels, but the number of licences continued a sustained negative trend. In the likely event of future lockdowns, it will be useful for policy makers to consider hunting as performing essential functions, such as species and disease control, habitat management and wildlife monitoring.

Planning for Deer-Hunting Management at the Local and Regional Scales: Reconciling Economic, Social and Ecological Functions

Game species with home ranges exceeding the area of the management units may entail conflicts over hunting rights and cause damage to crops and forest stands in surrounding areas. This is currently the case in the Mendro Mountain Range (Portugal), inhabited by free-ranging red (Cervus elaphus) and fallow deer (Dama dama) populations. This study’s primary goal was to uncover the processes underlying these tensions and identify solutions to overcome them, thus reconciling the economic, social, and ecological functions of hunting. We analyzed data from three different sources of information regarding the surveyed management units: biophysical and anthropical spatial data collected using a GIS; typology, whether fenced, area and game bag results, data provided by a public institute; crop and forest damage locations reported by game managers. Approximately half of the surveyed open management units reported damage. We found no relationship between damage and game bag results, regardless of the typology and habitat quality index. To address this disconnection between the negative and positive values associated with deer locally, we proposed habitat management solutions. It is of chief importance to keep valuable crops apart from deer’s refuge cover, such as bushy areas, to minimize damage in management units where deer hunting is a subsidiary activity. Conversely, in management units where deer hunting is of significant economic importance, the food and refuge cover should be closely interspersed to increase the management unit’s carrying capacity. To improve the efficacy of measures such as this at a regional scale, as in the Mendro Mountain Range, we recommend implementing a so-called Global Management Plan. In Portuguese law, this governance instrument applies to the entire biologic unit where the deer populations occur, thus implying arrangements between the involved stakeholders and multiple other concerned institutions.

Regime shift tipping point in hare population collapse associated with climatic and agricultural change during the very early 20th century.

Animal populations at northern latitudes may have cyclical dynamics that are degraded by climate change leading to trophic cascade. Hare populations at more southerly latitudes are characterized by dramatic declines in abundance associated with agricultural intensification. We focus on the impact of historical climatic and agricultural change on a mid-latitude population of mountain hares, Lepus timidus hibernicus. Using game bag records from multiple sites throughout Ireland, the hare population index exhibited a distinct regime shift. Contrary to expectations, there was a dynamical structure typical of northern latitude hare populations from 1853 to 1908, during which numbers were stable but cyclic with a periodicity of 8years. This regime was replaced by dynamics more typical of southern latitude hare populations from 1909 to 1970, in which cycles were lost and numbers declined dramatically. Destabilization of the autumn North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) led to the collapse of similar cycles in the hare population, coincident with the onset of agricultural intensification (a shift from small-to-large farms) in the first half of the 20th century. Similar, but more recent regime shifts have been observed in Arctic ecosystems and attributed to anthropogenic climate change. The present study suggests such shifts may have occurred at lower latitudes more than a century ago during the very early 20th century. It seems likely that similar tipping points in the population collapse of other farmland species may have occurred similarly early but went undocumented. As northern systems are increasingly impacted by climate change and probable expansion of agriculture, the interaction of these processes is likely to disrupt the pulsed flow of resources from cyclic populations impacting ecosystem function.

Current status of American mink Neovison vison in Great Britain: a review of the evidence for a population decline

Abstract The American mink Neovison vison in Great Britain is an invasive alien species, with significant impacts on native prey species. There have been suggestions that populations of mink in Britain have declined since the 1990s. Three nationwide data sets include data on mink distribution and abundance. Scat surveys and the National Game Bag Census suggest population declines, but the latter does not take account of survey effort (which may also have declined) and the former is misleading because there is evidence that mink change their marking behaviour in the presence of otters Lutra lutra. National Biodiversity Network data suggest an increase in mink numbers, but this can be explained by a concomitant increase in mammal recording. Although intra‐guild competition between invasive mink and native otters is likely, there is no evidence that otters have caused a decline in mink numbers. There is little information on the impact of disease, or exposure to rodenticides, on wild mink – both warrant further attention. Eradication efforts can have an impact on mink populations, but currently neither implementation nor monitoring is sufficient to generate effects throughout Great Britain or to assess the impact of cumulative local and regional efforts. We conclude that it is not possible, on the basis of currently available data for Great Britain, to ascertain the status of mink or assess the underlying trend in their population. We stress the importance of collaboration, coordination, and record keeping (and sharing) in future, proper interpretation of existing data, and the use of alternative data sources. We call for greater, and better, effort in both mink management and monitoring of management in Great Britain.

Modelled population growth based on reproduction differs from life tables based on age determination in Danish raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides)

The population of raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in Denmark has increased rapidly from 1995 when the first was recorded until today where 3291 raccoon dogs are trapped, shot by hunters or road killed. The aims of this study are to present the first data on reproduction and life tables of raccoon dogs in Denmark and to compare mortality from modelled life tables with game bag records and sampled raccoon dogs in different age groups. In this study, the uteri of 89 adult females (> 10 months) were examined for placental scars (PSC), and 561 individuals (289 males, 272 females) were aged using pulp cavity width and dental lines in canine teeth. The litter size of raccoon dogs in Denmark is to date the largest litter size recorded in the wild (mean ± SE) 10.8 ± 0.4, range 1–16 pubs and fecundity 8.4 ± 0.6 pubs. The percent-reproducing females are 78–83%, based on dark and all PSC, respectively. A significant difference was found between the proportion of individuals composing the different age groups based on age determination of individuals collected (Ntage) and the modelled number of individuals in age groups based on fecundity and different mortality rate (Ntmodel), X2 = 8, p < 0.05. The discrepancy between the relatively high reproduction and lifetables may be due to older and more experienced animals that avoid culling. A low population density in a newly founded Danish population of raccoon dogs, together with a milder climate where raccoon dogs can forage during the winter, may cause an exceptionally high reproduction in Danish raccoon dogs.

Where is the pulse to have the finger on? A retrospective analysis of two decades of Alpine Galliforms (Aves: Galliformes) census and game bag data in Italy

Information on the abundance of the Italian populations of black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), Alpine rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta helvetica) and Alpine rock partridge (Alectoris graeca saxatilis) rely only on extrapolations of local data to the national scale, since there is no national standardized survey. Consequently, their status is virtually unknown. We performed a first-ever assessment of a medium-term (1996–2014) population trend of these species using and comparing post-breeding count and bag data at hunting district scale. These data were collected from various authorities in charge of wildlife management and allowed us to test the influence of hunting policies on the estimated trends. Rock partridge showed a stable trend with numbers fluctuating between years, while there was evidence of a severe decline for rock ptarmigan. No general conclusion could be drawn for the black grouse, as we detected lack of consistency of count and bag data. Counts were greatly overdispersed as a result of an uneven count effort among hunting districts. Adding the game management authority as model covariate resulted in more robust trend estimations, suggesting a significant effect of different policies that emerged also as similar hunting pressure across species within authorities. Hunting effort variation over the time was instead negligible. Species-specific game management bias is discussed. Our results highlight the need for a survey scheme or guidelines to be applied uniformly at a national scale.

The Transformation of Lowland Game Shooting in England and Wales since the Second World War: The Supply Side Revolution

AbstractThe history of game shooting since the Second World War might be seen as an enigma. In spite of unprecedented changes to the countryside resulting from the intensification of farming which contributed to a rapid decline in the partridge population, the size of the national game bag increased due to the enhanced popularity of the pheasant as a sporting quarry. This article evaluates the reasons for the expansion of the sport in this period, focusing on the management of the countryside, the evolution of game keeping, the growth of artificial game rearing, and the increasing popularity of game shooting.

Management of Chamois in Bavaria (Germany): The Importance of Game Activities in Scabies Control.

In Bavaria (Germany), scabies was registered for the first time in the year 1824 among the chamois population of the Berchtesgaden region, and disappeared 6 years later. For the next 119 years, the chamois populations in the Bavarian Alps seemed not to be infected by scabies. But in 1949 scabies occurred again in the Bavarian chamois populations east of the River Inn, with origin in the Berchtesgaden region. Scabies has been recorded repeatedly since then. Whereas between 1949 and the early 1990s scabies had a great impact on the development of the chamois populations in the Bavarian Alps east of the river Inn, the disease has had little significance since 1995. As it is assumed that there is a link between high population density and the occurrence of scabies among chamois, hunting bags (as indicators of population density) were compared with the recorded scabies cases (shot or deceased game) among chamois populations in the Bavarian state forests east of the river Inn. Data collected from the Berchtesgaden Forest Office were further analysed according to age and sex parameters. There is a highly significant, inverse, non-parametric correlation between recorded incidences of scabies and hunting bags in the whole study area and in the area of Berchtesgaden Forest Office. The results of the analysis show that bucks were slightly more likely to be registered with scabies than does (p=0.018). Young animals (yearlings and juveniles) played only a secondary role in terms of scabies prevalence. Both the historical background of scabies in the Alps and the present study support the above-mentioned hypothesis that the incidence of scabies in chamois is related to high chamois population densities. The spread of scabies can therefore be slowed down or prevented by increasing game bags over a large area.

Is the Nature 2000 Network associated with small-game bag results?

Small-game hunting is of great economic importance in Portugal. Game managers claim that game management restrictions regarding shoots inside the Nature 2000 Network negatively influence small-game bags, particularly of hare, wild rabbit and red-legged partridge. We analyse whether different habitat and game management practices are associated with game bags of those species in Alentejo (Portugal). Game bag records from five hunting seasons referring to shoots both inside and outside Nature 2000 sites were analysed. Significant differences concerning habitat and game management descriptors were found between shoots inside and outside Nature 2000 sites. However, this ecological network does not seem to correlate with hare and red-legged partridge game bags, whilst it may negatively influence wild rabbit hunting results. Considering that habitat quality for wild rabbit is rather poor inside the studied Nature 2000 sites, further investigation is needed of the possible negative influence of this ecological network on the species’ game bag. Hare game bags increase with extensive non-irrigated agricultural fields and orchards. Besides these two habitats, red-legged partridge game bags are also favoured by cork oak montado where predators are controlled. The game bags of the three small-game species studied increase with hunting effort. Further, our results suggest that there is a positive relation between hunting effort and small-game population abundance.

Be Prepared

Be Prepared

Be prepared: What’s in your game bag?

Be prepared: What’s in your game bag?

A Nineteenth-Century Portrait

A Nineteenth-Century Portrait Edward Baugh (bio) When Mister Robert Scarlett, master of Cambridge and Druckett plantations, stood for his portrait, the good man made a point of having his personal slave-boy, Oliver, beside him, waist high, holding his game bag, with which he'd ride to hunt wild hog and occasional runaways. At his other side his favourite dog. How well the boy's dark visage serves design, matching the dark of the trees to cast in relief the pale, proprietorial white. Those were the good days; they didn't last. After the slave revolts of 1831 great houses, factories, everything was gone; only the family tomb remained. And what of Oliver? History has left no afterword; a boy in a picture, a period-piece, on which poets may stretch out a fiction. Edward Baugh Edward Baugh, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of the West Indies (Mona, Jamaica), is author of Derek Walcott and editor of Walcott's Selected Poems. Baugh's second book of poems, It Was the Singing, was published in 2000. Copyright © 2007 Charles H. Rowell

Orchids and Eagles, and: After a Sung Dynasty Scroll by Hsiao Chio, and: The Return of the Hunters, and: The Kitchen Bird, and: The Island without Tourists, and: Just Once, and: Waiting for the Alchemist

Orchids and Eagles, and: After a Sung Dynasty Scroll by Hsiao Chio, and: The Return of the Hunters, and: The Kitchen Bird, and: The Island without Tourists, and: Just Once, and: Waiting for the Alchemist Mark Perlberg Orchids and Eagles Something happened to the cables that run under miles of water to our island, so we play cribbage in the light of six candles and a hurricane lamp. I look up from my cards. In the black window opposite, the assortment of candles and the lamp float in the glass, and I am back in the dining room of a hotel in Morelia. Tall white candles and white orchids float in a wall of wood-framed windows above the valley, mingled with pricks of light from the old city— images that have not risen to mind for thirty years. What is memory? Praise it. Praise its strings and loops of orchids floating in the night above the old Mexican town— and yesterday—that pair of eagles, drifting, floating above the island, dallying with the wind. [End Page 66] After a Sung Dynasty Scroll by Hsiao Chio The great crag fills the sky. Three waterfalls drop from cliffs without a sound. Trails wind through trees. They ascend, disappear, and reappear. A placid river flows at the mountain's base, where a servant ties a flat-bottomed boat to a landing. He has ferried over a pair of sages, with their topknots and dark crimson robes. They talk about The Mandate of Heaven and read their poems to each other. Near the summit, temple buildings, their roofs curved up like wings, stand half hidden behind walls and groves of pine. Has the boatman ferried the men past the world's edge? Is this the country beyond death? The Return of the Hunters after the painting by Brueghel They enter the scene under a gray, mottled sky with their dogs. They have reached the crest of a snowy hill above their village after a day of hard slogging. Dark birds brood on iron-cold branches. Below, skaters thrust and turn on a frozen pond. [End Page 67] How many times have I looked at this translation of a world and failed to notice the hunters' game bags are empty? Even the dogs are dejected. Winter will be endless. The Kitchen Bird Above our stove a Persian bird flies on a Persian tile in a surround of stalks and flowers, some blue like his wings, some like his breast cinnamon-rose. His beak is open; he stares straight up. This is the way he greets each morning. Singing. The Island without Tourists Vinalhaven, Maine 1 Late September. No more sunsets of lavender, pale green, rose, soft gray. The west red-orange like a furnace. [End Page 68] No lights from neighboring houses. The full moon bright enough to turn the islet below, each pointed spruce, upside down in the flat-calm bay. 2 Bright morning. Wind rushes in treetops. aerial surf swoops, roughs my hair, sizzles in my ears. My own sound in the mix— big shoes on gravel. It's all music. Just Once I have never seen my father in a dream. He died when I was five. A scrap of memory washed in browns and grays is all I retain. If I could see him just once in my night theater, what would he say to his second son at last? [End Page 69] Waiting for the Alchemist The October sun fires late chrysanthemums, garnet, lavender, bright yellow. It strikes an antique dollhouse set down on the stump of an elm. A wicker bell tolls. In my back garden at five in the afternoon, my shadow's a hundred feet long. If I squint sidewise, just so, at the white sun on a day like this, I might uncover the philosopher's stone...

First records in Guinea Bissau of Adamawa Turtle Dove Streptopelia hypopyrrha (Columbidae), with data on morphometrics and body condition

There are no confirmed records of the Adamawa Turtle Dove Streptopelia hypopyrrha in north-eastern Guinea Bissau and there is very little information available on the biology of the species. Eight individuals of the Adamawa Turtle Dove were identified from the game bags of sport hunters in north-eastern Guinea Bissau, during the hunting season of 2001 (February–May). The birds were aged and sexed, measured, weighed and examined for moult, fat accumulation and breeding condition. The low numbers of Adamawa Turtle Doves shot suggest a sparse population in the area. The observation of two birds with active crop glands (indicating breeding) and one juvenile suggests that the region is part of the species' breeding range. There was no physical indication of migrating status and the body measurements contribute to knowledge of the species. Further studies on this species in north-eastern Guinea Bissau are needed in order to formulate guidelines for its conservation and management as a game bird.

Trends and spatial patterns in ungulate‐vehicle collisions in Sweden

I studied trends and the spatial variation in ungulate‐vehicle collisions (UVC) in Sweden varying the spatial resolution in order to test the hypothesis that UVC are proportional to animal density and traffic volume. Spatial patterns were studied at the level of individual hunting areas (N = 311), moose management districts (N = 95), and counties (N = 22), whereas trends in UVC were studied at national, county and district level covering periods of 30,16 and 12 years, respectively. During 1970–1999 the overall number of reported collisions with moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus was closely correlated with changes in annual game bags and the increase in traffic volume. Large‐scale spatial variations in UVC also showed a strong correlation with harvest and traffic. The ratio of collision numbers to harvest, however, increased significantly over time, suggesting a growing importance of traffic over ungulate management. With increased resolution, other environmental factors such as preferred habitat, road density and the presence of road underpasses that can provide passages for wildlife, gained significance over ungulate density and traffic volume. My results suggest that the relationship between animal abundance, road traffic, mitigation measures and collision numbers are not linear. For future prediction, evaluation and mitigation of UVC in Sweden, improved knowledge about passage design, fence location, and the occurrence of UVC in time and space is needed.

Road mortality in Swedish mammals: results of a drivers' questionnaire

We present new estimates on the national road kill for nine large and medium‐sized mammals in Sweden. Our estimates are based on 705 drivers' reports on the number of animals accidentally hit during individually chosen reference periods. During 1960–2000, a total of 881 animal‐vehicle collisions were reported based on 243.6 million driven kilometres, representing 0.37% of the overall mileage driven in Sweden during 1992, the mean reference year of all replies. The collision frequencies ranged from 0.07 incidents per million kilometres for medium‐sized mustelids, over 0.42 for badgers Meles meles to 1.11 for hares Lepus spp. Our data suggest that during 1992, 7,000–13,500 moose Alces alces, 43,500–59,000 roe deer Capreolus capreolus, 63,500–81,500 hares, 22,000–33,000 badgers and 6,500–12,500 red foxes Vulpes vulpes may have been killed on Swedish roads. Among these game species, the extrapolated nation‐wide road kill ranged between 7 and 97% of the average annual harvest, and between 1 and 12% of the assessed total populations in 1992. Our results are in agreement with other independent road kill estimates for Sweden. The data suggested an overall increase in the frequency of road kills over the past 40 years, which partly can be attributed to changes in traffic volume and wildlife population sizes (game bags). In most species, the estimated levels of nation‐wide road mortality are not alarmingly high, although local impacts may be significant. In badgers and hares, the ratio of the estimated road kill to the annual harvest increased two fold, suggesting a steady increase in the relative importance of road mortality. We conclude that interviews with drivers can provide a cheap and useful index of wildlife traffic mortality.

A review of the status and decline in abundance of the Irish Hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus) in Northern Ireland

ABSTRACTThe Northern Ireland Hare Survey documented the distribution of the Irish Hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus). Historical game bag records and other, more contemporary, records of hare distribution were examined. These data indicate how numbers of L. t. hibernicus may have changed over the last 140 years. The results of the Northern Ireland Hare Survey suggested that L. t. hibernicus was widespread throughout Northern Ireland. Current average densities are no more than 0.65 hares/km2. Game bag records indicate that hare densities may have been much higher in the past, with a maximum of 138 hares/km2 recorded on Crom Estate, Co. Fermanagh, in 1864. Evidence from hare distribution recorded during the Northern Ireland Rabbit Survey indicates that hare numbers declined between 1984 and 1994. Evidence from all sources suggests that L. t. hibernicus has declined in abundance substantially, with present total population estimates for Northern Ireland ranging from 8250 to 21 000 individuals. Flushing data indicate that rushes and hedgerows are important diurnal resting areas for hares. While the principal reason for the decline in numbers of L. t. hibernicus in Northern Ireland is not clear, more species‐rich pasture and provision of areas of cover, such as rushes, may arrest further declines, or indeed promote numbers of hares, particularly in lowland areas.

The Feeling Word Game: A Tool for Both Teaching and Therapy

Learning to identify, label, and share feelings is an important ingredient of healthy personal, social, and family functioning. The Feeling Word Game provides a lively, creative context for these tasks. The game consists of 110 colorful cards, each of which displays an emotional descriptor. Divided into two levels of difficulty, the cards can be used in a variety of therapeutic ways with individuals, couples, groups, and families. A creative counselor need not be limited by the six variations of play that are suggested in the game bag; innovative variations are encouraged.

Past and present distribution of badgers Meles meles in the Copenhagen area

Two surveys of badgers Meles meles in the Copenhagen area, one in 1973–1975 and one in 1983–1985, are presented. The data suggest a 33% decrease in the number of badgers in that 10-year period. Possible reasons for this drop in population size are discussed. Human disturbance seems to play a major role and depletion of habitat only a minor role. The Danish game bag records demonstrate a halving of the number of badgers shot during the last 30 years. Among other things, this probably reflects some decline of the badger population also outside the metropolitan area. It is suggested that the causes for the decline observed within the Copenhagen area might well be contributing to a decline in badgers in the rest of the country.

The changing status of the Brown hare (Lepus capensis L.) in Britain

ABSTRACTGame bag records are used to examine temporal and geographical changes in numbers of Brown hares. Records are taken from a survey made by the Oxford Bureau of Animal Population in 1938, which covered over 400 estates, and from the Game Conservancy's National Game Census, which has been monitoring shooting records of between 400 and 500 estates since 1961. Eastern regions of Britain had higher bags of hares than western regions in the three periods; 1891–1910, 1917–1936, 1961–1978. Hare game bags were generally high in counties with large proportions of tilled land. There was no consistent temporal trend in bags from different areas before 1938, but all areas show a considerable reduction in bags since 1961. This reduction is statistically significant. Time‐series analysis of one extended set of data did not show evidence of cyclic fluctuations.