The hunting of the woodcock and its future.
Finistère! Is he spared?
BRITTANY : The FINISTERE
EVOLUTION of SAMPLES
and the CYNEGETIC ABUNDANCE INDEX
from 2008/2009 to 2017/2018
The Federation of hunters of Finistère * obtains a return of woodcock sampling books of about 85%. It allows him to know each season the reality and evolution of the samples in his department. ; here they are.
Source : * The Finistère hunter n ° 132 of March 2019.
* ICA of the National Bécassiers Club.
Finistere : Table of Abundance and Hunting Index
Evolution of levies in Finistère.
If the number of permits in Finistère has fallen by 23% in ten years, no estimate can confirm that the number of woodcock hunters as well as the hunting pressure on this bird have fallen in the same proportions or simply decrease ! On the other hand, the analysis of withdrawals over the last decade shows their drop of 42% in ten years, which even when weighted is significant.
It should be added that this drop in levies comes with identical regulations : PMA : 30 / season 3 / weekly, 2 days without hunting / weekly.
In these conditions, to conclude, as indicated in the comments of the article, that the overall decrease in the number of Woodcock collected depends directly on the decrease in the number of hunters, and is not necessarily an indicator of a decrease in the population, is inadmissible. .
Trying to justify the drop in samples based on the quality of reproduction without providing the slightest proof (for example the variation in the values of the Age / Ratio hunting and / or banding each season in the department) is also inadmissible.
For Finistère, the most welcoming territory in Western Europe in wintering migration for the B des B. Department considered to be the first in France for visits and samples ; we may be surprised by their level and by its ICA * values compared, for example, to those of the Gironde.
Little difference in the samples between Finistère and Gironde, but huge difference in the Abondance Cynégétique Index. This difference amplifies the serious doubts we have about the reliability of this monitoring indicator. Let us prove the contrary.
Whenever we know with good precision the withdrawals from a department (few escape it) or from France, we observe their increasingly worrying downward trend.
We understand better why too many departments (such as the Landes, where it seems everything is still going well for the Woodcock), do not communicate the level of their samples. !
Evolution of the ICA * of Finistère.
The anomalies of the values of the ICA *.
Painting 1 and graph 2 show several anomalies, two of which are the main ones.
First anomaly.
In Finistère with an identical ICA *, 32% difference between the samples for three seasons.
Second anomaly .
In this case again, 20% difference on withdrawals with the same ICA *.
As the authenticity of the samples is validated, we note once again the inability of the ICAs to give, even with relative precision, the abundance of frequentation of the B des B each season in France.
To calculate them, the protocols are much too lax for them to have any scientific value. I find it hard to understand why, those in charge of the Cnb as well as those of the Bécasse de l'Oncfs network have still not reacted to " soaring »The values of their ICA and their IAN (which would evolve in parallel) ?
20 years that the values of the ICA continue to climb at the National level !
ICA * 1998/1999 : 1.28. ICA * 2018/2019 : 1.80. 40% increase in twenty years.
And there is no reason for it to stop.
Why not an ICA at 2.00 for the 2019/2020 season ?
If this were the case the increase would then be 56% !
56% more Woodcock in the woods than twenty years ago in France.
Find the mistake !
Details : The ICA (Cynégétique d'Abondance Index) is the result of the number of " B »Different liftings seen or heard, divided by the number of hours spent hunting it.
For the Cnb it is calculated on 3 and a half hours of hunting.
For others on 1 hour of hunting.
But for a hunter what is a " B " different ?
The one he lifts for the first time and that he counts as one no matter what?
The one that he lifts and raises (the same) several times before taking it or no longer finding it and that it counts for example for four different ?
The one that he has already lifted and that he raises without being able to take it, in the same place during several outings and that he counts each time as different. Why not for ten different ?
If in addition he does not count all his hunting hours, for example the hours of outings where he sees nothing ... ! Since no one knows how hunters count, by what miracle the ICAs could indicate with precision, the reality on the abundance of the presence of Woodcock each season, let alone the conservation status of the species. ?
Conclusion.
With obsolete indicator values ; withdrawals on a strong downward trend ; there is cause for concern about the state of conservation of the Bécasse herd, as more and more French and European hunters are doing.
Let us prove the contrary.
* If all the Federations had simply required the return of the logbook of each hunter as stipulated in the decree of 2011, we would know with good precision the estimate of Woodcock removals in France.
Philippe Vignac. November 2019.
Hunter Seeker Woodcock.
Sources : * The Finistère hunter n ° 132, March 2019.
* ICA of the Club National des Bécassiers, Finistère and National.
* Federation of hunters of the Gironde.
Photo: Franck Ricaud