The hunting of the woodcock and its future.
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Knowing the levies is not yet a given, from an absolute point of view !
On the other hand we can observe the trend.
Since it is impossible for us to estimate its population, nevertheless we can understand the impact of hunting on the woodcock in France, and this is what I propose to demonstrate to you. !
Young woodcock
Young females are the first to leave their breeding sites; a high proportion migrate to the regions of the Atlantic Channel coast.
Young woodcock migrate to these regions where hunting pressure is the greatest.
They choose the best discounts, the ones that specialists are looking for.
Young birds, due to their lower degrees of adiposity, require more frequent stops and a risk of additional vulnerability.
Their migratory journey time is longer than adults.
Females
Females are more selective when it comes to food rich in worms, their adiposity higher than males requires an additional need.
Females are more selective, more vulnerable than males by their food choice, but also by their early arrivals.
The females hold the stop better, this behavior is also observed when they are on the nest, they leave at the last moment.
Females and their samples have more impact on the species than the male.
Females are more vulnerable during cold spells, their food needs being more selective and consequent than males.
The production of young is proportional to the number of surviving females.
The males
Males are more stealthy than females approaching a predator.
Males are less selective than females, their food is more opportunistic.
In cold weather the more opportunistic males move less than the females.
The male is polygamous, the males are more vulnerable during periods of drowsiness (eg hunting in Russia).
Autumn migration, populations with strong dispersions of broods migrate in a high proportion to these Channel-Atlantic regions.
wintering area for all populations.
wintering area for a large proportion of young.
breeding area
wintering and breeding area
The mixing of populations concentrates a large proportion of these young people in the Channel-Atlantic region. For physiological and climatic reasons.
France in particular then benefits from a significant renewal of young people thanks to the entire population. Scolopax rusticola!
This partly explains the relatively high age ratio each season, despite the large number of young collected each year in this region.
Each year, France receives a number of young people clearly greater in volume than that produced by surviving adults who have wintered in France. Charles Fadat
Observations and consequences
The age ratio is exclusively due to hunting.
Pointing dog hunting has consequences on the sex ratio, it creates a levy unfavorable with regard to females.
The disturbance, the first cause of the decrease in adiposity on the most sought after discounts, it mainly affects females.
In the old days : driven hunting has the effect of taking a greater majority of males, this hunting being more improbable.
The proportion of males taken is greater by general practitioners, their remissions are more improbable.
On a territory, the weight of the birds is proportional to the hunting pressure.
The behavior of the young is less frequently located outside the typical wintering sheds, and therefore more vulnerable, also confirms the role of longevity on the presence of woodcock in the sheds, the adults having a better knowledge of the territory.
The regions close to the coast where the pressure is the most important is the fact of the ease of access to the sheds, on the other hand in interior zone the largest forest area and especially the difficulties of access to the sheds make it possible to increase longevity woodcock .
In areas with little hunting, the high densities are the result of a strong majority of adults, while in areas with a lot of hunting, the young are proportionally more numerous, but in low relative densities.
In the first case, we will say that the densities are dependent on the rate of adults and in the second case of that of young people.
The intense cold and drought have the effect of concentrating the birds, and increasing their vulnerability.
The dispersion of the broods is much more marked for those originating from the North, North-East, Russia and Scandinavian countries, on the other hand the western broods disperse less ! The first go mainly to the regions of the west coast of Europe, in particular in France and the second mainly to the regions of the south, Spain, Italy, Africa etc… ..
The migratory dispersion is proportional to the average distance traveled.
Migratory mixing partly explains the proportion of young people we meet hunting, despite the high proportions of young taken each season in France.
The wintering areas of populations originating from Russia and Scandinavian regions, where the nests of these populations are the most dispersed, they represent for the moment a boon for French hunters.
If the pressure level of the flush in France and its territorial attractiveness were homogeneous over all the wintering areas, undoubtedly the population Scolopax rusticola would be in a very delicate situation.
NOVEMBER 2019 Franck Ricaud
Each of the observations comes from in-depth and proven studies, originating from the following authors : FADAT, Ferrand / Gossmann , Boidot and the Oncfs.