The hunting of the woodcock and its future.
Message from Scolopax Rusticola!
Woodcock hunting received a message from woodcock.
We want let you know, you, passionate about this hunt and this species that makes us dream so much.
HEAR US !
Your declarations of love ...
The Queen, the Beauty, the Mesmer, the Divine, the Mysterious, the Mythical Bird go straight to our hearts . Whether they come from hunters, hunting managers, woodcock clubs, specialized magazines we appreciate them.
When you add " I pass and I seduce »We blush !
But if you love us that much, you passionate people, why don't you heed the clear signals we are sending you? ?
Over the seasons we have become : More savage, more piety, holding less the stop, making longer discounts. In question, your hunting pressure.
You have noticed it : Our weight is decreasing, our life expectancy is decreasing, there are fewer adults in the hunted areas and your samples have fallen in France by 37% in 15 years (1998/99 to 2013/14).
You think you can answer us with :
A Pma * of 30 per season, as light as it is ineffective.
Almost as many weekly Pma and hunting day limitations as there are French departments.
Indicators supposed to monitor the state of our herd with questionable reliability : Ica **, Age / Ratio hunting and banding, Ian ***, weight mass (only our sex / ratio is close to reality).
In fact, you answer us by hitting us without holding back, principally :
When we land, several over a few meters, tired from our fall migratory journey.
When we focus on small areas full of food.
When we take refuge on the coast, during cold spells with prolonged frost, delaying to close or not closing the hunt.
When for a season that you consider very complicated (2017/2018) you take (in percentage) as much or more than for a normal year !
Why don't you check, if global warming has not advanced our sexual maturity, which would call into question the closing date of our hunt ?
Why do you still allow yourself to practice the past in certain departments? ?
Why a hunter is almost as likely to be checked by the federal guards as to find the correct euro million numbers ?
Why not all hunters return their sampling book ?
Why the Federations give them back a notebook the following seasons in defiance of the law ?
You equip us with beacons, you ring us to better understand our lifestyles, but in number and monitoring very insufficient.
On the other hand, to better take us, you are at the top :
More deadly rifles and ammunition.
More and more efficient dogs with " beep »(Increase of hearing impaired among hunters, even young people) ! And for some poachers in hunting action, a Gps around the neck of their pointer !
As we are more and more difficult to catch, you get down to three to four and more with all your dogs. It is the beat and the flap.
You love us ! But it's cow love for masochist that it's all about !
Our qualities of defense of wild, free, opportunistic, adaptive species have their limits. ; we are not masochists.
Even more than you hunters, we take the brunt of climate change and global warming, which weakens us.
Because of your soil cultivation methods you are reducing our food resources especially in earthworms.
You destroy our habitats, which have been wintering for a long time ; probably tomorrow in reproduction.
Before our fall is irreversible, like that of the Gray Partridges, the Passerines, the Alouettes, tomorrow the Thrushes ...
HEAR US !
Our preservation is the business of all European hunters.
You're in luck there is still time. Now, take less from us !
BECASSES OF THE WOODS.
December 2018.
* Maximum authorized withdrawal.
** Hunting index of abundance.
*** Night abundance index.