HUNTING EFFICIENCY AND THE IMPACT OF HUNTING ON GREYWING FRANCOLIN POPULATIONS

Despite the popularity of the greywing francolin Francolinus africanus as a gamebird, the effects of hunting on standing densities and long- term yields are not well documented. We recorded hunting effort, hunti ng efficiency and the impact of hunting on greywing francolin populati ons during 123 hunts conducted on various farms situated on the Stormb erg Plateau from 1988-1991. Between-year variation in hunting effort a nd hunter skill was not significant. Hunter satisfaction was significa ntly positively correlated with the number of greywing seen, and signi ficantly negatively correlated with hunter group size. Hunter skill wa s also significantly negatively correlated with hunter group size. The re was no significant difference between removal levels with various h unting limits. However, populations from which more than 50% of the st anding density was removed were significantly reduced in the year foll owing the hunt. We conclude that, for sustainable, economically viable hunting, groups of between four and seven hunters should be offered b etween 50 and 65 greywing francolin flushed per hunt, and these popula tions should be hunted only once per season, with hunters removing no more than 50% of a covey.