Indicators of use set forth in waterfowl hunting grounds of the Leningrad Society of Hunters and Firshmen
The article reviews result indexes of hunting for one of the most important hunting resources of the Leningrad region – waterfowl. There are hunting results estimated for geese, brent-geese, ducks of various species and coots in the lands assigned to the Leningrad association of hunters and fishermen during hunting seasons of 2005-2011. The method of estimating the production of waterfowl on the returned permits has been used. Indexes and dynamics of permits return in hunting seasons of 2007-2011 are presented. Factors influencing the amount of permits received and returned by the hunters of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad region in the seasons of the year have been detected. The article shows that, despite the longer duration and productivity in summer and fall season, Leningrad region hunters, according to the issued permits, do not always prefer it to the spring season. A number of measures is given helping to increase the proportion of returned permits. The analysis of data on production of waterfowl in the spring and summer and fall hunting seasons is presented. Quantitative data on total production were determined by the method of extrapolation of the data specified in the permit returned by hunters, with the total number of issued permits. The analysis results determined the relationship between hunting production per one issued permit and the length of hunting seasons. Waterfowl production data was compared in spring and summer-autumn hunting seasons. It presents data on the production of waterfowl from 2005 to 2011 for each hunting season. We compared the rates of production of different hunting seasons during this period. Average production index per single permit issued was considered as a comparable index between the different hunting seasons. The article also considers the results of the summer-autumn hunting in 2006, which was preceded by the ban on spring hunting.