Monitoring game abundance

Sustainable harvesting of game populations and the corresponding determination of hunting quotas require reliable information on the size and development of game populations. Continuous monitoring of game populations is an important task of the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute. Reliable information on game abundance and the annual game bag benefits both hunting and scientific research.

Waterfowl populations are monitored by annual pair and brood counts all over the country. The breeding populations of the European wigeon have been declining for more than ten years in Finnish inland waters. Photo: Marcus Wikman.

FGFRI monitoring of the population abundance of game is carried out in cooperation with hunters. Some 10,000 hunters participate in the monitoring schemes annually. The aim of the research is to organize censusing and analyse results. Volunteer hunters do the actual fieldwork.

Different game species groups have their own monitoring programmes. Forest game is monitored through wildlife triangle schemes, alongside which field triangle monitoring has been developed for agricultural areas and areas with dense housing. More than 30 forest game species are monitored. The population and breeding success of geese and ducks are monitored with pair counts in May and brood counts in July. Specific censusing methods have been developed for large carnivores, seals, beavers and wild forest reindeer.

It is crucial that moose monitoring is accurate, and thus censusing is carried out with several different methods. The most important tool in use for censusing moose populations is the observation card.

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