game counting

census objectives

• To record the number of individuals found within a species as well as other useful information, such as: obvious trophy animals, sex and age structures in endangered game, overall herd health and the occurrence of any carcasses.
• To record the position and status of water points, erosion sites, alien invasive plants and the condition of fences.
• To record activities such as poaching, wood cutting, illegal dumping of waste, human disturbances and any other information useful for management or ecological purposes. Special attention is paid to areas where human settlement impacts on ecologically sensitive areas such as wetlands, and agricultural irrigation schemes along river banks.

OUR CENSUS EQUIPMENT

CENSUS METHODOLOGY

The pilot navigates, ensuring the helicopter is flown at a constant pre-determined height. A constant grid width is maintained by following a grid line and kept accurate with the use of GPS grids preset on the monitor. A predetermined ground speed is maintained by the pilot, which is altered according to terrain and vegetation. The pilot monitors the data capturer and the two observers, keeping an overview of communication and observations, and monitors the game movement on each side of the helicopter to prevent double counting. Any animals that can be chased back into the counted grid area will be herded away. All deviations from the track in order to count and flush secretive species, are recorded. Verification on counting accuracy of the observers is also checked by the data capturer.

THE REPORT

Each reserve report is presented in a bound A4 book format including the ecologist report and maps. Files are also presented electronically as a power point presentation. The flight path, all game sightings and individual species maps are printed in colour on high quality paper. These correlate to a table of species depicting trophy, sex, age, number and any other information required by the client. A general overview is also given of each reserve and special observations, such as poor fence condition or unbalanced sex ratio of species, are noted.