Management of guineafowl and francolins on bushveld game farms

18 Dec 2009 - by Aldo Berruti and Mark Berry

We associate gamebird shooting with agriculture in South Africa – the bottom-line is that farming produces additional permanent water and food (mainly maize and oil seeds). Rarely does the South African gamebird shooter hunt on a game ranch, and conversely rarely do game ranches offer gamebird shooting other than as a casual event, and that possibly with a .22 rifle.

And yet the potential of gamebird shooting as part of the massive game ranching industry in South Africa is enormous. Game ranches occur throughout South Africa, covering 17 million hectares. If gamebird densities could be increased on game ranches, it would certainly help persuade managers to consider offering high-quality gamebird shoots to adding diversity and value to the usual furred game hunting options.

But is it really possible to manage for gamebirds on game ranches? This article is about managing gamebirds in the bushveld of northern and eastern South Africa. It is based on Mark Berry’s two decades of experience in managing gamebirds on his game ranch, Mmabolela Estates, in north-western Limpopo. On this estate, each water point is the focus of one or more large flocks of guineas. Mark tests his management strategy with two annual shoots, and achieved his highest bag in 2009.

The premier target gamebird in the bushveld is the Helmeted Guineafowl, because it occurs in large flocks, offers challenging shooting, does not necessarily demand trained dogs and because guineafowl can be managed successfully. The guineafowl is the characteristic gamebird of Africa, a consideration for foreign hunters. Francolins and partridges occur in far smaller groups and are more evenly distributed, so that it is more difficult to present good numbers of birds to a group of hunters. But francolins remain a possibility in some circumstances, as we describe below.

Generally, guineafowls need food, water, habitat (shelter) and protection from poisons. On game ranches, poisons are seldom an issue, whether as deliberate or accidental poisoning. Trees for roosting, often limiting on the Highveld or vast grain farms, are not an issue on most game ranches, which usually offer scrub and thickets for protection of young birds.

So the article will focus on provision of water and food. Of critical importance are permanent water points provided by either natural sources such as rivers or boreholes or piped water. The first stop in the daily routine of a flock of guineafowl after leaving the roost, an hour or an hour or so after sunrise, is a visit to the local waterhole. One waterhole can provide for 1-3 flocks. Ideally, water should be available in shallow sloping ponds in the open allowing large numbers of birds to approach and drink without the threat of ambush by predators. Water troughs are an alternative, but should be provided with steps both inside and outside the trough, allowing the birds to climb up inside and outside the trough. But a large flock will find a shallow pond far more accessible than a trough which limits access. And it should never be forgotten that such a water point must be available all year-round. If the waterhole dries, the flock will break up and disperse, losing its ordered social structure and knowledge of local resources. You can negate much positive management overnight in this way.

Guineafowls in the bushveld, as elsewhere, face a winter food crunch, as the amount of seeds, berries, green food and insects drops. Supplementary feeding from June to August is a vital management tool. The waterholes are the key sites in supplementing feeding. Scatter 1-2 kg of whole maize seeds per waterhole three times per week, perhaps increasing the frequency to a daily feed prior to the shoots. By feeding at the same time every day (easily achieved by following a standard sequence) the birds soon learn when food is available. They will rapidly consume the mealies, with minimal losses to small furry creatures or other seed-eating birds. Where baboons or monkeys are a problem the maize should be crushed, making it more difficult for these nuisance animals that not only rapidly gather the whole maize, but prevent the guineafowl from approaching the feeding area.

Provision of mealies is not only about survival, but about keeping the bird in good condition through winter, allowing them to begin breeding early and to lay larger clutches. Monitor their condition by occasionally shooting a bird. Weigh it, examine body fat and the contents of the guineafowl’s crop and keep records. Every bird should carry some fat. If a bird has a sharply jutting breastbone (meaning reduced breast muscle), an absence of fat, and a low body weight (say 1 300g), this will indicate that the bird is poorly nourished. By harvesting some 8-10 birds throughout the year in addition to the annual bags, you will soon get a feel for normal weights, diet and condition of birds on your property. Retain a few birds from the annual bag and examine them in the same way. Record the numbers of juveniles in the annual bag to monitor breeding success.

Mark is certain that the feeding attracts many guineas from surrounding areas-– read the article on “How to covey your neighbour’s francolin” on page x. By offering a stable winter subsidy of food and water, guineafowl numbers are increased in three ways: by reducing winter losses to starvation, by increasing immigration from surrounding farms and by improving breeding success of resident birds.

It has become commonplace for game farmers to grow irrigated green food such as lucerne for winter feeding of their game animals. Such crops (sometimes in excess of 10 hectares in extent) are invariably protected behind electric fences. Guineafowl love green food in winter, as do Swainson’s Francolin and other gamebirds. Such green food provided in a fenced enclosure with fewer predators provides a wonderful opportunity for management. In such irrigated areas, the game farmer may be able to put aside half a hectare of maize. Allow the cobs to dry and the plants to slowly fall to the ground, and this will be a substantial source of supplementary food. There is often dead ground on the fringes of the irrigated land into which millet and sunflower can be sown to further increase food availability and variety. The perimeters of such cropland may harbour high densities of Swainson's francolins, offering a predictable place to shoot. Remember that the lowest strand of the electric fence needs to be above guineafowl head height, as they cannot grasp the need to duck under the wire.

What about the use of dogs, you may ask? Training high-quality gundogs is demanding in time, effort and commitment. Shooting francolins and partridges over trained gundogs is seldom going to be worth the effort for the bushveld game rancher. Dogs are also at greater risk from snakes, and more likely to be distracted by game than on the Highveld. And it is an oft-repeated truth that nothing can mess up a finely-trained gundog than a flock of guineas running ahead, without any pause to allow the dog to point. Depending on the cover, guineafowl shooting can be effectively undertaken with beaters, especially in more open bushveld, and birds are relatively easily recovered by helpers.

Typically a shooting strategy is to shoot the flock at a predicable time and place. Plan to shoot the birds in the same sequence as the feeding pattern at the waterholes. In this way shooting can take place till late in the morning. Before shooting, chase the flock at the waterhole to see the direction of their escape routes. Where there is more than one flock at a waterhole, the flocks will tend to split with different escape routes. Thus it is possible to shoot the same waterhole twice, without shooting the same flock twice, by positioning guns on different escape routes. Shooting is usually undertaken by a ‘surround’ - deploying beaters and guns rapidly around a known location. Alternatively the guns are deployed across known escape routes with beaters driving towards them. A fully effective surround may require 20-40 people or even more, and so the usual practice is a partial ‘surround based on 10-20 guns and beaters). In this case, dogs can be useful in confusing and flush the birds (but do not expect such dogs to point rock-steady on other occasions). Usually an experienced team will corner some of the flock, either by walking-up the birds (especially if there is grass cover) or by driving birds towards the guns, or by mixing guns and beaters in a surround formation. Experience of shoots will rapidly sharpen the strategy, and will earn the guineafowl a far greater respect in the eyes of a novice gamebird shoot manager.

The irrigated fields offer another predicable site, in this case possible for high densities of Swainsons which can be flushed along the perimeter of these fields. Egyptian Geese are also attracted to lucerne fields and can provide excellent shooting late afternoon and evening to complete a shooting programme if guineas are shot in the morning.

Remember that one should not shoot a flock more than twice a year. Whilst the maximum level of harvest is 25-40% depending on breeding success (monitor the numbers of young birds in the bag), it is usually very difficult to reach this level of shooting in the situation described above.

Above all, there is great deal of satisfaction to providing a different hunting experience for others, for indeed gamebird shooting is a far more social experience than most furred game hunting.

Aldo Berruti and Mark Berry