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Hunting. Captures. By species. Provinces

Hunting. Captures. By species. Provinces 2024
Barcelona Girona Lleida Tarragona Catalonia
Small game
Mallard 368 3,092 1,205 15,602 20,267
Gadwall 0 0 0 1,917 1,917
Northern pintail 0 0 0 1,345 1,345
Northern shoveler 0 0 0 4,015 4,015
Red-crested pochard 0 0 0 1,412 1,412
Eurasian wigeon 0 0 0 856 856
Woodcock 3,543 3,181 1,938 736 9,398
Snipe 0 405 0 5,180 5,585
Rock dove 6,747 3,477 20,179 6,336 36,739
Rabbit 16,867 4,999 333,410 69,293 424,569
Common starling 5,175 3,697 21,245 24,969 55,086
Pheasant 8,126 3,992 728 2,104 14,950
Coot 23 10 33 2,948 3,014
Lapwing 0 0 0 0 0
Magpie 4,218 1,038 77,318 6,213 88,787
Yellow-legged gull 0 23 15 291 329
Black-headed gull 10 25 10 161 206
Mistle thrush 484 122 1,484 6,711 8,801
Fieldfare 0 0 0 0 0
Common quail 2,270 1,776 17,265 513 21,824
Red fox 1,825 801 1,494 1,264 5,384
Hare 1,119 1,239 1,560 628 4,546
Common pochard 0 0 0 0 0
Tufted duck 0 0 0 0 0
Red-legged partridge 20,468 11,555 24,149 21,243 77,415
Grey partridge 402 39 145 0 586
Redwing 2,652 3,257 21,987 30,694 58,590
Song thrush 12,048 287,474 145,268 177,667 622,457
Turtle dove 0 0 0 0 0
Woodpigeon 69,477 36,645 43,044 41,514 190,680
Garganey 0 0 0 0 0
Teal 0 132 32 5,152 5,316
Stock dove 1,450 219 1,336 1,157 4,162
Big game
Roe deer 6,487 3,839 5,260 2,351 17,937
Wild goat 108 55 0 13 176
Deer 1,122 837 2,158 0 4,117
Fallow deer 69 568 1,096 18 1,751
Chamois 146 474 347 0 967
Mouflon 83 646 268 0 997
Wild boar 21,571 22,312 16,258 8,553 68,694
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food.
Note: Captures during open, special or migratory game bird season in private hunting areas (APC), local hunting areas (ALC), controlled hunting areas (ZCC), national hunting reserves (RNC) and game reserves (RC).

Last update: January 22, 2026.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Big game
Large animals, with low annual mortality and high life expectancy. In order to reduce the inevitable competence for growth, these species have a low reproduction rate. The margin for hunting them is lower, as these species do not have a natural capacity to recover their original values prior to each year's hunting season.
Small game
Small animals. Their populations typically have high reproduction rates that also enable them to have high breeding rates. They are some of the species considered to be prey, subjected to predators. Therefore, they can actively respond to severe reductions in number.

Methodological aspects

Hunting is a sport or recreational activity, therefore in order to do it, several aspects must be taken into account, such as the procedures to obtain licences and permits, the places where hunting is permitted, the time of the year it can be done, game species, etc. There is a also a Strategic Plan which aims to define a hunting model that is sustainable within nature and compatible with other territorial activities.

The small all the hunting species of birds and four mammal species: rabbit, European hare, Iberian hare and fox. Due to its abundance and general distribution in all the territory, it is the most common and popular hunting. The number of catches at the end of the season is higher as well, though the regeneration capacity in certain parameters allows the recovery of populations.

In our country, all the big game species belong to the ungulates group, which includes deer (Cervus elaphus), fallow (Dama dama), roe deer (Capreolus sp), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), wild goat (Capra hispanica), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and mouflon (Ovis musimon). Though a wrong management and insufficient conservation made that many of these species disappear at their natural distribution areas, nowadays are model for habitats recovery and right management done in many years of work.

The captures shown in this table are those carried out in private and local hunting areas, controlled hunting areas and national reserves during the hunting season. The season is approved by means of an annual resolution which establishes which species may be hunted, the stipulated hunting periods and the special closures for each season.