Skip to main content

Hunting. Captures. By species. Provinces

Hunting. Captures. By species. Provinces 2023
Barcelona Girona Lleida Tarragona Catalonia
Small game
Mallard 543 3,214 1,432 17,799 22,988
Gadwall 0 0 0 1,195 1,195
Northern pintail 0 0 0 1,501 1,501
Northern shoveler 0 0 0 4,169 4,169
Red-crested pochard 0 0 0 934 934
Eurasian wigeon 0 0 0 952 952
Woodcock 4,197 6,535 2,660 1,085 14,477
Snipe 0 182 0 5,405 5,587
Rock dove 4,861 3,607 26,371 9,204 44,043
Rabbit 19,041 6,223 245,671 65,386 336,321
Common starling 6,379 5,717 28,323 25,944 66,363
Pheasant 8,204 3,587 902 1,688 14,381
Coot 18 12 36 3,693 3,759
Lapwing 0 0 0 0 0
Magpie 4,057 1,552 21,015 7,194 33,818
Yellow-legged gull 0 51 0 209 260
Black-headed gull 7 12 0 136 155
Mistle thrush 598 250 2,244 6,086 155
Fieldfare 0 0 0 0 0
Common quail 942 2,738 21,420 559 25,659
Red fox 1,821 1,094 1,862 1,398 6,175
Hare 1,067 1,223 1,701 700 4,691
Common pochard 0 0 0 0 0
Tufted duck 0 0 0 0 0
Red-legged partridge 21,087 10,658 24,499 21,140 77,384
Grey partridge 1 28 47 0 76
Redwing 277,846 7,292 33,872 34,952 353,962
Song thrush 17,479 63,036 146,281 186,500 413,296
Turtle dove 0 0 0 0 0
Woodpigeon 57,522 39,945 48,959 58,719 205,145
Garganey 0 0 0 0 0
Teal 4 115 15 4,859 4,993
Stock dove 1,070 117 506 1,025 2,718
Big game
Roe deer 3,867 2,850 5,648 1,694 14,059
Wild goat 83 21 0 13 117
Deer 716 735 2,297 11 3,759
Fallow deer 0 491 1,199 34 1,724
Chamois 83 520 388 0 991
Mouflon 0 443 107 0 550
Wild boar 20,251 26,438 18,335 8,232 73,256
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: December 10, 2024.

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.