Hunting

answered questions relating to NTFPs harvest mentioned that they always teach their children how to harvest particular forest plants.

to an individual base on his social standing in the community. So what households get from the shared game is a culturally defined quantity that is commensurate with the status of the head of that household. In some cases, a big ceremony is organized and most of the game would be cooked and shared amongst everybody in the village. The skulls, bulls and tusks of very large mammals used to be and currently supposed to be kept in the Ekpwe Halls.

Firearms such as the muzzle loading “Dane” guns were first introduced in the area around the 1870s and the introduction of the gun and gunpowder technology revolutionized the hunting process. It enabled smaller groups to hunt and thence individuals started going for hunting without being accompanied and if they take a companion, they instead preferred someone who would help with transporting the game. Since then, hunting with firearms has become a firmly established hunting culture. This change has been easily embraced due to the increasing household sizes and the people are becoming more concerned about the welfare of families and pay less attention to group activities, although they remained loyal to them. So the difficulty to rally a great number for group hunting using nets and another deadly incident that discourages hunting with nets. The informants mentioned a story related to an incident in which the hunting net trapped two Chimpanzees that almost overpowered the group hunters. Some members rushed to the village and brought spears and in the process of trying to kill the chimps, one hunter was pierced and he died later on.

4.3.3.1. Hunting with guns or firearms

Hunting with guns is carried out at night and in the daytime. Expert hunters (mostly from villages within the support zone of Korup National Park) use automatic rifles, double-barrel shotguns and factory-made shotguns. These experts hunt mostly large mammals like;

elephants, buffalos, war tugs, chimpanzees etc. Locals commonly used riffles and the Dane gun. Local blacksmiths manufacture most of the shotguns. Bullets and firearms are smuggled from Nigeria. Night hunters use carbide headlamps and touch lights to hunt species like duikers (Cephalophus spp.), genets (Genetta spp.) and the two-spotted palm civet (Nandinia binotata). Once our village helpers in Ikondo Kondo I was observed cleaning the contents of a carbide headlamp in preparation for a one week hunting expedition in the National Park forest. He explained that he postponed his trip because we

offered him the opportunity as interpreter with a daily income. Hunting expeditions could last for two weeks (Ikondo Kondo I hunter reported) or three months (Esukutan hunter stayed in his forest hurt). In this case, the hunters sleep in small huts called bush housesin which they smoke and dehydrate the game and prepare their food while in the forest. Their relations go on pre-arranged dates to help transport the game to the nearest market.

When going to hunt, hunters are observed to leave without creating an alarm but when they return, the news spreads through gossips to buyers. The secrecy is tied to the illegal nature of this activity even though locals complain that no one has convinced them why they should not hunt. This communication channel was used to locate and interview one of the hunters. He had just come back from a three nights hunting spree inside the National Park with a family of 4 drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus). Drills are endangered but he killed the parent and young animals because his former profession is now illegal:

“Hunting now is quite tiring. In fact one must count himself lucky to catch a bush baby; an animal we never had time for back in the old village because of its small size. You see, we are left with no option now but to maximize the slightest opportunity we have, by hunting down whatever animal that we can find without regard for size or protection status since we are not allowed to enter any forest to hunt. If we do not hunt animals, we would just die of hunger since there is no alternative for us. My brother and I are planning to buy a better gun that can kill larger mammals because we have spent a lot of money to hire hunters from neighbouring villages. We would save money by kill them ourselves”⁴².

Hunter households fearlessly list the types of animals they hunt, which include animals on the endangered species list of the area (Appendix 3). Here are some of the responses:

- Fritambo (duikers), deer, monkeys, porcupine, war tug (bush pig), sleeping deer and drills(Ikondo Kondo I hunter)

-All types of animals except elephants and buffalos(Ikondo Kondo I hunter)

-Grass cutters and any other animals that get caught-up by my traps(Esukutan trapper) -Monkeys, deers, porcupine, pangolin, water meat (Esukutan hunter)

-Fritambo, porcupine, deer, war tug or bush pig(Esukutan hunter)

However, hunting with guns could be a very strenuous activity that has also got a lifespan.

Some locals are of the opinion that hunting is very strenuous and at the “age of 40, a hunter

42Awoh Jonas, August 2006: Interview transcription, Ikondo Kondo I

is weak and looks like someone above 60. The lifespan of a hunter is shorter than that of farmer because the latter has produce that brings money for a longer period. That is why many hunters start reducing their hunting in preference for cash crop farming”⁴³. To increase their chances of success hunters now use dogs to enable them hunt animal species that were not possible to kill with only a gun. One hunter in Ikondo Kondo I who owns two dogs revealed that dogs help a lot during hunting. Dogs go around sniffing and looking for traces of animals and once they spot one, these dogs start barking and wagging their tails.

The hunter easily identifies and shoots the animal. Blue duikers are easily hunted with the use of dogs because of their drab colour, small size, and the limited eye shine in daylight.

4.3.3.2 Trapping with wire snares

Trapping is another method of killing wild animals. Traps are made of metal iron or wire snares and are mainly set during the wet season. Their positioning is usually along well defined and easily identified paths that animals must use due to the thick grass covers the forest floor. Households could have as few as 30 wire snares around their farmland (Ikondo Kondo I) or as many as 1500 wire snares (Esukutan household). Trapper households explain that wire snares are set around palm nuts, cassava, or ripen cocoa to entangle any predators. However, a trapping rotation could take between one and three days but, this also depends on the distance to their location in the forest and the numbers too. Trapping is limited to land entitlements (Chapter 3) and is used to protect farms. That means a household must obtain permission to trap in another’s farmland. Many of such arrangements exist in Esukutan but there was no mention of it in Ikondo Kondo I.