PESHAWAR: The hunting season of different species of partridges will start at 60 designated game reserves across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from November 17.

A notification issued from the office of chief conservator wildlife said that the shooting season of partridges would continue at the notified game reserves till February 2.

An official told Dawn here on Thursday that erstwhile Fata had not been included in the hunting season of the wild birds because of unavailability of field staff and infrastructure in the merged districts.

“The department is planning to identify areas for game reserves in the merged districts and shooting of birds in the area is likely to be allowed next year,” said the official.

The notification said that shooting of partridges, including See-see partridge, black partridge, grey partridge and Chakur partridge, would be allowed at the designated points. The province has been divided into northern and southern zones for the shooting season.

The wildlife department has identified 28 game reserves in northern zones and 32 reserves in southern zone. Shooting shall be permissible only on Sundays and gazetted holidays and maximum bag limit shall not exceed five birds of all species of partridges combined per day per gun.

The department will charge Rs3,000 for small game shooting licence per year, Rs5,000 for special permit for shooting in a game reserve per day and Rs1,500 for possession licence for hunting dog per year.

According to the notification, 90 per cent of the fee realised from special permits would be paid to the local communities.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2019