A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Aude only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. Part of the Occitania region, which has 13 departments, the department is administered from Carcassonne.
Validating recoveries in Aude
For department 11, no federation uses RingFollow at present. A ring found in Aude can still be reported: the report is recorded, and it will be validated by a federation, never by GIBIS. If the bird comes from a release in a department whose federation is registered, that federation validates the recovery; otherwise the report stays on file for Aude.
Reporting in four steps
- Start with a sharp photo of the ring: the number is read automatically, and you check it.
- Choose the municipality where the bird was taken, from the 433 in Aude: it locates the recovery but is never published.
- Pick the species from the list (pheasant, hare, grey partridge and red-legged partridge); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send: with no signal, the report goes out on its own as soon as coverage returns.
What next?
The report is recorded as soon as it arrives, with the photo and the municipality given. Next comes the matching: does the ring belong to a recorded release? If so, and if that department's federation is registered, it reviews the recovery. Without a match, the report stays on file for Aude, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. No hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named: only totals per department and points rounded to about 1 km.
Key facts about Aude
According to CORINE Land Cover, forests and semi-natural areas covered 48% of the department in 2018, agricultural areas 47%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (3%), water bodies (2%) and wetlands (1%). With 379,648 inhabitants (INSEE, 2022 population count) on about 6,340 km², the density is roughly 60 inhabitants per km²; the department has 433 municipalities. Besides Carcassonne, the prefecture, the department has two sub-prefectures: Limoux and Narbonne.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
The regional picture
Besides Aude, the Occitania region comprises Hérault, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tarn, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Tarn-et-Garonne, Ariège, Lot, Aveyron, Pyrénées-Orientales, Gard and Lozère. None of the 13 departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the regional overview).
The breeding side: gibis.fr
The ringed birds tracked here come from the GIBIS game farm in Chatte (Isère). For the pheasant strain, see PUR CHASSE® pheasants; for restocking in general, restocking game birds.
One ring, one data point
The recovery rate is the number of validated rings divided by the number of birds released. It only exists if hunters report, in Aude as elsewhere. For an example, see the review of the 2025 pheasant-poult operation (Infochasse mag' no. 72, in French).
RingFollow figures for Aude
- No validated recovery has been located in Aude on RingFollow so far.
- No report linked to the department is awaiting validation.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
Aude and its neighbours
Its neighbours are Haute-Garonne to the west, Hérault to the north-east, Tarn to the north, Ariège to the west and Pyrénées-Orientales to the south. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Occitania region. Among its neighbours, the share of forests and semi-natural areas ranges from 21% (Haute-Garonne) to 67% (Ariège), against 48% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Haute-Loire, about 250 km to the north-east (centre to centre). Next comes Isère (about 350 km).
Your questions about Aude
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Haute-Loire, about 250 km away between department centres.
What if the ring number is illegible?
Take several well-lit photos from different angles, then correct the suggested number if needed. The photos stay attached to the report for the validating federation.
Can I report a ring without a mobile signal in Aude?
Yes. The form keeps the report on the phone and sends it as soon as coverage returns, wherever you are in Aude.
How long is a report from Aude kept?
Five hunting seasons, the duration of the restocking study. After that it is kept only in anonymised form, without contact details or licence number.
Who validates a recovery reported in Aude?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Aude hunters' federation (FDC 11) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
Registering a federation
A registered federation validates the recoveries in its own department and can export its data. Full list: Federations; contact: gibis@gibis.fr.
To get an idea of a department page with its statistics, see the sample page (simulated data).