A bird taken in Meuse carries a coloured, numbered ring? That number is enough to trace it back to its release, whether you hunt near Bar-le-Duc or in any of the department's 499 municipalities. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. Meuse is one of the ten departments of the Grand Est region, with Bar-le-Duc as its prefecture.
Validating recoveries in Meuse
The Meuse hunters' federation (FDC 55) does not use RingFollow at present. Reporting remains possible and useful: the recovery is recorded, then reviewed by a federation; GIBIS plays no part in the validation. 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 Meuse.
From photo to report
- Start with a sharp photo of the ring: the number is read automatically, and you check it.
- Say where the bird was taken: the municipality is used for validation and never appears in public.
- Pick the species from the list (red-legged partridge, grey partridge, hare and pheasant); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send it. For 24 hours you can still remove or add a photo.
Why report a recovery
ACCAs and federations fund releases; rings are the only way to know what they yield in the field. Consolidated figures are public on the Statistics page, by department.
The regional picture
The other departments of the region are Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Moselle, Haut-Rhin, Aube, Haute-Marne, Vosges, Bas-Rhin and Ardennes. None of the ten departments in the region has a federation tracking its rings on RingFollow at present (see the Federations page).
From report to validation
The report is recorded as soon as it arrives, with the photo and the municipality given. The ring number is then matched against known releases; if one took place in a department whose federation is registered, that federation validates the recovery. Without a match, the report stays on file for Meuse, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. Reports are kept for five hunting seasons after the recovery, then retained only in anonymised form for statistics (see the privacy policy).
Key facts about Meuse
The European CORINE Land Cover inventory (2018) puts agricultural areas at 60% of the area and forests and semi-natural areas at 37%. The rest is mostly artificial surfaces (3%). About 6,230 km², 499 municipalities and 180,290 inhabitants in 2022: those are the orders of magnitude. Besides Bar-le-Duc, the prefecture, the department has two sub-prefectures: Commercy and Verdun.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
Across the borders
Its neighbours are Haute-Marne to the south, Meurthe-et-Moselle to the east, Ardennes to the north-west, Vosges to the south-east and Marne to the west. All its neighbours belong, like the department itself, to the Grand Est region. Among its neighbours, the share of agricultural areas ranges from 44% (Vosges) to 74% (Marne), against 60% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). None of these neighbours tracks its rings on RingFollow; the nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 320 km to the south (centre to centre).
Breeding and restocking
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.
What the rings say in Meuse
- So far, RingFollow has no validated recovery taken in Meuse.
- 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.
Your questions about Meuse
Can I report a ring without a mobile signal in Meuse?
Yes. The form keeps the report on the phone and sends it as soon as coverage returns, wherever you are in Meuse.
Should a ring engraved with an address, found in Meuse, be reported here?
No. RingFollow only covers game-farm rings, which carry no address. Rings from scientific ringing schemes are reported to those schemes; this site's guide tells you more.
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Meuse?
No. Name, phone and e-mail are optional; an e-mail address only gets you an acknowledgement. Only the validating federation sees what you leave.
Who validates a recovery reported in Meuse?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Meuse hunters' federation (FDC 55) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
Which neighbouring departments track their rings on RingFollow?
None of its direct neighbours. The nearest registered federation is in Ain, about 320 km away between department centres.
Registering a federation
Hunter or ACCA official in Meuse? You can raise it with your federation. All federations and their situation: Federations.
Few figures for Meuse so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).