A bird taken in Savoie carries a coloured, numbered ring? That number is enough to trace it back to its release, whether you hunt near Chambéry or in any of the department's 273 municipalities. Reports are useful to the ACCAs (approved communal hunting associations) and federations that organise releases; the public only ever sees totals per department. Part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which has 12 departments, the department is administered from Chambéry.
Validating recoveries in Savoie
For department 73, no federation uses 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 Savoie.
From photo to report
- Photograph the ring, on the leg or once removed; if the number runs all the way round, take several shots.
- Enter the municipality, Chambéry or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- Pick the species from the list (pheasant, grey partridge, red-legged partridge and hare); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send the report; name, phone and e-mail are optional, but an e-mail address gets you an acknowledgement.
Savoie in figures
According to CORINE Land Cover, forests and semi-natural areas covered 81% of the department in 2018, agricultural areas 14%. The rest is shared between artificial surfaces (4%) and water bodies (1%). About 6,270 km², 273 municipalities and 448,226 inhabitants in 2022: those are the orders of magnitude. With the share of forests and semi-natural areas at 81%, the department is in the top five of the 96 departments of metropolitan France. Besides Chambéry, the prefecture, the department has two sub-prefectures: Albertville and Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts), OFB / EEA (CORINE Land Cover 2018), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
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 breeding side: gibis.fr
Species, delivery and release planning are a matter for the breeder: see game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges on gibis.fr.
What the rings say in Savoie
- No validated recovery has been located in Savoie on RingFollow so far.
- The validation queue for Savoie is empty.
- Nationwide, RingFollow records 85 ringed releases (3,592 birds) and 16 validated recoveries, across 5 participating federations.
What happens to the report
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 Savoie, 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.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and RingFollow
Besides Savoie, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region comprises Ardèche, Haute-Loire, Cantal, Puy-de-Dôme, Drôme, Rhône, Isère, Ain, Loire, Allier and Haute-Savoie. Three of the 12 departments in the region have their federation on RingFollow: Ain, Isère and Haute-Loire (see the regional overview). The share of agricultural areas (14%) is lower here than in any other department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Across the borders
Its neighbours are Hautes-Alpes to the south, Isère to the west, Haute-Savoie to the north and Ain to the north-west. Beyond the regional boundary lies the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Among its neighbours, the share of forests and semi-natural areas ranges from 36% (Ain) to 83% (Hautes-Alpes), against 81% here (CORINE Land Cover 2018). Two neighbours already track their rings on RingFollow: Ain and Isère.
- Ain (01) on RingFollow
- Hautes-Alpes (05)
- Isère (38) on RingFollow
- Haute-Savoie (74)
Game-bird rings: common questions
Do I have to give my name to report a ring in Savoie?
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.
How do I recognise a Gibis ring found in Savoie?
A coloured, numbered leg ring, or a numbered coloured plastic wing tag, with no address. A ring engraved with an address belongs to another scheme: the guide explains where to report it.
How do I report a ringed partridge taken in Savoie?
Just as for a pheasant: photo of the ring, number checked, species “red-legged partridge” or “grey partridge”, and the municipality. Nothing differs in Savoie.
Does GIBIS validate reports from Savoie?
No, never. Recoveries are validated by the federation of the department where the bird was released, if it is registered on RingFollow.
Why are there no statistics for Savoie?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The Savoie hunters' federation (FDC 73) does not use RingFollow at present.
Registering a federation
The situation of every federation is on the Federations page. A federation that would like to track its recoveries can write to gibis@gibis.fr.
To get an idea of a department page with its statistics, see the sample page (simulated data).