Hunting in Centre-West Burkina Faso: Seasonal bush hunting, small game species, traditional Mossi-Gourounsi hunting groups, shared meat customs, and informal regulation

Fertile savannahs and forest remnants amid rolling farmland The Centre-Ouest Region of Burkina Faso is one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the country, defined by a patchwork of cultivated fields, wooded savannahs, and scattered gallery forests. The terrain is gently undulating, with numerous seasonal streams and fertile valleys, particularly around Ziro, Boulkiemdé, and Sissili provinces. While farming dominates, the natural landscape still holds ecological value — especially in areas where sacred groves, streamside vegetation, and uncultivated fallow lands support pockets of biodiversity. For generations, hunting has played a supplementary yet significant role in this region’s rural life, woven into the same seasonal patterns that guide sowing, harvesting, and celebration. The Lélé, Gourounsi, and Mossi: communities of ceremony and skill Hunting traditions in Centre-Ouest are practiced across several cultural groups, including the Lélé and Gourounsi peoples, as well as Mossi communities. These traditions are closely tied to the agricultural cycle — particularly the post-harvest season, when men organize group hunts or solo excursions into the bush. Hunting has long been associated with maturity, self-discipline, and respect for elders. In some villages, the first hunt of the season is preceded by ritual offerings to ancestral spirits, and specific areas are considered off-limits until symbolic permission is granted through dance or sacrifice. What makes Centre-Ouest stand out as a hunting region Centre-Ouest occupies a space between past and present, where hunting exists alongside — and sometimes in tension with — expanding agriculture and population growth. What distinguishes the region is the persistence of traditional hunting customs even as wild zones contract. Sacred groves are respected not only as cultural sites but as informal refuges for wildlife. Community-organized hunts, often involving cooperative tracking and meat sharing, reinforce social bonds and a sense of collective stewardship. While not rich in large game, the region still provides vital habitats for small mammals and birds that form the basis of traditional hunting activity. Common species and cooperative hunting methods Hunting here focuses on species such as guinea fowl, francolins, pigeons, porcupines, cane rats, hares, and small duikers. In wetter zones near forest patches, bush pigs or oribi may still be found. Traditional methods include pitfall traps, snares set along game trails, and small-caliber shotguns passed through families. In group hunts, lines of men drive animals toward waiting nets or shooters. Dogs are sometimes used, though their involvement is often restricted by ritual conditions. Many hunters still follow moon cycles or natural signs — such as fruiting trees or ant behavior — to determine the best times to set out. Regulation, taboos, and local enforcement through custom While national hunting law applies — with a dry-season window from December to May — most hunting in Centre-Ouest is regulated informally by village structures. Local chiefs, elders, or hunter associations oversee access to certain zones, settle disputes, and maintain traditional rules. Some communities practice rotational hunting, leaving groves untouched for several seasons to allow for regeneration. Others prohibit hunting on market days or during specific religious periods. These unwritten codes, though invisible to state systems, remain remarkably effective in maintaining balance — at least where traditions are still strong. Pressures of cultivation and erosion of corridors The rapid spread of cotton, maize, and groundnut cultivation has led to steady habitat fragmentation in Centre-Ouest. Fallow periods are shorter, and many former hunting paths now lie beneath plowed fields. Forest reserves near Sapouy or Koudougou face pressure from charcoal production and land clearing. Yet, in the margins — around sacred trees, rocky outcrops, or seasonal marshes — wildlife still clings to survival. Some youth-led initiatives are reviving interest in bush conservation, planting native species around hunting zones or creating informal community reserves to preserve both habitat and heritage. Ritual echoes and the voice of the forest Hunting is not only a skill but a rite. In some villages, young men cannot marry until they’ve completed a successful hunt or presented game at a family altar. Horns, hides, and feathers are used in masks and musical instruments during annual festivals. The meat from certain animals — especially the first duiker of the year — is shared only among elders or specific clans. Before entering a sacred grove, hunters may rub themselves with ash, whisper invocations, or step barefoot to “feel” the spirits beneath the soil. Traces left by ancestors, remembered in silence Old hunters near Réo speak of “silent places” where duikers used to sleep and where noise was forbidden. In the hills near Léo, some families still keep ancestral hunting horns made from antelope horn, played only during funerals or drought prayers. A few elders remember following warthogs barefoot across thorn-strewn plains, guided not by maps but by the smell of disturbed grass. These are the stories that persist even as the animals fade — echoes of a time when the bush was both teacher and test.