Community-based research that involves participatory monitoring has been increasingly used in studies on hunting activity in traditional societies of the Neotropics, particularly in the rainforest environment. We present the results from a year-long study of participatory monitoring of hunting in 10 villages in Xerente indigenous land in the Brazilian Cerrado, an initiative to build a sustainable-use program for local hunting. Fifty-two hunters recorded data on 390 hunts involving 451 kills and 5,878 kg of estimated biomass from 34 game species. Medium-and large-sized mammals were the most hunted species, while hunting activities were predominant in forest environments. Indigenous hunting techniques associated with collective hunts using fire are no longer used, and the use of traditional weapons such as the bow and arrow is now uncommon; firearms were the main weapon used. The data revealed current patterns of wildlife use as well as hunting activities. The implications of these results for future research on the management and conservation of wildlife hunting in Xerente indigenous land are presented. We present our findings to facilitate improved preparation of new monitoring programs in traditional societies that live in the Cerrado.

This paper presents a study of the hunting activities on Xerente Indigenous Land (XIL) in the Brazilian Cerrado. We used data from a Hunting Monitoring Program from eight villages to evaluate the effects of village age, distance from village to town and season (wet and dry) on the composition of hunted species, animals and biomass killed and availability of preferred game-species. We also assessed for any indication of fauna depletion around the villages. Distance from village to town and season were the only variables which affected composition. Preferred species occured more often in villages closer to the town. However, these villages present strong indications of local game-species depletion. The hunters' great capacity for spatial movement can eliminate this effect. Animals and biomass killed was high in the dry season. Game-species composition between seasons can avoid the overexploitation of some sensitive species, such as low-land tapir. These results are important in the design of local management and conservation plans. Our results also contribute to further understanding the impacts of hunting in open Neotropical environments.