Information for the “ARTEMIS I” programme is collected by using a specially designed statistical questionnaire completed exclusively by hunters. This statistical questionnaire was compiled by a specialist scientific team and, since its design, has been updated every year whenever necessary and 30,000 copies are printed annually. Copies of the questionnaire are initially distributed to Hunting Confederations and they, in turn, forward them to local hunting associations in the country which fall under their jurisdiction. The number of questionnaires distributed by each hunting association depends on the number of members. The final recipient of the questionnaire is the individual hunter, who receives it annually from the hunting association when he goes to endorse his license.

The statistical questionnaire completed by the hunter is like a log. Each hunter completes it throughout the hunting season, and records the results of each hunting expedition in as few or as many words as needed. At the end of the hunting season, the completed questionnaires are returned to the Hunting Confederation of Greece and a scientific team undertakes responsibility for their processing. The data from the completed questionnaires are extracted and entered into a special electronic data base which, to date, has data from 17 consecutive years, consisting of results from more than 500,000 hunting expeditions.

So that trends in the variables pertaining to the data collected from the questionnaires filled in during the hunting season can be monitored effectively, the hunting season is divided into 28 weeks. These 28 weeks comprise the full duration of the annual hunting season.

The Statistical questionnaires completed by hunters are processed and the basic variables which are extracted from the primary data are recorded in an electronic data base and are as follows:

  • Species of game
  • Hunting opportunity (number of game presented to each hunter per hunting expedition)
  • Hunting harvest (number of game felled per hunter and per hunting expedition)
  • Duration of hunting expedition
  • Number of hunters in the team
  • Date of expedition
  • Hunting area (town, village, settlement, county)
  • Number of game lost
  • Number of cartridges used
  • Number of grouse in each flock (per hunter and per expedition)
  • Hunting Association that hunter belongs to
  • Type of hunting license
  • First year that hunting permit was issued (experience)

By applying specific mathematical approaches to the basic variables which are recorded on the electronic data base, a series of secondary variables, or generated variables are also extracted; game indicators. These indicators, which are accepted worldwide and are used in scientific game and biology communities to draw conclusions about game populations being observed, consist of the following:

i.    Hunting harvest: The numbers of game hunted per hunter and per hunting expedition for a particular period. Indicator expressed as a daily, monthly or annual value.
ii.    Hunting Opportunity: The number of game of a particular species encountered per hunter and per expedition, over a specific period of time. An indicator expressed as a daily, monthly or annual value.
iii.    Hunting Preference: The percentage of hunters (%) who harvested at least one animal of a particular species of game during a hunting season. An indicator expressed as an annual value.
iv.    Hunting Demand: The percentage of hunting expeditions (%) which took place for a specific type of game in relation to the total number of recorded hunting trips for all species, during a hunting season. An indicator expressed as an annual value.