![]() CSSA management need to continuously monitor trophy hunting, animal populations and employ adaptive management approach to quota setting and species conservation. It was concluded that hunting has limited negative impact on species trophy quality trends when a sustainable hunting system is consistently followed in CSSA. Professional hunters perceived trophy hunting as a source of financial capital generation for wildlife conservation (61%, n = 11), as well as positively contributing to the local economy (56%, n = 10). Furthermore, seventy-two percent (72%, n = 13) of the professional hunters confirmed that elephant population was declining in CSSA and this was likely due to poaching. In contrast, there was a significant decline in elephant trophy quality trend over the same period ( p 0.05). The results indicated no significant change in trophy quality trends of buffalo, leopard and lion ( p > 0.05) over the study period. Local ecological knowledge on trophy quality and hunting effort in CSSA was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires from 22 conveniently selected professional hunters in 2012. ![]() Further, 50 trophies for 2012 were measured and recorded based on the SCI scoring system. Existing database of 188 trophies from 2009 to 2011 was reviewed and recorded using the Safari Club International (SCI) scoring system. ![]() We selected four of the big five species, namely buffalo ( Syncerus caffer), elephant ( Loxodonta africana), the leopard ( Panthera pardus) and lion ( Panthera leo) for analysis. This study was based on a temporal analysis of trophy quality trends and hunting effort in Chewore South Safari Area (CSSA), Zimbabwe, for the period 2009–2012.
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