US Fish & Wildlife Service

 

Date of this Version

2-2007

Citation

This report should be cited as: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2007. Migratory bird hunting activity and harvest during the 2001 and 2002 hunting seasons – Final Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. U.S.A.

Abstract

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………… 1
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………. 1
Design and Methods ……………………………………………………………. 2
Results and Discussion …………………………………………………………. 8
Waterfowl harvest estimates Species, state, flyway …………………………………………………… 14
Unretrieved kill ………………………………………………………… 36
Special seasons …………………………………………………………. 37
Canada harvest ...………………………………………………………. 39
Long-term trends graphs …………………………………………….…. 41
Waterfowl age and sex ratios …….………………………………………… 44
Dove and pigeon estimates …………………………………………………. 61
Woodcock estimates ………………………………………………………… 63
Snipe, rail, gallinule, and coot estimates ……………………………………. 64
Unretrieved kill doves, pigeons, woodcock ………………………………… 70
Unretrieved kill snipe, rails, gallinules, coots ………………………………. 71
Species-specific rail estimates ………………………………………………. 72

Appendices
Waterfowl survey form ……………………………………………………. 73
Harvest parameters and estimators ………………………………………... 74
HIP certifications and expansion factors ………………………………….. 75
Stratum counts …….………………………………………………………. 77
Sample sizes ……………………………………………………………….. 83
Response rates ……………………………………………………………... 87
Duck stamp sales …………………………………………………………... 91

Abstract:

National surveys of waterfowl, dove, band-tailed pigeon (Columba fasciata), American woodcock (Scolopax minor), common snipe (Gallinago gallinago), rail, gallinule, and American coot (Fulica americana) hunters were conducted during the 2001 and 2002 migratory bird hunting seasons. About 1.4 million waterfowl hunters harvested 14,131,800 (±5%) ducks and 3,619,300 (±5%) geese in 2001, and about 1.3 million waterfowl hunters harvested 12,439,000 (±4%) ducks and 3,333,600 (±6%) geese in 2002. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), green-winged teal (A. crecca), gadwall (A. strepera), wood duck (Aix sponsa), and blue-winged teal (A. discors) were the most-harvested duck species, and Canada goose (Branta canadensis) was the predominant goose species in the harvest. About 1.2 million dove hunters harvested 23,576,000 (±7%) mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) in 2001 and 22,719,100 (±4%) in 2002. Woodcock hunters numbered about 140,000 in 2001 and 148,000 in 2002, and they harvested 341,900 (±19%) birds in 2001 and 265,600 (±18%) in 2002. Among the lesser-hunted species, about 29,000 people hunted snipe in 2001 (24,000 in 2002), and they harvested 85,500 (±39%) and 68,200 (±29%) snipe in 2001 and 2002, respectively; about 6,000 rail hunters harvested 41,200 (±75%) rails in 2001 and 23,800 (±48%) rails in 2002; gallinule hunters (about 8,000 in 2001 and 3,000 in 2002) harvested 11,200 (±77%) gallinules in 2001 and 13,700 (±66%) in 2002; and coot hunters (about 41,000 in 2001 and 22,000 in 2002) harvested 284,400 (±80%) coots in 2001 and 205,400 (±89%) in 2002.


Share

COinS