well over 50 percent of the birds taken were imma- 

 ture. A total of 313 swans were shot by the 1,000 

 hunters with permits. Hunters reported knocking 

 down an additional 82 birds that were not 

 retrieved. 



Ninety-six percent of the hunters expressed an 

 interest in applying again for a permit, while 58 

 percent of a random sample of Utah waterfowl 

 hunters favored a controlled swan-hunting season. 

 Twenty-five percent of all Utah waterfowl hunters 

 were opposed to the season. 



Hunters' reaction to waterfowl regulations. — 

 To determine how waterfowl hunters react to re- 

 strictive regulations, a questionnaire was sent to 

 individuals who had purchased a duck stamp for 

 1960. They were asked their reaction to various 

 regulations. In the Atlantic and Pacific Flyways 

 a majority of hunters indicated a preference for 

 the seasons in effect in 1962 rather than closed 

 seasons. In the Mississippi and Central Flyways 

 only 38 and 35 percent preferred the restrictive 

 open season to a closed season. 



The most important finding from this survey 

 resulted from a comparison of hunting success in 

 1960 of hunters who purchased and those who did 

 not purchase duck stamps in 1961 and 1962. It 

 was found that hunters who continued to purchase 

 stamps each year had been approximately three 

 times as successful in 1960 as hunters who did not 

 continue duck-stamp purchase, indicating that the 

 decrease in kill is not necessarily proportional to 

 decrease in number of hunters. 



Kill on private versus public land. — A mail 

 questionnaire survey was conducted in 1963 to esti- 

 mate for each State and Flyway the relative 

 amounts of hunting and kill on various types of 

 public and private land. The survey indicated 

 that the total number of hunter-days was about 

 equal on public and private areas in all but the 

 Central Flyway, where about 65 percent of the 

 hunting was on private land. Slightly over 50 

 percent of all ducks were reportedly bagged on 

 public areas in the two eastern Flyways, slightly 

 over 50 percent on private areas in the two western 

 Flyways. Private areas provided more than half 

 the goose bag in all Flyways, whereas public areas 

 contributed the larger share of the coot bag. 

 Hunting success for ducks appeared slightly 

 higher on private than on public areas in the Pa- 

 cific Flyway, but was nearly equal in all other 

 Flyways. Hunting success in all Flyways was 



higher for geese on private land, and higher for 

 coots on public land. 



Species managt mi nt stuil',, .v. — Blue-winged teal, 

 lesser scaup, and ring-necked duck banding data 

 have been examined to evaluate the effectiveness of 

 regulations designed to increase their harvest. 



For lesser scaup and immature blue-winged teal 

 it was found that there was little relation between 

 band recovery rates (which reflect the rate of 

 hunting kill) and the annual mortality. For 

 scaup, the rate of kill seems to fluctuate greatly 

 from year to year, but this is not due to regula- 

 tions. Apparently such factors as timing of mi- 

 gration, variations in weather, and distribution in 

 relation to hunter concentration are responsible 

 for fluctuations in the kill of scaup. 



For blue-winged teal, there is a high mortality 

 in immature birds not explained by differences in 

 kill. There is relatively low shooting pressure on 

 both lesser scaup and blue-winged teal, but for 

 teal, at least, the kill rate is influenced by the date 

 on which the season opens. Band recovery rates 

 were much higher in years with early opening 

 dates, which more nearly coincided with the 

 migration period. 



Data for the ring-necked duck, considered be- 

 cause of its great similarity to the lesser scaup, 

 prompted proposals that this species be included 

 with scaup as "bonus birds." It was found that 

 the ringneck generally received about twice as 

 much shooting pressure as lesser scaup. Also, both 

 harvest rates and annual mortality for ringnecks 

 are influenced by hunting and changes in hunting 

 regulations. This indicates that, although the 

 lesser scaup is a prime candidate for special regu- 

 lations which increase its kill, this is not the case 

 for the ring-necked duck. 



Habitat evaluation of Back Bay and Currituck 

 Sound. — A 5-year investigation of Back Bay-Cur- 

 rituck Sound as waterfowl habitat was terminated 

 by the Patuxent Center in September 196.'!, about 

 18 months after the severe storm of March 1962 

 had raised the salinity to 13 percent of sea 

 strength, and provided a unique opportunity for 

 evaluating the effects of this change on food 

 productivity. 



During the summer of 1962, water salinity re- 

 mained above 10 percent of sea strength, and 

 aquatic plant production exceeded that of all pre- 

 vious years since the beginning of the study in 

 1958. The water was clearer, seed and tuber pro- 

 duction increased, and multitudes of brackish- 



16 



