366 

 Table 14. 



Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 



Vol. 2j, Art. 2 



-Total reported kill of ducks at Illinois River valley waterfowl hunting clubs; 

 average kill per club and per hunter-day. 



Illinois may be derived from a study of 

 table 14. In 1933, during a 603/2-day 

 season, in which baiting and live decoys 

 were allowed, 99 clubs reported a kill 

 of 60,467 ducks, or 61 1 per club. During 

 a season of 60 days in 1941, when bait- 

 ing and live decoys were prohibited, 308 

 clubs reported a kill of 89,670 ducks or 

 291 per club. Even in 1935, when no 

 live decoys were permitted, when the 

 season lasted but 30 days and feeding 

 was permitted in sections of the premises 

 not shot over, 214 clubs reported a kill 

 of 84,733 ducks or 396 per club. In 

 two seasons of equal length, 1936 and 

 1937, in which live decoys and all types 

 of baiting were outlawed, 260 and 289 

 clubs reported kills of 56,860 and 

 38,063 ducks in the 2 years, respectively, 

 or 219 and 132 per club. 



Uhler estimated the Illinois duck club 



kill in 1933 at 926,000. This may have 

 been too high since the kill was com-ij 

 puted on the basis of 20 clubs that 

 probably had higher than average kills, > 

 He estimated the total number of mal-l 

 lards and pintails in baited portions ofi 

 Illinois at "from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000^| 

 birds." During 1941, a season similarii 

 to 1933 except for outlawing of bait andi 

 live decoys, we estimated the Illinois; 

 River valley kill (based on club recordslj 

 and observations in the field) at 175,000. 

 We estimated the mallard and pintail 

 population in 1941 for the same section 

 included by Uhler at 6,175,000. On the 

 basis of Uhler's figures for the first year 

 and our figures for the second, the duck 

 kill in relation to the population was 

 about 8 to 11 times as great in 1933 as 

 in 1941. 



A greater proportion of the shooting 



Table 15. — Composition of waterfowl bag at Illinois River valley waterfowl hunting 

 clubs, 1933 and 1935-1942. Each figure represents per cent of total bag (all species) 



in year. 



Species 



1933 



1935 



1936 



1937 



1938 



1939 



1940 



1941 



1942 



Mallard and black duck 



Pintail 



Green-winged teal 



Blue-winged teal 



Widgeon* 



Gadwall* 



Shoveler 



Lesser scaup 



Ring-necked duck 



Canvasback 



Ruddy duck 



Other ducks 



Coot 



83.80 

 6.55 

 2.48 

 0.65 

 0.87 

 0.59 

 0.40 

 2.01 

 1.33 

 0.09 



t 

 0.54 

 0.69 



,79 

 01 

 48 

 .11 



0.60 

 0.87 

 0.37 

 1.24 

 0.65 

 0.08 



t 

 0.30 

 0.50 



79.34 

 7.01 

 2.81 

 0.56 

 0.41 

 1.12 

 2.36 

 2.76 

 1.06 



t 



t 



1.34 

 1.23 



69.28 



13.16 



4.58 



0.98 



82 



83 



05 



64 



0.72 



t 



t 



2.16 



0.78 



55.70 

 12.60 

 9.40 

 3.30 

 7.16 

 2.27 

 2.40 

 4.40 

 0.59 

 0.40 

 0.43 



L35 



61.80 

 11.29 

 7.16 

 1.53 

 5.10 

 2.70 

 1.67 

 6.36 

 0.70 

 0.35 

 0.52 



0^82 



72.10 

 11.59 



,16 

 .38 

 ,13 

 ,13 

 .08 

 .34 

 .80 

 0.37 

 0.17 



4. 



1, 



2. 



1 



1 



3. 



1 



0.66 



63.72 

 8.60 

 1.63 

 2.32 

 3.12 

 1.90 

 0.94 

 7.85 

 6.62 

 1.67 

 0.51 

 0.31 

 0.81 



74. 20 'I 

 6.051 



1.46r 



2.50i 



1.94' 



1.18 



0.93' 



5.20! 



2.281 



1.76' 



0.78' 



0.4111 



1.31i 



text. 



♦Figures for widgeon and gadwall previous to 1941 calculated from 1941-1942 data for reasons explained i 

 tGiven complete legal protection in this year. 



