A similar check of Grass Lake made on October 15, the opening day of the 1943 sea- 

 son, showed that probably 750 boats were on the lake (700 minimum, 800 maximum) with an 

 average of 1.8 hunters per boat. Calculations made from a liberal sampling of boats and bags 

 Indicated that 1,350 hunters were in action and that they bagged 18,225 coots and 108 ducks. 



Censuses of Grass Lake made on the evening before the 1943 opening day and In the 

 early afternoon of the fifteenth Indicate that the kill In the morning amounted to about 95 

 per cent of the number of coots and about 15 per cent of the number of ducks present the night 

 before. Relatively few birds were killed after noon on the fifteenth. These figures show 

 that coots are many times more vulnerable to hunters' guns than are ducks, even when most of 

 the ducks are the relatively vulnerable blue-winged teals that made up the greater part of the 

 duck population at Grass Lake late in the afternoon of the fourteenth and early In the morning 

 of the fifteenth. 



A survey of the situation at Grass Lake on October 16, 1943, revealed 75 boats on 

 the lake, averaging 1.6 hunters per boat. Hunters averaged 1.55 coots and 0.05 duck each. 

 Computations show for this day at Grass Lake that 120 hunters killed a total of 186 coots and 

 6 ducks. 



While there were fewer hunters on Grass Lake on the first 2 days of the 1943 season 

 than on corresponding days In 1942, the difference between the coot kill In the two seasons Is 

 believed to have been due mainly to the lower number of coots In 1943. Despite the 1943 

 shortage of shot gun shells, gasoline and tires, the opening days of the two seasons were much 

 alike. 



The close relationship between number of hunters and the coot bag Is In evidence 

 even at private clubs, which average a much greater kill of ducks per Individual hunter than 

 do public grounds. At private clubs In the glacial lakes region, the number of hiuiters per 

 day dropped from 203 the first week to 62 the second week In 1940, fig. 2; for corresponding 

 weeks the drop was from 205 to 122 In 1941, and from 281 to 164 In 1942, figs. 3 and 4. These 

 drops almost parallel the decline In the coot bag of 5.5 per hunter per day the first week to 

 1.0 per hunter per day the second week of the 1940 season and, for corresponding weeks, from 

 5.3 to 1.0 In 1941 and from 4.3 to 1.3 In 1942. The decrease In hunter pressure at private 

 clubs In northeastern Illinois continued as the season advanced despite the Increased number 

 of ducks killed per hunter per day. Free-lance waterfowl hunting declined even more rapidly 

 than did hunting at private clubs. 



At clubs In the glacial lakes area the average bag was 2.35 ducks and 2.93 coots per 

 hunter per day In 1940, 2.08 ducks and 2.76 coots In 1941, and 4.23 ducks and 1.64 coots In 

 1942, table 1 and figs. 5, 6 and 7. During the first and third years, environmental condi- 

 tions were more or less normal, while during the second year high water turned marshes and 

 fields Into lakes. 



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