resulted In the dally take remaining about the same or even decreasing, fig. 14. This plateau 

 or drop In the duck-bag curve beyond a certain point Is very significant. It Illustrates the 

 fact that, because there was only a limited number of ducks available, each area had a certain 

 carrying capacity of hunters, additions beyond which resulted In so much Interference and out- 

 of -range shooting that the total bag and the bag per acre no longer mounted but remained 

 stationary or declined. 



Although within certain limits the total dally bag on waterfowl shooting areas 

 Increased with an Increase In the number of hunters, this Increase was not usually great 

 enough to maintain the bag per hunter. An Increase In the number of hunters on most waterfowl 

 areas resulted In a smaller Individual bag. A very unusual exception to this general tendency 

 occurred In 1941 and 1942 on the Sparland Public Shooting Ground, fig. 15. It will be taken 

 up later under the discussion of that area. On other areas, a general decrease In bag per 

 hunter occurred even with a slight Increase In the number of hunters; out-of -range shooting 

 and hunting Interference became Increasingly Influential as the number of hunters Increased. 

 The larger the number of hunters the less likelihood there was that any hunter or hunters 

 would allow passing ducks to swing within range of neighboring hunters. Many public shooting 

 grounds hunters seemed prone to fire at ducks out of range either to keep their neighbors from 

 getting a bird or on the slight chance of bringing one down. Under the competitive pressure 

 resulting from a situation In which many hunters fired at a limited number of ducks that 

 passed by, the spirit of good sportsmanship all too evidently decreased. 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 

 SHOOTERS PER DAY 



80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 

 PER SQUARE MILE 



FIG. 15. — Influence of shooting Intensity on the Individual dally bag of 

 ducks on four Illinois River valley public shooting areas. 



22 



