Even when there were only five hunters on a square mile of public hunting ground, 

 fig. 15, the dally bag did not approach the average of 6.14 ducks per hunter-day made by club 

 members. This low average was not due to the fact that the areas were not good duck grounds, 

 for the Liverpool Areas — due to the mass of ducks that rested on Lake Chautauqua — were 

 better than average, and the Sparland Ground was as good as or better than a dozen other lakes 

 between Henry and Chllllcothe. The low public hunter bag cannot be correlated with weather 

 conditions, for figs. 11, 12 and 13 show that the number of hunters was Influenced more by the 

 time of the week than the kind of weather; peak numbers occurred on week-ends. 



That the bag of the public hunting grounds shooter did not approach that made by 

 club shooters, even vrtien the hunting Intensity was the same, may have been due in part at 

 least to lack of experience of the public shooter, both as a marksman and as a hunter; his 

 lack of proper equipment, such as blocks and blinds; his lack of coaching on how and when to 

 shoot, as provided by "pushers" or guides at many clubs; and his lack of other help from 

 guides, who may Increase the take by shooting or retrieving crippled ducks. 



Liverpool Areas 



As a study of tables 3, 4 and 5 reveals, areas open to public hunting near Liverpool 

 yielded three times as many ducks per acre In years of this Investigation as the average for 

 the other three open territories In the Illinois River valley. Why did the take per acre on 

 the Liverpool Areas approximately equal the combined per-acre take of the other three shooting 

 grounds? 



The high take was due primarily to nearness of the Chautauqua National Wildlife 

 Refuge of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The open areas near Liverpool lie adjacent to 

 or within a short disteince of the refuge, and since the refuge harbored several hundred 

 thousand ducks during much of each season, free-lance hunters had a huge reservoir of ducks 

 constantly in the vicinity. In addition, there were usually other thousands of ducks on the 

 rest ground of the Clear Lake Club. From these great concentrations of waterfowl, flocks and 

 individuals frequently detached themselves, moving over or into the public shooting ground on 

 their flights for food. 



As fig. 16 and tables 3, 4 and 5 reveal, on the basis of ducks per hunter per day 

 the Liverpool Areas ranked second to the Spsirland area in the three seasons of this study. A 

 greater number of hunter-days per acre on the Liverpool Areas probably kept them from placing 

 first. 



Fig. 15 shows for the Liverpool and other areas the relation of hunting intensity to 

 the average bag of ducks per hunter per day. The curves for the Woodford County and Spring 

 Lake areas agree in showing a decline in the individual dally bag with an Increase in number 

 of hunters. The curve representing the Liverpool Areas drops more sharply. This is due to 



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