interviews during the 1947 season with 77 hunters: 41 free-lance and 36 club hunters, Explana- 
tion of the cost items follows, 
Transportation expense was figured on the basis of $0.03 per mile; of the 77 duck hun- 
ters we interviewed, those at public shooting grounds drove an average of 182 miles per day of 
hunting and those at private clubs 115 miles; both groups together averaged 151 miles, A larger 
sample of duck hunters and the number of miles they traveled was obtained from a report by 
Lueth (1946) on hunting at the Rice Lake Wildlife Area in 1945. Lueth listed the hunters only by 
their home counties, Using Lueth's report, we calculated mileage for each hunter on the basis 
of the distance from Rice Lake to the largest city in his county, We determined that the aver- 
age Rice Lake hunter made a round trip of 151 miles which is, coincidentally, the average mile- 
age of the 77 hunters we interviewed in 1947, 
Only 21 of the 77 hunters we interviewed had lodging expense, This totaled $89.45, 
but, since most hunters staying overnight hunted two days, we charged half of $44.73 lodging ex- 
pense against each day of duck hunting by the 77 hunters, Meal cost, about the same for public 
and club hunters, amounted to $2.57 per hunter per day, Each public hunter averaged 8,4 shells 
per day totaling, at $0,08 a shell, $0.67, and each club hunter, 11 shells, totaling $0,88 per day, 
A resident hunting license in Illinois costs $2.00, but, since many waterfowlers also 
hunt upland game, only $1.00 of this sum was charged against duck hunting, To this amount was 
added $1,00 for the federal “duck stamp” required of all hunters over 16 years of age, Al- 
though the shooting club hunter in Illinois as a whole averages only 3,5 days of duck shooting per 
year (Bellrose 1947), this type of hunter in some areas of the state averages as much as 6,0 days 
of shooting per year (Arthur 1948), To be conservative in our depreciation of equipment, we 
used 5 days of duck hunting per year in prorating annual charges, Shooting-club and daily-fee 
hunters who were questioned averaged $7,33 per hunter-day for club dues or for rent of blind; 
this expense would, of course, not apply to public-shooting-grounds hunters, Boat rental or 
depreciation was estimated to be $1,00 per day of use, 
Other expenses are of a capital investment type. The average shotgun used by the 77 
hunters questioned cost $95, Shotguns were depreciated at the rate of 3 per cent a year ina 
study by Gordon (1941), We used 13 per cent in our calculations, assuming that a duck hunter 
divides use of his shotgun equally between waterfowl and upland game, Our calculated deprecia- 
tion on shotgun amounted to $1,42 a season or $0.29 a hunting day, Investment in hunting clothes 
10 
