Figure 4.4 



Numbers of Small Game Mammals^ and Upland Game Birds Relative to Numbers of 

 Hunters in the Contiguous United States by Section, Mid-1 950's through Mid-1 980's 



Index of Small Game Mammals per Hunter (70's = 1.0) 



i_J I I I I 



50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 



North- 



North 



South- 



South 



Great 



Rocky 



Pacific 



east 



Central 



east 



Central 



Plains 



Mountains 



Coast 



Index of Upland Game Birds per Hunter (Mid-70's = 1.0) 

 3 



J I I I I I I I I I I I I III! 



50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 50s 60s 70s 80s 

 ^No data for Pacific Coast before 1970's; indexes exceed scale for Rocky Mountains and Great Plains before 1970's. 



(This has generally been true in the past for white- 

 tailed deer and for turkeys.) In other areas, particu- 

 larly in the West, this result is based on expectations 

 that many who would like to hunt big game will not 

 be given that opportunity. Limits on the numbers of 

 licenses sold will reduce the numbers of hunter- 

 participants. 



While two-thirds of all hunting takes place on pri- 

 vate lands, the proportion for big game hunting is 

 somewhat less because most of these species are 

 found in relatively remote areas. The pattern of land 

 use varies, of course, by area and by species (table 

 4. 1 3). There is generally much greater dependence on 

 private lands east of the Mississippi River. 



Supply of Waterfowl 



The annual harvest of ducks has fluctuated be- 

 tween 4 and 16 million birds in the last 20 years 

 because of changing climatic conditions in the major 

 breeding grounds. High duck harvests in the late 

 1950's and in the early and middle 1970's followed 

 relatively wet years; low harvests in the early and late 

 1960's and late 1970's followed much drier conditions 

 in the prairie pothole region (fig. 4.6). 



Mallards, pintails, wood ducks, scaup, and teal are 

 the most heavily harvested species. The distribution 

 of harvests by species in the early 1970's for each 

 flyway is summarized in table 4.14. Wintering duck 



124 



