Vo l. 24, No. 3 
Page 5 
Table 3- Deer kill analysis, Region 3. 
Number of 
Hunters 
Estimated Number 
of Deer 
Predicted 
Kill 
Actual 
Kill 
% Error 
1970 
9,545 
6,569 
1,993 
2,007 
- 1 
1971 
10,671 
7,352 
2,483 
2,432 
2 
1972 
11,801 
7,253 
2,558 
2,489 
3 
1973 
12,168 
8,926 
2,897 
3,078 
- 6 
1974 
12,633 
9,783 
3,169 
2,986 
6 
1975 
15,233 
8,048 
3,376 
3,605 
- 1 
1976 
14,619 
9,468 
3,595 
3,396 
6 
1977 
15,121 
9,305 
3,696 
3,320 
11 
1978 
15,262 
10,185 
4,038 
4,172 
- 3 
1979 
13,911 
10,104 
3,575 
3,749 
- 5 
1980 
14,011 
8,929 
3,291 
3,908 
-16 
1981 
9,528 
X - 5 
Cooperative 
Waterfowl 
Research - W-88-R 
F. C. 
Be 11 rose, S. 
P. Havera, 
K. Archer 
G. A. 
Perkins, H. 
Weekly aerial censuses of waterfowl in the Illinois and Mississippi river 
valleys have been made every fall and numerous springs since 1948. As many as 
64 different areas in the Illinois Valley between Coal City in the north and the 
river's confluence with the Mississippi River in the south have been covered. 
The Moline to St. Louis segment of the Mississippi River valley includes coverage 
of 38 locations in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. Seven additional areas between 
St. Louis and Cairo have been censused at 2-week intervals throughout each winter 
since 1972. Biweekly winter census flights of 10 lakes in central and southern 
Illinois and 21 smaller lakes in north-eastern Illinois were initiated in 1972 
and 1976, respectively, to complete the coverage of most of the major waterfowl 
concentration areas in the state. Goose management areas in southern Illinois 
are censused by Department of Conservation personnel. Participation of Illinois 
Natural History Survey personnel in the Winter Waterfowl and Eagle Survey 
(MWRL 24(2):5) began in 1950. 
Various bodies of water, including river channels, reservoirs, strip mine 
lakes, drainage ditches, bottomland and glacial lakes, and power plant cooling 
lakes, comprise the waterfowl census areas. Twenty locations are designated 
waterfowl refuges managed either by the federal government or by Illinois, Iowa, 
and Missouri. 
