both 1963 and 1964. These estimates 
were added to the State duck harvest 
figures, and they revised the previous 
1963 harvest and species composition 
estimates for these States and the Flyway. 
The sea duck estimates are based on 
questionnaire information similar to that 
for the regular season duck harvest but 
may contain different biases, among which 
is a tendency (probably) to underestimate 
the harvest of sea ducks. The species 
composition of the sea duck kill derived 
from the Wing Survey and summarized at 
the flyway level is also of uncertain re¬ 
liability. For purposes of this report and 
until more information becomes available, 
sea duck estimates have been combined 
with other duck harvest figures and have 
received the same adjustments with one 
exception—the sea duck harvest by per¬ 
sons under 16 years of age was assumed 
to be negligible and was ignored. 
Names and addresses of hunters are 
obtained by means of a business-reply 
"contact card" distributed to all persons 
buying duck stamps at sample outlets. 
The card requests the individual’s name 
and address, the number of stamps he pur - 
chases, the reason for his purchase, and 
the number of persons in his household 
under the stamp requirement age of 16 
years who might hunt waterfowl during 
the season. 
All contact-card respondents who 
purchase stamps for the purpose of hunt¬ 
ing are mailed a hunter questionnaire at 
the close of the season. The 1964 -65 
questionnaire asks each hunter the total 
number of days he hunted waterfowl, his 
total bags of ducks, geese, and coots, 
and the number of each he knocked down 
in sight but did not retrieve. These data, 
in combination with the total reported sale 
of duck stamps by State, have been used 
to derive the various survey estimates. 
. It has been the custom for the past 3 
years to present preliminary kill es¬ 
timates in an Administrative Report which 
is distributed prior to the Waterfowl Reg¬ 
ulations Meeting in early August and then 
to publish an amended report in the annual 
Waterfowl Status Report later in the fall. 
The early Administrative Report is based 
on reports of duck stamp sales through the 
third quarter of the fiscal year while the 
material in the Waterfowl Status Report 
is based on total sales through the fourth 
quarter. Until about 1959, reports on 
duck stamp sales through the third quarter 
were regularly within a few percentage 
points of total sales. Since 1960 there 
have been considerable deviations in the 
proportion of the total sales reported 
through the third quarter in some States. 
Since these deviations in sales are not 
predictable, it has been necessary to 
revise the kill estimates prepared for 
use of the Regulations Committee. 
In developing the kill estimates, the 
necessary means, variances, and totals 
were computed for each post office dollar - 
sales stratum within each geographic zone 
and then were weighted and expanded to 
give the desired calculations for zone, 
State, and flyway. 
It should be noted that the hunting ac¬ 
tivity and harvest estimates presented for 
each State and fly way relate to the areas 
in which the duck stamps were purchased. 
Thus, for example, the small estimated 
goose kill for Arkansas (where the goose 
season was closed in 1963 and 1964) prob¬ 
ably relates to birds shot in neighboring 
States by hunters purchasing their duck 
stamps in Arkansas. 
As in the past 3 years, the flyway bag 
estimates for ducks, geese, and coots 
were adjusted for response bias in re¬ 
ported figures by using the correction 
factors calculated in 1960. The hunting 
activity and bag of junior hunters have 
again been estimated, using expansion 
factors based on findings in previous years. 
The species composition of the duck and 
goose harvest is based on the results of 
the annual Duck Wing and Goose Tail Col¬ 
lection Surveys. 
Pacific Flyway 
An estimated 2, 502, 900 ducks were 
bagged in the Pacific Flyway during the 
1964 -65 waterfowl season, a decrease of 
11 percent from the previous season (table 
31 
