State Participation and Restrictions 
The States which adopted an early teal hunting season and the 
hunting dates which they selected are listed in table 1. Montana in 
the Central Flyway and Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Alabama in the 
Mississippi Flyway did not permit teal hunting during the September 
period offered by the Bureau. Several other States, although allowing 
teal hunting during the specified period, imposed restrictions in 
addition to Federal regulations. These States were North Dakota, 
Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Michigan. 
PROCEDURES 
Mail Questionnaire Survey 
Providing a carbon copy of each teal permit created an essentially 
complete file of names and addresses of permittees and made available, 
through simple card counts, accurate data on the size of the hunting 
universe to be sampled and on its distribution both among and within 
States. It also facilitated the selection of a systematic sample of 
hunters for the mail questionnaire survey. This system was followed 
throughout except that persons previously designated to participate 
in the wing collection survey (discussed below) were omitted from the 
questionnaire survey whenever other persons were available to replace 
them. This avoided the confusion which sometimes results when 3 person 
is contacted twice on the same subject and concludes that some mistake 
has been made. In those few States where less than 1,800 permits were 
issued and inclusion of hunters in both surveys could not be avoided, 
a note of explanation was sent with each questionnaire. 
Consideration, of both the administrative aspects and the require¬ 
ments of statistical reliability in this survey led to the conclusion 
that 20,000 hunters would be selected to receive a questionnaire; 1,000 
from each State taking part in the experiment. The surplus questionnaires 
from States which issued less than 1,000 permits were assigned to the 
States which issued the largest numbers. Numbers of questionnaires sent 
to hunters in the various States are shown in table 1. 
The questionnaire was similar to that used in the Bureau's Annual 
Kill Survey. It consisted of two IBM cards, one addressed to the hunter 
requesting that he fill out the questionnaire and giving detailed 
instructions for doing so, the other a postage prepaid card containing 
the questions to be answered. The hunter was asked the number of days 
he had hunted during the special season, the number of teal he had bagged, 
and the number he had knocked down but had not retrieved. He was then 
asked to indicate the dates on which he had gone hunting and the number 
of teal he had taken each day. He was also asked for information about 
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