Because the response rate was higher on the special teal season than 
on regular season questionnaires, the potential for nonresponse bias 
(resulting from the tendency of successful hunters to return question¬ 
naires at a higher rate than unsuccessful hunters) was smaller. 
Wing Collection Survey 
The teal wing collection survey was designed primarily to measure 
the species, age, and sex composition of the teal kill. Secondarily, 
it was intended to gather information on hunter response, not only for 
use as indexes of total kill and hunter success, but also to aid in the 
planning of future surveys of this type. 
Although we did not know what the response rate would be, we 
believed that a sample of 800 permittees from each State would insure 
an adequate number of wings to determine the characteristics of the 
kill during the season. Each State was furnished’ approximately 800 
packets containing 10 envelopes each (the actual numbers of packets 
issued are shown in table 1). Each State issued 1 packet approximately 
1 week before the season to each of 800 hunters they had selected by 
systematically sampling their list of permittees. The packet number 
was recorded on the permit and carbon copies of all permits were for¬ 
warded to the Migratory Bird Populations Station. 
An explanatory letter, accompanying each envelope packet, mentioned 
that this was a special teal season but instructed hunters to send us 
a wing from each duck that he shot during this special season. Instruc¬ 
tions on the wing envelopes did not mention teal. All the wing envelopes 
were addressed to the State Game Farm, Poynette, Wisconsin. There the 
wings were kept frozen until examined by State and Federal biologists. 
Data recorded on the envelopes were transferred to IBM cards and proc¬ 
essed by machine at the Migratory Bird Populations Station. 
The distribution of samples of both hunters and wings turned out 
to be proportional within States so no in-State weighting was necessary. 
The number of permits issued, however, varied greatly among States and 
samples of 800 constituted different proportions of State totals. Con¬ 
sequently, to obtain flyway ratios, data from each State were weighted 
by dividing the number of wings received into the reported total kill 
for that State. The resultant value was the number of bagged birds 
represented by each wing. 
Hunter Performance Survey 
Hunter behavior in the field is one of the most important factors 
limiting the practicality of a September teal season. It was necessary, 
therefore, to determine: (1) the extent that hunters shot species 
other than teal and the magnitude of the kill of illegal species, (2) 
the crippling loss on teal, and (3) the degree to which hunters abide 
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