20 States during the previous (1964-65) regular hunting season. The 
special permit total, based largely on information supplied by the 
States, is not exact for several reasons. Spot checks of the counts 
supplied by each State revealed errors, which in a few instances 
involved several hundred permits. Additional checks were run and 
corrections made wherever errors were detected and we believe that 
most miscounts have been eliminated. Secondly, small numbers of 
duplicate applications were received and processed by most States. 
Consequently, the total (201,972) probably includes several hundred 
duplicate permits. Finally, because of incomplete or incorrect 
addresses, not all permits could be delivered to the individuals 
requesting them. Because records of undeliverable permits were fairly 
complete, they could be excluded from the State totals, leaving less 
than 100, it is believed, in the final totals. 
Questionnaires were sent to 19,830 permit holders (table 1). 
Response rates ranged from 62 percent (Louisiana) to 85 percent 
(Colorado). Response rates for the Mississippi and Central Flyways 
were 76 percent and 79 percent, respectively, and averaged 77 pereent 
(15,280 questionnaires). These response rates are substantially higher 
than those usually achieved in the Bureau's Annual Waterfowl Kill Survey 
of the regular waterfowl season (about 63 percent for the Mississippi 
Flyway and 65 percent for the Central Flyway). 
Packets of wing envelopes were sent to 15,625 hunters (table 1), 
and 21.2 percent (3,314) responded. The percentage response by States 
ranged from 54.9 (South Dakota) to 3.5 (Mississippi). In general, 
response rates were highest in the Northern Prairie States and lowest 
in the South. Response to the wing collection survey was 25.7 percent 
of the hunters contacted in the Central Flyway and 17.7 of those con¬ 
tacted in the Mississippi Flyway. 
Participation and Hunting Activity 
Numbers of Hunters 
Table 2 shows the numbers of applicants (persons issued permits), 
the percent of applicants who went hunting (hunters) and the percent 
of hunters who killed ducks (successful hunters). These data suggest 
a general decrease in hunter participation and success, in both flyways, 
from north to south. Fifty-five percent of the applicants went hunting. 
The percentage of applicants who hunted in the Central and Mississippi 
Flyways were 56 and 54, respectively. 
Hunting Effort 
The average number of days of hunting per applicant and per hunter, 
and the total days of hunting for each State are presented in table 3. 
7 
