The proportion of the kill in each State that consisted of the 
fourth duck in the bag is significant. It not only indicates the 
extent to which a one-duck reduction in the daily bag limit would have 
reduced the kill, but also the success that was experienced once one 
duck was bagged. Compare, for example, Texas and North Dakota. In 
Texas, there was a much higher incidence of unsuccessful hunts than 
in North Dakota; however, once Texas hunters killed a duck they 
apparently attained the limit as often as North Dakota hunters, since 
the fourth duck made up as high a portion of the total kill in Texas 
as it did in North Dakota. 
The average kill per day also is shown in table 4. Hunter success 
per day was far greater in North and South Dakota than elsewhere in 
the Central Flyway. In the Mississippi Flyway, hunting success in 
Minnesota and Louisiana was substantially greater than in other States 
in the flyway. The data in table 4 show that much of the difference 
among States in average hunting success depended upon hunters finding 
the ducks. Once they found the ducks, hunters in the different States 
were more uniformly successful. Note that the proportion of the kill 
consisting of the fourth duck varied less than the average kill per 
day. 
Distribution of the Harvest Throughout the Season 
The number of ducks bagged each day of the season (table 6) 
varies directly with the hunter effort. That is, the bulk of the 
kill was taken on weekends or, in the case of Michigan, Indiana and 
Ohio, on opening days and weekends when the hunting effort was con¬ 
centrated. Although 35 to 60 percent of the kill was taken during 
the first 2 days of the hunting season in most areas, a significant 
portion of the harvest (17 to 35 percent) was taken on the last 2 days. 
Daily percentages of the kill during mid-week days varied from 2 to 
12 percent. 
Hunting Success Throughout the Season 
Examination of the average kill of ducks per active hunter on 
each day of the season (table 7) suggests that, while greatest degree 
of success was usually on the first day of the season, hunting success 
held up fairly well during the week and even on the last weekend. In 
some cases, success appeared to be highest on week dayg. 
Harvest of Blue-winged Teal 
A total of 404,710 blue-winged teal, which comprised 90 percent 
of the total bag of ducks, was shot and retrieved in the 2 flyways 
(table 8). In the Central Flyway, 110,430 blue-winged teal comprised 
87 percent of the harvest. In the Mississippi Flyway, 294,280 blue- 
dinged teal, 92 percent of the total flyway duck bag, were taken. 
9 
