questionnaires. We further assumed that the estimates of crippling 
loss were applicable for both blue-winged teal and green-winged teal 
and adjusted the harvest estimates for these species as shown in 
table 13. 
Blue-winged Teal . The total hunting kill of blue-winged teal 
was 483,864 (table 13). The kill of bluewings in the Central Flyway 
was 129,008 while that in the Mississippi Flyway was 354,856. The rank 
among States in the size of the kill did not change from that of the 
retrieved harvest. 
Green-winged Teal . The total kill of green-winged teal during 
the experimental September teal season was 46,789; 18,034 were killed 
in the Central Flyway and 28,755 in the Mississippi Flyway. As with 
blue-winged teal, Minnesota had the highest kill with 9,601 birds. 
Total Hunting Kill of Illegal Ducks 
The ratio of illegal to legal kill recorded by hunter performance 
observers was used to expand the total legal kill (table 13) to total 
kill, legal and illegal (table 14). The hunter performance sample 
was restricted by the exclusion of cards which showed that the hunter 
was aware of being observed and cards which indicated uncertainty as 
to whether or not the hunter was aware of being observed. Very good 
samples were obtained from Minnesota and Iowa. Samples were entirely 
absent from Kentucky and Arkansas and very low from New Mexico, Oklahoma, 
Wyoming, and Mississippi. Data from adjoining States were used to 
estimate illegal kill for those States with little or no hunter per¬ 
formance data. Fortunately, those States which lacked hunter performance 
samples were also (with the exception of Indiana) lowest in total kill, 
so that the effect of these insufficient samples on flyway and national 
estimates is minimal. 
The proportion of the total kill that was illegal was greater in 
the Central Flyway (8.3 percent) than in the Mississippi Flyway (5.6 
percent). 
In the Mississippi Flyway, Iowa had the highest proportionate 
illegal kill (13.4 percent). The estimated proportion of total kill 
that was illegal for both flyways combined was 6.4 percent. 
The illegal kill estimates by States do not necessarily indicate 
the hunter's ability or willingness to distinguish between species. 
Most often, it is an indication of the availability of illegal birds 
to be shot. 
14 
