16 
stamps in the zone. 
Processing of zone totals differs for various harvest 
parameters because there are differences in the amount 
and type of information available. Readers interested in 
processing details may wish to refer to Table C-2, In most 
instances we make three adjustments to rough zone totals: 
(1) fixed reduction factors for each flyway to correct for 
response bias (Table C-3), (2) fixed expansion factors for 
each flyway to account for activity by hunters less than 16 
years old who are not required to buy a duck stamp (Table 
C-4), and (3) a single reduction factor (0.9637) to retain 
comparability after 1969 when a change in questionnaire 
design caused a change in response. The adjustments for 
response bias are based on procedures developed by E. L. 
Atwood (1956, Validity of mail survey data on bagged 
waterfowl. J. Wildl. Manage. 20(1):1-16). Junior hunter 
adjustment factors are based on sampling of hunters less 
than 16 years old during early years of the survey. Appli- 
cation of these three adjustments produces the totals esti- 
mated to have been obtained by all hunters from a given 
zone, 
The duck kill associated with each zone is distributed 
among species and among States by dividing it by the 
number of duck wings, regardless of species, taken by in- 
zone duck stamp buyers. The resulting value (weight), 
ducks harvested per wing returned, is inserted into each 
wing record. Once wing records are weighted, they are 
sorted to the State where the bird was shot, and the 
weights are summed to provide harvest estimates by State 
of kill. 
Because hunters return much smaller numbers of goose 
tails than of duck wings, zone harvest estimates are com- 
bined to a State-of-purchase estimate and then divided by 
all the tails received from hunters who purchased duck 
stamps in the State. Once records have been weighted, 
State goose harvest estimates are derived in the same man- 
ner as for ducks. 
In seven Atlantic Flyway States, sea duck wings are sep- 
arated from other ducks and weighted according to the 
method for geese. In other States, sea ducks and other 
ducks are combined in all calculations. 
Questionnaires sent to hunters in those States that have 
September teal seasons request both harvest during all 
waterfowl seasons and harvest during September teal sea- 
sons. Teal harvest by persons who bought duck stamps in 
the Pacific Flyway areas of Colorado and New Mexico is 
shifted to the Central Flyway parts of these States. Be- 
cause questions relating to the teal season are not asked of 
hunters who bought duck stamps in States where this sea- 
son is not in effect, in weighting, teal season harvest by 
State of purchase is divided by the number of wings from 
ducks shot during the teal season in the State, regardless of 
where the hunter purchased his duck stamp. The resulting 
values are considered to be the ducks harvested in the State 
per wing received and their sum to be the teal season duck 
harvest for the State. 
Although coot wings are solicited from hunters, so few 

are received that they are not used in this analysis. Thus, 
coot harvest estimates relate only to State of stamp pur- 
chase. 
We have no method for assigning other harvest param- 
eters to the States where hunting actually took place. 
Thus, all seasonal means, as well as State totals for num- 
bers of hunters, days hunted, and unretrieved kill relate to 
State of duck stamp purchase. 
Administrative Reports 
Data in this report are based on final duck stamp sales 
information. In the Administrative Report “Waterfowl 
Harvest and Hunter Activity in the United States During 
the 1978 Hunting Season” (21 June 1979), preliminary 
estimates (that were based on duck stamp sales through the 
third quarter of the July 1978-June 1979 duck stamp sales 
year and made by using the old estimating procedures) 
were made available for the annual waterfowl regulations 
meetings in early August 1979. Age and sex compositions 
are presented in the Administrative Report, “Age and Sex 
Composition of Ducks and Geese Harvested in the 1978 
Hunting Season in Comparison with Prior Years” (22 June 
1979). 
Results 
Estimates of flyway and U.S.-level harvests of ducks (by 
species), coots, and unretrieved kill are presented in Table 
C-5. Similar estimates of geese are in Table C-6. Detailed 
State-level estimates of the duck, goose, and coot harvest, 
duck stamp sales, and hunter activity and success may be 
found in Tables C-7 through C-11. These estimates 
include hunter activity and harvest during regular and 
special seasons combined. The harvest and species compo- 
sition during the September teal season is also shown 
separately in Table C-12. 
The following is a resume of 1978 hunter activity and 
harvest by flyway showing degree of change from 1977 
and, for the most commonly harvested duck species, the 
percentage each comprised of the 1978 duck harvest. 
Atlantic Flyway 
Duck stamp sales totaled 451,300 (+4%), and 1,945,900 
ducks (+ 3%), 78.000 coots (+ 46%), and 347,600 geese 
(-29%) were harvested during 2,958,200 hunter-days 
(+8%), Persons buying duck stamps for hunting averaged 
6.55 days afield (+4%) and bagged an average of 4.41 
ducks (+1%) and 0.79 goose (—32%) each. The three 
most commonly harvested duck species were mallards 
(23%), wood ducks (21%), and black ducks (13%). Esti- 
mates for the Adantic Flyway are given in Table C-7. 
Mississippi Flyway 
Duck stamp sales totaled 848,900 (— 3%), and 6,340,000 
