
their own blinds, and have prior right to them provided they 
are occupied prior to the opening hour each day), and manning 
check stations through which hunters must report on leaving 
the hunting areas. 
No waterfowl hunting is permitted on any unit of Mark Twain 
Refuge, so that all bag-check information gathered pertains to 
hunting on adjoining lands where the birds came from the Refuge 
Units. 
Waterfowl hunting season dates 
Table 16 shows waterfowl hunting dates for the entire area 
over the 15-year period of this study. Note that the earliest 
date in any State during that period was October 1, and the 
latest open date was December 27. 
Hunting pressure 
Data an estimated total hunting pressure in the areas checked 
are available for only a portion of the 15 years that bag-check 
data have been accumulated. It was not until 1953 that a concerted 
effort was made to attempt to estimate total days of hunting done 
in most areas. 
Since 1953 there has been an average of 102,920 days of 
waterfowling on the Upper Mississippi Refuge (highest was 129,8h5 
in 1957); 5,345 days in the vicinity of Louisa Unit of Mark Twain 
(highest 8,700 in 1960); an average of 1,470 days near Keithsburg 
(highest 4,300 days in 1955); an average of 3,375 days near 
Gardner (highest 4,224 days in 1960); an average of 10,365 days 
near Batchtown (highest 13,200 days in 1956); and an average of 
17,905 days near Calhoun (highest 29,750 days in 1954). ‘These 
data are shown in table 17. 
Number of hunters checked 
During the 15-year period from 1946 through 1960, a total of 
251,876 hunters having 283,763 ducks have been checked along the 
Mississippi River. (This includes 1,643 hunters with 2,770 ducks 
checked in 1954, 1955, and 1956 at Middleton Island, Pool 24; and 
682 hunters with 988 ducks, checked at the Oquawka Area in 1957.) 
These 251,876 hunters thus averaged 1.12 ducks per day of hunting. 
Checks were made as follows: 
26 
