During the past year, wood duck bandings 
occurring prior to 1960 were examined. The 
results of this study will be briefly summa- 
rized: Immature mortality rates have ranged 
from 46 percent to 75 percent and have shown 
a clear relationship to recovery rates. This 
implies that the survival of young wood ducks 
has been influenced by shooting pressure. 
‘Adult females had mortality rates which 
ranged from 47 percent to 59 percent, while 
that of adult males ranged from 45 percent to 
56 percent, There was no obvious relation- 
ship between the mortality rates and recovery 
rates of adults, During these same years 
(1930 to 1960) wood duck recovery rates were 
about 30 percent higher inthe Atlantic Flyway 
than in the Mississippi Flyway. This dif- 
ference indicates a difference in shooting 
pressure on the wood duck between flyways. 
Over the years immature birds have been 1,4 
times more likely to be shot than adult birds, 
In 1962 there were 20, 118 wood ducks banded 
in the United States and Canada, The distribu- 

tion of the wood duck banding effort is such 
that segments of the continental population 
were not represented inthe banded sample. In 
spite of this, a wood duck population estimate 
was made utilizing recovery rates from the 
summer and fall bandings along with wood duck 
kill information from the hunter question- 
naire survey and the wing collection survey, 
The results indicated that there were approxi- 
mately 2,138,000 wood ducks in the Atlantic 
and Mississippi Flyways before the 1962 
hunting season, Some recovery rates from 
the 1962 preseason bandings of wood ducks, 
along with comparable rates from previous 
years, are presented in table G-3 (p. 162), 
The 1962 wood duck recovery rates from 
comparable banding locations in the Missis- 
sippi Flyway indicated that the rate of kill of 
wood ducks in this Flyway increased 38 per- 
cent over 1961. This increase in rate of kill 
was associated with an increase in the wood 
duck bag limit from 1 to 2, whilethe mallard 
and black duck bag limit was reduced from 2 
to 1 in this Flyway. 
SUMMER WATERFOWL BANDING, 
ALBERTA, SASKATCHEWAN, MANITOBA, AND NORTHWEST 
TERRITORIES, CANADA 
Data supplied by J. D, Smith, 
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 
The 1963 Canadian banding operation was 
divided into five main projects: 
1, The trapping of flightless young 
mallards by retrieving dogs on 
permanent check areas. 
2. Drive trapping for flightless 
young and moulting adult divers 
in the Yellowknife area of the 
Northwest Territories. 
3, Drive trapping for blue-winged 
teal in the Prairie Provinces, 
4, Drive trapping for moulting div- 
ers in a remote area ofnorthern 
Alberta. 
5, Preseason bait trapping. 
Fifty-three men took part in the program 
including twelve from six State conservation 
departments, one private hunting association, 
and two Canadian Provincial wildlife depart- 
ments. The fifteen crews banded approxi- 
mately 22,000 ducks. This is a larger total 
than was obtained in 1962 in the same region 
but is less than half of the average annual 
catch of the midfifties. It is almost a direct 
reflection of the lower waterfowl numbers 
found in the Canadian Prairies now compared 
with a few years ago. 
Noteworthy in 1963 was the success of the 
attempt to drive-trap moulting diving ducks in 
a remote area east of Fort McMurray, Al- 
berta. Gordon Lake, the banding site, is in- 
accessible by road; consequently, aircraft had 
to be used for transportation of personnel and 
equipment into the Lake. Two Cessna 180’s 
on floats and one Grumman Goose were used 
in this operation. 
