sened because of the greater time interval 
between the time of banding and of recovery, 
during which nonhunting mortality canoccur. 
Many species cannot be banded during a 
preseason banding program; therefore, win- 
tering ground banding provides the best 
source of information on harvest rates, 
effects of regulations on the hunting kill, 
and similar information. The value of 
wintering ground banding is illustrated in 
the table which follows by the recovery 
rates from canvasback banded in New York 
during the winters and springs of 1955 
through 1960. 
The 6.8 percent recovery rate during the 
1955-56 through 1957-58 hunting seasons is 
an index of the rate of kill before special 
regulations for the canvasback. The marked 
increase in the recovery rate in the 1958- 
59 hunting season was due to an unusually 
late closing date in New York that resulted 
in an intense hunting pressure on the 
7 
PEST eneg peason band recovery rates of canvasbacks 
banded after the hunting season in New York 
First-season 
recovery rate 
(percent) 

"canvasback lakes,'' which remained un- 
frozen. The low recovery rates during the 
1959-60 and 1960-61 hunting seasons re- 
flected the daily bag limit of one can- 
vasback in 1959-60 and the complete 
protection of the canvasback in the United 
States during the 1960-61 season. 
PACIFIC FLYWAY 
WATERFOWL KILL SURVEY 
An estimated 2,246,065 ducks were bagged 
during the 1960-61 waterfowl season in the 
Pacific Flyway (table A-3, p. 44), approxi- 
mately 5 percent more than during the 
1959-60 season. Anadditional 359,779 ducks 
were killed but not retrieved--a22-percent 
_ increase--and the total kill (retrieved and 
unretrieved) of 2,605,844 ducks implies a 
7-percent increase in the kill over the 
previous season. 
Mallards made up 32 percent of the duck 
bag; pintails, 22 percent; American widgeon, 
15 percent; green-winged teal, 11 percent; 
and shoveler, 7 percent. These five species 
constituted 87 percent of the total bag 
reported. 
The retrieved kill of shoveler, pintail, 
and American widgeon indicated pronounced 
increases over that of the previous season. 
Among the less-dominant species of ducks, 
the largest bag increases occurred inring- 
necked duck and scaup. As expected with 
a closed season on redhead and canvasback, 
extreme decreases occurred inthe numbers 
reported shot, although some kill was indi- 
cated. Certainly, the 96-percent decrease 
in the reported bag of cinnamon teal resulted 
largely from the eastern form of the 
questionnaire (in which cinnamon teal was 
not listed) being sent to western hunters 
(see page 2). 
An estimated 259,903 geese were bagged 
in the Pacific Flyway, a21-percent increase 
over the kill in the 1959-60 season; and an 
additional 45,355 geese were shot but not 
retrieved, a 22-percent increase. Canada 
geese (31 percent), snow geese (30 percent) 
and white-fronted geese (24 percent) com- 
prised 85 percent of the geese bagged inthe 
Flyway. 
An estimated 59,476 coots were retrieved 
in the Pacific Flyway (table A-3), suggesting 
possibly a slight increase from the past 
year, although the total kill (retrieved and 
unretrieved) remained quite stable. 
The total number of potential hunters 
decreased only 2 percent from the previous 
season, although the number of active 
hunters decreased 4 percent and the average 
number of times they hunted decreased 
5 percent (table A-4, p. 45). 
With a decrease in both number 
of hunters and times they hunted, the 
increase in duck kill which occurred 
was entirely the result of an increase 
in daily bag from an average of 1.99 
during the 1959-60 season to 2.26 in 
1960-61. 
