Predicting Wood Duck Harvest Rates in Eastern North America |
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| Authors: | GREGORY D BALKCOM PAMELA R GARRETTSON PAUL I PADDING |
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| Institution: | 1. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management, Laurel, MD 20708-4016, USA;2. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management, Laurel, MD 20708-4038, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract: We developed a method for predicting wood duck (Aix sponsa) harvest rates in eastern North America using waterfowl banding and recovery data, annual indices of hunter numbers, and harvest survey data from the United States and Canada. We predicted that under the current season length (60 days), if hunter numbers remain unchanged, increasing the wood duck bag limit from 2 to 3 would increase harvest of adult male wood ducks in the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways by 12.3%, causing an increase in harvest rate of 7.1% from 0.087 to 0.093. The Flyway Councils and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service can consider this information to predict the impacts of regulatory changes. |
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| Keywords: | Aix sponsa bag limit harvest rate multiple regression regulations season length wood duck |
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