Summary of question responses
Executive Summary
In Fall 2005, the National Flyway Council and the Wildlife Management Institute conducted a mail survey of duck hunters in 49 U.S. states. A random sample of 29,862 duck hunters was contacted using names drawn from the Harvest Information Program database. Of the 27,555 survey forms delivered, 10,887 were returned (40% response); 10,219 respondents were “active” duck hunters.
Key findings revealed:
- Nearly three-quarters of respondents said duck hunting was one of their most important (58%), or most important (14%), recreational activities.
- Roughly one-third (29%) started hunting ducks before 1970, another third (36%) between 1970 and 1988, and the remaining third (35%) after 1988. Six percent of duck hunters now aged 45 to 64 indicated that they began duck hunting in the relatively recent past (1997-2004).
- Almost two-thirds (65%) spent over $250 each year on duck hunting; and one-fifth (20%) spent over $1,000 each year.
- Forty-three percent of duck hunters spent 10 days or less hunting ducks each year over the last 5 years; 30% spent 11 to 20 days; 17% spent 21 to 30 days; and 10% spent more than 30 days.
- A plurality (42%) of duck hunters said they were hunting the same number of days now compared to 5 years ago; 22% said they were hunting “more days,” and 31% said “fewer days."
- Fifty-nine percent said that the duck season length (number of days in the season) in the state they hunted most over the last 5 years was “about right,” though another one-third (35%) said the season was “too short,” and 3%, “too long.”
- Almost three-quarters (72%) of duck hunters said that the total daily duck bag limit in the state they hunted most over the last 5 years was “about right.” Thirteen percent said it was “too low,” and 8%, “too high.”
- Duck hunters said that, over the last 5 years, the overall quality of duck hunting in the state they hunted most either had gotten “a little worse” (32%) or “much worse” (25%). Hunters in the Mississippi Flyway were especially prone to characterize a drop in overall quality of duck hunting, with hunters in the Lower Mississippi Flyway saying overall quality had gotten “a little worse” (31%) or “much worse” (51%).
- On average, duck hunters in the Atlantic Flyway said “interference from other hunters,” “ducks concentrating on fewer areas,” “hunting pressure,” “crowding at hunting areas,” and “ducks arriving after season close” had become “somewhat more” of a problem over the last 5 years. Pacific Flyway hunters also felt these were “somewhat more” of a problem, with the exception of “ducks concentrating on fewer areas,” which they characterized as “neither more nor less a problem.” To the problems identified by Atlantic Flyway hunters, Mississippi Flyway respondents added “shifting duck migration routes” as “somewhat more” of a problem. Central Flyway hunters said “ducks concentrating on fewer areas,” “hunting pressure,” “crowding at hunting areas,” and “ducks arriving after season close” were “somewhat more” of a problem over the last 5 years.
- Nationally, hunters indicated that duck hunting quality had become “somewhat worse” relative to “weather patterns for duck hunting,” “length of time ducks were staying in my area,” “number of places to hunt,” “overall duck numbers,” and “when ducks are arriving in my area.”
- A majority of hunters achieved the levels of duck harvest that they said equated with their views of satisfactory season harvest.
- Thirteen percent of duck hunters indicated that, for the most recent year they hunted ducks, they “always” used a motorized, spinning-wing decoy; 40% used a spinning-wing decoy “sometimes,” and 47%, “never.”
- A majority (53%) of duck hunters indicated that they think spinning-wing decoys “should be allowed,” 23% said “not allowed,” and 24% had no opinion.
- Duck hunters ascribed “high trust” to “avid/experienced duck hunters” to represent interests of duck hunters like them; among groups ascribed “medium trust” by duck hunters were “conservation groups like DU/Delta,” “waterfowl biologists,” “Flyway Councils,” and “wildlife agencies.” Groups ascribed “low trust” were “commercial/business interests,” "outdoor writers/tv personalities," “legislators,” and the “general public.”
- Twenty percent of duck hunters said they “frequently” access the internet to look up duck hunting information; 49% access the internet “once in a while,” and 31%, “not at all.”
