The Effects of Harvest Regulations on Behaviors of Duck Hunters

Haugen, Matthew T.; Powell, Larkin A.; Vrtiska, Mark P.; Pope, Kevin L.

doi:10.1080/10871209.2014.950437

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We have shown there is a positive relationship between the number of hunting days and bag size. This echoes findings of a study amongst duck hunters in the US (Haugen et al 2015 ), but our data also showed considerable variation. Some respondents achieved high goose bags whilst indicating these were shot over just a few hunting days.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Managing geese with recreational hunters?

Williams

Balsby

Nielsen

et al. 2018

Ambio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As many goose populations across the northern Hemisphere continue to rise, the role of hunters to manage these populations is increasingly being considered. We studied recreational goose hunters in Denmark to assess their behavioural and motivational characteristics, willingness to alter their hunting effort, as well as their ability to act as stewards of a rapidly increasing goose population.We identified several behavioural characteristics that typify effective goose hunting practices. We suggest a degree of specialization is necessary to increase goose harvests, as well as mitigating animal welfare issues (e.g. wounding). However, the majority of Danish goose hunters can be considered to be casual participants in this form of hunting. This poses a challenge for wildlife managers wishing to engage recreational hunters to manage highly dynamic wildlife populations, such as geese. If recreational hunters are to be used as a management tool, wildlife managers and hunting organizations will need to consider how best to facilitate skill development, hunting practices and socially legitimate hunting ethics to foster the stewardship role of hunting. We conclude that it is incumbent on wildlife managers to recognize and deal with both internal factors (e.g. skill development) and external influences (e.g. animal welfare concerns). In doing so, potential tensions in the multi-functionality of hunting can be alleviated, maintain hunting as a legitimate and accepted recreational past-time and management tool.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Managing geese with recreational hunters?

Williams

Balsby

Nielsen

et al. 2018

Ambio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our results indicate that, with the highest hunter numbers usually occurring on Saturdays, hunting on Sunday decreased hunters' chances of successfully harvesting ducks and the number of ducks they harvested. Many hunters may have opportunities to hunt primarily or exclusively on weekends (Dooley et al 2010 b , Haugen et al 2015). Thus, the benefit of added hunting opportunity by providing access on both weekend days appears to out‐weigh the cost of slightly reduced success and harvest on Sunday.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Duck hunter activity, success, and satisfaction on public hunting areas

Gammonley

Runge

2022

J Wildl Manag

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Because hunting disturbance can influence local distribution of ducks and their availability to hunters, managers often limit access to hunting areas to improve hunting success and satisfaction. Few studies have quantified the effectiveness of public area access restrictions on duck hunter activity, harvest, or hunters' satisfaction with their hunting experience. We used a cross‐over design over 6 consecutive hunting seasons (2008–2009 through 2013–2014) on State Wildlife Areas (SWAs) in northeastern Colorado, USA, to compare the effects of restricted hunting access regulations and regulations without these restrictions on duck hunter activity, harvest success, harvest levels, and satisfaction. We also considered effects of SWA types, duck abundance, temperature, precipitation, use of equipment by duck hunting parties, and, for hunter satisfaction, hunting success, hunting parties' satisfaction with ducks seen, habitat conditions, crowding from other hunters, and SWA regulations. The number of days when duck hunters had access to restricted properties was about half that on unrestricted properties, and unrestricted properties were used by about twice as many duck hunting parties, but the mean number of hunting parties per available hunting day and mean party size were similar under the 2 types of regulations. Most (56%) duck hunting parties did not bag any ducks; hunting success (harvest of ≥1 duck by a hunting party) was best explained by a model that included a regulation type × hunting season interaction, a SWA type × month interaction, hunter density the previous day, an index of hunter investment (number of decoys used and whether dogs and calls were used), and temperature. Successful hunting parties harvested 1.92 ± 1.60 (SD) ducks/hunter/day (range = 0.1–7.0); the best model predicting the number of ducks harvested per hunter in successful parties included a regulation type × hunting season interaction, a SWA type × month interaction, hunter density the previous day, an index of hunter investment, temperature, and precipitation. Overall satisfaction of duck hunting parties with a day's hunt averaged 3.62 ± 1.20 based on a rank scale of 1 (very unsatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), and was best explained by a model that included hunting party success; hunter investment; temperature; and satisfaction with duck numbers, habitat conditions, hunting regulations, and crowding. While greatly reducing days available for hunting, access restrictions were associated with improved chances of hunting parties successfully harvesting ≥1 duck in 5 of 6 hunting seasons, and substantially greater numbers of ducks harvested by hunters in successful parties in 1 of 6 hunting seasons. Restrictions did not have a strong direct effect on hunting parties' satisfaction with a day's hunt. Uncontrolled factors, including weather and use of equipment by hunters, had important influences on hunter success, harvest, and satisfaction. Managers should carefully assess hunting activity, hunter expectations and desires, and hunting...

show abstract

“…Waterfowl hunters have declined nationally despite record levels of breeding duck (Anatidae) populations across North America and the sustained availability of liberal bag limits, generous season lengths, and extra opportunities (e.g., youth seasons, early teal hunts; Case and Associates , Vrtiska et al , Devers et al , Finger et al ). Although the complexity and restrictiveness of regulations has been examined to explain hunter declines (Enck et al , Case and Associates , Haugen et al ), the best evidence suggests other socio‐cultural trends are responsible (Larson et al ). The current hunting season frameworks in the Mississippi Flyway have been relatively permissive (6 ducks, 60‐day season, 3 wood duck [ Aix sponsa ], 3 scaup [ Aythya spp.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That is, the satisfaction in success is derived from the effort and choices that made it happen. Haugen et al () found that waterfowl hunter effort and mobility during the season were positively correlated with harvests. Others have also linked effort with greater harvest success (Albert et al , Bhandari et al ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meeting harvest expectations is key for duck hunter satisfaction

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Current literature suggests that seeing and bagging game, among other experiences, play a major role in overall satisfaction for hunters. In addition, research highlights relationships that harvest expectations may have with harvest success and in explaining satisfaction. We add to the multiple satisfactions concept that, despite other derived benefits, harvest success may be fundamental to sustain participation and duck (Anatidae) hunters themselves are agents of their own success. We used data from mail surveys conducted between 2007-2015 of Wisconsin, USA, waterfowl hunters to investigate the role of duck hunter behavior and expectations in explaining differences in season satisfaction ratings. We found that duck hunters who spent more days afield, scouted prior to hunting, were mobile during the season, and utilized public lands harvested substantially more ducks than those who did not put effort into these behaviors. Furthermore, we find evidence in support of previous work that by examining the effect of harvest success through the lens of harvest expectations, it better describes satisfaction than either measure did alone among this population of duck hunters. Based on past experiences, duck hunters may develop unrealistic expectations that doom them to dissatisfactory harvests. These results provide assistance to managers and conservationists in helping hunters understand and set realistic harvest expectations, achieve their harvest goals, and continue to be active hunters.Ó 2019 The Wildlife Society.

show abstract

The Effects of Harvest Regulations on Behaviors of Duck Hunters

Cited by 10 publications

References 14 publications

Managing geese with recreational hunters?

Managing geese with recreational hunters?

Duck hunter activity, success, and satisfaction on public hunting areas

Meeting harvest expectations is key for duck hunter satisfaction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About